Lathargic, no appitite, and shedding

[xMissMae]

Health: Meeko is about five and a half weeks old now, he's still barely four inches from mouth to the tip of his tail. This is his first shed while in my care and he's slowed down, a whole lot. The first couple days he only ate three crickies and then he ate one, now he won't eat any of them. He just lays at the bottom of his viv, he doesn't bask, he doesn't drink when sprayed, he doesn't move. I actually thought he was dead this morning when I woke up, his eyes were closed , he looked a lot more white(probably because of the shed?), and when I went to pick him up he didn't move. He is alive though, thank goodness. So it's been three days since he last ate that crickie, I tried putting a crickie right in front of his mouth and he just closes his eyes.

Background on Meeks: Meeko was the smallest and runtiest dragon in the clutch. I'm partial to picking out the injured or the runts, so I picked Meeko. He was significantly smaller than the rest of the clutch, not sure if it makes a difference but he's also one of the three hypos from the clutch.

 

[Nathan1995]

I feel inclined to mention that beardies have a tendency to loose apatite when they're in shed as it can be a very stressful time for them. However, I've not read about the lethargy you have mentioned linking with shedding, hopefully someone more knowledgeable will tell you that it's all normal.
Thinking of you and your little guy.

 

[kaykay87]

as stated about shedding can cause loss of apetite and general grumpyness....as for the lethargy...what are his temps at cool end and basking are? and what are you measuring your temps with? as if its a plastic round thermometer they can be around 20f out by accuracy,

how often do you bathe your little guy? as lethargy is sometimes the result of dehydration
please could you give us a run down on his enclosure to help us, help u more
lighting, temps, substrate etc...

 

[xMissMae]

Right now he's in a 10gal due to his tiny size he still gets lost in that every once in a while. I have the Rapti-Sun 10.0 UVB, '24, Repti Halogen 75w basking light, digital thermometer. None of that plastic disk junk. I have a branch in there so they can be basking in 82.3 on the semi-cool side, 118.9 directly under the basking lamp, and around the mid to low 70's on the really cool side. There are different levels of things to bask on under the light, I have things that attach to the side of the viv, a rock tower, and the branch that starts near the top of the viv and then comes down to the middle of the viv.
As far as hydration goes he gets sprayed once in the morning and once at night, sometimes I'll spray him once between those two but not usually. There is also a very shallow dish of water in there just in case he notices he can get some hydration from it.

 

[Claudiusx]

118.9 is definitely too hot, and thats the first thing I thought of when you said you are using a 75 watt in a 10 gallon.

Temperatures too hot can lead to lethargicness.

I would try to move it down to the 100-105 range.

With that heat its very likely that your dragon is dehydrated, even though you are misting. Misting isn't very good for hydrating IMO. I would start giving daily baths for the time being.

-Brandon

 

[Nathan1995]

118.9 is definitely too hot, and thats the first thing I thought of when you said you are using a 75 watt in a 10 gallon.

Temperatures too hot can lead to lethargicness.

I would try to move it down to the 100-105 range.

With that heat its very likely that your dragon is dehydrated, even though you are misting. Misting isn't very good for hydrating IMO. I would start giving daily baths for the time being.

-Brandon

Agree with Brandon, 118.9 is way to hot. My beardie won't leave his cold corner unless his basking spot is 96F. I had mine too hot, and Baby spent about 2 months hardly leaving his corner, so I'd definitely bring that down. I have the correct temps with a 40 watt, in a 50 gallon tank. 75watts in a 10 gallon is way too much.

 

[kaykay87]

^^^^^^ what they said,