Lethargy. Constipation. Brumation? Or Should I be Concerned?

[ziggydoodles]

So, I have a question for all the veteran beardie-slaves out there, well, more of a concern than a question I guess.

My Doodles is approx. 1 year, 4 months old. For the past couple of weeks her behavior has started changing, and I'm not sure if she could be starting some sort of brumation, or if something could be wrong with her. Here's a breakdown on her behaviors lately:

- She's been less active than usual. She's been spending a lot of time at the bottom of the warm side of her tank. I thought at first her temps could be off, because for a little while I had to use this crappy dial thermometer, but when my new digital probe one arrived, her hottest basking spot was 98, and her lower spot is currently at 94, whereas the bottom of her warm side was 85. Her cool side is sitting at 77. I also have a 24" reptisun 10.0 tube for her tank, which sits about 8 inches over her head (except for the spot she INSISTS on hiding in lately, which is at a very bottom corner of her warm side; it's about 12 inches away from there).

- Her appetite has been decreasing over the past couple of weeks. First, she went a bit off her salads, and will only pick at them (I usually give her some combination of turnip, collard, or mustard greens, and some shredded acorn or spaghetti squash. Sometimes I use escarole and give little apple bits as a treat). Even though she wasn't really eating veggies she was still chowing down on worms (she usually eats supers, since she doesn't like crickets and she hasn't gotten super chunky from eating them). Now she's eating less of those too, the other day when I tried to feed her she literally ran away from the worm!

- For the past 5 months or so, she's been a regular weekly pooper. They've always been normal poos, but XL because she holds them in for so long. Today, it's been 2 weeks since her last BM. I've been giving her baths every other day for the past week, and this afternoon I gave her a tiny bit of canned pumpkin, since I've read other threads where it's been used as a little beardie laxative. She doesn't seem distressed about anything, no stress marks or anything like that.


I'm just wondering if this could be Doodles starting to brumate or something, or if I should be concerned that she could be sick. She's my little baby, I'm very overprotective of her & I get paranoid when her routine changes

 

[AHBD]

Hi there...she's at that age, and it's that time of year. You can't keep them from doing the natural thing, so don't worry, just let her sleep or act whatever way she wants. Many beardies are doing the same thing and driving their owners crazy right now. It's good to have a hide in there on the cool side so she can go sleep if she wants. It's good to let part of the tank get to about 70 or even down to 65 if you can, that induces a better sleep,if not she may just lounge around the way she is because it's a little too warm to really brumate so she will just slow down on all activities and look mopey.

 

[ziggydoodles]

Hmm...Doodles still hasn't pooed, but I made her a hide and put a blankey in it and it's on the cool side of her tank. At the moment though she's more interested in hanging out on top of it than inside of it. I gave her another 15-20 minute bath today, and put some fresh mustard greens in her tank. She ate 4 supers but is still ignoring the greens...I'm hoping I'll be able to take her to the vet next week & get a fecal test done (assuming she will actually poop), just to rule out any problems, and to make sure she's healthy if she does decide to brumate.