My BD is not eatting and is not active HELP???

[Webb]

Hi Guys. Need some advise asap. My 5 month old male has always had a healthy appetite, and been very active, but over the last week he went from 20 crickets to 3. For the next two days he ate nothing at all. Today and yesterday he ate one cricket and some fruit / vege which I had to hand feed him. He has been drinking loads more than normal.
His poo was slightly runny one day, but yesterday and today its been fine. I have been giving him regular warm baths to make sure he is hydrated.
His temp is 95 in the day and 85 at night. Any ideas what could be wrong?

 

[larry1]

I am only new to bearded dragons but maybe your uvb bulb needs to be changed as they are only good for 6 to 12 months, also it could be sheding its skin,
I read somewhere on this site that thae sometimes go off their food and become inactive because they hibernate in the wild at certain times of the year,
if poo is ok and its taking water i wouldnt worry yet but keep an eye on bd cause i am no expert, night time temp seems a bit high bring it down to 75.
hope beardi gets better soon

 

[Webb]

when we got him a few months ago he shred every week. The reptile shop said its a sign of a healthy BD as the more they eat the more they will shred. He's not shredding now though as he inst eating properly.
I think maybe your right about his temps. Every site seems to say different. I have it at 95 in the hot side, 85 in the cool site, and I switch the UV off at night, dropping the temp down to 85 via the habistat red light. I will drop it down to 75 tonight.

I read the UV needs to be changed every 6-12 months, so the one we have is fine only a few months old.

Any info or help from anyone would be so gratefully appreciated I'm so worried about him he looks s weak now????

 

[larry1]

try giving bd warm veg baby food ( squash) with a surenge, put driplets of it on his nose and it will lick it off, that way it will be getting food and fluids; thats about all i know but it worked for my baby beardie when it wouldnt eat,
best of luck:

 

[Webb]

Thank you for your help

 

[crickest]

Hi there -

Could you answer a few questions to help decipher your beardies issues?

How old is your dragon?
How long have you had your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What is the sex of your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?

I know it looks like a lot, but it will really help us help you help your beardie.

Also, you state you use a night heat lamp. You should turn that off. Beardies like cool nights and as long as the temp in the viv does not get colder than 65 degrees at night, you don't need to provide heat. They can see the red light and it can also disturb their bodies natural rhythms, making sleep deprived dragons. If you live somewhere where it is colder in your house than 65 degrees at night, the best thing to use is a ceramic heat emitter. It emits heat but not light. And you should have it on a rheostat, so it doesn't over warm the viv. Remember, deserts get cold at night. Our beardies are healthiest when they are allowed to cool off when they sleep. In the morning, you will want to let your beardie warm up under the basking lights for about an hour before feeding them.

If you could answer the questions, it will definitely help us decipher what else might be going on.

 

[Webb]

How old is your dragon? 6 Months
How long have you had your dragon? 5 months
How long is your dragon? 12"
What is the sex of your dragon? male
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 125 litre tank (2 ft by 1.5 deep)
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? Calcium sand
Do you use UVB lights? Yes two strips (One UVB and one normal)
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? Fluorescent tube
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? Repti Glo 10.0 UVB - 20 watt
How old is your UVB bulb? 5 months
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? About 8" close to it however my hubby is sanding some branches atm so he can get closer
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Yes a red light heat bulb 100 watt on a habistat (theromstat)
What are the basking temps? 95
What is the cool side temp? 85
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? No
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? From the habistat (and a strip thermostat on the cool side)
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No

What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. He was on locusts about 20 per feed twice per day, and Rocket. when he stopped eating we bought some crickets, which he ate a 2 for two days then stopped again. After he had not eaten for 3 days we were so worried so we tried him on locusts again and he ate one (Yesterday). I have also bought him some different salad / fruit to try and get him eating something. He had one small bite of broccoli and apple which I hand feed him on Saturday.

How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? I feed him salad in the morning and locusts in the evening.

Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? WE use Komodo cricket dust which we now use every other day.

Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? Yes (They were not as hard as normal but yesterdays was fine. He goes once per day)

Do you bath your dragon? How often? He was having a bath once per week. Since he has been poorly he has had a bath once per day as to keep him hydrated cos he is not eating and he very thirsty.

Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? He has a bowl of water which he drinks from. And we mist him every day which he enjoys.

Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? No

Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? Not yet

OK so I need to turn the heat lamp down to 65 at night and see how he goes tonight. Thank you for your time and help

 

[shadi11]

You are going to have to upgrade take size. Space is starting to get cramped for him. A 4 ft by 2 ft is recommended minimum size for a beardie.
Calcium sand is not the best substrate. Beardies cant digest it so it can cause impaction. I personally with younger dragons prefer paper towel. As they get older I use reptile carpet or tiles.
Repti glo- last I looked into them for the 10.0 they aren’t the greatest. I personally would recommend a reptisun 10.0 or a mvb. mvb would cover heat and uvb needs
Also it is recommended that you use a digital thermometer or a temp gun to measure temps. Stick on strip thermostats can be off by a lot.. 20 degrees or more. I use a 100 watt light in my dragon enclosures that are 4 foot by two foot.
It is recommended that you have the basking at about 105-115. The cool side I usually keep at 78.
Also it is recommended that you have a bright white light for the basking in the day. Dragons thrive more with bright lights. I use regular house bulbs. If your house doesn’t get below 65 at night I wouldn’t bother having any light on at night. They don’t really need it.
I also would recommend adding greens into his diet. Like collards and mustard greens over the broccoli and apples. They are more healthy for them. Suppliments I would recommend a calcium suppliement like repcal to be used with ever feeder since your dragon is still young. For five days a week. And multivitamin on one feeding two days a weel. And this changes as they get older.

Also it might be in the best interest to have a fecal done just to make sure he doesn’t have parasites

Also I wouldnt recommend doing syringe feeding with food unless you absolutely have too. they can become to rely on it

 

[Webb]

That's great thank you so much.

So I am going to take out the calcium sand now and put in paper towels. My worry with doing this is that he is in a glass tank - Will it not get cold from below? I read that heat mats are a complete no go?

When I get paid I will buy a bigger enclosure for him.

Some of my questions now are going to sound so stupid, however I have to ask as I want to get things 100% perfect for him.

I can take out the red heat spot and put in a white one, this comes from the habistat. The max temp on this is 100. So How can I get that hotter? Also (sorry for being really stupid here) But at the moment from the stick on thermometer the temp on the cool side is 82, how can I get this cooler for him? - We currently have two strip lights along the top, one UVB and one normal white, maybe if I take the white strip out this will make it cooler?

I will get a digital thermometer to test the temps. And I will take the temp down to 65 with the habistat tonight. Then in case it does go below this it will maintain the temp to 65. Is this ok?

He has had other vege, I got the apple and broccoli as a friend said they give it to there's as a treat, and I just wanted him to eat something. Its not a regular feed.

Thanks again for your info / help

 

[crickest]

It sounds like you are outside of the United States, which makes finding the Repti-Sun 10.0 difficult. If you continue to use the Repti-glo 10.0 the basking spot should be at least 10" away and a bright white basking bulb should be positioned next to it. The Repti-glo bulb has documented problems with causing inflamed eyes and eye irritation, and in some cases can cause lethargy and loss of appetite. The best bulb you can get in England/Ireland is the Arcadia D3 12% bulb. (I'm not sure where you are at...) It may be time to change the bulb because UVB output significantly drops after 6 months.

I would also recommend a thermometer with a digital probe. There are a lot of indoor/outdoor weather station thermometers which have digital probes (thermometer on a wire). You can place the display on the cool side and station the probe directly under the basking spot so you have both temps immediately available. If the habistat is measuring air temps only, his viv could be too hot. Babies like it hot, but as they begin to mature, they won't. Using a digital probe allows you to know exactly what his basking temp is. The cool side (ambient air temp) can be 75 - 85, but will be better if its closer to 75 - 80. (Dragons warm up quickly and then lose temp slowly. If the cool side is too warm and they can't shed the heat, it can make them sick, dehydrated, etc.)

You need to replace the red light with a bright white basking bulb. You can use a flood light or many people use an incandescent bulb. The bright white light will stimulate their appetite and energy level. Once you move him into a larger viv (40 gallon - 36 X 18 X 18 - is the minimum suggested for an adult) it will be easier to provide the bright white light and temp differences to get the correct heating gradient.

There is a great list of nutritious food found at http://www.beautifuldragons.com under nutrition. It gives all the recommended foods and the frequency at which they should be fed. This should give you some ideas for stimulating his appetite with foods that are good for him.

Last, I concur with the earlier poster to get rid of the calci-sand. If you want to use san, then simple playground sand that has been sifted and washed is okay (sifted to get rid of the larger pieces he could swallow and washed to get rid of the dust). Or, you can move to repti-carpet, tile or paper. I use tile in one side (under the basking light since it help retain the heat) and repti-carpet on the other (cuz that's where my dragon likes to poo and its easy to change out and clean.) So I fall somewhere in the middle.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Karen

 

[shadi11]

how cool do you keep your house at night?

also I did find the reptisun is available in england if thats where you are. heres one site but there was more
http://www.edirectory.co.uk/gmtv/4688/mib/d/zoo+med+reptisun+100+high+output+uvb+bulb/pid/10468196
I have been known to put slate down if I use the floor as the basking area. Which I do for one of my dragons thats paralyzed. but the glass shouldnt matter. you just need the spot he likes to sit and bask up to temperature. not the whole area of the tank.
If you need to use a light at night the red light is appropriate.
let us know how the temps work out once you get the digital thermometer.
Also another substrate I forgot you can use is shelf liner. not the kind with the holes but the smooth kind. this makes for quick easy cleaning as well.

 

[Webb]

Hi Guys

Thank you all so much for all your help. It seems I have been given a lot of wrong information and made him ill I feel awful

Can someone check this link and see which digital probe's they think will be OK so I can order one?

http://www.petzoo.co.uk/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=thermometer&x=77&y=14

I have made a list of the changes I need to make. And have already changed the bulb. I have moved the probe from the habistat right next to the hot spot as before it was at the back. But I figure this will help me keep a closer eye on the temp until the new thermometer arrives?

I have also taken out the sand which I was told was the best to use as its digestible if they do eat any grr! I have put in paper towel until I can get to the shops and get something else.

I was advised all my info from the reptile shop, now I dont wanna go there as they have told me it all wrong and Im so upset by this.

Thanks again everyone for your help / time trying to help me make my little one better

 

[shadi11]

Personally I use infra red thermometers.
like this one
http://www.petzoo.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=309

you can use that to measure the whole tank where as the others you have to have one probe set on each side. if you prefer that method i can link you to that too

 

[Webb]

I thought I needed one either side? Id like to be able to have one in the hot side and one in the cool side that are there permanantly so its easy to see what it exactly it is? although I can understand the benefit of this Infa red. How often do you check it with this?

 

[crickest]

The one I use is Acu-rite Digital Thermometer with Humidity and Clock; Item #00891 (company) or WC-C0028 and looks like this:

It cost me $12.00 US. Walmart carries them. You might see if you can get one there.

I too, was given bad information about beardies from the reptistore. (You know, the one who specializes in reptiles) and spent about $300 on equipment I had to replace or didn't use, plus I was sold a sick beardie who died 63 days later. Not something I want anyone to have to go through.

Luckily, they are hardy little buggers and yours should come right in no time. Let us know if you need anything else.