Hi there, I have a male breadie about 8 months old. He has been eating fine but last week he just stopped. He hasn't had anything since and hasn;t pooped either.... not sure if this is because he is not eating.
Temp in his tank is the same, only thing that has changed is that we recently moved house. He seems fine, but concerned his not eating.
Anyone got any ideas??
Hello,
I am sorry your beardie is not doing so well. I am going to ask a lot of questions to help get a better understanding of what is going on. How big is your dragon? What was the last thing he ate? What is his usual diet? How often does he usually poop? Is he showing any other signs such as lethargy, change in color? What substrate is he on? What is your cage setup? What lighting do you use?
You can try and give your beardie a bath. It is important to keep them hydrated when they stop eating. 1-2 baths a day can help with hydration and if he's impacted it may help move things through. When he's in his bath you can massage his tummy on the right side, gently run your finger down his side from armpit to tail.
Good luck with your baby, let us know how he's doing!
Do you feel any lumps in the belly? Does he have any type of discomfort or does he strain to try to go to the bathroom? Just want to rule out any type of impaction. Whenever there are questions, I always think its a good idea to at least have a yearly wellness exam at the vet. I do this for all my beardies that I keep.
Hi
Thanks for replying. He is 8 months old and about 35 - 40cms long (nose to tail). He was off his food for a couple of days about a week ago. He then gorged himself on a load of crickets and I thought all was well again. However since then he has pooped twice that I can remember and only really had a couple of mouthfulls of salad. He normally eats crickets in the morning and in the evening and we give him some greens as well. Crickets are usually dusted for him as well. He would normally poop once a day on average.
I've not really noticed any change in colour but he has been a little more lethargic than normal.
We don't use a substrate as such, we have him on tiles instead so I'm hoping impaction should not be a problem but you never know! The cage setup has not really changed recently. We use a reptiglo 10 strip light and a pulse heat lamp. I changed the bulbs on both of these within the last couple of months but both were replaced with exactly the same type of bulb. He has a water dish as well but like many beardies he has never really got the hang of the dish and gets most of his moisture from greens etc.
I've not seen him straining to poop yet but I will keep an eye out. I might try the bath idea as that sounds useful even if it just helps to hydrate him. I did try bathing him months ago but he didn't seem to like it one bit. Perhaps now is the time to give it another go.
Thanks for your help so far.
He may have overeaten and have indigestion. You might want to try warms baths and a little applesauce to try to get him to go. Maybe then he will feel better.