Please advise

[superyynju]

Hi guys,

My dragon is behaving quite different recently(He is about one and a half year old now). He becomes soooo sooo lazy. He eats all his crickets and salads but he will not chase his crickets. He just stays there and waiting for the crickets to come by his mouth and he will eat them..After eating, he will bask for an hour and then go down below his hide and sleep.

The other thing is my dragon poops once every week or even two weeks now. Does that look normal? He will give a surprisingly big poop. Before his brumation, he pooped everyday and he chases the crickets like crazy. But now he is just so lazy. Once finishing eating and basking, he will directly go to sleep even the light is on. I cannot believe it. What is happening to my dragon?

 

[CooperDragon]

How long has it been since he stopped brumating? The lack of energy and infrequent poops would be a concern to me if it's been a while. If it hasn't been very long it could just be taking a while for his metabolism to get back to normal. Are his temps and lighting correct? What can you tell me about his setup?

 

[superyynju]

It has been about 35 days since he stopped brumating. Initially he was very energetic after the brumation. He runs everywhere in his tank and wants to get out. But after a week, he becomes lazy like now.

He is living in a 40 gallon tank. Because it is a fish tank and the height is high, I put two heating lamp so he has two basking spot. One is about 35 degree Celsius and the other is about 40 degree Celcius. He likes the 40 degree spot a lot. I can see him basking on that spot and open his mouth to regulate his body temperature after he finishes eating. (the temp is measured by a thermal couple with digital readout..I took it from my lab. It should be very precise tool to measure the spot temperature). I use the ZooMed 10.0 Desert UVB light, which is the UVB light most people recommend. It was purchased this January when he was still in brumation.

One more thing I noticed is that he shed only a small part of his front limbs, not his entire body. Is it a sign showing that he doesn't have enough calcium or vitamin? I do dust the crickets with calcium and vitamin. Maybe the UV light is not good anymore?

How often does your adult dragons poop and do they shed their entire body or only part of their body?

Thanks.

How long has it been since he stopped brumating? The lack of energy and infrequent poops would be a concern to me if it's been a while. If it hasn't been very long it could just be taking a while for his metabolism to get back to normal. Are his temps and lighting correct? What can you tell me about his setup?

 

[CooperDragon]

OK so that's been a while. It isn't likely related to the brumation. The ReptiSun 10.0 should last approx 6 months so that should still be fine too. The 40g tank is relatively small so I'd stick to one basking spot (the 40c temp is jut about right. I'd try lowering the other end of the tank to about 26 or so to provide a nice gradient for him to regulate his temps. The shed is normal. They don't tend to shed evenly and it's common to see things like just hands or parts of the face shed at a time. How does he act when he's out of the tank? Does he have energy and try to run around a bit or is he still lazy? Do you give him regular baths? That might be worth it to try and regulate his system a bit.

 

[superyynju]

I used to bath him everyday before his brumation and he would poop in the bath but after the brumation, I bathed him and he wouldn't poop. So right now I only bath him once or twice a week.

When I took him out and put him on the floor, he will stay still for one or two minutes and then start to leaking around. He will 'walk' around, but not in a speedy running mode, just slowly walk and lick things around.

Anyway, I'll take away his second heating lamp since I seldom see him using the second heating spot and summer is coming.

How often does your adult dragon poop?

OK so that's been a while. It isn't likely related to the brumation. The ReptiSun 10.0 should last approx 6 months so that should still be fine too. The 40g tank is relatively small so I'd stick to one basking spot (the 40c temp is jut about right. I'd try lowering the other end of the tank to about 26 or so to provide a nice gradient for him to regulate his temps. The shed is normal. They don't tend to shed evenly and it's common to see things like just hands or parts of the face shed at a time. How does he act when he's out of the tank? Does he have energy and try to run around a bit or is he still lazy? Do you give him regular baths? That might be worth it to try and regulate his system a bit.

 

[CooperDragon]

I can't say this is a general rule for EVERY dragon, but Coop poops almost every day in the morning at around the same time. I found that the routine helps regulate him. Some days he doesn't feel like going which is OK. If it's more than a few days he usually gets an extra bath and that helps things along.