Liliwen
Member
Hi all... I am at my wits end with Ruby, no idea what to do or where to go next. She is a female (90% sure) and is approximately 16 months old. We have been owned by her since she was 5 months old.
She lives in a 40 gallon wooden vivarium with glass doors, she has 3 levels she can access, we use (and change every 6 months) a Repti-Glo 10.0, 36 inch and 30 watt, plus a 2.0 strip also Repti-Glo and a 100w basking lamp which is situated on the outside roof with a mesh protector, so it is in her ceiling. She has a bleached log on the middle shelf which is directly under the spot, this temp measures 38c. Elsewhere she has a nice covered area under her first floor where she likes to sleep at night, this is a calci-sandy area and she often digs a nest for herself. She has a sloping slate that she can use to get to first and second floors. her substrate has been calci-sand but we have now gone for slate as have been scared about impaction even though calci-sand is 'recommended' by the advisors but we now realise that this is not in her best interests, have taken most, but not all away.
So, Ruby, up to December 2013, was an active, cheeky, manipulative little soul who shed frequently and ate anything that was not salad! She grew rapidly and although we tried everything, the only worry we had was the lack of appetitie for greens. I give her apple, carrot, red pepper, rocket, spring greens (we live in the UK), every day, fresh and lovingly prepared. Apart from a rare piece of apple, she has never eaten any of it.
Then she went to sleep (early jan). Not completely, her live food intake went from lots, to just 3 or 4 locusts and maybe a phoenix worm or two a day, then that got less and became every 2 days or so. She would hide and sleep, wake and bask but was very dozy. One could almost imagine she had dragon narcolepsy...
So, while scary, we tried not to worry unduly, her poops were normal when she did them, smaller due to reduced food of course but absolutely fine. She never ever drinks, but we bath her not every week but when she looks like she needs it, she is not keen on bathing either!
But the weeks kept going by. She looked fine, alert and bright eyed when awake and taking just enough food to keep her going but still sleeping more than waking even by April. She has been acting weird lately too, nervy looking and really not enjoying any contact with me at all, not that she has ever taken that well to being handled and snuggled! We have kept on trying to interact with her but now she is just not interested at all, will not even take food unless it is a wax worm...she will, as always, do anything for one of them. I know they are a treat only! Her poops are normal although for one or 2 days last week they were fluidy, more like water but then went back to normal.
Finally, we took her to the vet last week. The specialist was away but the vet we saw could not see any signs of impaction, no mouth issues, no obvious signs of any illness, she stands up on all 4 legs and is very alert if very nervy looking
We get to see the specialist on Wednesday. No idea what she will suggest but we are either doing something monumentally wrong while although she looks pretty good she has not grown for almost 5 months now (she cannot have been in semi brumation that long?) she is plumpish, certainly not wasted and hydrated (I have upped the baths a bit and adding sugar etc) but she is just so dammed sad and sleepy and not interested. We wondered if her UV tube was duff and changed it 2 weeks ago, no difference.
She goes for days now eating nothing at all. This morning though, she woke up as normal, basked for a bit then took herself to an unusual spot under the slope of her slate and started to dig. This went on for an hour, unusual this time of day, normally a night time thing.
Is this dragon going to lay infertile eggs I now wonder? The vet last week suggested she may have reached sexual maturity and the hormones are making her weird. That would kind of make sense but 5 months of a sleepy dragon who seems to get no joy out of life is filling me with despair.
Can anyone offer any suggestions? Sorry for the babble, really at a loss now
She lives in a 40 gallon wooden vivarium with glass doors, she has 3 levels she can access, we use (and change every 6 months) a Repti-Glo 10.0, 36 inch and 30 watt, plus a 2.0 strip also Repti-Glo and a 100w basking lamp which is situated on the outside roof with a mesh protector, so it is in her ceiling. She has a bleached log on the middle shelf which is directly under the spot, this temp measures 38c. Elsewhere she has a nice covered area under her first floor where she likes to sleep at night, this is a calci-sandy area and she often digs a nest for herself. She has a sloping slate that she can use to get to first and second floors. her substrate has been calci-sand but we have now gone for slate as have been scared about impaction even though calci-sand is 'recommended' by the advisors but we now realise that this is not in her best interests, have taken most, but not all away.
So, Ruby, up to December 2013, was an active, cheeky, manipulative little soul who shed frequently and ate anything that was not salad! She grew rapidly and although we tried everything, the only worry we had was the lack of appetitie for greens. I give her apple, carrot, red pepper, rocket, spring greens (we live in the UK), every day, fresh and lovingly prepared. Apart from a rare piece of apple, she has never eaten any of it.
Then she went to sleep (early jan). Not completely, her live food intake went from lots, to just 3 or 4 locusts and maybe a phoenix worm or two a day, then that got less and became every 2 days or so. She would hide and sleep, wake and bask but was very dozy. One could almost imagine she had dragon narcolepsy...
So, while scary, we tried not to worry unduly, her poops were normal when she did them, smaller due to reduced food of course but absolutely fine. She never ever drinks, but we bath her not every week but when she looks like she needs it, she is not keen on bathing either!
But the weeks kept going by. She looked fine, alert and bright eyed when awake and taking just enough food to keep her going but still sleeping more than waking even by April. She has been acting weird lately too, nervy looking and really not enjoying any contact with me at all, not that she has ever taken that well to being handled and snuggled! We have kept on trying to interact with her but now she is just not interested at all, will not even take food unless it is a wax worm...she will, as always, do anything for one of them. I know they are a treat only! Her poops are normal although for one or 2 days last week they were fluidy, more like water but then went back to normal.
Finally, we took her to the vet last week. The specialist was away but the vet we saw could not see any signs of impaction, no mouth issues, no obvious signs of any illness, she stands up on all 4 legs and is very alert if very nervy looking
We get to see the specialist on Wednesday. No idea what she will suggest but we are either doing something monumentally wrong while although she looks pretty good she has not grown for almost 5 months now (she cannot have been in semi brumation that long?) she is plumpish, certainly not wasted and hydrated (I have upped the baths a bit and adding sugar etc) but she is just so dammed sad and sleepy and not interested. We wondered if her UV tube was duff and changed it 2 weeks ago, no difference.
She goes for days now eating nothing at all. This morning though, she woke up as normal, basked for a bit then took herself to an unusual spot under the slope of her slate and started to dig. This went on for an hour, unusual this time of day, normally a night time thing.
Is this dragon going to lay infertile eggs I now wonder? The vet last week suggested she may have reached sexual maturity and the hormones are making her weird. That would kind of make sense but 5 months of a sleepy dragon who seems to get no joy out of life is filling me with despair.
Can anyone offer any suggestions? Sorry for the babble, really at a loss now
