Sick Lizard?

[dilly1]

Hi there,

I have had my bearded dragon since march of last year and she was around three months when I got her. She has always had trouble consistently eating. When I first got her she would eat tons and tons of crickets, and then I believe she went into brumation, even though she was only about 10 months of age. She hid all day under the carpet and didnt eat for about three months. Early in the spring she started to come out and she ate well again for about a month. At that point she was getting superworms (over 16"), waxworms, and silkworms. She still had not eaten much in the way of veggies (every once in a while she would eat some dandelions and red leaf lettuce). In late march or early april she stopped eating and was very lethargic. I tried to get her to eat babyfood, mushed up insects, veggies, and nothing worked. She hasnt eaten since then, but she hasnt lost much weight at all. She doesnt seem sick, just lethargic and doesnt want to eat. I give her soaks and everything but still nothing. I am wondering what could be causing this. Would an impaction be on the right side of her belly? The middle? The left? Every 6 months I change her reptisun 10.0 bulb. Her basking temps are in the mid 90's. Her cage is a homemade 4'X2'X2'. I dont know what else I can do. Please help.

 

[Jiffy]

Hi.
What area do you live in? (as in, basically is it warm or cool there or changing season?)
And I would think you may want to bump up your basking spot to around 100

 

[dilly1]

I live in northern california on the coast. So it is basically cool here most of the time. The temperature doesnt really fluctuate very much here.

 

[dilly1]

Anybody have any ideas?

 

[lizardcollector]

Hi there,

I have had my bearded dragon since march of last year and she was around three months when I got her. She has always had trouble consistently eating. When I first got her she would eat tons and tons of crickets, and then I believe she went into brumation, even though she was only about 10 months of age. She hid all day under the carpet and didnt eat for about three months. Early in the spring she started to come out and she ate well again for about a month. At that point she was getting superworms (over 16"), waxworms, and silkworms. She still had not eaten much in the way of veggies (every once in a while she would eat some dandelions and red leaf lettuce). In late march or early april she stopped eating and was very lethargic. I tried to get her to eat babyfood, mushed up insects, veggies, and nothing worked. She hasnt eaten since then, but she hasnt lost much weight at all. She doesnt seem sick, just lethargic and doesnt want to eat. I give her soaks and everything but still nothing. I am wondering what could be causing this. Would an impaction be on the right side of her belly? The middle? The left? Every 6 months I change her reptisun 10.0 bulb. Her basking temps are in the mid 90's. Her cage is a homemade 4'X2'X2'. I dont know what else I can do. Please help.

Ok well here is a tip. I would say lift your basking up to 100-105 (may be little warmer). rember this must be the temprature of the light shinging down so your rocks may be way warmer but dont let that stress you. but by you saying 90s do you put your probe on the rock? cause then it would be way too cold for beardies. my rocks go way warmer then 105. another thing tube lighting for the cage (must be as long as the cage) for the UVs. i hard the same problem with hayley (my youngest female beardie) problem came out the log i had for her actually blocked off her Uv rays. when i changed this instantly she became more alive colour changed etc. will you please post me all your temps. Basking? Hot side? and cold side temps? aswell as night temps.

 

[dna14]

hi! We live in Northern California too and recently went through exactly what sounds like you're going thru with our one year old beardie. Wouldn't eat for days just a lazy lie-abed.

You mentioned Repti-Sun 10.0, that's good, how close can she get to it? We were advised to make sure our beardie can get to 6-8" away from the bulb. She was at 8-10" so what we did was get her a Repti-Hammock she could climb up closer to 6" if she wishes, and we also cut a hole in the screen so the light is not filtered. What a difference we noticed though we didn't see the problems for months, we noticed an improvement in her appetite, activity and color in weeks. Mid-90's for basking may be a bit cool... right now it's been 2 weeks since we made the changes with the Repti-Sun, and her basking is 98.5, which I'm considering upping, and for the first time in probably 2 months she's acting like she did long ago- glass dancing and doing laps....

Don't know if any of that helps but keep us posted

 

[dilly1]

The uv tube runs about half the length of the tank. There is really nothing I can do about that right this moment. Her basking temperature is around 99 degrees, but she has no rocks, just carpeting. Do you think I should put some flat rocks down so she can get some from underneath? I have been giving her baths a lot more often and every time she drinks a ton from the bath water as well. Her cool side temp is 75 degrees which is also her nighttime temp. She can get within 6 inches of the uv bulb as well. Any more ideas would be very useful...thanks