Skinny and sometimes lethargic

[Nateb55]

So my approximately 7 month old bearded dragon has been acting a bit weird. Reptar, who eats a decent amount (30 large crickets or so per day) is pretty small for his age, especially when it comes to his weight. He's about 16 inches long (but mostly because of how long his tail is) and has had some behavioral problems. Some days he will wake up and just kinda lay there. Sometimes he'll even go to sleep while his light is on. But he'll sometimes go hours just laying there half asleep. I feed him at least once a day, twice if my busy schedule allows, and although he doesn't usually eat too many, I offer him vegetables whenever I can. He'll mostly eat carrots (he loves them) and some collard greens, but not much else. His abdomen is usually pretty slim and has some wrinkles on the sides unless he's just eaten, and his fat pads are small. They aren't sunken, just kinda flat. But when I take him out of his tank he has so much energy! He runs so fast and loves exploring. His lethargic behavior is inconsistent though, as he has a few days of little movement (until I hold him) and then he'll go another several days running like crazy all over his tank. I give him a daily misto with water, and then weekly or biweekly 10 minute baths. He about 5 bowel movements per week, which are usually solid and he seems to be pretty hydrated too. Any other questions just feel free to ask. Any suggestions on how I can fatten him up a bit more?

 

[kingofnobbys]

So my approximately 7 month old bearded dragon has been acting a bit weird. Reptar, who eats a decent amount (30 large crickets or so per day) is pretty small for his age, especially when it comes to his weight. He's about 16 inches long (but mostly because of how long his tail is) and has had some behavioral problems. Some days he will wake up and just kinda lay there. Sometimes he'll even go to sleep while his light is on. But he'll sometimes go hours just laying there half asleep. I feed him at least once a day, twice if my busy schedule allows, and although he doesn't usually eat too many, I offer him vegetables whenever I can. He'll mostly eat carrots (he loves them) and some collard greens, but not much else. His abdomen is usually pretty slim and has some wrinkles on the sides unless he's just eaten, and his fat pads are small. They aren't sunken, just kinda flat. But when I take him out of his tank he has so much energy! He runs so fast and loves exploring. His lethargic behavior is inconsistent though, as he has a few days of little movement (until I hold him) and then he'll go another several days running like crazy all over his tank. I give him a daily misto with water, and then weekly or biweekly 10 minute baths. He about 5 bowel movements per week, which are usually solid and he seems to be pretty hydrated too. Any other questions just feel free to ask. Any suggestions on how I can fatten him up a bit more?

Some photos and more details would help. Need much more information and details on your beardie's setup and your husbandry otherwise we can't even hazard a guess.

Here's my Cheat Sheet :
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=234738&p=1806050#p1806050

If you work through it methodically , the chances are there are likely a lot of issues that need to be tweeked or changed and they will pop right out at you, if you can give very detailed answers we will then be in a position to offer help. Is impossible to help you if you don't provide thorough details .

It may prove necessary to involve a reptile vet if your bearded dragon has serious health issues.Are you in a position to afford to take him to a good reptile vet should this prove necessary ?

From the very limited information you have provided he sounds perfectly OK to me , great eater , just maturing and becoming lazy and more laid back and moving from being a juvenile to a subadult.

One contributing factor , also a common problem that contributes to lethargy and a drop off in apetite is the age of the existing UV source.
Compacts and tubes typically suffer a decay in their UVA and UVB output as the phosphors decay and at about 6 months old it's usual for their UVA and UVB output to have fallen to about 1/2 to 1/3 the brandnew output and it's recommended they are replaced at this about this point.
How old is your UV globe/tube ?

 

[Nateb55]

So my approximately 7 month old bearded dragon has been acting a bit weird. Reptar, who eats a decent amount (30 large crickets or so per day) is pretty small for his age, especially when it comes to his weight. He's about 16 inches long (but mostly because of how long his tail is) and has had some behavioral problems. Some days he will wake up and just kinda lay there. Sometimes he'll even go to sleep while his light is on. But he'll sometimes go hours just laying there half asleep. I feed him at least once a day, twice if my busy schedule allows, and although he doesn't usually eat too many, I offer him vegetables whenever I can. He'll mostly eat carrots (he loves them) and some collard greens, but not much else. His abdomen is usually pretty slim and has some wrinkles on the sides unless he's just eaten, and his fat pads are small. They aren't sunken, just kinda flat. But when I take him out of his tank he has so much energy! He runs so fast and loves exploring. His lethargic behavior is inconsistent though, as he has a few days of little movement (until I hold him) and then he'll go another several days running like crazy all over his tank. I give him a daily misto with water, and then weekly or biweekly 10 minute baths. He about 5 bowel movements per week, which are usually solid and he seems to be pretty hydrated too. Any other questions just feel free to ask. Any suggestions on how I can fatten him up a bit more?

Some photos and more details would help. Need much more information and details on your beardie's setup and your husbandry otherwise we can't even hazard a guess.

Here's my Cheat Sheet :
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=234738&p=1806050#p1806050

If you work through it methodically , the chances are there are likely a lot of issues that need to be tweeked or changed and they will pop right out at you, if you can give very detailed answers we will then be in a position to offer help. Is impossible to help you if you don't provide thorough details .

It may prove necessary to involve a reptile vet if your bearded dragon has serious health issues.Are you in a position to afford to take him to a good reptile vet should this prove necessary ?

From the very limited information you have provided he sounds perfectly OK to me , great eater , just maturing and becoming lazy and more laid back and moving from being a juvenile to a subadult.

One contributing factor , also a common problem that contributes to lethargy and a drop off in apetite is the age of the existing UV source.
Compacts and tubes typically suffer a decay in their UVA and UVB output as the phosphors decay and at about 6 months old it's usual for their UVA and UVB output to have fallen to about 1/2 to 1/3 the brandnew output and it's recommended they are replaced at this about this point.
How old is your UV globe/tube ?

Idk how to post pictures but he just uses a 125 watt exo terra solar glo mvb and he's had it for about 3 months or so

 

[CooperDragon]

You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply.

How far above the basking area is your Solar Glo?

 

[Nateb55]

You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply.

How far above the basking area is your Solar Glo?

His basking branch which he's outgrown and doesn't use much is about 6 or 7 inches away, but his rock which he uses now is about 10 inches away. The lamps are sat on top of the metal mesh tank lid, but the mesh holes are much larger than most so I assume he's getting enough rays. I should probably get new thermometers since the ones I have now arent digital and are very inaccurate

 

[CooperDragon]

Upgrading your thermometers or getting an IR temp gun is a good idea so you have accurate surface temp readings. You may want to replace the Solar Glo with a more reliable brand and relegate it to a portable heat lamp. Based on tests I've read they degrade rapidly and aren't very powerful in terms of UVB output, but I'm not sure how consistent that is across the line without testing them with a Solarmeter. At 10'' from the basking spot I think your best bet for a mercury vapor is a 100w MegaRay or a 160w PowerSun bulb which should produce a nice level of UVB at that distance. Alternatively you could get a halogen basking light for heat and a T5 UVB tube for UV exposure which would allow you to control heat and UVB independently. That may be a good way to go if you have trouble achieving a good temperature gradient when the mercury vapor bulb is at a proper distance for UVB output at 10''.

 

[EllenD]

It sounds to me like he isn't getting enough UVB or strong enough UVB, as the Solar Glo, as already mentioned, is not a very good MVB for bearded dragons, it's not strong enough at 10" away from him (if his basking spot got further away from the MVB then there's one change that has negatively effected his appetite and increased his lethargy), and with a mesh lid in between him and the Solar Glo at 10" away, it doesn't matter how big the holes in the mesh are, that mesh is blocking up to 35% or more of the UVB light coming from an already too weak UVB source.

Also, the first thing I thought is that it sounds like his temperatures are either way too hot, or way too cold, probably too hot in my opinion. You cannot even measure his basking spot temperature with those round stick-on thermometers. You need to go buy a digital probe thermometer for $10 at Petco or PetSmart immediately and then measure his basking spot, Hot side, and Cool Side temperatures, allowing the probe to sit on each spot for 20-30 minutes each time before reading the temperature. Then list his temps, I'm willing to bet his temps are way off, as those round stick-on thermometers are usually off by as much as 20 degrees...And a Megaray MVB is a great light for bearded dragons, but the Solar Glo is not helping him at all...

 

[kingofnobbys]

Actually lack of UVA will result in
>> lethargy
>> lack of apetite
>> longer term --> neurological problems

I think a good par38 colourless incandescent or halogen spotglobe (domestic indoor/outdoor brands ie Philips) & a T5HO 10%-12% UVB tube in a reflector hood will be the op's best option.

If you wish to use a one globe solution for heat & light & UVA & UVB , then a MVB is a good option but as said , it's hard to optimize the thermal and UV gradients from one source. Only MVBs are NOT DIMMABLE and don't respond well to being switched on and off by switching thermostats because of the control circuit they have builtin.

 

[Nateb55]

Upgrading your thermometers or getting an IR temp gun is a good idea so you have accurate surface temp readings. You may want to replace the Solar Glo with a more reliable brand and relegate it to a portable heat lamp. Based on tests I've read they degrade rapidly and aren't very powerful in terms of UVB output, but I'm not sure how consistent that is across the line without testing them with a Solarmeter. At 10'' from the basking spot I think your best bet for a mercury vapor is a 100w MegaRay or a 160w PowerSun bulb which should produce a nice level of UVB at that distance. Alternatively you could get a halogen basking light for heat and a T5 UVB tube for UV exposure which would allow you to control heat and UVB independently. That may be a good way to go if you have trouble achieving a good temperature gradient when the mercury vapor bulb is at a proper distance for UVB output at 10''.

Im kinda low on cash rn, so what would you say is the easiest and cheapest thing I could do? And I'm definitely gonna get digital thermometers to get better readings. Also like I said before, his appetite seems great and he's only ever lethargic when he's in the tank if that's important. And it's not constant, some days he's lethargic and other days hes running around scratching on the glass. When I take him out he's constantly running and exploring, but if I leave him in the tank and don't interact with him much for a few hours at a time usually he'll kinda just chill in one spot and won't move much. As soon as I start feeding him and holding him though he gets very energetic. If he needs to be closer to the light to get more rays I can get him a bigger basking branch that's closer to the light while I'm working on finding more alternatives to my current bulb

 

[Nateb55]

Actually lack of UVA will result in
>> lethargy
>> lack of apetite
>> longer term --> neurological problems

I think a good par38 colourless incandescent or halogen spotglobe (domestic indoor/outdoor brands ie Philips) & a T5HO 10%-12% UVB tube in a reflector hood will be the op's best option.

If you wish to use a one globe solution for heat & light & UVA & UVB , then a MVB is a good option but as said , it's hard to optimize the thermal and UV gradients from one source. Only MVBs are NOT DIMMABLE and don't respond well to being switched on and off by switching thermostats because of the control circuit they have builtin.

His appetite is good, he'll eat 25-30 large crickets at a time, plus whatever veggies I can convince him to eat although he's stubborn with everything besides carrots. His body not including his tail is only about 8 inches long so he's not too big so that much food is pretty decent for his size I think. And I might be mixing up lethargy and laziness, but even if he isn't super lethargic i obviously still want him to be happy and healthy, so I'm still willing to upgrade his bulbs and everything once I get the money to.I'm also thinking about cutting a hole in the mesh so that more rays can get through.

 

[Nateb55]

Here's what he looks like right now, he ate about an hour and a half ago and afterwards decided he'd relocate and is now relaxing on his basking branch which you can clearly see is getting too small for him. He's very close to the bulb when he's on the branch so I'm glad he still uses it. Let me know what you think. He's always been lazier than my last dragon, so I assume he is just a lazy dragon, but I guess I'm worried that something may be wrong cuz I love him lol i would hate to see something happen to him that i could've avoided https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/50559/full

 

[Reptilelady]

Hi, What i noticed when i got my baby beardie he was really active and now hes getting older becoming more lazy so it might just be that hes a lazy dragon and nothing to be concerned with. Some will have tons of energy some will want to relax and bask all the time (like mine) unless he is looking to go bathroom or hunt for food. I have to get another basking branch/log since he is outgrowing his old one, maybe can find a new one for him as well?

 

[Nateb55]

Hi, What i noticed when i got my baby beardie he was really active and now hes getting older becoming more lazy so it might just be that hes a lazy dragon and nothing to be concerned with. Some will have tons of energy some will want to relax and bask all the time (like mine) unless he is looking to go bathroom or hunt for food. I have to get another basking branch/log since he is outgrowing his old one, maybe can find a new one for him as well?

I think we just have some lazy dragons lol

 

[Nateb55]

He's very energetic today https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/50558/full

 

[Reptilelady]

Yay! Im glad Yeah i noticed some beardies will have their off days like humans do. Mine right now is jumping and running around in enclosure usually hes just basking being lazy and occasionally will want out but that's about it. Also, are you using some kind of green lighting?