Stopped eating, urates often.

[flashburn]

My dragon, Ragnar, is about two years old. About a couple months ago, he seemed kind of lethargic (didn't seem like brumation, which he went through last winter), and didn't eat much, in fact he wasn't really eating his veggies at all, and barely would eat Phoenix Worms, but he would eat Superworms or Horn Worms, but only sometimes. So I gave him Reptaid for about two weeks, which seemed to maybe help a little.

I then decided that he might be spoiled on Superworms and Horn Worms, so I cut them off, and went to salad's only to try to get him back into them. It's now been almost three weeks, and he's maybe taken a bite or two this entire time, and now he's urating multiple times a day, and often he just does it in his basking spot and doesn't even bother to move. He weighed around 600g three weeks ago, and is a bit over 500g now, so he hasn't really lost a lot of weight, but I definitely don't want to see him get below 500g. His basking spot is at around 95-100 degrees, and his cooler side is in the low 80's. His terrarium has a slate tile floor. I let him soak in a bath every few days for about 15-20 minutes, which he hates.

His salad's always consist of eithe collard, turnip, or mustard greens, with yellow squash, and I tried doing a fruit like a small amount of raspberry or grape, which he always would scarf down, and won't eat to save his life (literally) now.

I just moved to Orlando, so I don't know if there's a vet that is good with reptiles in the area, but I'm going to check after I post this, but I was hoping someone had some ideas.

 

[flashburn]

It's only been two hours since I've been home and he's already urated twice since I've been home. First one was just a little bit of white urate, and the second one was mostly just clear fluid. Man, I don't know what is going on. I tried to push him to eat, and he kind of opened his mouth a little, and his jaw made a clicking sound a couple of times, and he just wanted nothing to do with it. The clicking sound makes me think his jaw is injured, but he's opened it while bathing or basking so I don't think that is an issue.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....I think the jaw clicking was just him snapping shut since he didn't want to eat. So a few Q's, what type of substrate is he on ? Just want to rule out possible impaction....also, does he ever roam free in your home ? Beardies will swallow any small object....rubber bands, coins, paper clips, etc.

And are you sure Regnal is a male ? Some females pass very small stools before egg laying, but they don't usually lose weight unless they feel pretty sick and/or get eggbound. Also, how did he do during the move ? Any chance that he was injured or had any trauma ?
Another possibility is that he doesn't have anything to poo except the liquid from the Reptaid, but the weight loss is a bit more than usual for just a couple of weeks of not eating.

To find a vet , go to www.arav.com
There will be lists of reptile vets by state, they can check him out + maybe take X-rays to see if there is any obstruction or other problem. Hopefully everything will be O.K.

 

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He's on slate tile, I don't think he has any impaction, because he does still poop, but it's not more than once a week, at the most, since he never really eats anything. I don't let him roam free unless supervised (two cats).

I'm only thinking he is male because of those big bumps on the bottom of his hindlegs (I forget what they are called), and I was told he was male when I got him, but he was only like six weeks old.

It seemed like the move was fine on him, he was in a fabric cat carrier with a blanket in it, and it was only a few hours away. It may of traumatized him some, but it seemed like he was beginning to act this way before the move.

Interesting about the weight loss. It may not be quite as bad from 600g to 500g because he might of not had empty bowels at the time.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion to search on Arav, there's actually a Vet in the same community as me, so I'll probably give her a call.

Does the frequent bowel movements mean anything? I can't imagine he got any sort of parasites in the last couple of weeks since he's been in his cage and hasn't eaten any live insects. I wonder if it's just because a couple days ago I let him bathe for a bit over 20 minutes, but I normally only keep him in there for 10 minutes or so.

 

[flashburn]

Anyone have any more thoughts? He's moved his bowels another couple of times today too. Really odd between the not eating and constantly going to the bathroom thing.

 

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One thing I can do is give him more Reptaid (it's been about a month), and make a salad smoothie for him and feed it with a syringe, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to force feed him like that?

 

[AHBD]

The reason I asked if he was possibly a female is because some females will pass a number of small stools in the days prior to laying eggs. Can you post a pic with his tail arched up in the air so I could have a look just in case it's a female ? I think that you are looking at the femoral + pre anal pores which both sexes have, although a male has more prominent ones.

Use this info to post your pics :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/

 

[flashburn]

Here's a few shots of him and his environment.

I did forget that I did the "tail check" about a year ago, and although the two bumps aren't prominent, I think it shows he's a male. Also it's not that he isn't pooping, he isn't eating either, so it's understandable that there isn't anything for him to poop.

 

[AHBD]

Yes, he's def. a male, and a handsome one. I'm not sure what would cause these symptoms, a vet visit might shed some light. If he's been off food + lethargic for several months, plus has the urge to poo so often it would be good to have him checked out....take a fecal sample in to check for parasites.

 

[flashburn]

Okay, thanks for confirming.

He's definitely acting weird. In the two years I've had him, he did something he's NEVER done before, which is drink from his bath water. It started as he was just sticking out his tongue to get a little bit of water from his nose, then after I dropped more on his nose he decided he just wanted to stick his face into the water and take a drink. He's probably just dehydrated from his constant bowel movements, but I still thought it was interesting.

Is a fecal test still possible if there's no actual poop? It might be difficult getting what little urate he is dropping.