The dragon doesn't want to get warm

[NickAVD]

Hello
I apologize in advance for the long text.
I want to ask the respected parents of bearded dragons. Foxy is my first bearded dragon, I get very worried when his behavior changes, so I apologize in advance if my topic is similar to many others.
So, Foxy is now 16 months old, his weight is 510g. His lighting was carefully set up and special thanks to @KarrieRee for that. The Arcadia ProT5 UVB Kit 12% is located 10" above the basking zone, it has an Arcadia Halogen Basking 75W heating lamp that maintains the temperature at 95-100F. In the cool zone and shelter the temperature is 77-80F. His terrarium is currently 65g, but I have plans to move him to 120g by the end of the year.
We had quite a hot summer and in his cool zone the temperature was 82-85F. From that moment on, Foxy's behavior changed, he completely stopped warming himself and began to spend most of the daytime in his shelter and doze there. Before these changes, he ate little greens (about 50% greens to 50% bugs). Now he has completely stopped eating his greens and vegetables, but if you offer him bugs he will eat a little (for example, one horned worm or 2-3 dubia roaches), sometimes I give him locusts, he loves them very much, but it is tough, so I try not to give it to him too often, and give it 2-3 locusts at a time.
I’m worried that now he won’t go to warm up on his own even if he eats 2-3 roaches, so I have to put him in his warming zone, he warms up for 1-2 hours, starts to gape and goes into his hiding place. This semi-brumation has been going on for 3 months now and I am a little worried that he has become so apathetic. I have an Arcadia MVB lamp located on the windowsill and once a day I try to place him under it for 1-2 hours, he looks out the window with interest, then he gets hot and leaves the lamp, after which I let him wander around room, this lasts 15-20 minutes, after which he begins to look for shelter. I return him to the terrarium and he goes to sleep. He can sleep all day, or he can stick his head out of the shelter and eat a couple of cockroaches or a hornworm, after which I have to put him down to warm up, because he won't go on his own. When he's awake, his eyes are alert and attentive, and when he's asleep, he shows off both of his sexy legs. Does this mean he doesn't feel bad?
He takes a bath once a week and poops during the bath. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing when I take him out of hiding to put him to bask near a window or under a lamp in a terrarium? But I'm worried that he eats some roaches and doesn't want to warm up at all after that. I am also worried that he has stopped eating greens and vegetables, so in order not to feed him only bugs, I give him dandelion, mint, arugula while he warms up and keeps his mouth open. He doesn't seem to mind it and eats it with pleasure and doesn't spit it out.
I don’t understand, maybe it’s semi-brumation or he’s just a little spoiled by the fact that I started doing everything for him myself, or maybe there’s something wrong with his envirement?

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello
I apologize in advance for the long text.
I want to ask the respected parents of bearded dragons. Foxy is my first bearded dragon, I get very worried when his behavior changes, so I apologize in advance if my topic is similar to many others.
So, Foxy is now 16 months old, his weight is 510g. His lighting was carefully set up and special thanks to @KarrieRee for that. The Arcadia ProT5 UVB Kit 12% is located 10" above the basking zone, it has an Arcadia Halogen Basking 75W heating lamp that maintains the temperature at 95-100F. In the cool zone and shelter the temperature is 77-80F. His terrarium is currently 65g, but I have plans to move him to 120g by the end of the year.
We had quite a hot summer and in his cool zone the temperature was 82-85F. From that moment on, Foxy's behavior changed, he completely stopped warming himself and began to spend most of the daytime in his shelter and doze there. Before these changes, he ate little greens (about 50% greens to 50% bugs). Now he has completely stopped eating his greens and vegetables, but if you offer him bugs he will eat a little (for example, one horned worm or 2-3 dubia roaches), sometimes I give him locusts, he loves them very much, but it is tough, so I try not to give it to him too often, and give it 2-3 locusts at a time.
I’m worried that now he won’t go to warm up on his own even if he eats 2-3 roaches, so I have to put him in his warming zone, he warms up for 1-2 hours, starts to gape and goes into his hiding place. This semi-brumation has been going on for 3 months now and I am a little worried that he has become so apathetic. I have an Arcadia MVB lamp located on the windowsill and once a day I try to place him under it for 1-2 hours, he looks out the window with interest, then he gets hot and leaves the lamp, after which I let him wander around room, this lasts 15-20 minutes, after which he begins to look for shelter. I return him to the terrarium and he goes to sleep. He can sleep all day, or he can stick his head out of the shelter and eat a couple of cockroaches or a hornworm, after which I have to put him down to warm up, because he won't go on his own. When he's awake, his eyes are alert and attentive, and when he's asleep, he shows off both of his sexy legs. Does this mean he doesn't feel bad?
He takes a bath once a week and poops during the bath. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing when I take him out of hiding to put him to bask near a window or under a lamp in a terrarium? But I'm worried that he eats some roaches and doesn't want to warm up at all after that. I am also worried that he has stopped eating greens and vegetables, so in order not to feed him only bugs, I give him dandelion, mint, arugula while he warms up and keeps his mouth open. He doesn't seem to mind it and eats it with pleasure and doesn't spit it out.
I don’t understand, maybe it’s semi-brumation or he’s just a little spoiled by the fact that I started doing everything for him myself, or maybe there’s something wrong with his envirement?

Dragons know what they need for their lighting period- let him do what he needs to do - everything sounds correct and it is not uncommon for them to not bask right away after eating- hes not sick otherwise you wouldnt be getting this behavior from him - sounds like hes going into a slowing down period and that will effect the appetite - the summer heat effected a lot of dragons especially w/ the eating- Hiccup ate like a pig this last spring then as we got into the summer he slowed down a lot - I contributed that to the heat - I would slow down on the bathing- dragons dont need to be bathed unless they have pooped themselves or that is how they drink- then every couple of weeks would be good for bathing / drinking- is their any other way hes getting his water- they usually get it from the salads they eat w/ the greens being rinsed before serving

 

[NickAVD]

Dragons know what they need for their lighting period- let him do what he needs to do - everything sounds correct and it is not uncommon for them to not bask right away after eating- hes not sick otherwise you wouldnt be getting this behavior from him - sounds like hes going into a slowing down period and that will effect the appetite - the summer heat effected a lot of dragons especially w/ the eating- Hiccup ate like a pig this last spring then as we got into the summer he slowed down a lot - I contributed that to the heat - I would slow down on the bathing- dragons dont need to be bathed unless they have pooped themselves or that is how they drink- then every couple of weeks would be good for bathing / drinking- is their any other way hes getting his water- they usually get it from the salads they eat w/ the greens being rinsed before serving

He eats very little greens, I try to give him a little while he is warming up and gaping, I wrote about this, I think the proportion of greens and bugs 50 to 50 is actual now, because he eats roaches 1-2 times per week, 2-3 pieces at a time.
So I try to give him hornworms 2-3 times per week or water by pipette.
I have so many questions because he sleeps all the time...
Should I turn off his lights during the daytime so that they don't disturb his sleep?
Do I need to serve salads every day? How do dragons usually make it clear that they are ready to warm up and eat greens again?

 

[xp29]

It sounds like he wants to brumate. Maybe cut his light cycle back and lower his temp a little and see if he goes into full fledged brumation.

 

[NickAVD]

It sounds like he wants to brumate. Maybe cut his light cycle back and lower his temp a little and see if he goes into full fledged brumation.

Its lighting works 12 hours.
How much should I cut it down to?
I might try leaving the heat light on for 12 hours and the UV lamp on an hour later and off an hour earlier.
The heating light on itself gives a lower temperature and slight twilight. Oddly enough, the UV lamp raises the temperature in the terrarium by 2-3 degrees, apparently the electronics in its housing generate significant heat.

 

[KarrieRee]

Its lighting works 12 hours.
How much should I cut it down to?
I might try leaving the heat light on for 12 hours and the UV lamp on an hour later and off an hour earlier.
The heating light on itself gives a lower temperature and slight twilight. Oddly enough, the UV lamp raises the temperature in the terrarium by 2-3 degrees, apparently the electronics in its housing generate significant heat.

When you see he has gone into his cave for the day/ night I would shut his lights off and then turn them back on the next day- it will keep them on their light cycle so they know when its day / night-

 

[NickAVD]

When you see he has gone into his cave for the day/ night I would shut his lights off and then turn them back on the next day- it will keep them on their light cycle so they know when its day / night-

Thank you, if he goes to bed, I will turn off the light.
And I’ll also try to reduce daylight hours, as advised by xp29

 

[SkittlesK]

It sounds like he wants to brumate. Maybe cut his light cycle back and lower his temp a little and see if he goes into full fledged brumation.

I have my lights off right now.
It saves a bulb & it's not so stressful.

It really makes his colors pop; especially his Wero genetic.
Brumation is a totally natural response to harsh elements and limited food/water supply.

 

[NickAVD]

When you see he has gone into his cave for the day/ night I would shut his lights off and then turn them back on the next day- it will keep them on their light cycle so they know when its day / night-

I wanted to make sure Foxy was comfortable sleeping during the day.
I covered part of the terrarium with his blanket so that daylight would not get in there and covered his hide with a towel in which he likes to sit after bathing to close all the cracks to exclude light from the heating lamp, which I continue to keep on.
Every morning at 8 o'clock I turns on the UV light and, if he remains in the hide, then at 10 am I turn off the UV and leave only the heating light.

 

[xp29]

Is he pretty much skeeping now? It sux when they brumate, you get used to having them around all the time, them BAM there gone for upto months at a time.

 

[NickAVD]

Is he pretty much skeeping now? It sux when they brumate, you get used to having them around all the time, them BAM there gone for upto months at a time.

He's sleeping now. In the morning he dozed and sometimes looked. I think it's because the UV was on, as soon as I turned it off he fell asleep.

 

[xp29]

Remember to keep an eye on his weight, and to hydrate him every little bit

 

[NickAVD]

Remember to keep an eye on his weight, and to hydrate him every little bit

If he wakes up tomorrow morning, I will try to give him a bath, weigh him and place him under a heat lamp.
I'm a little worried about the fact that he ate two cockroaches three days ago and hasn't gone to the toilet yet.

 

[SkittlesK]

I wanted to make sure Foxy was comfortable sleeping during the day.
I covered part of the terrarium with his blanket so that daylight would not get in there and covered his hide with a towel in which he likes to sit after bathing to close all the cracks to exclude light from the heating lamp, which I continue to keep on.
Every morning at 8 o'clock I turns on the UV light and, if he remains in the hide, then at 10 am I turn off the UV and leave only the heating light.

I too am covering my tank but it's more so the whole tank with a thin tapestry.

Is he pretty much skeeping now? It sux when they brumate, you get used to having them around all the time, them BAM there gone for upto months at a time.

I had my first bearded dragon & she went down for 6 months.
Generally in wild it's about 3 months.?
Not 100% sure.

 

[NickAVD]

Yesterday Foxy woke up a little and watched what was happening from his hiding place.
I took a moment and weighed him. Weight remained unchanged 500g.
After that he had a bath.
He enjoyed his swim. When he is in a good mood, he loves to dive and swim underwater. It turns out so funny - he puts his head in the water and starts digging with "all-wheel drive", and when he swims to the wall, he gets to his feet, turns around, lies down again and swims to the other wall. And this can be repeated 10-20 times. Of course, I’m worried that he won’t aspirate and I keep the water level quite low, because diving like that really scares me. But he seems to really enjoy diving and scaring me.
After swimming we had the traditional YouTube viewing. We have a tradition and he loves it very much - after bathing, he sits in his towel and watches his favorite channel about restoring of old things. He gets offended if after bath he doesn't get his YouTube channel.
Then Foxy warmed himself on his hammock for about an hour and received a large hornworm, which he ate with pleasure (before that he refused to eat greens, showing that he did not want to eat at all ), after an hour he headed in the hide. Before he climbed into it, I offered him something to drink and he drank 3-4 pipettes full of water. Today he sleeps in the hide, so I only left the heat lamp.