Won't eat

[beardieloversyd]

My bearded dragon hasn't eaten in about 5 days. I thought he was shedding at first, but he hasn't shed, and he still won't eat. I came in this morning, and he is very lethargic. I don't know what's wrong.

 

[kornel351]

Tank setup? Temperatures? Humidity? What are u feeding him and picture of him

 

[beardieloversyd]

40 gallon tank. Had two heating pads underneath, uv bulb, and basking bulb. Temp right now says 98, humidity 17%. Will send picture when I get home. He eats crickets, freeze dried vegetables, Kale, and food pellets

 

[beardieloversyd]

I'm not sure how to send a picture but his skin is wrinkled like he's lost some weight.

 

[kyleena29]

I would make sure he's getting some fluids in him right now. Here is a list of recommended foods. Freeze dried is not going to give him the nutrients he needs and kale is not good as an everyday food. http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

What brand/type of uvb are you using and how old is it? How close can he get to it?
What do you use to take temps with?
How old is he?
How often are you giving calcium and vitamin supplements?

For now you can get him some turkey and squash babyfood and mix in supplements and get him to eat it. You can start by putting a little into the side of his mouth to see if he'll eat it without forcing him to.

 

[beardieloversyd]

The uvb bulb is exoterra, but it is not coiled. It is probably about 5 months old. He cant get very close to the uvb but he can get close to the basking. I have a thermometer in the tank to take temps with. It is National Geographic brand. My beardie is about 8 months old I believe. When I got him, he was a little larger than the other beardies and they weren't sure how old he was. I give him calcium about twice a week.

 

[kyleena29]

He should be able to get within 6" of the uvb otherwise he's not benefiting from it. Ideally you want it next to the basking spot. It's probably almost time to replace it as well. If you're using the stick on thermometer it may be off by quite a bit. You should have a digital with probe type. It's hard to know if he is warm enough to digest. He should have calcium on 1 meal, 5 times per week and vitamins the other two days. I don't know what freeze dried foods you were giving but if he doesn't get fresh foods from the list of the highlighted green ones, he might be lacking in vitamin B as well.

I would try the baby food out and correct the other issues you have going on and see how he does.

 

[EllenD]

You've got a lot going on here that is not good. Wrinkled skin is a sign of dehydration, though I'm sure he's lost weight too you need to get fluids in him ASAP, unflavored Pedialyte is best at this point. As said above you can mix the Pedialyte with some squash and chicken or squash and turkey baby food and get an eye dropper or very small syringe without the needle. You can try to get it in his mouth but typically you'll have to drop it on top of his snout and let it run down over his mouth, then as he licks it off put more on top to run off, etc. Get as much in him as you can.

His diet is not good at all. The crickets are good, he should eat at least 25-30 a day of medium sized at the least. But never feed freeze-dried veggies or fruits, that's pointless and one of the reasons he is so dehydrated. Beardies don't drink much straight water, they get it from FRESH VEGGIES AND FRUITS. Freeze-dried veggies and fruits have zero water in them, and crickets have very little. I'd go and buy some wax worms at Petco or PetSmart, you can buy 50 for $4 at Petco. They are fattening and full of liquid. Normally they are only a treat but he's lost weight, is very dehydrated, and needs energy. Usually they go nuts over them, give him as many as he'll eat, and follow with the unflavored Pedialyte/baby food slurry.

Do not give him kale, it's not good for them as it leaches calcium out of their system (it's a weird veggie). You need to be dusting his insects in powdered calcium with D3 and sprinkling it on all of his veggies EVERY SINGLE DAY UNTIL HES OVER A YEAR OLD! And he should get a multivitamin and mineral powdered supplement 3 times a week with it. Your UVB tube bulb needs replacing, and the Exo Terra one sucks, it is not close to the right wavelength of UVB for a beardie. So the bad UVB tube plus bad veggies plus dehydration plus not nearly enough calcium and multivitamin is killing him.

You need to get a Reptisun 10.0 T8 UVB Tube bulb and put it in your current fixture, it will fit if you get the same length. Now this will do no good at all unless he can get within 6 inches of it. And it should be hung inside his tank, not on top of mesh or glass as this absorbs more than 50% of the UVB. But go get the Reptisun now, it's very important. And do not ever feed him freeze-dried veggies or fruits again! No kale! The best veggies for him are collard greens, mustard greens, endive, escarole, squashes, sweet potatoes, peas, broccoli, green beans, etc. I add a small bit of apple, strawberry, Mango, papaya, bananas, grapes. Not too many fruits though, too much sugar. But it provides lots of water. Walmart sells a big bag of "Mixed Country Greens" for under $3. It's huge and it has collards, mustards, a bunch of good stuff. It's on the top shelf above the fresh collards and mustards, and next to a big bag of kale. I also buy their little bags of different fresh veggies that are in the same section for $2.98 per bag.

So please make these changes immediately and stop the freeze-dried veggies! I'd like a photo to see how bad he is, but I can tell he's starting to regress because of the lack of proper and strong enough UVB light and no calcium absorption or processing. The UVB light effects every part of them, and if they go months and months with the wrong wavelength of UVB, not being close enough to it and having it obstructed by the lid, and then not eating any calcium from proper veggies and fruits and not getting powder every day, this is all compounding and he's sick.