Ok folks. I should have posted here sooner.

about 2 months ago my bearded dragon stopped eating. I've seen him eat MAYBE 3 crickets since. Not a shred more. I figured he was in brumation at first. He would dig himself under the sand and take a nap for a while.. After 3 weeks of that I raised up his temps his basking spot is 105 degrees and I've kept his ambiant temps at 85-90 degrees day and night.

So here's what I've done. I've had him since November. When I got him I had a fecal done. No problems there. I recently managed to get another fecal done (vet gave him an anema for a sample).. No parasites/etc of any kind the vet checked for everything and gave him some medication just to be safe. The vet did an XRAY.. AND an ultrasound both of those came up with nothing. No impaction, no signs of internal organ damage.. Nothing.

he's starting to look frail, he is very inactive etc. I have occassionally force-hydrated him with 10mL of fluids (with ensure) and that hasnt helped out any at all. The last 3 days I have taken soaked rep-cal and have been force-feeding him (I've rescued my share of Green Igs to know how to do this). He will just sit on my chest with his beard gone completely black and just sit there and lay motionless. I think my boy has given up on me. I figured it was brumation/winter blues then after raising the temps I saw absolutely no change - I think I waited too long.

I'm going to try to get some pictures of him. About 2 weeks prior to him no longer eating he did get out of his cage a few days and was lost. He was eating after I recovered him but it doesnt rule out possibilities which is why I had him checked for impaction.. organ damage etc.

Tonight I was force feeding him and chatting online with a friend who refered me here. Going to hit a few other forums as well. He got ticked off enough at me to pop out a poopie at me. definitely not a normal looking turd but it does not smell foul. The sample will be going to the vets first thing in the morning so it shouldnt be too old of a sample. Cant hurt to have another fecal tested just to rule out things. I was going to have a blood sample pulled to have his blood chart done and test for toxic substances but the vet wouldnt do that.. too hydrated so I'm hoping I can keep him force fed enough for this next week to get him in a good enough state to do that.

Anyone have any suggestions? As far as his environment goes.. I covered the temps. For UVB he has a 1-month old TREX Active UV Heat bulb (I replaced it just to be safe although I tested the old one and the output looked just fine with the UVB meter). I've ripped out everything in his cage and have replaced it. He's in a 40 gallon aquarium with a sand substrate.. I have a new piece of grape vine in there for him to climb on but he's instead been burying himself under that now... and I have a water dish I change frequently and I offer him some gut-loaded crickets, I've tried superworms and every type of green/fruit/veggie I can think of.. even separating them out on the food dish so he can be picky if he wants. I've broke the rules 1 or 2 time and have offered him romaine and green leaf/red leaf just to see if I can get him to eat.. no luck at all. His veggie diet is basically the same I feed my green igs. I do have two female Bearded Dragons but they are housed in a separate enclosure.

I'm out of ideas.. as I said.. suggestions welcome and feel free to redicule me.

P.S.

I should probably use spell check and review my grammar skills. Dont mind my misstypes. Anyways when I mentioned being too hydrated for a blood sample.. I meant too dehydrated. Oh the vet also gave him a calcium shot and a multivitamin as well.. I'll dig up the receipts in the morning and see which medications he used.

I think you should push your vet to have the bloods done. If he is dehydrated then give him good, regular soaks in a nice bath.

Marsha is really the Bearded Dragon expert so I am sure she will have more of an input for you - sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Best of luck to you both though

Being on sand, is there any chance he could have an impaction of some sort? There is always a chance of that....I would suggest an xray to your vet just to make sure. I keep all my animals on newspaper for safety sake. Good luck with your little guy. Lyn

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

Thanks Britt ....But it sounds like he is doing everything right and I am at a loss for once. If he is pooping regularly then hes not impacted and you said you already had the xray and ultrasound done. Does he show any interest in wanting to breed being you have 2 females in the house? I agree with Britt that you should pursue the blood testing. I just went thru something to this affect last year with one of my males and I just force fed him some Bearded Dragon power aid that a friend uses. Also you might want to try and add some Nutribac to his diet when you force feed, it helps the natural gut of the reptile. I use it and I know it works. After feeding mine the poweraid with Nutribac mixed in for 2 weeks his appetite came back and he was totally energetic..just something to think about.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

Definatley add nutribac to his diet, or untill you can get some nutribac yougart makes a good sub. You may want to try and put him with a female, mating season can be rough on a mature male and do push for blood tests. Good luck and keep us posted!

I am pretty sure he uses NutriBAC df. I am not positive but think he uses it for his green iguanas and water dragons. I know he knows of it from the GIS. I didn't know what to tell him and the bearded dragon person I know hasn't been around lately so I sent him here.

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Jan. 25, 1963 - Sept. 10, 2006 (R.I.P)

I had an XRAY and an ultrasound done wondering if he was impacted from sand and or a superworm or something. No sign of impaction and he CAN poop when he does eat


About 2 weeks after he stopped eating I mixed up part of a crushed vitamin tablet, as well as some calcium and a little bit of nutricbac and forced that into him. I did the same the other day I put in just a pinch of the stuff I dont want too much in his system. This week I've been force feeding him so its pretty interesting.

what have you been force feeding him? I would not suggest cirx or inverts being force fed to him, but a slurry would be better and less stressful on both of you

Bcshepard, your Bearded Dragon's behavior is similar to mine. Please read this thread first and then this one.

First of all, you said you have him since November but you don't say how old is he.
You also said he stopped eating 2 months ago. How much weight has he lost in that time?

You said you have raised the overall temps and kept them day and night. Are they still up and kept 24h? If they are, restore the day/night temperature drop cycle.

What were the previous temps? If you "raised up his basking spot to 105 degrees" and "ambient temps to 85-90 degrees", then they were lower than this.
Recommended temps for BD are (taken from the caresheet here):
Nevertheless I advise you against turning the temps up at this point.
Keeping a anoretic Bearded Dragon in high temps is not a good idea because you're forcing his body to work without fuel. If he's not eating, his metabolism should be kept at low gear.
The only thing I advise you to change is the basking spot temp. Keep it at the recommended temp so that he can digest food if he decides to bask or when you return him to the basking spot after force feeding him.

You have taken him to the vet which is clearly the way to go. Probably the vet as advised you to force feed him as you are doing now.
Read this thread. It might help you with that.
If Marsha hasn't sent you the poweraid slurry recipe, ask her. I started mine on it today.

As soon as he starts getting more alert and energetic, give him some time out, basking in the sun (if possible), mingling with the bipeds and watching tv. Something to kick the spring boredom out of him.

Good luck! =)
Ricardo

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)