Grimlock is not eating, pooping, or drinking on his own.

[Rachelle Hampton]

Hey yall.

My pal Grimlock is not eating, drinking or pooping. Its been about 2 and half weeks since his last bowel movement. he refuses all kinds of food, except 1 or 2 crickets every couple of days or so. I am getting him to drink a little prune juice or strawberry water (fresh strawberries mashed and soaked in water, then solids tossed) from a dropper, but only maybe 1 ML 2 x day. We have been giving him warm baths every evening after his juice then putting him directly into his "room" for bed. He also gets a bath in the morning. We are trying everything we can think of. He has not lost any weight at all. As of last night he weighed 580 grams. But you can see his sadness in his eyes. We have been letting him out more to just walk lately. (no longer scared the cats will eat him, as they just all give each other kisses now *sigh*).

any suggestions before I go rushing him to a vet that we really cant afford till after the 1st??? We have made canned pumpkin and baby food prunes available to him all day and night. Even threw in a few dried worms... just in case. He has a water bowl for drinking and a bowl to soak his whole body in also. The humidity is 30 and temp is 90.

 

[Rachelle Hampton]

Pic from last night after his 1 ML of prune juice.

 

[Rachelle Hampton]

From August 2017. Day after coming home from vacation...hince the amt of food in his bowl is much higher than normal. Our baby sitter refused to feed live foods. About a month before this he stopped eating ALL fresh foods and went to pellets and dried worms and live crickets only. We supplement with a multivitamin powder and calcium powder as needed (when we dont gut load the crickets with calcium).

 

[Rachelle Hampton]

Playing "Wheres Grimmy". This is an everyday photo of him. Before he stopped eating.

 

[PatsyB]

If he's not eating anything, poop isn't going to happen. So giving laxative type foods isn't going to help get anything out. Please don't give him any over the counter juices, they contain so many additives that it could just make him sick.

What are you using for basking light and UVB? What are your temps? When a dragon isn't eating that is the first thing you want to look at. How old is your UVB bulb? What do you use to measure your tanks temps and what size is your tank?

 

[BrookeE]

I agree with PatsyB, if they aren't eating, they don't have anything to poop out. If he's not really eating, and not losing weight, he might be going down for brumation. Its that time of year.

If he's not eating and also loosing weight, then its time to worry.

 

[Rachelle Hampton]

hey guys. thanks for replying. we do not know his age as he is a rescue. we have only had him since June of this year. But as you can see in the pics he is larger in size.
well he has not pooped since before he stopped eating. I feel the white blockage deal in his belly and when I touch it, he quiver his belly. (we are still learning about him).

he is in a 40 gallon tank. his temps are 90 to 93 on hot side, no clue on warm side currently. We need another thermometer. humidity is at 30. his UV light is 2 months old. and he has a ZooMed repti basking spot light (75 wtt) and a red one (same brand and wattage) for night time. He has an under tank heater under his soaking pool on the cooler side of tank. All juice is made fresh at home. only thing store bought right now is the baby food which is organic and only prunes and the canned pumpkin with no additives also. we moved him to a tank double the size he was in when we got him just 2 months ago. we are still working to upgrade his logs and such to some that are more size appropriate. but all his lighting/heating are all 2 months old also.

what is brumation? and how long doe

 

[Rachelle Hampton]

**sorry.... mistyped between trick or treaters. We have had him since June, changed his tanks and all lighting 2 months ago. His spot basking lights, the red one is a month old and his day light is 2 days old.

 

[PatsyB]

Okay so I see a few things that might be the problem. 90-93 degrees is way to low, even for an adult dragon. Get a higher wattage light and get the temps up to about 98-100 degrees. Get rid of the red light. Under the lighting thread you will see a link at the top to reptile lighting, it's a real good read. If their tank drops below 65 degrees at night then get a CHE, it emits heat but no light. Bearded dragons have a gland on their head that allows them to see things when their eyes are closed. Any colored light at night will disrupt their sleep and can throw off their whole rhythm and make them tired during the day and may not want to do anything at all. What kind of UVB light are you using?

Brumation is sort of like a hibernation. Every dragon does it differently and nobody really understands it. They slow down their eating habits and just want to be lazy or even go and hide and sleep. Mine just like to go in their hides and hang out for a week or so then come out. Some go in a hide and close their eyes for months. The problem with brumation is it mimics illnesses, so they really should be checked by a vet before they brumate to make sure they are healthy. A healthy dragon will only lose a few grams if any during brumation but if a dragon has parasites and goes into brumation, it can lose too much weight because the parasites will essentially eat away all their fat stores.

 

[Rachelle Hampton]

We tried the higher watt bulb but he hated it. He would stay on the colder side of the cage till we went back to the 75 watt. From what I was told from his previous owner, that he has always had these watts. He does need a hide spot and that will be on my list for the week to find one big enough for him. (we cant find one locally so we could try it out in person, country living at its finest LOL) I will check out the thread about the red lights. I did not know that. This is my first time to use a red light with a reptile. (I have cared/owned many in my lifetime, just not a beardie}. The UV light is the correct one, i just dont know the name off the top of my head. Its the same one I used with my lizards in the past.

I will continue to weigh him and make sure he is not losing weight. I gave him some greens today and he ran from them like i was trying to poison him. I gave him some water by eye dropper and he went back to bed. I sure hope its just brumation for him. If he starts to lose weight, we will find an exoctic vet for him. So far the internet says the closest one is 40 miles away. Our regular vet says he is not familiar enough with them and doesnt feel comfortable to care for him. Im glad he was honest with us about that.

 

[Rachelle Hampton]

Can you please link me to thread about the non colored light for at night? I am having trouble finding it. Thanks.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Can you please link me to thread about the non colored light for at night? I am having trouble finding it. Thanks.

The links are right below several of our comments see right below this..

 

[Rachelle Hampton]

I don't see any links??

 

[Hdrydr31]

I don't see any links??

You must be using a cell phone app then.. here you go I'll copy them then...
http://www.beardeddragonforum.com/threads/general-info-set-up-1st-timers.13863/
http://www.beardeddragonforum.com/threads/diseases.13956/
Food link:
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Lighting Info:
http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/An-In-Depth-Look-At-UV-Light-And-Its-Proper-Use-With-Reptiles/

 

[Rachelle Hampton]

yes I am. thank you for the links. off to check them out.