Hello all, I seem to have the worlds laziest dragon, or a Quaker dragon. Shenron is now 4 years old and has become a lump on a log. Sometimes he won't move for days at a time. He refuses to eat live food. I add crickets and he just lets them chill on top of his head. The only way he will eat is if I hand feed him dried crickets. Same goes for his salad. I have tried adjusting his heat (he is in a 90 gallon tank) thinking that I didn't have enough heat for the size. I've gone up to 120w on one end, and added a smaller watt to the other end, he had (it blew up and I need a new one) "sun" light bulb as well, I've tried adding powder thinking maybe there is a issue with his bones, I have tried holding off feeding him and then giving him live, I have sat him under his lamp for awhile and then tried feeding him. Nothing works. Am I just doomed to hand feed him for the rest of his life? Lol. Is it possible his tank if just to big and I'm losing 2 much heat? His warm side right under the lamp (highest he can go) is in the 90s. The ground level is the 80s. Should I perhaps add 2 heat bulbs on the same side? I'm already at my max watt. I also have a issue with the bulbs exploding.
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Worlds laziest dragon
- Thread starter Britt84
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mxw0rld
Bearded Dragon Veteran
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Hi and welcome! Adult beardies don't require the hot temps that babies do. 90-95 is perfect for adults. Do you have trouble with him basking? I do know adult beardies slow down eating in the fall and just want to sleep. Have you heard of brumation? It's like hibernation for dragons. They don't eat and sleep for days at a time. You see in the wild in the cooler weather the insects and veggies die off so they slow their bodies down and dig under the sand to sleep. In captivity their bodies will tell them it's time to go rest it's that time of the year! Lol some people will let them sleep for days or months.
This is what it sounds like to me. How long ago did you switch his tank?
Do you have pictures you could post of his enclosure and of him?
This is what it sounds like to me. How long ago did you switch his tank?
Do you have pictures you could post of his enclosure and of him?
Hello, and thank you for the reply. He doesn't bask much. Last night after I fed and watered him I put him under his lamp. I do have some pictures, let's see if I can get them uploaded. Im not a great tank decorator but I try to give him everything he needs. Things to climb, rocks to bask his belly on that are not to hot, and shelter on both the warm side and cool side of the tank.
mxw0rld
Bearded Dragon Veteran
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I love his home/room. You have to remember that his home needs to resemble his environment that he came from. These guys are from the desert so to me it looks amazing!
It is exactly what he needs!
So my question now to you is if he doesn't bask much do you know what his temps are? Basking side, warm side and cool side? If you could tell me that I would appreciate it.
You have got yourself a gorgeous dragon! I love his eyes and in one of those pictures the close up shot you got of him is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
Thank you for posting pictures of him and his room!
Thank you! His warm side is reading 89.9 and his cold side was reading at 75. The humidity is reading at 50 which is moderate and not desert.
mxw0rld
Bearded Dragon Veteran
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Your welcome. Can you bring his warm side up just a bit to 90-95 somewhere in that range? It might make him want to bask more. Cool side is fine and humidity that's normal for these enclosures.
You are doing great, we just need to figure out if something is wrong or if this is brumation. I've been talking with 2 other people today about brumation and their BD's are doing the exact same thing as your BD is doing!
So if you can get those temps up he might start basking and start eating.
If the heat isn't at the right temp to digest their food then they won't eat. So it could just be off by a few degrees.
Awesome! Thank you. I rechecked his spot and the temp hit 91. So I will focus on keeping that temp up. He also got s nice soak In today and ate some of those red puffy bits you can buy. Not on his own though. But he was excited to see them but was trying to eat them from his branch, and the bowl was like 8in away lol. I also got him a new sun and a infrared night light to keep the temp up for night time. My AC is always running so I don't want to turn his heat source off. Hopefully with time he will eat on his own again. He has been doing this for over a year, I kind of wonder if the AC is telling his body he is in a long winter lol.
mxw0rld
Bearded Dragon Veteran
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- 940
No lights at night!! Especially infrared. They have a 3rd eye on top of their head and it senses shadows. If that's what you're using then he's not getting good sleep. Besides he needs to cool down. They have to sleep in cold temps. 65F if you get lower than that, which I doubt then you can use a CHE for heat but what I'm hearing is he's not sleeping good at night.
So get rid of the infrared light and let him get cool at night.
So get rid of the infrared light and let him get cool at night.
mxw0rld
Bearded Dragon Veteran
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- 940
For over a year is not good! Have you ever taken him to the vet?
He should be eating on his own. How are his poops?
You do know sand isn't the best thing for bearded dragons as they use their tongue to lick everything and their tongue is sticky so the sand sticks to their tongue and can cause impactions. That's just a thought. A lot of people use sand and a lot of people don't use it.
But that's way too long for him to be like this. That would scare me after 2 days and mine would be at the vets. But I'm a hypochondriac.
He should be eating on his own. How are his poops?
You do know sand isn't the best thing for bearded dragons as they use their tongue to lick everything and their tongue is sticky so the sand sticks to their tongue and can cause impactions. That's just a thought. A lot of people use sand and a lot of people don't use it.
But that's way too long for him to be like this. That would scare me after 2 days and mine would be at the vets. But I'm a hypochondriac.
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Welcome to the forum!! Good looking dragon and tank you've got there.. I do have some suggestions that may help that I see.
1. Lighting I think is a big part of the issue.. I would highly suggest getting rid of the coil UVB bulls as they really only focus the light in 1 area and they are known to cause eye issues...I would get Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 hood and bulb petmountian.com has really good deals often.. Then you can get a flood light in a fixture that will give really good light and heat. I would bring his temp up a bit and see what he does.. sometimes you just gotta move it up and down in distance to see what he likes.. (my female goes in periods where she likes it warmer and sometimes she wants it cooler.. and I can tell by where she is on her log.. )
2. NO color bulbs at all... as said above it keeps them from fully sleeping and they have to get their sleep. If you need the heat at night if it gets below 65F then the CHE is perfect...
3. I would get rid of the sand it just can cause soo many issues some do well on it but these are the issues with sand: impaction, holds bacteria, holds smells, can get in their eyes causing damage, and you can't get all of the urine out and that will stay in there...
4. Vet visit to make sure he doesn't have parasites that's keeping him from wanting to eat on his own..
5. I would put some probiotics into your routine in supplements to keep good gut flora especially if you have to put them meds as they are hard on their bellies..
Since this has been going on this long get him checked, if he's going into brummation they have to be free of parasites or they will go out of control and some dragon's haven't woken up from brummation because of this..
Hope that helps
1. Lighting I think is a big part of the issue.. I would highly suggest getting rid of the coil UVB bulls as they really only focus the light in 1 area and they are known to cause eye issues...I would get Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 hood and bulb petmountian.com has really good deals often.. Then you can get a flood light in a fixture that will give really good light and heat. I would bring his temp up a bit and see what he does.. sometimes you just gotta move it up and down in distance to see what he likes.. (my female goes in periods where she likes it warmer and sometimes she wants it cooler.. and I can tell by where she is on her log.. )
2. NO color bulbs at all... as said above it keeps them from fully sleeping and they have to get their sleep. If you need the heat at night if it gets below 65F then the CHE is perfect...
3. I would get rid of the sand it just can cause soo many issues some do well on it but these are the issues with sand: impaction, holds bacteria, holds smells, can get in their eyes causing damage, and you can't get all of the urine out and that will stay in there...
4. Vet visit to make sure he doesn't have parasites that's keeping him from wanting to eat on his own..
5. I would put some probiotics into your routine in supplements to keep good gut flora especially if you have to put them meds as they are hard on their bellies..
Since this has been going on this long get him checked, if he's going into brummation they have to be free of parasites or they will go out of control and some dragon's haven't woken up from brummation because of this..
Hope that helps
