Adult Male Beardie not eating

[Muze]

My Beardie is 1 year old. He is over 18 inches & 455 grams last time I weighed him. He ate all throughout winter, but around March he started to slow down considerably to the point where he stopped eating (maybe an occassional Superworm, & baby food when I have offered).

He has not lost any weight at all. I have been giving him water from a dropper everyday to keep him from becoming dehydrated. I also have two females which are housed above him (each has a tank & they are on shelves so he hardly ever sees them. But when he does, his beard turns black, etc.).

He has been to the vet. Fecal was positive for Pinworms, but the vet said that there were very few & he has not had diarrhea so he did not want to treat him. He has defecated a few times (when he ate the Supers and/or baby food).

The vet thinks that he is more interested in breeding the females than in eating right now. He does not think anything is really wrong with him.

I want to hear other opinions, though. Especially from those that breed Beardies. I do think he looks almost depressed. But he does react quite strongly when he's happened to have seen one of the girls (cleaning day, etc). I also don't want to try breeding because I don't know if he's sick or not, and the girls are only a little over 1 year old (good weights, but not age).

[Beardedragon]

Well at around a year you should start to feed him alot less bugs and alot more salad, so maybe start uping the salads because they eat alot less bugs.

[Muze]

I cut down the bugs to 3 times a week and I offer fresh greens every day (dandelion, mustard, turnip, etc. w/ squash and other goodies from Beautiful Dragons.com), but he's not interested in either. Ther girls eat their salads pretty much everyday and the bugs 3 times a week, but he's not interested. Except he has taken the baby food when I've offered (chix & veggies or squash are the only ones I've offered. But don't this to become his source of nutrition).

[Beardedragon]

I cut down the bugs to 3 times a week and I offer fresh greens every day (dandelion, mustard, turnip, etc. w/ squash and other goodies from Beautiful Dragons.com), but he's not interested in either. Ther girls eat their salads pretty much everyday and the bugs 3 times a week, but he's not interested. Except he has taken the baby food when I've offered (chix & veggies or squash are the only ones I've offered. But don't this to become his source of nutrition).

hmm how long ago did he get meds for his Pinworms?

[Muze]

The vet said that he did not have a large enough infestation to warrant treatment. He only likes to treat heavier infestations (unless there are clinical symptoms like diarrhea). So no meds.

[Beardedragon]

The vet said that he did not have a large enough infestation to warrant treatment. He only likes to treat heavier infestations (unless there are clinical symptoms like diarrhea). So no meds.

Wait what? He didnt treat your reptile after finding worms?You need to find a vet who will treat him, if one of your snakes had worms but it was not alot and the vet did not treat him because of it, would you be okay with that? That just doesnt make since to me that they would leave that alone, small infestations turn into large ones.

[Mettle]

Agreed. I would treat for the worms before moving forward. It can only help.

Then, if he's still not eating, I would try moving the enclosure to a separate room away from the females. Perhaps outta sight, outta mind?

[Muze]

I think you all have a point here. The vet would make sense if he WERE eating, but since he's not, deworming should probably be a first step. I have heard many reptile experts argue back and forth about treating/not treating asymptomatic infestations that are not heavy, so that is why I accepted his diagnosis at first.

I'll take him back and ask him to deworm him anyway. I hope this is all that is wrong with him.

Thanks everyone!

[West Coast Jungle]

At a year old he maybe starting signs of brumation, so going off feed and sleeping or big reduction in activity is not uncommon. Though they generally do this in the winter I have had beardies brumate all year round in the spring, summer and fall. I have even woken up a male from brumation in springtime when females were long done and ready to breed.

Beardies naturally do live with certain amounts of coccidia(parasite) in the digestive systems with no negative side effects, but I am not sure about pinworms, never dealt with that.

The vets take on it maybe if it is not an infestaion it is something it will naturally overcome or keep in check. Once again I have heard this from vets regarding coccidia not pinworms unless they happen to be the same thing with different terms? That i am not sure of. This is also the reason you dont keep different species together because what may be a common parasite to a beardie could be traumatic to a tortoise or other type of lizard. Many times these parasites are found in the crikets they eat and are easily controled by their own imune systems.

Finding a good reptile vet is important. I took a beardie to a vet once for a check up and while talking to him about certain behaviors he told me they dont brumate and we should perform all kinds of tests because of illness. I didnt argue with him just realized he either didnt know, was dishonest and I had just wasted my $. I have also shown vets how to pop and sex BP's so there are many that dont know much about reptiles and probably go check a book in another room and come back in the exam room with their prognosis.

The lack of eating or inactivity in a one year old dosent bother me as long as ther is no weight loss and fecal looks normal. I have had beardies brumate at 9 months and breed at 11 months, although this was a fast grower, it is not unheard of.

Just keep an eye on him and if you are worried about deydration a soak once a week should suffice. One good way to tell if a beardie is suffering from malnutrition is to look at the tail right where it comes off the body. It should get a bit larger right after the intial transition or the stalk lets say. Like leos, thats where they store reserves.

Hope this was helpful

[Muze]

At a year old he maybe starting signs of brumation, so going off feed and sleeping or big reduction in activity is not uncommon. Though they generally do this in the winter I have had beardies brumate all year round in the spring, summer and fall. I have even woken up a male from brumation in springtime when females were long done and ready to breed.

Beardies naturally do live with certain amounts of coccidia(parasite) in the digestive systems with no negative side effects, but I am not sure about pinworms, never dealt with that.

The vets take on it maybe if it is not an infestaion it is something it will naturally overcome or keep in check. Once again I have heard this from vets regarding coccidia not pinworms unless they happen to be the same thing with different terms? That i am not sure of. This is also the reason you dont keep different species together because what may be a common parasite to a beardie could be traumatic to a tortoise or other type of lizard. Many times these parasites are found in the crikets they eat and are easily controled by their own imune systems.

Finding a good reptile vet is important. I took a beardie to a vet once for a check up and while talking to him about certain behaviors he told me they dont brumate and we should perform all kinds of tests because of illness. I didnt argue with him just realized he either didnt know, was dishonest and I had just wasted my $. I have also shown vets how to pop and sex BP's so there are many that dont know much about reptiles and probably go check a book in another room and come back in the exam room with their prognosis.

The lack of eating or inactivity in a one year old dosent bother me as long as ther is no weight loss and fecal looks normal. I have had beardies brumate at 9 months and breed at 11 months, although this was a fast grower, it is not unheard of.

Just keep an eye on him and if you are worried about deydration a soak once a week should suffice. One good way to tell if a beardie is suffering from malnutrition is to look at the tail right where it comes off the body. It should get a bit larger right after the intial transition or the stalk lets say. Like leos, thats where they store reserves.

Hope this was helpful

Thank you so much! I hadn't seen this reply for some reason.

The vet explained that he had intially not wanted to deworm because there should be a certain # of parasites visible upon exam in order for deworming to be warranted. He is against preemptive deworming, etc. He especially does not like to treat for Coccidia unless it is a massive infestation or they are showing clinical signs (diarrhea, etc.). I totally agree with him about Coccidia because Albon can wreak havoc on their digestive system.

However, since I was very worried about his not eating, I asked the vet to deworm him & he did. Yet, he is still not eating. & he looks to me as if he is brumating. He is alert, but prefers to lie in the cooler side most of the day. He will eat baby food (I was worried so I gave him some organic squash, green beans, etc. w/ Dragon Dust & he'll lap it up), but nothing else. No greens, no insects. Seems to not be motivated to eat. Hasn't lost any weight either.

I've been soaking him and giving him the baby food w/ Dragon Dust every other day. But maybe I should not be feeding him???

His tail is nice & thick. I've been keeping an eye on that too.