Help! The Boy Wont Eat!

[The Green Man]

Hello everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read my post.

We're having a problem with one of our three beardies, and we're getting worried. We have an adult male, Achilles, who wont eat.

The problem has been going on for awile now, but it's only got really bad in the last month. It all started when we brought our second beardie home, Black Betty Wham-Ba-Lam. Or just Betty for short. A female, of course. Prior to her joining our household, Achilles was our only beardie. When Betty moved in, Achilles lost all interest for food and turned his attentions more towards, well, wham-ba-lam. We would have let them mate, but for one small problem -- they're mother and son.

Achilles spent most of his time puffed up, beard black as night, and bobbing his head for all he was worth. He still ate daily, but only a little. Say, 3-5 large crickets and a couple leaves of collards or mustard greens. That's each day. It got worse some weeks, better other weeks, and we assumed it was just normal behavior for a male beardie in close proximity to a female. Our breeder assured us we were right, and that he would eat when he really needed to.

Just in the last month or so, though, he hasn't ate a thing. His scat has decreased in size radically (it used to be bigger than what the chihuahua could do, now it looks more like a sparrow's been pooing in his cage), and in the last couple of days, has included a red syrupy substance I can only assume is blood. He's lost weight, but where we don't have a scale I can't give an exact number. He still drinks water from his dish on occasion, and if I pick him up and carry him around, he's active and doesn't seem to be in any pain. While he's in his cage, though, he lays around in his hot spot and doesn't move much at all.

Here's a basic rundown of our husbandry.

Ambient temperature in his cage is between 80 - 90 degrees. Basking zone stays between 95-115. Flourescant UVB 10.0 bulb shines in his cage twelve hours a day, along with the heat. Night temperatures fall no lower than 70 degrees. Heat and UV run 8am-8pm. Humidity is less than 40%.

His regular diet used to be:
10-15 large crickets daily, dusted.
1 handful assorted collard and mustard greens and shredded banana squash daily, dusted.
1 - 3 small goldfish once every two weeks or so

Black Betty's diet is identical, except she gets pinkie mice every couple of weeks as well when she's gravid or immediately after laying a clutch. They're both in 40B enclosures.

Please, give me your feedback. We're really worried about the little guy. And thanx again.

[Beardedragon]

Save both of their poops and get fecals. Skip the gold fish, they are horrible for beardies. Never feed pinkies when they are a good weight.Are they sleeping alot? How old are the uvb tubes?

[mystika802]

I have had a few males that have done the same things when a female is in sight, I have a male right now that you would think could not possibly survive on what he eats (or lack thereof) he barely eats anything and when in an enclosure on his own you never see any poo lol. Some males will sustain themselves on very little especially during the breeding season. We feed a lot of greens and he seems more interested in that than anything else. It sounds to me like he is just ready to breed and if you dont want that to happen they can not be put together at all...they will breed if they are put together. Watch that he isnt getting too skinny or that his "personality" doesnt change a lot. Keep in mind every bearded dragon is different and he will probably act like that as long as he feels the need to breed her. If you have anymore questions feel free to email me mystika802@hotmail.com I agree with the above post though, take a fecal in to the vet, if there is red in it and you are not feeding any red food you should have him checked.

[redflea13]

I would move him so he can't see Betty. What I do if I can't move a male because of space issues I'll tape newspaper over the cage so he can't see any of the girls. This calms them down and they'll eat more.

[Beardedragon]

I would move him so he can't see Betty. What I do if I can't move a male because of space issues I'll tape newspaper over the cage so he can't see any of the girls. This calms them down and they'll eat more.

Hi red Flea! A little advice ( Trying to not be offensive...sorry!) is to not bring up old posts, it muddies up the sections and I doubt the original poster will see it. We love the advice but try to keep it to new threads. thanks!

[llovelace]

Can you give us an update on your beardie?