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Bearded Dragon sudden stiffness and not eating

22 13:35:44

Question
My baby Bearded Dragon has gone almost a week now without eating anything but two small pieces of collard greens. She only ate those because I agitated her until she opened her mouth and me and I put the greens in... Normally she loves hunting crickets, but she just looks at them now. I've read that they won't eat that much when they shed, which she is, so I've been trying to soak her the past three days to speed up the process so maybe she'll eat. She's never been very active, so I guess that's stayed about the same. However, she scared me last night when she suddenly froze completely stiff and wouldn't move at all when I put her into her bath. She did it again tonight. After she relaxed and started swimming, I noticed that her belly had swollen a bit. It's gone down now, but I'm still worried about her. What is causing her to freeze and what can I do to make her eat?

Answer
Hello Jessica,

How old is your new little dragon, can you post a picture of her for me?  Where did you get her from?  A breeder, or a pet store?  How long have you had her?
What type & brand of UVB light are you using, a fluorescent tube bulb or a compact/coil light?
How often do you give calcium supplementation?  
What are the temperatures in the tank, & what type of thermometer do you use?  A stick on type, a digital probe or a temp gun?
They do tend to puff themselves up sometimes when they go into the water in order to float better.   
How do her eyes look, are they bright or are they sunken in at all?  Has she had a black or darkened beard lately?
Something might be off in her tank setup to cause her stress so she wont eat if she is stressed.  Also, a lot of times, if they are getting ready to shed, they have a markedly decreased appetite too.  You could get some bee pollen or brewer's yeast to help with her appetite.  

Tracie