Female Bearded Dragon not eaten in 10 days

Question
QUESTION: I have two bearded dragons lizards who are 3 1/2 years old.  Up until last week both ate up a storm of crickets (nicely gutted and sometimes shaken in a bag with calcium powder), meal worms and lettuce and were pooping regularly and drinking (they get spritzed daily and go in the sink 2x a week for her and once for him since he eats so much).  I keep a daily diary of what they eat, shed and when they go to the bathroom.  They were malnourished when I got them at 8 months but he is absolutely one of the biggest bearded dragons I have seen.  She is 1/3 or less his size.  She had 2 meal worms on the 21st and 2 on the 26th.  She ate one on the 27th and within 10 minutes a phlegmy clear sticky fluid came out of her mouth and she heaved once and out came more along with the dead worm.  Since then she has refused to eat any thing! She had a bowel movement on the 30th and one again on May 1st.  She is pretty alert, not shedding and drank quite a bit in the sink today.  Can you tell me what could be wrong with her?  I live in farm country and all the vets handle livestock, horses and cats and dogs - no lizards.  I have been asking this same question on line, but have since received two replies the people could not answer my questions. Thanks for  a speedy reply if you can.

ANSWER: Hello Cathy,

Well, the main question that I have is are you housing the male & female together?  If so, it is a high probability that she is going to be gravid.  That is usually what happens they will eat alot but towards the end of their gravid stage, they do not eat much as the eggs take up most of the belly space.  Has she gained weight?  
Do you use UVB lighting?  What type & brand do you use, a flourescent tube or a compact or coil light?  How old is the UVB light?
What type of basking light are you using?  What are the temps?  What do you measure the temps with?  A digital probe a temp gun or a stick on type of thermometer?  
How large of a tank are they in?  
I would cut out the mealworms, as they may not be sitting well with her right now for some reason & just stick with the crickets.  At 3 1/2 years, they only need around 40-50 feeders weekly, plus greens & veggies.  The greens, do you feed mustard & collard greens?  No iceberg or romaine as they are too watery & will cause diarrhea.

Tracie

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QUESTION: Tracie - Thanks for the quick response.

The male and female are housed together in a 110 gallon tank.  I haven't used a UVB light in two years since I moved to southern Utah where the summer temperatures get in the 100s and we have sunshine 310 days a year so the tank is next to a large window that gets the morning sun on them and then they get the early afternoon sun from the other window.  I use a Zoo Med basking lamp with 100 watt bulb two months old and have two heat rocks in the tank covered with their bedding.  I do not measure the temperature since the person I rescued them from didn't have one in the tank and I just recently learned about it. Lately she prefers to dig under the log in the middle of the tank and avoid the light.

I feed them a 7 lettuce mix which includes baby spinach, several lettuces (no iceberg), baby greens, shredded carrot and I buy collard greens occasionally, though she will not touch any of it and he only eats greens once or twice a week. They both prefer to lay on top of the dish instead of eating the greens. Some days I have skipped the bugs and just put in the greens and even then she won't eat them and he may only take a bite or two.  In summer he eats blackberries and she won't.  I alternate between crickets one day and meal worms the next and on cricket day she just shuts her eyes and lets them run all over her until he eats them all.  The last time she had crickets was April 17th after she had finished shedding.  Since then she only would eat worms and since she threw up, not even that.

If she is pregnant, she certainly is not looking any heavier yet and when I put her in the sink I always use a soft toothbrush on her top and massage her belly a bit which helps her go to the bathroom and have not felt anything unless at this stage the eggs are so small.

Cathy

ANSWER: Hello Cathy,

It is very important that you measure the temps.  She or both of them could be overheating especially if they are by a window.  I recommend using either a digital probe or a temp gun for the most accurate measurements.  The recommended basking temps are 95-105 for adults with the cool side being around 78-82.  The sunshine coming through their tank with a basking light in there can bake them, so be careful with that.  
Mealies are not very good for them.  They are too fatty & can contribute to fatty liver disease.  So crickets & superworms would be better choices for them both.  
There is a good chance though, if you do in fact have a male & a female, that at their age, they have mated.  It would be hard to believe that he has not tried to mate with her.  So if she is carrying eggs, they are just developing follicles so they are soft & cannot be felt.  They wont be able to be felt until they are harder & have gone through the shelling process.  Though, this might be something else.
They are not getting any UVB light.  UVB does not penetrate through glass, so it is recommended that you get a UVB.  The size of your tank would allow for a Megaray or a T-rex either one, which are very good mercury vapor lights.  So is she having trouble going to the bathroom?  
Do you supplement calcium?  If they have not been exposed to UVB for that long, chances are her calcium levels are low.  They cannot absorb calcium very well or synthesize D3 without regular UVB exposure.  That can lead to metabolic bone disease, & other health ailments.  
If she is not eating, you should make her a slurry of bugs, & pedialyte right now to feed to her through a plastic dropper.  How do her eyes look, are they bright or are they sunken in?  
How do her stools look?  Are the urates hard or moist?

Tracie

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QUESTION: I will see if my friend coming from Vegas on the 17th can pick up a temperature gauge for them.  They are 12 feet away from the window so get the sunlight, but I didn't realize it didn't penetrate glass and they don't pant so don't think they are too hot.  I don't put on the basking lamp until the sun passes around 10:30 AM.  I am not sure if I have the proper UVB lamp (oh and tank according to friend is 55 gallon not 110), have one that says aquarium, but no brand name and tubular bulb does not work so will check into that.  She doesn't have trouble going to the bathroom and had consecutive bowel movements on the 30th and the 1st (nothing looked any different than the past few years), and a few days earlier "urinated" and it was basically semi hard - a light pinkish tan with a white bulb end which I assumed was calcium (does this mean she is not absorbing it?)  Except for the day she threw up, her eyes have been alert and she is very responsive and she swims in the sink to get some exercise.  I just made her a liquified version of two crickets, a few lizard bites, and some collards - enough for a double shot glass when all was liquified.  I then took a dropper and gave her four full squirts which she ate and kept down. I did not have pedialyte and had already made the 30 mile round trip to the nearest town before I read your reply.  I will keep an eye on her and make sure I at least get her to eat with a dropper of liquids if she reuses anything else.  Thanks -  Cathy

Answer
Hello Cathy,

I do think you do need to get a temp gun just to double check the basking temps, etc.  They just may not be warm enough for part of the time, or too hot at other times, especially if you have mentioned that she digs around & doesn't want to be under the light.
Does she dig alot?  She could possibly be gravid, too.  
The throwing up can either be from too many mealies, or improper temps.  
Do you think that they are crowded?  A 55 gallon is only really large enough for 1 adult dragon, so if you have them in together they really do need a 90 gallon at least if not larger like 125.  
You can still get a mercury vapor though for good UVB lighting.  Do you have a tube bulb then, as a UVB?  If you are not sure, any tube UVB will have the brand stamped on the base of it.  If there is no brand stamped on it, then it is most likely just an aquarium light that emits no UVB.  
So you definitely need to get a UVB light.  Especially if they have mated, she will need to have good calcium stores for eggs.  
The color of urates, that is pretty normal then.  They should be soft for the most part.  Sometimes, there are some harder portions, but it should be mostly soft.  Some absorb powdered calcium better than others.  You can always try the liquid calcium.  The white portion are the urates, which will be white, or offwhite in color.  That is not really calcium being excreted, possibly some, but mostly urea in solid form.
I hope your friend can get you a temp gun & bring it to you.  Can you possibly upgrade the size of tank eventually then?

Tracie