Beardie not eating.

Question
QUESTION: I have a 5 yr. old bearded dragon that I`ve only had for about 3mo. and up until recently he`s eaten fairly well. He`s been sleeping and hiding a lot more recently with a day or two here and there of high activity. He has not eaten in about 8 days and the last time he only ate 1 superworm. He won`t touch his veggies or dragon food (which I just decided to try in hopes that he would eat something). He still ventures out even if it`s just sticking his head out to bask. I`m wondering if this him going through brumation. His previous owner never mentioned anything about him doin this in the past. I`m wondering how much longer I should let this go on before finding a vet. I would much prefer not to have to take him anywhere because it`s only in the mid 20`s outside and I would not want to put him through that, not to mention the expense. His temps in his tank are right where they should be. I did notice that there was some mold on the food provided to the worms. I immediately stopped giving him those and bought new ones, but he shows not interest in them. I was wondering if maybe one of the old ones upset his tummy and he is afraid to eat them now, but he`s not going for veggies (which he doesn`t like much anyway, but would eat occasionally) or crickets (again didn`t seem to care for those much either). He loves his worms but isn`t touchin em. Brumation or something else?

ANSWER: Hello Kelly,

At his age, he could be brumating.  
However, we should go over your tank setup first, to make sure there it not anything else going on.
Are you using a UVB light, & if so, what type & brand do you use?  A fluorescent tube bulb or a compact/coil light?
What type of thermometer are you using to measure the temperatures with, a stick on type, a digital probe or a digital probe?
What about calcium, while he is an adult, he still needs calcium.  I recommend him getting calcium 3 times per week.  
Are you using a bright white light for his basing light?

Do you have any pictures of him for me?

Tracie

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The Dude   QUESTION: Dear Tracie,

Thank you so much for your quick reponse. I believe its an 80 gal terrarium, he's got lots of room.  He has an 18" ExoTerra Repti Glo 10.0 UVB fluorescent bulb.  Wanted to get ZooMed, but that size in that brand is getting hard to find. I called all over trying to locate one.  He has a ZooMed 75w infrared heat lamp for night time and a ZooMed 100w Basking Spot lamp.  I also added a 2nd one in order to keep the temps up while its cold.  He seems to be enjoying it as he is currently laying out and basking in it at the moment, with untouched kale right in front of him I might add.  I'm using a T-Rex analog hygrometer and 3 T-Rex analog thermometers in different areas. Current readings are 65*, 70* (hmm usually reads 85* in that spot), and 100* in his basking area which is odd cause it usually reads between 110-120 could be cause he's practically laying on it.  Hygrometer is maxed out on desert.  Most of these things he came with, I changed the sand and the UVB bulb since I found out that they hadn't been changed in a year! He has had a bowel movement since the last time he ate so I know he doesn't have anything sitting in his stomach. He gets his worms dusted with T-Rex Dragon Dust ICB twice a week. I got ExoTerra Adult Dragon Food in hopes that maybe he would try that, but no.  Figure I'll feed it to the superworms too cause I'm sure they'll run out of food by the time he feels like eating 'em again.

Thank you again for your quick response.

-Kelly

ANSWER: Hello Kelly,

He has plenty of room then in an 80 gallon.  
Unfortunately, the Reptiglo 10 is not a real good bulb.  It doesn't emit very good quality of UVB emissions.  You might want to try getting a Reptisun 10 tube bulb instead.  The UVB quality is much
higher.  The UVB lights that do not emit the proper wavelength of UVB will not allow for proper D3 synthesis to occur.   
The basking light is fine, as long as it is a bright white basking light.  
The analogue thermometers are ok for measuring humidity & ambient temperatures, but not the basking temperatures so much.  I would recommend getting either a digital probe or a temp gun to measure the temperatures more accurately.  
The basking temperatures only need to be in a range of 95-110 & 78-82 in the cool side.  
He looks good, overall, physically.  
The T-rex dragon dust is pretty good.  Though, I feel that vitamins that are mixed with calcium a lot of times don't provide enough straight calcium.  You might want to consider getting a straight calcium powder to be given 3 times per week, & the vitamins can be given 1 or so times per week.

Let me know how he is doing.
Tracie

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QUESTION: Just wanted to let you know that the past 2 days he's been pretty active. I took him out and walked him around the house a bit while holding him and that seemed to make him happy.  I noticed him goin after some of the kale that had dried out that I have him this morning, but showed no interest in the fresh kale I put in for him when I saw him goin for the other stuff, but he did eat 2 out of the 6 dusted superworms I gave him. He also checked out the new tunnel I made for him out of new driftwood branches that I got him for Xmas. Even puffed his beard out today when he saw me comin with 'em. He's currently watchin tv, he loves action flicks, so funny. So we'll see how it goes.
I did research the bulbs and noticed that ReptiGlo didn't get the best reviews, but that's all anybody seems to be carrying anymore.  I think the next one I'm just going to find online somewhere.

I'll keep you posted and thanks again for your help.
-Kelly

Answer
Hello Kelly,

Are you in the US?  If so, you can get the Reptisun 10 tube bulb from  www.petmountain.com  for a pretty good price.  You may want to consider getting him that one so he wont start to have calcium issues.
Good that he seems to be a little more active today.  Hopefully he will continue to show some interest in his surroundings more & he will start eating more also.  Try mustard or collard greens also, instead of just kale.  
I really think that if you switch the UVB lighting that you will see a pretty good change in behavior in him.  It does best when mounted 6-8 inches from him, alongside of a bright white light for basking.

Let me know how he is doing!
Merry Christmas!

Tracie