Vern is around 8 months old, and has been acting very strangely for the past couple of months. He stopped pooping, stopped eating, stopped moving and just started to hang out, flat on the ground, under his rock. If he hadn't been so young I would have just let him go, imagining it was brummation. But given his age, I was reticent simply to let him shut down.
I took him along to the vet (a reptile specialist), who agreed with me. He was too young to be shutting down. But she was very confused about what was going on. To my great relief, she declared that he was in better condition than any bearded dragon she'd ever seen (THANKS to beardeddragon.org for all the great information), but had no idea why he should be so lethargic and disinterested in food.
Anyway, we embarked upon a revitalization campaign. We dug Vern out every morning, forcing him to spend time in the light. We increased the number of baths we gave him. And we changed his diet, reducing his intake of dirty old crickets, and substituted juicy silkworms.
Vern took to the silkworms with gusto, which was great. But he didn't seem at all interested in pooping. He's gobble down days and days worth of silkworms, but nothing would come out the other end. I felt so sorry for him.
Anyway, we tried butter worms as an option. And again, he devoured these enthusiastically. But more importantly, since he's started on the butter worms, he's pooped twice in the past four days. And today (thank god) it was like we had our old Vern back. He was pacing around his cage, and even clawing at the glass to get out. He was running around, embarking on adventures all around the living room. He was active, and happy, and didn't spend any time moping around under his rock, or under the tree in his cage or anything.
It's wonderful to have the old Vern back. And as far as I can tell, the big change has come since he started on the butter worms. I'm not sure what it is about them, but they seem to have restored his digestive processes and helped to rehydrate him in a way that other things (baths, silkworms, greens etc) couldn't. And now he's active and happy again.
Chad
I took him along to the vet (a reptile specialist), who agreed with me. He was too young to be shutting down. But she was very confused about what was going on. To my great relief, she declared that he was in better condition than any bearded dragon she'd ever seen (THANKS to beardeddragon.org for all the great information), but had no idea why he should be so lethargic and disinterested in food.
Anyway, we embarked upon a revitalization campaign. We dug Vern out every morning, forcing him to spend time in the light. We increased the number of baths we gave him. And we changed his diet, reducing his intake of dirty old crickets, and substituted juicy silkworms.
Vern took to the silkworms with gusto, which was great. But he didn't seem at all interested in pooping. He's gobble down days and days worth of silkworms, but nothing would come out the other end. I felt so sorry for him.
Anyway, we tried butter worms as an option. And again, he devoured these enthusiastically. But more importantly, since he's started on the butter worms, he's pooped twice in the past four days. And today (thank god) it was like we had our old Vern back. He was pacing around his cage, and even clawing at the glass to get out. He was running around, embarking on adventures all around the living room. He was active, and happy, and didn't spend any time moping around under his rock, or under the tree in his cage or anything.
It's wonderful to have the old Vern back. And as far as I can tell, the big change has come since he started on the butter worms. I'm not sure what it is about them, but they seem to have restored his digestive processes and helped to rehydrate him in a way that other things (baths, silkworms, greens etc) couldn't. And now he's active and happy again.
Chad
