Bearded Dragon Lethargic, Won’t Move or Sleeping A Lot?
Bearded dragons are amazing little reptiles aren’t they? Well one thing’s for sure, they take a lot of care and precautions that are necessary, especially when it comes to making their habitat mimic the wild as much as possible, from their diet, to their surroundings. You have to be super careful with literally everything that involves your bearded dragon’s captive life, including ensuring they get their proper hydration. Sometimes though, a lot of owners have moments where they notice their dragon is lazy or lethargic. Sometimes, depending on the season, or whether they’re shedding, going through a growth spurt, or if they’re just full this happens, but other times you may want to monitor them as it could be a serious issue.
People Often Misinterpret Lazy and Lethargic
As the title to this section says, a lot of people either confuse the terms lazy and lethargic, or they end up thinking it’s the same thing. In fact, there’s a humongous difference between the two.
When your dragon is lazy, they just lay around a day or two (or more), and then they have waves of activity or hyperactivity. Most bearded dragons have days just like we do. Sometimes they just don’t want to get up and go, and it’s normal.
If your dragon is lethargic, it’s more severe. This is when your dragon acts weak and lays around in one area for a very long time. At the same time, many times when a dragon is lethargic, they’re just like us when we are – they don’t want to eat or drink much either. This is very dangerous, and there may be a more serious problem in this case.
Therefore, if your beardie doesn’t want to move around one day, don’t worry. Keep an eye on them for a few days and see if you need to take them to the vet.
Times of Brumation
Brumation is similar to a hibernation state that cold blooded animals will resort to during winter months. They’ll also become lazy if the temperatures get too hot, often going to a dark spot in their cage, or even burrowing and swimming to keep cool, not moving much. When this happens, your dragon can actually sleep for a very long time, and it probably won’t eat or drink much. Sometimes you can wake them up every so often for food and a bath, but that depends on your individual bearded dragon. There’s really nothing you can do to change how this work.
The Negative Effects of Dehydration
The most common problem is that captive bearded dragons can get dehydrated. That’s why it’s important that you mist them often, give them baths, give them plenty of fresh treated (dechlorinated) water each day. Even if you don’t see your dragon drink, you may be surprised, so you should always keep their water in the cage fresh.
You can use a dripping device to create constant ripples on the water bowl. Otherwise, you can easily flavor your dragon’s water if you need to get them trained to drink. If water is standing perfectly still, they can’t see that.
As mentioned earlier, if it’s too warm, they won’t eat either. Also, if you have the wrong kind of light in their terrarium, this will cause you to have possible issues as well. Your dragon needs high levels of UV radiation just like the sun. Make sure you have a fluorescent bulb, about a foot away from the dragon (at the top of your beardies aquarium is fine). It’s also recommended that you use a heat lamp, but make sure to keep it about 2-3 feet away from your dragon. This will keep it from getting too cold. After about 6 months, remember to change all of the bulbs.
Beware of Parasites
There is one other factor why a bearded dragon is lazy, and that’s that they could have parasites. You’ll know if they have a parasite because they’ll have extremely strong scented fecal matter, and it won’t have any solid white color to it called a urate. Most bearded dragons have a pretty solid stool that is brown or green and one end will have a solid white urate. If you have your dragon living in extremely dirty living conditions, or tainted food, this can cause parasites. Do note though, that it could just be that your poor bearded dragon could have diarrhea, and their lethargy may be because of dehydration. You may want to take a stool sample to a vet though to have it checked if you’re unsure or suspect parasites. You may find mites and ticks, or it could develop and contract the Atadenovirus, so you need to be very careful. They may also get pinworms or coccidian. Also, you need to be careful about their food. Make sure their food doesn’t contain horsehair worms, as these can be an issue sometimes.
Conclusion – Bearded Dragon Lethargic
With everything that you could think of, it’s probably pretty hard to tell whether your bearded dragon is just being lazy, or whether or not it’s being lethargic. If it’s been a couple days and your dragon would normally otherwise be hungry and full of energy, try feeding it a small treat. You could see if you could feed it a little piece of fruit to jump start its day. (Don’t do this too often, but only if it’s being a little bit lethargic.
You may also run the risk of injuring your bearded dragon if you’re feeding it wild-caught insects. Many insects that aren’t dying still have some contact with pesticides, and this can be dangerous. Also, if you’ve gotten your bearded dragon to eating a certain kind of delicacy that is a wild insect, your pet might only want to eat that insect, which could cause it to starve and become lethargic as well. If you do suspect that your bearded dragon is ever being lethargic, not wanting to eat or drink, doesn’t really want to move (even with bathing and misting), and all else fails, make sure you get them to the vet right away! Your veterinarian will come up with a plan to try and save your bearded dragon.
