My beardie is 1 year old, he has been a lot less active for the past 3 months. I had to take him out of bed every morning, otherwise he'll just stay in the same spot till noon or even later. He is awake as soon as the light is on though, just doesn't want to move his lazy butt. So, I'm used to picking him up at around 9am and then cuddle for half an hour to warm him up. I bath him daily at 11am, then he'll eat after the bath and poop. He is eating alright, except not so interested in the greens. Then I'll put him on his branch to bask. After an hour or two, he'll move to sit under his log (around 2pm), and remains there for the rest of the day. He doesn't fall into deep sleep until the light is off at 7pm though.
I talked to our vet, who is a very experienced exotic vet, about his lazy behaviour. She didn't think that he is wanting to brumate since he is still all excited about live food. She thought the laziness might be because I'm spoiling him too much! Before I talked with her, my boy is eating 50+ lateralis or crickets per day. He is 21.5" and 600g now (was 45g in mid-Feb, grown 550g in less than 7 months; grown too much in too short period of time). She suggested putting him on a diet, and no more spoiling by putting him in front of his food dish or on his branch, etc. So, these past 3 weeks I had been feeding him less, maximum 20 lateralis per day plus some greens. I no longer put him in the places I'd like him to be. If he wanted to bask he'll have to climb up the branch by himself. And if he wanted to eat, he'll have to walk to his food dish. There were a few days when he ate nothing, but then the next day he'll be extra hungry and will jump from his branch when he sees me pour roaches into his food dish. In order to increase his activity level, I let him out to roam the house for an hour in the afternoon. Usually at the time when he decides to go back to sit under his log. (But he usually ends up sitting on the bean bag looking out the window...)
Overall, he is more active than before. However, he is still not wanting to get out of bed! And he still wants to go back to rest as early as 2pm! So my question is, how do I know if he is wanting to brumate? I'm still picking him up for morning cuddles; I don't know if I should quit doing that because if he is wanting to brumate, then I really shouldn't be bothering him. This is my first bearded dragon, so I'm not sure what is the normal activity level; but are adult dragons suppose to be this lazy? How much does your dragon move around? And how much vege is your adult dragon eating per day? A couple months ago, he would nip at his salad dish and eat several mouthfuls, but now I have to trick him to take in some greens. e.g. mixing the roaches with chopped greens, or wrapping a worm with a piece of green, etc.
p.s. The UV lights are still working, I have a UVI meter to check every couple of weeks. The temps are 80F to 110F. He usually sit in the spot that is 90-92F. He is a "free-range" dragon, I took down the doors of his cage, and sectioned off an area in my gecko room for him to move around. He made use of every inch of that space a few months ago, but he no longer runs around anymore. I hope that is to do with growing up.
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