Could just be dehydrated?
Hi Valery, Can you describe what your set up has in it and how you care for him daily? Do you mist him daily? Dehydration is very common in juveniles because they require hot temps, and their bodies are small and they dry out easily.
So I normally will mist babies every morning for about 5 minutes, slowly and steadily, until they're licking the mist and at that time, sit a low-sided bowl in there and pour water into it slowly, so you are teaching him to drink from the bowl. The bowl should be short enough so he can see into it.
He also needs fresh greens like collard greens, not lettuce, daily. At this point look at him. Is the back of his head seem like it's sinking in or are his eyes sunken in? Is his skin wrinkled looking? Those are some signs of dehydration. Is the tail base where it attaches to the body full looking or does it appear sunken in on top or underneath? Once the tail has sunken in, it's possible it may be too hard to get him back again, but miracles happen.
The misting should be done daily every morning, and in hot weather, at dinnertime too, up until about 10 months old.
But at this point where he's lethargic (And I know he's not used to handling), so I would either use rose cutting gloves or catch him with your mom's favorite tupperware container (Sorry if I get you in trouble, but it pisses me off that your trying to do the right thing and be responsible and not getting any support from your parents). So maybe not her favorite, but any container and lid you can catch him with. And put him in a rinsed out sink. Because he is lethargic you don't want to sit him in water because he could drown.
I would rinse the sink out well of any soap. Then fix the water so it's dribbling out just a little stronger than a drip and warm but not hot or cold. And put him in there, and splash him for about 5minutes, plug it in so it starts to fill and if he has any strength left in him, he'll start drinking once he's over the shock of being splashed.
Watch that he doesn't drink so deeply that he inhales it. Lift his head if he drinks too long. After he's done drinking let him sit in the water another 5 minutes. Then put your hand under his chest so he sees your hand is the way to get out of the water. If he still has attitude, add another inch or 2 of water so he can't touch the bottom and when he sees he can't get it, he may try climbing onto your hand, and then wrap him in a handtowel to transport him back to your tank.
If you are using sand or another substrate, empty it and replace with papertowel or newspaper until he's approx 9-10mo. old, otherwise you'll make mud when misting.
Once he's rehydrated he may get an appetite again. Try a small low sided bowl of mealworms rather than having crickets crawl over him. Also, check out your local small petshops to see if you can get a part time job and get a discount on reptile supplies. If that big tank you bought is 150gal, that's too big anyways. You'd be fine with a 40gal breeder for an adult. Maybe you can sell the big one and use the cash on other necessities.
I hope that helps!
