Male anglehead isn't eating/acting stangely.

[Rhomany]

My yearling male anglehead hasn't been eating enough food. He's been refusing to eat for the past few weeks and the only time he has is when he's opened his mouth and I've popped in a cricket. He usually chews it and spits it out though.. The enclosure is fine because the female is healthy and happy and I have made sure everything is perfect. They have been mating. I'm just worried because he's lost a little bit of weight and looks skinny. He's been trying to scratch his way up the glass and when I let him out of the enclosure he runs around as if he's looking for escape and won't sit still. He is usually calm and likes a pet or he's puffed up/head bobbing and ready to bite me so I'm worried about this new temperament. It makes me sad to think they look out the window and see that huge rainforest-like backyard but can't go and explore. Any suggestions from some more experienced Southern Forest dragon owners would be so much appreciated. I have a feeling you guys will know more about this than a reptile vet that has never dealt with the species.

 

[PythonLegs]

We'll need set up details- size, temp, humidity, heating details, substrate, all that good stuff, what you've been feeding them,anything else you can tell us.

 

[Rhomany]

I spray the enclosure everyday so the humidity is high enough and they are kept cool. The temperature is right at room temp as they don't require heat because it's summer and I live on the east coast where they're from and the entire room is kept cool. Enclosure is 90xhigh and 60x60 deep/wide. Lots of branches/vines/fresh water and have a live plant in the enclosure at the back to help with humidity. Also have a bucket of vermiculite/sand incase eggs are eventually laid. Substrate is peat brick. I give them 5.0 uvb 13 watt glow light 8 hours a day but also provide plenty of branch cover incase they want shade. They're very healthy dragons with no signs of MBD and I coat their crickets every meal (they only tend to eat them if they're powdered anyway) I also feed them on occasion meal worms, woodies and pinkie mice. I try to keep them stress free and if they are scratching at the glass I let them run around my room.

The female eats a great deal and I usually offer them 5-7 large crickets a meal 2-4 times a week via either tweasers or with my fingers. When they're full they close their eyes or jump away so I let the excess 1-3 crickets jump around till the lizards are ready for their next snack.

They also have a decent sized pool to cool down in with a few clean/smooth rocks on the bottom for grip because I worry they might slip over. I think that's about all the details.. Oh and I take them out once a day or every second day. I don't often handle them for long I just let them run around and explore.

 

[PythonLegs]

Hmm. Well, good job on the husbandry..the only thing that jumps out at me is peat brick substrate- the non eating often goes hand in hand with impaction, so he may have eaten some while grabbing for a cricket, or picked some up while drinking- sometimes happens when they sit in their water bowl and the peat gets stuck to them and transferred into the water that way.

Although, I've only kept boyds, so I may be missing something..

Come on guys, normally you people are all over these 'please help' threads like lice on lohan.

 

[KREPS2011]

The way you have set them up is great. I cant read anything wrong. Try letting him run around the room for about 10 minutes and then try throwing a cricket in front of him. I had female who would only eat if i let her run around the room first.

Cheers
Kyle

 

[Rhomany]

I was wondering if it's a common anglehead trait for males to go off food? He ate 3 small crickets today but wouldn't have anything else so I'm hopeful he will go back to normal! Also he's about 26cm long from head to tail and around a year old. He's very healthy looking apart from being pretty skinny. I'll post some pics of him I took a while ago. He tried to bite me a few times too so that's a good sign too. The peat brick sometimes gets on the crickets but there has never been much of a problem with that. I usually wash the crickets off if this happens and I feed them by hand because otherwise the crickets just get lost or escape or drown.

 

[KREPS2011]

Males never get fat. They will always look skinny. But not to the point were you can see his ribs

Cheers
Kyle

 

[Rhomany]

I really hope that's what it is but the no eating a dramatic weight loss still bothers me. The last photo is the most recent sorry about his body not being too visible.

 

[KREPS2011]

He dont look that bad. Just keep a eye on him. And maybe feed them by tweezers or in a seperate tub. Keep us posted with his progress

Cheers
Kyle