Bearded Dragon Won't Eat and Keeps Hiding: How Worried Should You Be?

A bearded dragon that stops eating and wedges itself behind the log is usually commenting on its environment long before its health. 🦎

Start with a digital probe on the basking surface, not a stick-on dial. Adults want roughly 35-40C there and a cool end in the low 20s. Any colder and food simply doesn't digest, so hunger switches off. Check the UVB date too: tubes fade long before they stop glowing.

If the temps are right, it's autumn or winter and your dragon is over a year old, brumation is likely. Digging, dozing, weeks without a meal. Weigh weekly on kitchen scales and write it down. Steady weight is reassuring. A sliding number isn't.

Red flags at any time of year: real weight loss, open-mouthed or wheezy breathing, no droppings for ages, trembling limbs, a soft jaw, or a female swollen and restless. Those need an exotics vet rather than another week of waiting.

The full guide has the heat and UVB checklist, how to tell brumation from illness, and gentle ways to tempt an appetite back.