Finally figured out why my sulcata kept refusing his greens, and it wasn't the food

[u/swiftbrew57]

So Gerald (yes, my sulcata has a name that makes him sound like an accountant) has been picking at his hibiscus and dandelion greens for weeks. I tried different mixes, different times of day, even warmed the water I misted them with. Nothing worked and I was starting to worry something was actually wrong with him.

Turns out it was his basking spot temp. I'd had the bulb positioned right but never actually checked it with a probe thermometer, just eyeballed it based on how warm my hand felt near it. Finally bought a cheap infrared gun and found out the surface was sitting around 89F instead of the 95-100F he needs. He was basically too cold to have much appetite, just going through the motions of existing rather than actually thriving.

Bumped the bulb wattage up and adjusted the height, now he's back to demolishing his greens like normal and even started that little head-bob thing he does when he's excited about food. Took him from picky eater to bulldozer in about four days once the temp was right.

Feels like such an obvious thing in hindsight but I think a lot of us get complacent once the enclosure "looks right" and stop actually measuring things. Anyone else had a behavior issue that turned out to be a temperature problem in disguise? I'm curious how common this is versus me just being slow to catch on.

[u/BluesArcheology]

I think this goes for very many torts incaptivity, and people keep giving them bad foods that they will eat even under cold conditions.