Sidney : I haven't posted in forever.....

Hello all. I'm starting a new thread for my new dragon and will do a memorial thread for my beloved Zilla, who was my first dragon.

We've had Sid for 5 days now, and wow! I can't believe how different of a dragon he his compared to Zilla! I still consider myself new to beardies since I'd never really even heard of them before around two years ago.

We are still in a learning process with Sid to try and figure out his likes and dislikes with foods and temperature etc. The woman I got him from had a toddler and a three week old baby, and wasn't spending the time with him that she wanted to. She didn't give me a whole lot of info except he loved roaches and didn't eat greens like she thought he should. That he was an every other day pooper and usually only on the left side of his tank. Not even positive what his basking temp was because the end of the thermometer hung down halfway in the back of the tank.

But so far so good with him! He ate a roach the first day and three superworms, but then threw up the next day. A piece of carrot either didn't agree with him, or I hadn't gotten his basking high enough. The next day he didn't eat, but I lowered his light and he eventually started gaping. Yesterday I coaxed him into 10 worms, and today he ate 25! That was WAY more than I intended to feed him, but honestly, it had been SO long since I had seen a healthy beardie eat! He even washed it down with some water dripped onto his nose. I snuggled with him a bunch after that, but new he had to bask so didn't keep him out to long. He promptly black bearded and glass danced to come out, so I took him out. Then he crawled up my shoulder and head and hung out and dozed. I put him back after awhile and he basked.

Here's some pix!!

First day!

First day neck snuggles with daddy

Yesterday, checking out Mt. Shoepile

On the couch with his mouth open

Black bearding the back of the couch with his mouth open

Today, very happy to be out of his tank

Black beard fading since he's out of his tank

How we snuggled for awhile after he ate 25 worms

He always touches my cheek or sticks his nose in my ear when he's on my shoulder

He was very lazy/sleepy today

Look at that black beard after I put him back to bask!!

I have NEVER seen a beard so black!! And look at that one spike. Pretty sure it's shedding.

But he's a very pretty color! And I think he's got blue eyes!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Oh my, so many baby showers, it's great that you knit, something special for them

That Tahoe sounds like a great deal, even though it would have been good if their kids didn't trash the back. But still, it's a great price! And beach camping, very romantic

That's so sweet that Sid likes his new stuffie, can't blame him, stuffies are so soft and snuggly. He's really getting used to you, it's great to hear.

And you'll keep us updated on the wedding, sounds like you've got things under control so far, how far in advance do you have to book the venue?

 

[BrendaKay]

Yes, I learned to knit about 6 or so years ago, then switched to crochet about a year ago. It's my therapy. And I'm pretty sure people appreciate hand made gifts a little more than store bought, although they'll never know how much actually goes into it unless they do the craft as well.

So, this morning was to be the second dose of Panacur for Sid - and I thought I recalled somewhere to feed them first. Since yesterday he finally did a reasonably sized poop, I knew he'd be hungry with an empty belly. So I gave him some superworms because he seems to LOVE them. 10 became 20. 20 became 30. The pig ate 27 of them! I was so happy with that, I figured I'd better ask here if I should give him Panacur at lunch time. Or maybe tomorrow morning?

I was just thrilled to have a beardie that ate like the pigs they are supposed to be. I'm getting a little concerned that I have not seen him eat one thing other than supers or a roach. So much protein can be bad, right? But I think he is over any relocation stress and has quickly learned how to get what he wants. He does the black beard glass dance to come out, and then he's very happy. I haven't been able to let him roam around much because we've been dog sitting since about 2 days after we got him. Dana (the dog) goes back home tomorrow, so Sid will have a lot more out time.

Yay!

 

[zandi202]

Since he's over a year old I feel like that is way too many supers as it should be 80% greens and veggies and 20% protein. I was also told that 35-40 supers a week for an adult would be plenty so 27 in a single day is almost his whole week's worth. It is hard not to spoil them, especially since he will eat whereas Zilla was not.

 

[BrendaKay]

Since he's over a year old I feel like that is way too many supers as it should be 80% greens and veggies and 20% protein. I was also told that 35-40 supers a week for an adult would be plenty so 27 in a single day is almost his whole week's worth. It is hard not to spoil them, especially since he will eat whereas Zilla was not.

I agree. I guess I will have to resort to possibly one or two bugs in the salad dish and wean him off that way. I believe she said he only ate Kale - so perhaps I'll get some of that and mix it with better veggies. I was hoping he'd like the calcium powder, but so far he hasn't had any.

I will do the dose of Panacur tomorrow since I'm not sure if I should do that on such a full stomach.

 

[zandi202]

I would do kale only once as week as it isn't great for beardies - Jace especially had a problem with it. Bok choy leaves seem to be really inticing to a dragon that won't eat greens.

 

[sweetiepie9]

No kale is not good for dragons as it binds calcium and they never get the calcium they need. So once in a while is all, I'm surprised he doesn't have MBD because of all the kale he's been eating. Collard greens is the best choice, mustard greens, turnip greens. And Liz is right 50 worms at the most per week is the max. As for the panacur, always give it 1st thing in the am, then feed him, then acidophilus 6 hours later. When he's not getting panacur, then acidophilus, then food. And putting 7 worms a day in his salad might entice him to eat more salad, too. So max is 7 supers a day. He'll take some time to digest what he ate. So give him the panacur tomorrow am, before anything, as that's how the med works best.

It's so hard to stop spoiling a dragon, impossible almost, but he'll have to learn re: food that greens are a necessary part of his life...good luck with that, I have to hand feed greens to all of them, Puff won't eat them at all...So I have a challenge over here, too, never mind Rubio, who's back to the vet today as he's not getting better as much as I thought he would.

 

[BrendaKay]

She said she had wished he would be better about eating his greens, which now leads me to believe he didn't eat any for her either. When I had asked what was in the bowl, she said Kale. So I'm assuming that is mostly what she fed him - but she did name off of few others as well. She said she fed him about 10 roaches every other day.

I will look for Bok Choy tonight to try to bribe him with.

I'll give him his dose of Panacur in the morning after weighing him. I don't think he's gained/lost any since last time, but I'd like to give him the proper amount again. Last time was a nightmare getting any actually IN him, but since then he's drinking water from a syringe really well. So i'll trick him that way - start with water and finish with Panacur. Then tomorrow evening i'll give him acidophilus that he seemed to really like.

Hopefully he'll get better about his greens! I'd hate to play hard ball and withhold bugs indefinitely until he gets hungry enough to eat his salad!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Mine all have to be hand fed greens and Puff won't eat them at all. So I put worms in her dish with lots of greens on top of them, the worms eat all the greens and then Puff eats the worms in the am. She won't be hand fed no matter what I do, and I'm good at hand feeding, so this seems to be the best way to get some into her. She won't even eat babyfood.

So I'm just feeding them their greens, then I'm off to the vet with Rubio, I'll give an update on my thread when I get home.

 

[Tonja]

Emily would not eat her greens either and I hand fed her hers then said the heck with that, she will nip fingers grabbing food but has never broken skin thank heavens. I finally learned a long time ago to take strawberries, cherries and blackberries and puree them, strain and use the juice as a salad dressing of sorts..she gobbles her salads now with the dressing on them. Over time I lessened the dressing and have had no problems, plus they get natural juice and the vitamins from the juice. I would feed the strained bits to my crickets in a lid so she got the left overs that way.

 

[BrendaKay]

THAT is a really good idea!! Thank you!

 

[BrendaKay]

MUCH better luck with the Panacur this morning. I weighed him and he's down to 604g (I'm trying not to be alarmed at the weight loss) so gave him .60 of the Panacur. I started with water dripping on his nose, then switched out syringes. No sooner do i get the last little drop in him and he decides to stop licking. YAY! Score one for the smart Momma! haha

Then I gave him a breakfast of 10 worms. So he's up to 37 worms for the week so far, will skip them the next few days, since he probably won't really want to eat anyway. Or I'll just offer a few each morning. I'll definitely keep it under 50. I left two in the bowl under some salad (Turnip Greens today) but so far he is snubbing them.

Have to pick a friend up from the airport at 930 this morning, so won't be able to get home at lunch to check on him. Well, actually I'll be home at 10 so he can pick up his dog (Dana) that we've had. So I'll just give him a pat on the head and make sure he's basking. I'll give him acidophilus as soon as I get home tonight, and then again in the morning.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[sweetiepie9]

You. too Brenda. It's going to take awhile to get the panacur done & then another fecal to make sure he's clear 3 weeks after the last med. Hopfully he'll get the salad done, Puff still won't eat salad!

 

[BrendaKay]

He didn't touch the salad yet, but is basking.

I guess I keep doing the Panacur weekly until the fecal test is clear? Or just do the two doses and test in a week? I guess I never thought about that part, how many doses he is getting............

 

[sweetiepie9]

Gabriel was given 4 panacur doses over 4 weeks, then I waited 3 weeks to test the fecal to see if they came back & they did, so he got another 4 doses & the 2nd time worked, after 3 wks he was cleared.

 

[BrendaKay]

Oh geez! I was hoping this dose would be the end of it. I'll check under the microscope if he gives me a poop this coming weekend. I sent in a couple pictures of the microscope slide to beardeddragon.co before placing an order because I couldn't tell if it was pinworms or hookworms. She said they were pinworm eggs, and a lot of them. Is that easier to treat than pinworms?

I need to disinfect the tank again too. I have the pink stuff that I used to clean it. Then I spray it and let it dry. Than i take water soaked paper towels to rinse the tank real well. Then I spray it with water and wipe it all up to dry it.

And I switched to newspaper liner for now and keep his steps covered in paper towels so i'm sure they are clean. He hasn't pooped on the alligator (yet) but that will get a good hot wash as well.

I just checked the camera and he stuck his nose in the back corner of the cool side. He did that last week after the Panacur set it too. I think he did that for two or three days. Poor boy. Will get some Acidophilus in him as soon as i get home.