Throws up crickets only.

[Rukii]

Ziggy is about 8 inches. Temps are good, hes bathed regularly, housed on tile, all that. Currently not on UV due to having a coil. Every time he eats crickets, he throws them up barely digested. Only with crickets. Worms and roaches are ok. Does he have some kind of cricket intolerance? Is that possible? We feed him appropriate sizes and at the right times and all too. Could it be the lack of UV? Natsu and all of our other dragons are perfectly fine, but Ziggy pukes up crickets all the time. We feed him greens and pellet food and fruits and veggies but he never has thrown those up. What could be the problem? Thanks!

 

[Jess]

What time are you feeding him? When mine threw up, it was because I fed him too late and he didnt have enough time to digest before lights out. Crickets do have more exo than roaches and worms (except for mealies), so maybe he just needs longer to digest them? Just a thought You could try feeding him earlier and see if it helps!

 

[xenziffen]

Same thing here, the only time I ever had my beardie throw up was when the basking lamp timer didn't turn on the heat after he finished his breakfast. Superworm textured his walls. And just in case anyone who hasn't had their beardie throw up reads this and wonders how you tell if it's up-chuck -- it smells, just like any other puke. The very distinctive smell of digestive juices.

As a care taking note: there are some possible problems with leaving food 'ready for him in the morning'.

 

[Rukii]

We fed him about 5 to 6 hours before we turned his lights out, so I don't think that could be the problem. He did seem to have diarrhea or runny poo that smelled absolutely awful as well. There were about 4 chunks of undigested cricket and then the poo. Could it be a bad batch of crickets? My other beardie who eats at the same time and the same crickets is perfectly fine, in fact happier than usual. It's only Zig who throws up crickets A LOT. He will usually throw up crickets once per few feedings. I doubt he's 'allergic' to them, but for some reason could he have a tolerance? Like I said, it's only him out of our 5 dragons who does this very often, and when we feed him other feeders or greens/fruits/vegs/pellet food hes perfectly fine. We are planning on putting our 3 juveniles on a different feeder very soon, but our local place has to restart their roach colony, and they only supply crickets, meal/superworms, hornworms, and waxworms with the occasional butterworms.

 

[xenziffen]

Going off the indigestion as further evidence, I'm still worried it's his individual temps are low after cricket meals (not the basking area, but how much time and when he basks).

It sounds like Zig is one of your three juvies. Are they all in the same viv right now? If he's getting crowded out of the basking spot, or just decides not to bask, he won't get the chance to have that after meal heat rush to the belly. Which is contrary to his belly's nature, and all bellies for that matter.

A full belly (and eventually a belly ache) after eating usually triggers the need to make the belly warm or get rid of the stuff. That's one example of a warm-blooded advantage, except big meals make you drowsy.

Thinking about it being cricket specific, maybe it's the behavior caused by eating crickets that is different from other food. Like having to eat them leads to him not being able to bask well.

 

[Jess]

Has he gotten tested for parasites? That would explain the poo problems, and maybe its upsetting his tummy too.

What are the temps in your viv, and what kind of thermometer do you use? Too low of basking temps could definatly be causing this.

Im not 100% sure if this would help or not, but it couldnt hurt to give him a probiotic like soy yogurt. Maybe that would help him digest his food?

Have you tried any other feeders with him?