Canceled shed

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loljelloclowdz

Juvie Member
Mari was about to shed the top of her head (it was ghostly white, not crispy yet, but was very white) when all of a sudden it got dull grey again and now it’s not making any progress. She moved onto shedding her next segment (her back left leg) so now I’m at a loss for how I’m gonna stimulate her to get the job done because I don’t want her to get stuck on shed.

The hardest part is that since this is on top of her head, soaking her in water isn’t really helpful because she’d have to submerge the top of her head somehow, and that’s just not possible because she’d drown if she did.

I started cutting back to one feeding a day + salad (shes 6.5 months old and is 18 inches long - she’s a long lizard!) but I’m wondering if she’s malnourished, and if I should go back to 2x daily feedings. Her fat pads aren’t sunken, but I know malnourishment doesn’t always present in weight loss. Here’s her diet (I’m strictly prohibited from ordering dubia roaches):
- kale (she doesn’t even touch this, and I stopped putting it in her mouth because she genuinely gags at the smell of it, so I just offer it. She is just super anti-kale for some reason - maybe it’s the trichomes on it - I’m not gonna lie, I hate how sharp those trichomes are, so I planted some smooth kale, but she won’t eat it either. She’s just not a fan.)
- Red lettuce (READ THIS: I only pulled off the tiniest piece (Like the size of a US dime) and cut it up really tiny just to sprinkle on her kale to make it look more interesting (like sprinkles I guess) but she wouldn’t have that, either, so I stopped offering lettuce altogether.
- Red bell pepper (she actually eats this but she gets tired of it super fast and won’t eat it.)
- collard greens (she hates them and looks at me like I’m an ***** when I put them in her salads.)
- Cilantro (this is her favorite and I unfortunately haven’t had luck obtaining it in months! I’ll go on a hunt again, but doubt I’ll find any.)
- Green Beans (she kinda likes them)
- Cucumber (these are a treat but she doesn’t like them that much. I personally think cucumbers taste like soap.)
- Blueberries (TREATS ONLY - she loses her mind and dives face first into these. I offer them daily only after she’s had her meal.)
- Raspberries (TREATS ONLY - I’ve never seen a reptile pucker their lips from sourness before until I offered one to her ?)
- Dandelion greens (zero interest)
- yellow Dandelion flower (still doesn’t know she can eat that so she ignores it)
- Banana (VERY RARELY - she hates it with a passion but it has potassium, so I gutload her BSFL with it so her potassium pumps all throughout her body can function.)
- Carrot shreds or disks (about once a week in low amounts to prevent hypervitaminosis A)

Insects:
- BSFL (I dust them once in a while, but very sparingly. Like probably a couple nanograms of calcium carbonate actually get on the worm. I dust with vitamins if I don’t gutload them.)
- Crickets (once a month I go out and buy the largest crickets I can get because Mari is large and eats like a maniac. She can eat 100 medium crickets in 2 days flat, no joke. I always dust the crickets in both calcium w/ d3 and vitamins.
- Mealworms (TREAT ONLY - I HATE mealworms because they seem problematic, but I let Mari eat ONE about once every 3 weeks. I never use freeze-dried!)
- Canned silkworms (these were an emergency staple - I keep canned bugs to hold her over between live shipments. She LOVED these, but I sadly can’t find any more of these.)
- Canned grasshoppers (emergency staple)
- Canned crickets (emergency staple to alternate between grasshoppers and silkworms for variety.)
- Rephashy grub pie (Emergency staple since it once took 2 weeks to get bug shipments.)
- hornworms (I stopped feeding these because they look cute and I feel sorry for them because their little cartoon eyes meant to confuse predators made me confused into thinking they are adorable.)


I dust all insects with her multivitamins and calcium w/ d3. I make sure to dose her calcium correctly to prevent hypercalcemia and I make sure to prevent hypervitaminosis by correctly dosing her vitamins.

Oh and I have a reptisun T8 10.0 under the screen 8 inches from her basking platform, and her heat lamp basking temperature is 102 F and her cool side is room temperature because I built her enclosure super large to let that sort of gradient exist. Her basking bulb is a bright white bulb.
 

loljelloclowdz

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Oh and she’s never seen a coil in her life, never ate a super worm, and has no idea loose substrate exists. ?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Ok I would try some turnip greens --- and try some silk worms- they are a good staple feeder - anything canned jarred or freeze dried I would pitch -- super worms are good as well - horn worms -- horn worms are a good hydrating worm - super worms can be added to her salads 1-3 of them - but she does need protein so since your only feeding crickets once in awhile I would suggest ordering silk worms --
you can get them from here www.reptilianarts.com if you order in bulk like 50 make sure you get food to feed to them they do come small and you will need to clean containers out every day -- here is a website for nutrition if you need it http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html -- its good she likes cilantro I would try and get her some turnip greens see if she will go for those --
Karrie
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
As for the head shed, no need to worry. It will come off when it's ready. You CAN spray her lightly in the tank to increase humidity and aid the shed but even that is not usually necessary.
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
loljelloclowdz":3q3x8cg6 said:
- hornworms (I stopped feeding these because they look cute and I feel sorry for them because their little cartoon eyes meant to confuse predators made me confused into thinking they are adorable.)
Just had to stop and ? at this because I think it would be me too.

I did notice that you said you dust all insects with calcium and multivitamins...I thought this was supposed to be on a staggered schedule and not every day??
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
You could also dribble water on her her head when you give her a bath to help the shed. They seem to have a harder time shedding on the top of their head than on the rest of their body. Our beardie has been working on a head shed like forEVer. :roll:

Our beardie goes nuts for hornworms but we have to feed them to him as soon as we bring them home otherwise I would get attached to them, as well as the fact that they grow really big really fast and then morph into whatever kind of butterfly or moth, and our neighbors who grow tomatoes would not be happy with us for that. :x
 

loljelloclowdz

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Ok so funny thing, her head shed is starting to peel away (she’s been rubbing her chin on her rocks) under her beard, but I just never noticed. Also I’m excited that you found live silkworms, they are the best staple insect you can use.


also I’m gonna write a list of the food you suggested right now, I lost the one I made waaaay back in February when I was considering getting her ?.
 

loljelloclowdz

Juvie Member
Original Poster
SHBailey":39mn24n7 said:
You could also dribble water on her her head when you give her a bath to help the shed. They seem to have a harder time shedding on the top of their head than on the rest of their body. Our beardie has been working on a head shed like forEVer. :roll:

Our beardie goes nuts for hornworms but we have to feed them to him as soon as we bring them home otherwise I would get attached to them, as well as the fact that they grow really big really fast and then morph into whatever kind of butterfly or moth, and our neighbors who grow tomatoes would not be happy with us for that. :x

The hornworms you buy online are actually tobacco hornworms, I think tomato is poisonous to these types of hornworms, but I’m not sure because I didn’t test it out so I wouldn’t accidentally poison Mari ?
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
It was my understanding that it's tomato that's poisonous to bearded dragons if the worms eat it, and that they feed the worms something different than tomato leaves (that stuff that looks like peanut butter) to make them safe for beardies to eat, but I could be wrong about that. :?
 

loljelloclowdz

Juvie Member
Original Poster
SHBailey":2lv56kn9 said:
It was my understanding that it's tomato that's poisonous to bearded dragons if the worms eat it, and that they feed the worms something different than tomato leaves (that stuff that looks like peanut butter) to make them safe for beardies to eat, but I could be wrong about that. :?

Tomato leaves are 100% poisonous, both species will eat them and become poisonous to predators. Tobacco hornworms are immune to nicotine and can safely chow down an entire tobacco field if they please. I think they prefer tobacco over tomatoes, but if they eat any of those, they are poisonous to any animal who eats them.
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
Is it something about tomato leaves themselves, or something that happens when the worm eats them?
My girl inadvertantly got a big bite of tomato leaf yesterday but she has been ok, whew!
 

loljelloclowdz

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Guys I forgot to update, apparently her skin looks pretty clear before it sheds off. Literally not even 24 hours after I posted this her head shed started flaking off and I have her a bath and she rubbed her head on some rocks and got it off. ?
 

loljelloclowdz

Juvie Member
Original Poster
WinFam01":361oexc3 said:
Is it something about tomato leaves themselves, or something that happens when the worm eats them?
My girl inadvertantly got a big bite of tomato leaf yesterday but she has been ok, whew!


Tomato leaves are very poisonous, but if your dragon isn’t dead by now, then she’s fine. I don’t even offer tomatoes because I don’t like the risk ?
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
Ack!
Now that I know my husband has some tomato plants near her greens, it won't happen again, and I am so glad she is ok!
 
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