Slurry Recipes

Hi!

I'm currently syringe-feeding my sick little beardie. Does anyone have any slurry recipes to share? Or do I just smash up whatever bugs I think with some baby food? I'll incorporate greens in there too of course. Thanks for your help!

I would include as much variety as you can. When I did syringe feeding it was for an adult so it was very veg focused but you could mix in a variety of bugs as well. I found it best to blend the mixture with plenty of water. Run it thorugh a strainer to get the thick bits out. Then run it through a thin mesh like cheesecloth or a piece of old sheet etc. to get the excess water out. Do this until it's about the consistency of baby food. That will make it much easier to use in the syringes. You can make a bunch and store it in the fridge for a week or so. Unfortunately if you add bugs I don't advise putting the discarded portions into a smoothie for yourself =). Add lots of variety though and rotate your recipe to ensure optimal nutrition.

I've had experience with caring for small sick and injured skink when I was caring for and rehabilitating a rescued (very small) juvenile water skink (Lucky) and I was required to give him liquid food only as one of his injuries from the cat attack I rescued him from was a broken lower jaw and puncture wound to the corner of his mouth - so he had too sore a mouth to hand "hard" insects like crickets and mealworms.
I was giving him oral doses of antibiotics by syringe with a 24Gauge flexicatheter tube (no needle) and liquid calcium (CalciVet) the same way , and handfeeding him the guts of gutloaded crickets and mealworm lavae and mealworm pupae (the last two being his favs) ... he was initially about 5g and regrew his tail and thrived ending up about 20g.
Towards the end I was giving him as part of his diet a mix of VetaFarm lizard and Repcal Juvenile Beardie Pellets made up as a past and using a 14Guage feeding needle on a plastic syringe who's hole was drilled to give a 3mm bore.... this "worked" but was hard work with the syringe I had.

You need a syringe with at least a 2.5mm bore to get thick slurries to flow.
see viewtopic.php?f=45&t=232687 , two methods of attack with syringe feeding
1) gently push the end of the feeding needle between lizard's lips and past the teeth just far enough in to be on his tongue (from the side of his mouth so you are not injecting straight into his throat) , inject small amounts of slurry into the mouth, this is a two person job, one to hold and restrain the lizard who will likely object.
2) use the feeding needle to inject the food directly into the lizard's stomache. see above link for how this is done.
The appropriate volume to give per feed, and appropriate size of the crop/feeding needle is given in the link.

I had success with mix of VetaFarm Lizard and RepCal Juvenile Beardie Pellets (1:1 mix) in enough water to cover them in small 25ml tub, soak, and them mix make an paste , I then added a little water at a time to make a wet slurry , this I gave by feeding syringe and feeding needle into the mouth a little at a time.


You could add Repashi BugPie made as slurry as well ,

and if you can source it , VetaFarm Critta Care for Reptiles
http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/vetafarm_critta_care_reptile
for a very sick lizard == Give approximately 5mL per 100g body weight, per feed.

Use a feeding by syringe for lizards and amphibians.

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or Wombaroo Reptile Suppliment
http://www.wombaroo.com.au/reptiles/reptile-supplement
Mix made as a slurry 10g / 15ml water).

MommyOfDragons":nno2on4c said:

Hi!

I'm currently syringe-feeding my sick little beardie. Does anyone have any slurry recipes to share? Or do I just smash up whatever bugs I think with some baby food? I'll incorporate greens in there too of course. Thanks for your help!

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If he's a juvenile or hatchling, insect protein and liquid calcium are more important.

kingofnobbys":q6gesi0m said:

MommyOfDragons":q6gesi0m said:

If he's a juvenile or hatchling, insect protein and liquid calcium are more important.

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Thanks for the advice. She's 7 months and only 60 grams. She has parasites, gout, and adenovirus. She's currently on medication and a million supplements for all this. I'm getting the medicine and carnivore critical care in just fine, just need to start focusing more on nutrition and getting her to grow. Will be blending some insects tonight . . gross. Her limbs are immobile at the moment so I won't have a problem with her struggling. I'll try some of the products you recommend.

MommyOfDragons":2onoiclx said:

kingofnobbys":2onoiclx said:

MommyOfDragons":2onoiclx said:

If he's a juvenile or hatchling, insect protein and liquid calcium are more important.

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Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. She's 7 months and only 60 grams. She has parasites, gout, and adenovirus. She's currently on medication and a million supplements for all this. I'm getting the medicine and carnivore critical care in just fine, just need to start focusing more on nutrition and getting her to grow. Will be blending some insects tonight . . gross. Her limbs are immobile at the moment so I won't have a problem with her struggling. I'll try some of the products you recommend.

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Wow !! she's tiny... the growth she's not had she'll never make / catch on, but she will grow and develop nicely from now on once you get her past this big health hump.

She still has 18 months or there about of growing left , so she can still grow a fair bit and might wind up 3x to 4x heavier by the time she's a mature adult at 2 years old. She'll still be small (petite) , but that's not important so long as she is healthy and happy and enjoying her life as a pampered and loved catdog.

kingofnobbys":2pvp8weu said:

Wow !! she's tiny... the growth she's not had she'll catch on, but she will grow and develop nicely from now on once you get her past this big health hump.

But still has 18 months or there about of growing left , so she can still grow a fair bit of growth in her and might wind up 3x to 4x heavier by the time she's a mature adult at 2 years old. She'll still be small (petite) , but that's not important so long as she is healthy and happy and enjoying her life as a pampered and loved catdog.

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Yes, I hope she pulls through this. My little Fancy Pants is a fighter. My other dragon is growing like weed! He's the same age and probably close to 300 grams right now! Big boy for sure! We named him Biggie Smalls.