Beardie not eating during Recovery

Hey guys, I'm fairly new to this forum. If this is the place to ask, great. If not, oops.
So my bearded dragon, Kog Maw, had parasites and had begun to stop eating. After taking him to the vet for a fecal analysis he was given his medicine which he has been on for a bit less than a week now. He still hasn't been eating many insects, maybe 3 butterworms a day? However, he does eat quite a bit of veggies including collard greens, squash, apple, baby arugula, and babyfood to help with his digestion. Is there any way to get him to eat insects again? His tank's temp and light bulbs are fine so I'm kind of ruling those out as possible factors to the problem as he was eating fine prior to the parasites.

He may also be shedding? I saw a few scales come off his upper lip and found some shed scales that may have came off one of his fingers. I don't know if shedding would cause a reduction of appetite to THIS extent though as he hasn't been eating normally for a bit over a week.

Note: I am currently feeding him butterworms to help with weight gain as the parasites caused diarrhea, resulting in him losing a bit of weight. He also had a rectal prolapse as a result of the diarrhea which was fixed via some sutures at the hospital.

Marcorecinos":3jvd26xl said:

He also had a rectal prolapse as a result of the diarrhea which was fixed via some sutures at the hospital.

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I'm glad he got proper treatment for this.

You didn't mention his age, keeping in mind that BDs eat more greens & less insects as they mature, and some mature faster than others--each is different.

It's possible the chitin exoskeleton of some feeders (including butterworms) is upsetting his digestive tract. If it's a matter of needing to get more protein and/or fat into him, you might try a feeder with less/no chitin, or some ground/pureed meat until he's feeling better.

YMMV

MrSpectrum":2zm9f2bg said:

Marcorecinos":2zm9f2bg said:

He also had a rectal prolapse as a result of the diarrhea which was fixed via some sutures at the hospital.

Click to expand...

I'm glad he got proper treatment for this.

You didn't mention his age, keeping in mind that BDs eat more greens & less insects as they mature, and some mature faster than others--each is different.

It's possible the chitin exoskeleton of some feeders (including butterworms) is upsetting his digestive tract. If it's a matter of needing to get more protein and/or fat into him, you might try a feeder with less/no chitin, or some ground/pureed meat until he's feeling better.

YMMV

Click to expand...

Right! My bad, he's only about 6 months old right now! I didn't think butterworms have a chitin exoskeleton though, they're pretty squishy. I'll give a pureed meat a try then for sure!