OpalAndZayde
Hatchling Member
Hello, so I have a 7-9 year old male leatherback bearded dragon. He has been extremely healthy up until now. Back in August, we were getting ready to go for a camping trip, the day before we left he had been sleeping in his hide and didn't want to eat. I figured it was an early Brumation, and didn't think twice. And now, I'm regretting that a lot. Felix hasn't eaten in a few months. He ate an occasional mealworm up until a few weeks ago. Now he will not eat at all, and is very skinny. He has urinated every other day, and an occasional, very small poo. He still sleeps in his blankie on the floor, and gets up to bask in the morning, but other than that he sits with his head sagged and eyes closed all the time. I have started force feeding him with a syringe, as he will not eat a slurry even on the tip of his nose. So I started the first few days with about 6ml of water, spread out throughout the day. Then I added a bit of calcium and fruit juice to the water, and he started to perk up a bit. After one day of being super active and looking alert and great, he went back downhill. He now can barely move, and if he does its only for short periods of time. I just made a slurry to feed him today, I put in a strawberry, collards, a bit of honey, calcium, and water. I put the slurry in a strainer, and for now I am only feeding him the juice instead of the solids. Up until now, he had a ZooMed compact 10.00 coil UVB bulb and a 150watt heat bulb. His temps are perfect, and I realized I should probably change the UVB bulb, so I did swap to a T8 12'' ZooMed fixture with a fresh bulb. I am unable to take him to a vet as of now. But I wanted to ask if theres anything more I can do? He has a fight to live, which is one of the things I love about him. And he won't give up, he just keeps trying. And I'm just sick trying to get him back together. Am I taking the right steps? Should I not be force feeding?
Abby
Abby