Hydration & Weight (And Parasites?)

I would be really leary of the waterfall-- just because they are a desert animal not tropical and of RI
Karrie

KarrieRee":m7e7o4rp said:

I would be really leary of the waterfall-- just because they are a desert animal not tropical and of RI
Karrie

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I totally understand that. I am off school right now as it's exam time, and there is space next to his terrarium for me to study/do homework so I am definitely keeping an eye on the hygrometer. If it gets up to 50% I'll take it out. So far it seems stable at 48%, and when our furnace came on it dropped down to 47%.

Regarding pics-

Oh such a cutie! Definitely a little thin, but not horrific... Just came home from a PetSmart near here to pick up a few ghost shrimp for my fish tank and they had some poor beardies that looked a breath from death. T.T

I guess I'd like to see a thicker tail base and thighs on pancake if I were his owner... Mr. Guac has freaking power thighs! Look at them! :lol: You can't see great in this pic, but they're bigger around them my thumb!


Here's Guacamole - he's doing pretty good, nice thick tail base, but his head pads are pretty thin and you can deffo tell where his spin is... I just want to get a hair more weight on him since he often goes on salad strike and I'd like to be less concerned when he decides greens are no good.

That's what they were suggesting, but I'd rather make it into a dressing for his salad as he's fully capable of eating on his own.

Tiles are such a blessing for grinding down claws!! Polar fleece sounds like it would be good for burrowing. Is it available at most craft/fabric stores?

I was slightly too in all honesty. I was asked to write a list of everything I feed him, and in my list I labelled which were his staple foods, and was asked what I meant by "staple feeder." But out of all the exotic vets in my area, he has by far the best reviews. The owner of a well run reptile store here takes the instore reptiles along with his personal pets there too and hasn't had any problems, which is where I learned about this vet. A girl in one of my classes takes her tegu and skink to him ss well. Maybe they just think reptile carpet looks nicer? :lol:

I have about 500 pictures of Pancake lol, I will upload some to this thread tomorrow morning. Just so you have some reference for underweight until then, the vet said he is missing fat pads on his underside, and he was feeling close to where their spikes are on their side.
What do you mean by "tries" to dehydrate himself? Do we both have anti-water lizards?

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Gotcha. I mean, if it works, it works!

For the fleece - Yeah! I recommend checking out remnants in particular, since they're usually half price. Usually you get weird colors - like Guac's on a ugly pale pink right now - but if it works it works, you know?

Haha, maybe! That or maybe there's something we don't know? Hard to say... I might do a little poking around, since my university is pretty big I have access to a lot of the veterinary and herpetology publications. See it there's anything recent out on substrates for beardies... :study:

He wouldn't happen to be talking about "beardie boob", would he? That's the only fat pad I can think of that's kinda near there that folks usually check, but my understanding was that it was one of those very optional ones provided the tail base was thick, hips & spin were covered, and head pads convex... Plus I know in some other reptile species it's less for fat storage and more for excess calcium, like in leopard geckos it's a symptom of hyper-calcemia (usually not an issue - just half the number of times you dust their food and it goes away w/o issue). Dunno for BDs, though.

Let me know if you learn anymore! Since I'm just about to go to the reptile vet for the first time, it would be great to compare what we're told on diagnosing weight and hydration!

Oh, and yes! Guac, for whatever reason, frequently ignores the existence of water. This is particularly funny because he's also one of the few dragons I know of who WILL drink out of a water dish. Funny dude.

Thanks!
-Ellentomologist

Ellentomologist":kpnjjs5u said:

Gotcha. I mean, if it works, it works!

For the fleece - Yeah! I recommend checking out remnants in particular, since they're usually half price. Usually you get weird colors - like Guac's on a ugly pale pink right now - but if it works it works, you know?

Haha, maybe! That or maybe there's something we don't know? Hard to say... I might do a little poking around, since my university is pretty big I have access to a lot of the veterinary and herpetology publications. See it there's anything recent out on substrates for beardies... :study:

He wouldn't happen to be talking about "beardie boob", would he? That's the only fat pad I can think of that's kinda near there that folks usually check, but my understanding was that it was one of those very optional ones provided the tail base was thick, hips & spin were covered, and head pads convex... Plus I know in some other reptile species it's less for fat storage and more for excess calcium, like in leopard geckos it's a symptom of hyper-calcemia (usually not an issue - just half the number of times you dust their food and it goes away w/o issue). Dunno for BDs, though.

Let me know if you learn anymore! Since I'm just about to go to the reptile vet for the first time, it would be great to compare what we're told on diagnosing weight and hydration!

Oh, and yes! Guac, for whatever reason, frequently ignores the existence of water. This is particularly funny because he's also one of the few dragons I know of who WILL drink out of a water dish. Funny dude.

Thanks!
-Ellentomologist

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Thanks, Guac is really cute too! And he does have very thick thighs :lol:

I've had Pancake for a year and three months now, when I first got him his body was a lot skinnier than it is currently. He really does struggle with gaining weight in his back end, I have no idea why. The fat pads on his head used to be concave but they popped up within a month. On the flip side, his hip bones were visible up until December. :/

Here is what he looked like in February 2018:

During this time Pancake also went on salad strikes, I used to break those Fluker's bearded dragon pellets in half and hide 2 of them in his salad; usually solved his pickiness. He had some strange affinity for crunching lol.

It wasn't near his front legs/chest like beardie boob, it was near his abdomen area. I think he said it was a fat or water reservoir for beardies. I will definitely let you know on what else I learn
Here's a side view to get an idea:

As for his food update, he ate two large butterworms and five BSFL, then I gave him a second salad just to try to up his hydration. I mixed his squash and escarole in with a bit more watermelon and he looks quite content now :lol:
"hooman... give more mellin... "

I think I'll start the critical care tomorrow, when they gave him it at the vet yesterday it really seemed to jam his system and he didn't want to do much besides hide and sit on his heating pad. So today can be his eat hydrating foods recovery day.

EDIT:

My dad brought Pancake's stool sample in to the vet this morning, and they gave the test results back just now. He has worms, which would explain the weight gain problem. They prescribed pills to give him, my dad is on his way back home now so I will elaborate further once I get the instructions for the medication, its name, and other details.

I was given Fenbendazole in a crushed pill format, I have to give him it for 3 days, then stop for two weeks, followed by an additional three day treatment. The vet said it will likely cause an upset stomach but if he has the critical care mixed in he should be okay and more apt to take water.