Hi all.
It's been a while, but here's Dax, seemingly as happy as ever:
My first checkup post is here: https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=258867.
After I wrote that post, Dax brumated for about 3 or 4 weeks under a rolling cart and emerged in April.
He's now extremely active, running around the apartment all day, going from window sill to window sill to catch the rays and check on his 'hood. He hates being in his tank and prefers to free roam (I mean, who wouldn't?). The setup really hasn't changed all that much. I have Reptisun T5 10.0 both in his tank and on the window sill. In both instances, the T5 is about 12-14 inches away from the basking spot and the temperatures are usually 100-102 from halogen lights.
The problem is, he barely eats. He drastically slowed his eating in mid December. When he was diagnosed with pinworms in January, he weighted 372 grams. He peaked at 420 in early March before brumating. During brumation he held steady in the low 400's (throughout April), but has basically veeeerrrrrry slowly been losing weight and is now down to 382. He doesn't poop much, but when he does, aside from being small, it looks very normal with soft white urates. Again, he's energetic and behaves normal.
I offer Dax kale, collards, red pepper, butternut squash, and carrots. Bugs are dubia and supers. He'll have a few bites of veggies every couple of days and a couple of super worms here and there. I've offered some syringe feeding too (2 parts pureed chicken, 1 part squash, some probiotics and vitamins), which he'll lick off his nose, but won't eat that much of. I dont' force the issue either. If he's done, I let him wander off. He hasn't eaten any dubia in well over a month (and I am now the proud parent of a bunch of adult dubias).
I had him to the vet again on 5/7 to check in on his eating at which point he weighed around 395 grams. The vet said he looked perfectly healthy, had no parasites in the fecal, and had a firm jaw with no signs of MBD or anything else wrong that he could see or feel. The vet did say that he had a little yellow or orange discoloration in the mouth, but that it was nothing to worry about. His suggestion, which I kind of took with a grain of salt, was to offer food less days and see how he responded. He did say, though, that if Dax kept losing weight, to just give him a call and talk to him about other options for checking in on my little friend.
One thing I'll add is that Dax hasn't shed since November/December. His upper lip has shed twice, but the rest of him has not at all in that time. I mention this because the other day I found a single, thick piece of shed in his tank, maybe about the size (but not thickness) of a nickel. It looked like a patch from his underside, but I couldn't find where it came from. I bathe him once every week or two. Could stuck body shed possibly be causing this? I don't really see anything that looks like stuck shed, but figured I'd ask.
So here we are. What are my next steps? Should I ask for blood work and/or an X-Ray? Should I force feed him the puree + probiotics? Should I step up to critical care? Do I bathe him more and see if he starts shedding? Or do I just wait it out, which I feel weird about doing since we now have a very slow decrease in baseline weight?
Any insight or guidance would be really appreciated.
Thanks all.
It's been a while, but here's Dax, seemingly as happy as ever:
My first checkup post is here: https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=258867.
After I wrote that post, Dax brumated for about 3 or 4 weeks under a rolling cart and emerged in April.
He's now extremely active, running around the apartment all day, going from window sill to window sill to catch the rays and check on his 'hood. He hates being in his tank and prefers to free roam (I mean, who wouldn't?). The setup really hasn't changed all that much. I have Reptisun T5 10.0 both in his tank and on the window sill. In both instances, the T5 is about 12-14 inches away from the basking spot and the temperatures are usually 100-102 from halogen lights.
The problem is, he barely eats. He drastically slowed his eating in mid December. When he was diagnosed with pinworms in January, he weighted 372 grams. He peaked at 420 in early March before brumating. During brumation he held steady in the low 400's (throughout April), but has basically veeeerrrrrry slowly been losing weight and is now down to 382. He doesn't poop much, but when he does, aside from being small, it looks very normal with soft white urates. Again, he's energetic and behaves normal.
I offer Dax kale, collards, red pepper, butternut squash, and carrots. Bugs are dubia and supers. He'll have a few bites of veggies every couple of days and a couple of super worms here and there. I've offered some syringe feeding too (2 parts pureed chicken, 1 part squash, some probiotics and vitamins), which he'll lick off his nose, but won't eat that much of. I dont' force the issue either. If he's done, I let him wander off. He hasn't eaten any dubia in well over a month (and I am now the proud parent of a bunch of adult dubias).
I had him to the vet again on 5/7 to check in on his eating at which point he weighed around 395 grams. The vet said he looked perfectly healthy, had no parasites in the fecal, and had a firm jaw with no signs of MBD or anything else wrong that he could see or feel. The vet did say that he had a little yellow or orange discoloration in the mouth, but that it was nothing to worry about. His suggestion, which I kind of took with a grain of salt, was to offer food less days and see how he responded. He did say, though, that if Dax kept losing weight, to just give him a call and talk to him about other options for checking in on my little friend.
One thing I'll add is that Dax hasn't shed since November/December. His upper lip has shed twice, but the rest of him has not at all in that time. I mention this because the other day I found a single, thick piece of shed in his tank, maybe about the size (but not thickness) of a nickel. It looked like a patch from his underside, but I couldn't find where it came from. I bathe him once every week or two. Could stuck body shed possibly be causing this? I don't really see anything that looks like stuck shed, but figured I'd ask.
So here we are. What are my next steps? Should I ask for blood work and/or an X-Ray? Should I force feed him the puree + probiotics? Should I step up to critical care? Do I bathe him more and see if he starts shedding? Or do I just wait it out, which I feel weird about doing since we now have a very slow decrease in baseline weight?
Any insight or guidance would be really appreciated.
Thanks all.
