He refuses to open his mouth!

My beardie just got the positive test results for coccidia and I should be getting the antibiotics sometime this week. I'm a little worried though, because he refuses to open his mouth if my hands are anywhere near him. I tried a reptaid treatment and the only way I could get any into him was to use the needle and inject crickets (they recommend dubias but I live in Canada so that can't happen). The problem I found is that crickets are juicy enough that it's hard to tell if it's the cricket juices or the medicine coming out of the needle hole while trying to get the dragon to eat it quickly. I'm assuming the antibiotics will be in liquid form and I need to make sure he takes it all at the right dosages. I've tried massaging the sides of his mouth and pulling on his lips but nothing seems to work, on his trip to the vet he was REALLY stressed and by the time the vet went to look in his mouth she was more persistent and tried prying his mouth open and he actually bit her! He's never bit anyone before! So i just want to make sure he gets healthy again any advice would be great.

when i had to treat for pinworms my dragon was stuborn as well. the first time i kind of forced him and down put a little bit of pancure between his gum and teeth. let him smack it away and repeat untill the dose was gone. but then i decided to trick him. i fed him an oversized collard green leaf and then while he was smacking it up i snuck the syringe in there and squirted it in there he ate it but wasnt too happy with me.

Haha I love the tricking him with a big leaf idea, hopefully he doesn't catch on before his treatments over! I'm going to pick it up today so I'll give it a shot, hopefully he'll just lap it up though.

yea the big leaf worked good for me so give it a shot. another thing you can do is just force him down and strait up shove it in his mouth. hes gotta take his meds one way or the other and injecting them into food may turn him away from eating because the meds taste bad. so i never believed in that.

I did the syringe at the back of the mouth method. Osiris could'nt stand it but there was really no other way for me. So I cradeled him against my chest for extra support for both of us. It also provided me more control over his movement. It took a lot of time at first, but I found putting the tip of the syringe under his lip and gently using that to open his mouth worked for me.

Well the leaf trick worked the first time but he was NOT impressed. It doesn't help either I took his favorite log away while he's being treated so he seems pretty cheesed off at me, he sits where his log used to be and glares at me. Today when I went to give him fresh water he ran over from the other side of the cage and grabbed onto it with his front feet like he was trying to stop me from taking any more of his stuff! I'll try again with the gentle method first, I had him out lots and gave him some strawberry so he seems ok with me again, hopefully he'll trust me this time but as soon as i get near him with the syringe he locks his jaw shut.

it sounds mean but u gotta keep regaining his trust than shutting him down. try giving him treats he cant resist than sneaking in the meds. raspberries are caesars favorite. and banana.

Well the second time i wrapped him in a towel since he seems to like it after his bath and it gave me more control over him, and tried to pry his mouth open. He got a small drop of medicine on his lips and when he went to lick it I managed to get the dropper in his mouth and give him a full dose. Yesterday I spent lots of time with him and gave him lots of treats, then tried the same thing for the medicine. He was clearly mad but i tried to keep him on my lap and give him some treats, he just started flailing and with my dog and 2 visiting dogs i REALLY didn't want him taking off so I held onto him. He was so mad by that point he flared his beard out so I put him right back in his cage. Then his beard just turned black and he gave me the stink eye for a while(although it was kind of cool, never seen him do that before...) Problem was he only ate a couple crickets last night when I put him in his feeding bin, not sure if he was just still pouting or it's making him lose his appetite. Hopefully today goes better!

when i first gave my beardie his first dose he didnt eat much. it definetly is a common side effect of the meds. i actually just started giving him his second round of panacur yesterday and had to start fighting with him all over again. he figured out my tricks and if he sees the dropper at all he refuses to let me near his mouth. so i snuck up on him while he was basking with his mouth open. i never seen him freak out like that before hahaha. but you gotta do it

Wrapped Bindy is a towel did the trick. She took it like a champ once we could control her wiggly little body! Then we'd use the syring to wriggle her mouth open and SQUIRT fast!

Well he did great being wrapped in a towel for two weeks then decided he was not going to open his mouth with me around ever! Over 2 days I spent 30 minutes with him wrapped in a towel on my chest waiting patiently with the syringe on the side of his mouth which used to make him open his mouth to lick his lips, now he just turns black and squirms a lot. So last night I did more reading and read that if you wrap them in a towel, turn them on their back, and gently pry their upper jaw open it can sometimes work. It did the trick yesterday but hopefully he doesn't get too stubborn for that to work too because by the smell of that steamer he left me this morning he's got a ways to go before he's better!

I would definitely be careful putting him on his back! Beardies can not breath properly when on their back.

I found that syringe meds is a 2 man job guys... I had to have my son at the ready while I gently pried our girls mouth open with a small size, plastic/rubber spatula-scraper thing that you would use for, let's say, frosting a cake. I'd open her mouth by putting the rounded/straigth side of the spatula (not the pointed end) along the side of her mouth and he would put the meds on her tongue once she opened up. I tried putting meds on worms, fruit, leaves, the whole bit. It's much easier to have some help and gently pry open their mouth. At least this way you KNOW they got their meds. My girls mouth opens pretty easily this way. Not much of a struggle. She's been on multiple meds (de-wormed, pneumonia), trust me, this is the best way! It's a little nerve-racking at first, but after a couple times it's a piece o'cake! Oh-and I've never been bit this way either! Good luck!

We just pulled on her beard a little and put the syringe in the corner of her mouth. Eventually she would try to bite on it and we squirted it in.

We have to give our little guy worming meds weekly and i asked the vet about opening his mouth, hes super stubborn about stuff going in or on his mouth. The vet tech showed us a trick with a tongue depressor/popsicle stick. you put the stick in the back corner of the mouth and gently twist it to open his mouth and then have the syringe ready to squirt down his throat. Me and my bf do this together and it gets done fast and easy with no mess! Good luck!