Baby Recovery

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Hello, I have a baby beardie that is currently recovering from intestinal parasites, that caused some pretty serious malnutrition and early signs of MBD. I suspect that he was sick when I bought him, but did not have enough experience to recognize the symptoms. I was attributing his lethargy and lack of appetite to relocation stress, until the MBD symptoms began. He has been on the medicine for the parasites for 11 days now, has 3 more to go. He was given fluids with vitamin B at the vet 11 days ago, and he ate 6 roaches the next day with little help from me. His strength has steadily increased, but his appetite has steadily decreased. He shows no interest in the BSFL, which is mildly frustrating since they seem to be such a hit with other beardies, and high in calcium... but he absolutely loves roaches. I haven’t gotten any crickets since he’s been sick, because they tend to be more of a challenge for him to catch and I am not a fan of injuring them intentionally.

My questions are, what fruits and veggies have the highest water content that other beardies love eating?! My Norbert seems to love mango, but hasn’t gone for any in a few days. He needs to be getting a lot of water to help him process the medicine, but since he isn’t severely dehydrated anymore, he doesn’t drink his water as much when I put him in it. He’s a bit stubborn and actually did a little open mouth kinda dance (threat??) at me yesterday when I tried to present another roach to him, so his personality seems to be coming out for the first time since I brought him home.

I want to help him get stronger without being too forceful, since we are still getting to know one another and he has not had any healthy time to actually adjust to a new home.

Details: he is in a 40gal breeder tank with cork board and slate tile substrate. He has a seagrass hammock for basking (I am trying to find a rock structure with the appropriate height) that ranges from high 90’s to 110+ degrees right up under the light, depending on the temp inside my house.the rest of his tank ranges from high 70’s to mid 90’s when my house is at its coolest. I have a 100 w basking/heat, reptisun 10.0 T8 24” mounted on the underside of the tank top, and a 40w CHE to keep it above 70 at night.

Fun fact: I saw him bulge out his eyes last Saturday, scared the crap out of me, his eyes were back to normal as soon as i got the top lifted to look at him closer, he looked at me like I was crazy.

Thanks in advance for any advice given!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Good for the roaches -- they are better for him ---- I have heard horn worms are high in water content - but you can always ask Drache613 (Tracie) or AHBD --- they would know more on that subject-- have you tried giving him water drips on his nose? You can always wash your greens w/ water before serving - they can get water from them- apples have water content
Karrie
 

CooperDragon

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Moderator
Yellow and green squash have pretty high water content. You can cut them into worm shapes so it may be more attractive as a food source. Since he's a little guy, you may want to just hydrate the roaches and offer those. The roaches love squash too.

76248-9983280538.jpg
 

rubeuslupin

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Thank you for all your advice! I ended up taking him back to the vet for more fluids and another vitamin B injection... also took a fecal sample and his parasites are ALL GONE!!!! Despite drinking water directly from a bowl while soaking 1-3 times a day (depending on if I was off or not), and taking drops of reptiboost and pure apple/kale baby food (he wouldn't go for anything I put in there otherwise) he was still all wrinkly LOL
I am hoping he will have a lot of energy today to start eating more roaches, and I am going to get him some more crickets since they have a higher water content. Also I am going to see if he will eat some moist veggie mash (as suggested by the vet tech who has rescued some beardies from near death). The vet also gave me some nutri-cal, which I didn't realize beardies could eat, but he says he has seen very good results with it boosting energy and supplementing a weak diet to get them back to normal activity, so I am looking forward to see how he does from here.

Thank you again
RL.
 

CooperDragon

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I'm glad to hear he is parasite free! Don't worry about the wrinkles too much. Their skin is loose to allow them to puff out and pancake. A better indicator of hydration is their poop. Make sure that isn't dry looking and if there is a small puddle around it, then they are well hydrated and passing excess through their system.
 

rubeuslupin

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CooperDragon":127h0yvw said:
I'm glad to hear he is parasite free! Don't worry about the wrinkles too much. Their skin is loose to allow them to puff out and pancake. A better indicator of hydration is their poop. Make sure that isn't dry looking and if there is a small puddle around it, then they are well hydrated and passing excess through their system.

Oh thank you, that makes sense. His poops have definitely balanced out with liquid, urate, and solid, and he is slowly making his way back to a normal activity level. I see him wandering around his tank more frequently now, but he is still pretty weak and rests a lot after. He has finally eaten some BSFL again... I had them so long that some have turned into flies now, but I have managed to keep them alive and waiting for Norbert to recover.

Thank you all for your help.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
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That sounds good then. The flies also make good treats if he can catch them. They tend to be pretty slow moving so you can usually just grab them with your fingers and hand feed them. They buzz and vibrate a bit but aren't too hard to chase down even if they get away from you (they usually just head toward a window)
 
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