Refusing to eat for several months

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Beardiealice

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claudiusx":2oco2ow4 said:
Your uvb is fine don't worry about it.
After awhile of being fed like that, they can become lazy and only want to be fed that way.

So it sounds like shes doing just fine besides the eating correct? Acting generally healthy besides the want to hide now?

One trick I did with one of my girls after a few weeks of critical care was I made it up a bit thicker and put it on a worm. Once she got the taste of the cc on the worm, I was slowly able to transition her back over to standard foods. And from there she started eating more and more on her own.

It's really late for me right now, but I can offer you more advice in the morning. I just mainly wanted to post to let you know your uvb is fine and you don't need to do anything in regards to that. Besides potentially replace the bulb if it's over 6 months old.

-Brandon

She has always had trouble with her diet and being a diligent eater. But other than her eating problems, she pretty lethargic. She spends most of her day sleeping, but she does usually wake up during bath time.

Thank you for the info about the UVB! I was a bit concerned there. Also, I’ll try putting some cc on her food. However, the main problem seems to be her not having energy to/not wanting to (she hates being syringe fed but it’s the only way I can get anything substantial into her).
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Have you tried Repheshy -- ? Instead of the cc - you might want to try that --
Karrie
 

Beardiealice

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KarrieRee":3ljuc1bo said:
Have you tried Repheshy -- ? Instead of the cc - you might want to try that --
Karrie
I have not, but I might try it. I just bought her some of the cc since it’s made for herbivores and she needs her greens. If I can’t get her to begin eating her own food again, I’ll definitely try that.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

How is your girl doing today, still slow & sleepy?
There are quite a few of them who decide that they want to brumate this time of year. Did
you have a fecal done on her to be sure she doesn't have worms or parasites right now?
Has her beard been black also?
If she has severe metabolic bone disease, she needs to be on a liquid calcium to help out
her bones right now. I would definitely continue with assisted feeding on a small scale but
not overdo it if her weight is stable.
As suggested, they will get pretty accustomed to being fed & not have an appetite or the
motivation to feed themselves. They can become very spoiled!
I think your lighting placement should be fine how it is now.

Tracie
 

Beardiealice

Member
Original Poster
Drache613":1bqjshq9 said:
Hello,

How is your girl doing today, still slow & sleepy?
There are quite a few of them who decide that they want to brumate this time of year. Did
you have a fecal done on her to be sure she doesn't have worms or parasites right now?
Has her beard been black also?
If she has severe metabolic bone disease, she needs to be on a liquid calcium to help out
her bones right now. I would definitely continue with assisted feeding on a small scale but
not overdo it if her weight is stable.
As suggested, they will get pretty accustomed to being fed & not have an appetite or the
motivation to feed themselves. They can become very spoiled!
I think your lighting placement should be fine how it is now.

Tracie

She is a bit more active today, but still sleeping a lot. Her beard isn’t black, thankfully. I called the vet and one of the technicians said to keep trying to get her to eat, but if she still isn’t eating by Monday, to call them and see what the vet thinks (she’s out this week). Is it okay to buy the liquid calcium off of Amazon?
 

Beardiealice

Member
Original Poster
Bad news - during her bath, I noticed a bump on her elbow (this was her worst part of her MBD, her joints were mush). The first picture shows the bump, and the second is her other arm. She also has a slight limp now, but she is walking around.
104053-8985708672.jpg
104053-2930385564.jpg

Also, is her leg supposed to be able to do that?
104053-1892521414.jpg
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi Andrew, the awkward looking angle that her leg is bent is totally normal. But yes, the lump in her front elbow is either MBD or gout, not much you can do but keep her comfortable. I've said it before but you've done an excellent job caring for her, she would prob. be dead if you had not intervened. Keep up the feedings , and be sure to add smoothies of collard, turnip, mustard, dandelion greens to the Critical Care. The C.C. is great but it is packed with calcium, vitamins + minerals and so it does not need to be fed full strength once an animal has it's weight back up like Alice does. So greens mixed with it will help her . It's also fine f she only poos 1-2 X a week, she is not active and every part of her will be sluggish, including her G.I.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
I concur , very good job.

Only thing I that you can in addition will be to keep her relatively warm 24/7 while she's sick and recovering , this means providing some overnight tank heating ( heat pad sandwiched between ceramic floor tiles controlled by simple switching thermostat OR CHE on dimming thermostat) to keep keep the tank about 26 degC overnight.

Benefits of doing this include :
>> boost to her metabolism (and food digestion)
>> boost to her immune system.

The liquid calcium I've had a LOADS of good success with is called VetaFarm CalciVet. It's very sweet and the sick lizards loved the taste of it , even licked my fingers clean when I got some on the fingers while giving it orally by syringe . I checked and yep = YUMMY.

Another trick to coax a silk lizard to take food slurries via syringe is to put a drop of honey on the lips or the end of the syringe nozzle . They like the smell and taste of it will be more ready to take a strange tasting liquid food while they have the taste of honey in their mouth.
 

Beardiealice

Member
Original Poster
She’s in so much pain, isn’t she? And if it is gout...there my baby goes. Do you suppose she even has a good quality of life right now?

Thank you so much! I will be making her a greens smoothie today, and I’ll order some of that liquid calcium you mentioned. And hopefully the honey will spike her appetite a bit! And I have an under the tank heater that I can use from her calci worms (they’re all dead since the missy decided not to eat), so I’ll install that later tonight when I can have help putting it in place.
 
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