14 year old Bearded Dragon 'Morris' :(

[Jessiewilliams12]

Hello, my names jessie,
im hoping someone can help me. Morris has always been a healthy lizard and i have had him for about 6 years now. For about the past three months he has not been eating as much and now he is so skinny, his tail is boney and he feels so fragile to touch, but he is still running around and able to move. He is unable to eat, i watched him the yesterday morning trying to eat a cricket which was sitting in the corner of his tank and he couldnt seem to get a grip on it, chew it, swallow it, im beggining to think its because he has no teeth????????? This morning i tried to help him eat but he cannot manage to chew it enough, and he sat on the ground throwing his head back i believe trying to swallow the little piece of apple. I understand he is an old lizard, im just hoping there is something i can do to keep him from starving because its getting to that point, i would like to keep him comfortable and i urgently want to feed him something but i have no idea how to look after a lizard so old and who cannot eat!
Thanks

 

[Beardednoob]

Baby food would be your best choice in this scenario I think, get a syringe without the needle of course, fill it with baby food, and get it into his mouth. At an old age I wouldn't force his mouth open by pulling on his gullet, instead place the tip of the syringe in the corner of his mouth and gently move it to the front, typically my dragon will open their mouths doing this.

 

[lauraj1055]

Have you ever tried to syringe feed him? You can make a veggie slurry in the blender, put in some of his greens, and apple, and liquify it. Use a needless syringe to put some on his nose so he can lick it off.. Or you can also order some critical care, which is full of vitamins.

 

[AprilMayJune]

It's possible for them to thrive without teeth. My oldest male, Lance, has no teeth and he is doing fabulous! He's 5 years old so not as old as your fella. Thing is, we syringe feed him baby food DAILY. It was rough going at first but now he opens his mouth right up when he sees the syringe coming. You can mix in your vitamins and calcium in the baby food so he keeps getting those. The poop will of course look different than a typical beardie poop so don't fret over that. Lance's poop still has the white urate and then it looks like baby food coming back out. He's actually gained weight eating baby food so he is getting enough nutrition. We typically give him as much as he wants to eat which is anywhere from 8 ml's to 15 ml's a day.

How old is your UVB because if it's wearing out Beardies tend to eat less and get lethargic. What kind of UVB do you use? Also, what are your temps in cool side and basking? Temps also fluctuate in the warmer months and he may be reacting to that as well. There could be many factors as to not eating other than not having any teeth. You will want to investigate all the other factors before coming to the conclusion that he hasn't any teeth. Best way to see if he has teeth is when he's basking and has his mouth open (gaping). Don't pry his mouth open but observe in other ways.