16 month old male not eating

[buddgoode]

I have a 16 month old male who had a serious infestation of coxicida and pinworms I'm assuming came from his former owner not taking care of him. I treated him for 4 months with albon and pancur, doing multiple fecals in between treatments, finally have had 2 fecals come back negative. Over the course of this treatment he quit eating, I gave daily probiotics over the entire course of his treatment and for a couple weeks after.

I monitor his weight weekly and noticed about a month in that he had lost over 30 grams of weight in a very short period of time so I interviened with Oxbow Omnivore Critical Care. I've been feeding him daily with this ever since. I've tried backing off the feedings, I offer salads daily even now and I offer crickets a few times a week but he wants nothing to do with any of it. Mel was 393 grams when I began treatments and 5 months later he is now 535 grams.

My lighting, humidity and temperatures are spot on, I'm very obsessive with all the environmentals.

I have a 3yo female we got from the same person at the same time who underwent the same treatments and she's thriving and eating everything in sight.

My question is can my little Mel survive and thrive eating only the Oxbow emergency food? He seems happy and is energetic for the most part (he's being a bit lazy lately but don't seem sick).

Has anyone else ever had a dragon who you've had to hand feed for extended periods of time, if not their entire lives? I assume as long as he's maintaining or gaining weight that he's eating enough, I'm just not sure about the macros if they are enough to avoid issues like mbd. I'm making sure that he's not gaining weight too fast and adjust feeding amounts as needed.

Mel is 16 months old or so, he's 19 inches long and his current weight is 535 grams. I use a T5 ho 10.0 bulb that spans 3/4 the length of the tank, I use a 160w uva/uvb bulb suspended from the ceiling so I can adjust the height. I keep basking temperatures at or slightly over 100 using an infrared temp gun, checking temps hourly. I keep humidity levels between 30-40%.

A little help would be awesome! I'm. Just hoping the emergency food provides him with enough calcium and D3. I honestly don't mind hand feeding him and will do it for his whole life if necessary, he makes it really really easy. I'm just wondering if I intervened too soon and if Im the reason we won't eat on his own.

 

[KarrieRee]

I have a 16 month old male who had a serious infestation of coxicida and pinworms I'm assuming came from his former owner not taking care of him. I treated him for 4 months with albon and pancur, doing multiple fecals in between treatments, finally have had 2 fecals come back negative. Over the course of this treatment he quit eating, I gave daily probiotics over the entire course of his treatment and for a couple weeks after.

I monitor his weight weekly and noticed about a month in that he had lost over 30 grams of weight in a very short period of time so I interviened with Oxbow Omnivore Critical Care. I've been feeding him daily with this ever since. I've tried backing off the feedings, I offer salads daily even now and I offer crickets a few times a week but he wants nothing to do with any of it. Mel was 393 grams when I began treatments and 5 months later he is now 535 grams.

My lighting, humidity and temperatures are spot on, I'm very obsessive with all the environmentals.

I have a 3yo female we got from the same person at the same time who underwent the same treatments and she's thriving and eating everything in sight.

My question is can my little Mel survive and thrive eating only the Oxbow emergency food? He seems happy and is energetic for the most part (he's being a bit lazy lately but don't seem sick).

Has anyone else ever had a dragon who you've had to hand feed for extended periods of time, if not their entire lives? I assume as long as he's maintaining or gaining weight that he's eating enough, I'm just not sure about the macros if they are enough to avoid issues like mbd. I'm making sure that he's not gaining weight too fast and adjust feeding amounts as needed.

Mel is 16 months old or so, he's 19 inches long and his current weight is 535 grams. I use a T5 ho 10.0 bulb that spans 3/4 the length of the tank, I use a 160w uva/uvb bulb suspended from the ceiling so I can adjust the height. I keep basking temperatures at or slightly over 100 using an infrared temp gun, checking temps hourly. I keep humidity levels between 30-40%.

A little help would be awesome! I'm. Just hoping the emergency food provides him with enough calcium and D3. I honestly don't mind hand feeding him and will do it for his whole life if necessary, he makes it really really easy. I'm just wondering if I intervened too soon and if Im the reason we won't eat on his own.

@AHBD
@Drache613

 

[AHBD]

It sounds like he's actually in good condition now and it will just take some time but he should eventually go back to a regular diet. Just be patient, at some point hold off on the C.C food and only give the option of salad or insects.

 

[buddgoode]

It sounds like he's actually in good condition now and it will just take some time but he should eventually go back to a regular diet. Just be patient, at some point hold off on the C.C food and only give the option of salad or insects.

Thank you, I think he's at a healthy weight now so do I just need to stop assist feeding him altogether for a few days in hopes that he gets hungry enough to eat on his own? That's really hard to do for me but I know it has to be done, I'll just closely monitor his weight

 

[AHBD]

Yes and it's understandable that you're concerned but he should be fine. When a sub adult/adult dragon like him is trending up with their weight it will usually remain stable and the dragon has no problem with the change . If you get nervous and he hasn't eaten in 4-5 days just give him a small amount of the C.C to sustain + hydrate him but then go back to the regular food.

 

[buddgoode]

Yes and it's understandable that you're concerned but he should be fine. When a sub adult/adult dragon like him is trending up with their weight it will usually remain stable and the dragon has no problem with the change . If you get nervous and he hasn't eaten in 4-5 days just give him a small amount of the C.C to sustain + hydrate him but then go back to the regular food.

Ok, Thank you I'll feed him as I usually do tomorrow as Thursdays are his usual weigh in days and I'll cut off the cc starting Friday and continue offering the salads as I have been doing and keep my fingers crossed.

I'll monitor his weight every few days and give small amounts of cc like you said if he doesn't eat. As long as he maintains ill keep the cycle going.

If his weight ever drops under 500 again then I'm just going to assume that he'll never eat on his own again and restart the assist feeding but as long as his weight stays above 500 I'll keep trying to a point anyway because he still needs the nutrients calcium and d3 especially so I'll go a month with this routine and re-evaluate from there