9 Month Old Beardie Won't Eat-Update, back from the vet!

[divinedimension]

My bearded is a "little on the overweight side", according to her vet. She's nine months old and generally likes to ride around on people's shoulders and sleep...and eat. She has always had a voracious appetite for salads, veggies, worms and crickets. But lately she's been getting into these "stages", I guess you could call them, wherein she does not eat...at ALL. She is going on 4 days minus food and I'm getting worried.

She did this once a month back, and her vet gave her some anti-parasitic med via just to be on the safe side. Today all she is doing is sleeping and basking. Is this normal??? I'm very worried, she's like a family member to us.

Here is a video of the situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxyAcYBVWEk

 

[AHBD]

That's a very pretty dragon ! Well, she's definitely not overweight a bit. She has good body proportions, she looks just a teeny bit lean in her belly area, but of course she hasn't eaten in 4 days. Could you list what your set up is like ? How far is the UVB light from the ground ? It looks like a tall tank, she may be too lazy [ sorry, LOL ] to climb to get the UVB rays. A long , low tank is better than a tall one. What type of bulbs and how old are they ? Sometimes some sun exposure perks the appetite back up. If her UVB bulb is older than 5 - 6 months, it may not be producing enough UVB. Also, she may need it lowered to get more benefit from it. Do you dust with calcium powder ? These things [ lack of calcium or inability to absorb it because inadequate UVB rays ] can cause loss of appetite + lethargy. Usually if a dragon wants too brumate [ and she's a bit young ] they curl up in a corner.

 

[divinedimension]

Thanks! She's our baby! She has lost some weight though and I'm worried. I have a 10.0 24" UVB and a 50w basking bulb above her basking spot- 4 inches above her highest basking area and 11 inches above her lowest basking area. But she's been so weak that I have to place her on the higher basking area, or she won't climb to it anymore.

This is definitely a large tank with about 1.5 feet in distance from ground to ceiling. She has her food in the center and some logs on the cool side with a rock.
The bulbs are brand new. I recently changed both about a month ago. I allowed my kid to take her outside with him today to try and see if it helps her perk up, as she hasn't had much outdoor light in about a month.

She has not been curling up in the corner but she has been flying flat out on her rock or logs on the cool side a good bit. But when I place her on the basking side, she is fine with that and will sleep there all day.

I don't dust with calcium at all anymore, as she seems to not want to eat her crickets if they are dusted. I made her do that up until a couple of months ago, but she was tiring of it.

 

[AHBD]

That may be the problem, or part of the problem. Dragons need calcium for nearly every function of the body, and growing dragons really need it. Maybe you could switch brands, or just use less [ not white coating the feeders] What was she eating when she was eating regularly ? I hear that repti worms or Phoenix worms have lots of calcium and thus no powder is needed [ so I've heard ] but in general, a dragon really needs the calcium powder. You may need to get some liquid calcium from a sight like bug - de -lite or beautiful dragons.com. to give via syringe if she's not eating, or try a new irresistible food item and give the powder a try again.

 

[divinedimension]

Ok I will add the calcium again. But she's not eating crickets anymore... so I dunno if she will get it at all.

When she ate regularly she had a diet of crickets, the occasional mealworm, tons of waxworms, spinach, spring mix, peas, corn, carrots and blueberries.

I will do a search on the worms you mentioned, as I know she won't touch ReptiCal powder on her food. The liquid cal sounds like a good idea, too. I'll check it out, TY!

 

[catUK]

AHBD gave some good advice.

It could be that she's bored of the crickets- my beardie went off crickets suddenly at about 8 months and has not touched them since. I found other feeders she liked. At the minute she is happily eating locusts and superworms (superworms can only be fed to beardies over 16 inches). I also found at about 10 months her appetite began to decrease, i was really worried but realised it must have been her age and she was naturally slowing down- she is 15 months old now. I find that my beardie sometimes doesn't like dusted food, however i mixed calcium powder with water and gave it to her that way- she loves it and having never drank water before now loves the water with calcium in (she's a strange one lol). Butterworms are expensive but when my beardie was off her food she LOVED them. Also like AHBD said, phoenix or reptiworms are great and don't need dusted with calcium.

 

[divinedimension]

AHBD gave some good advice.

It could be that she's bored of the crickets- my beardie went off crickets suddenly at about 8 months and has not touched them since. I found other feeders she liked. At the minute she is happily eating locusts and superworms (superworms can only be fed to beardies over 16 inches). I also found at about 10 months her appetite began to decrease, i was really worried but realised it must have been her age and she was naturally slowing down- she is 15 months old now. I find that my beardie sometimes doesn't like dusted food, however i mixed calcium powder with water and gave it to her that way- she loves it and having never drank water before now loves the water with calcium in (she's a strange one lol). Butterworms are expensive but when my beardie was off her food she LOVED them. Also like AHBD said, phoenix or reptiworms are great and don't need dusted with calcium.

Cat, she won't TOUCH superworms. Every time I've tried, she turns her head away and GLARES at me like HOW DARE YOU! LOL!
She doesn't drink water from a syringe anymore, however, only from the bath (yeah I know) or from her bowl in her cage. I trained her to drink it that way and now I regret it.

 

[divinedimension]

Update: she was at the vet's office today for quite awhile. No parasites. She has a tiny fracture in the left front leg, and the vet thinks it's a sign of calcium deficiency, since Illidan stopped eating dusted crickets 3 months ago: she refused them totally.

She is on a liquid calcium supplement once a day for a month, then she will be seen again. She is not eating, so her breeder suggested some pasty calcium/vitamin stuff to feed her-- I think it's called Repta-Aid. It's white powder that you have to mixed with water and feed it to her. She is HATING this stuff. She's still refusing food, but a strange thing happened. I was dusting the crickets and she saw them hopping all around and got SUPER excited, so I put her in her cage with a few. She suddenly lost interest. WUT?!

I'm also gut loading her crickets.

That's it for now.

 

[catUK]

Update: she was at the vet's office today for quite awhile. No parasites. She has a tiny fracture in the left front leg, and the vet thinks it's a sign of calcium deficiency, since Illidan stopped eating dusted crickets 3 months ago: she refused them totally.

She is on a liquid calcium supplement once a day for a month, then she will be seen again. She is not eating, so her breeder suggested some pasty calcium/vitamin stuff to feed her-- I think it's called Repta-Aid. It's white powder that you have to mixed with water and feed it to her. She is HATING this stuff. She's still refusing food, but a strange thing happened. I was dusting the crickets and she saw them hopping all around and got SUPER excited, so I put her in her cage with a few. She suddenly lost interest. WUT?!

I'm also gut loading her crickets.

That's it for now.

awww poor baby, hope she perks up soon

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How far is the Reptisun 10 tube bulb from her?
Does she have to climb very much when she basks? Try to make sure that she doesn't have to move or climb too much when needing to bask just so her arm will heal up better for her.

I hope she feels better soon!

Tracie

 

[MyBuddyValentine]

Hi... I just came across your post and hope you don't mind me asking how she's doing... My 8 month old has been so finicky lately and not eating any greens or veg so I've been poking around here trying to find some discussions. I wondered if you'd ever tried reptiworms or hornworms? They are loaded with calcium and easy to keep, don't need dusting, but would still recommend a vitamin dust (like Reptivite) weekly or whatever your vet recommends... My guy LOVEs em... But good to alternate as they just get tired of the same ole thing it seems... But UGH, can't figure out the veg thing... driving me nuts. I'm putting a new UVB bulb in just in case... has been about 6 mos...

 

[divinedimension]

No I've never tried reptiworms. Where do I get them? She won't eat anything dead, so I hope they're alive. I am dusting her greens and crickets with calcium and vitamin supplements, and she also takes liquid calcium supplied by the vet once daily. Unfortunately she has managed to break another bone. The vet says there is nothing I can do really and I'm worried I'll have to change her viv because it's so tall! I may put my baby beardie in her viv and her in the baby's just for the time being, so she won't have to climb so far to get to the light.

She did begin to eat greens and crickets again daily and the occasional worm. If yours won't eat greens, keep trying a diff. green until you find one she likes. I buy a mix of greens and just let her pick the type she wants-- that's kinda how I learned that she loves collard greens, kale, arugula and all darker greens.

Thanks for checking up on her, guys. I'm happy she is eating and drinking again. Her poops are normal. She is also more energetic, which is becoming a bit of an issue, since I need her two broken bones to heal!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You can buy phoenix worms which are basically the reptiworms from here:
http://www.phoenixworm.com/servlet/StoreFront


That is great she is doing a lot better now!
Do you know what the type of calcium she is getting & her dose?
How often are you dusting with the calcium powder? If you are giving her liquid calcium daily, I would cut the calcium powder dustings out right now as she could be getting too much calcium which will throw the calcium to phosphorus ratios off making her less prone to absorbing the calcium. I am not sure this is what is going on, but a possibility.
Make sure her basking platform is low enough where she doesn't have to climb much to bask or get near the UVB. She needs to be within 6-8 inches from the Reptisun 10 tube bulb.

Tracie

 

[MyBuddyValentine]

Hi - repti worms can be found here: www.reptiworms.com and hornworms at www.greatlakeshornworm.com. Both are great companies, very helpful people! The hornworms are LOADED with natural calcium, no dusting required. Theirs turn a rather lovely blue color, and they are easy (and pleasant) to hold, don't squiggle away fast like supers. They are soft-bodied, no exoskeleton so great for all ages. Don't buy too many at once til you get the hang of them, cuz they grow fast and once they get big, you'll only need to give one worm per feeding. Their food will get old and stinking after too long. You can slow them down by keeping them in the fridge off and on. They'll advise you well. Since you have a baby, you'll probably want a regular cup and a starter cup of tiny ones. Reptiworms have a great calcium to phosphorus ratio and no dusting needed here either. And they're live alright... technically soldier-fly larva... um... big ole maggots, gross LOL. No, don't let that deter ya, they are WAY easy to keep and your dragon will go for them like popcorn'! Sounds like it when my girl eats them too... I say "girl" now because I've recently found out my "fatty man" is a "Big Mama"!) I have two new babies (not hers) and they love these worms too, the little versions. Both companies sell all sizes! Great Lakes also sells crickets in 500 count boxes, good deal! That's good you have the Reptisun 10 bulb too... I learned about them from this board too. Great place isn't it?!

 

[MyBuddyValentine]

I also meant to say, great news that she's doing better!