Jessmvee":3r06sh2h said:
He is doing well! Thanks for asking about him.
He is still completely unable to eat crickets. He just can't keep up with them. I doubt he ever will be able to. He's sticking to gut loaded dried crickets and squash baby food. I haven't tried any slow-moving live feeders for fear of hard exoskeletons. They make him constipated. Not sure if the softer wax type worms are a good addition?
The vet pulled off all the old RediHeal and replaced it with new over the enucleation site. His skin regenerated over the half of his face they cut off, which is so awesome. He's stitch-less finally!!
I think he's the first known reptile to try RediHeal, so I've been updating the company on his progress.
Still sporting a BB I see there. Is he grumpy with it ?
A trick I have heard of people using to slow down the crickets for a disabled lizard is to place the feed of live crickets in a plastic 1L take away tub which has a lid on it (any small sealable plastic tub will do fine though), and leave them in the refrigerator for 5 - 10 minutes (or how ever long it takes for them to chill and get very sleepy and groggy AND SLOW MOVING BUT STILL TWITCHING AND CRAWLING in your fridge).
Or you could try hand feeding him the crickets, I do this with Rex, bad habit I formed with her when she was hatchling and she now refuses to chase crickets, expects 5 star service from daddy.
Essentially I dust them in a small container (little round chinese takeaway dipping sauce tub) ,and take 2 or 3 out at a time (keep in my hand) and I squash the head of each cricket prior to presenting it to Rex , either goes straight in a ready open mouth (in anticipation of the cricket) or I firmly but gently press the cricket against the side or front of her lips and she takes it and eats it.
16 large crickets takes 5 - 10 mins for her to eat this way.
Cricket or worm puree is also a good idea (was suggested to me by a vet when I was caring for a seriously injured skink (Lucky the juvi water skink several years ago). Can add liquid vits and liquid calcium to this and you'll need a good feeding syringe and maybe some proper stainless steel crop feeding needles to get the puree into his mouth without risking his eating pieces of syringe,
This is the kind of kit I suggest :
http://vetafarm.com.au/product/reusable-feeding-syringe/
http://vetafarm.com.au/product/medication-tube-crop-needle/ probably a 10G or 12G for your big boy.
I'm sure you can find these over there (likely from a good vet or online).'
I'll second the suggestion of trying him on silkworms. He'd probably do best I think with medium sized silkworms (about 1" - 1.5" long than large silkworms, and you'll find the medium silkworms will last a few weeks before they grow to large size and pupate (form cocoons). They are dead easy to keep (in a ventilated shoe box say) fed with either silkworm chow (comes as dry powder that you mix with boiling water and then nuke for a min or 2 in a microwave) or better still on fresh mulberry leafs (the mulberry leafs are good green to add to a lizard's salad too).
If you can't find laval stage silkworms, the next best option is to buy silkworm eggs and hatch them and raise them (will take 3 - 4 weeks before they are big enough to use as feeder for your boy).
1 medium sized silkworm is equiv in mass (of insect protein) to 3 - 4 large crickets.
2 or 3 large silkworms is a good sized meal for an adult beardie.