Adult Male Bearded Dragon Stomach Volume

[Menolly07]

I posted this ln my other thread but also thought to make its own thread.

Does anybody have any idea what an approximate volume of an adult, male bearded dragon's stomach would be? I can't find anything online, and the vet actually didn't give me a specific amount for Kazoozle's tube feedings. He's not reachable except on his two clinic days.

I don't want to overfeed Kaz, but I have no scope of reference on what to shoot for, milliliter wise.

Thoughts?

 

[AHBD]

Their stomach volume is huge....I couldn't guess in m.l's but some adults can eat 3 large hornworms or 15 or more large superworms [ not that we would give them that many at every feeding ] With a possibly critical beardie err on the side of caution not to make him sick. While his stomach could easily hold 10 m.l's, he may feel uncomfortable with that much. By trial + error you might find a good number, maybe do 5-6 m.l's and if he does O.K and doesn't get bloated or vomit it up, do a bit more.

 

[Menolly07]

That's sort of my approach, yeah. I can't translate hornworms into liquid volume in my head, LOL. Today we're going to try for 5ml and see.

 

[AHBD]

That sounds good....and if he holds it down with no problem at that amount for a few days then go up to maybe 8, then 10. Something like that might work. I sure hope he feels at least partially comfortable, poor guy.

And I know, thinking of a fat hornworms stuffed in the larger syringe [ the 10 ml ones with a circumference of a dime ] can give you a visual.

 

[CooperDragon]

I used to offer the 10ml syringes for Dundee after his weight stabilized (started on 3ml). He could usually eat most of it over the course of a day so 5-10ml is a good guess.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Rex can happily polish off 16 - 18 LARGE crickets in a sitting. (Well that's the limit on how many I have given her), she can probably eat more but because I feed her DAILY , she is satisfied when she reaches about that.

I don't what food supplement you are syringe feeding your beardie, here are the recommendations for syringe feeding HerpaBoost to a reptile : "Give 3-8mL per 100g body weight, per feed or as required. Dose orally via feeding tube, syringe or inject into a food item".
I'd be using a feeding syringe like http://vetafarm.com.au/product/reusable-feeding-syringe/ to get the food into the dragon.

So I'd weigh the dragon and maybe use this as a guide (maybe 6 mL per 100g of body weight ,unless the instructions on the bottle or packet indicate otherwise). Your vet should have given you instructions on this.

 

[kingofnobbys]

That's sort of my approach, yeah. I can't translate hornworms into liquid volume in my head, LOL. Today we're going to try for 5ml and see.

aside

Do you have a set of digital kitchen or assayer's scales (that can weigh things accurate to 0.1g) ?

I use pocket assayer's scales I bought on Ebay , yes I checked them with a set of standardised weights, they are very accurate.
These are very good
http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Assayers-Scale-Measuring-Pennyweight/dp/B009BGQ2EM
I have a set of these
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-LCD-Digital-Economical-Standard-Pocket-Jewelry-Gold-Scale-Gram-600g-0-1g-/131244498255?hash=item1e8ec81d4f:g


Easy to weight insects , create a little spreadsheet with different insects of various sizes , and then simply weight a big worm , and weigh individual crickets or roaches (or maybe 4 of the same size) in a small sealed container (you can later weigh the empty container) and you'll then have a good idea how many crickets (of a given size) say are equiv to one worm of given size.

Also easy to the volume of an insect or bunch of insects if you have access to a measuring cylinder , simply add a know volume of water to the measuring cylinder, add the insects (if they sink - measure the new volume shown , if they float you need to push them under the surface to break the surface tension - once under, do the same as for the sinking insect).
Always handy one of these in your kit
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/100ml-Profession-Graduated-Glass-Measuring-Cylinder-Chemistry-Lab-Spout-Measure-/201298761508?hash=item2ede575724:g

Personally : I'd just weigh them and assume a density about 1.1 g/cc , a little more dense than water (water being a density of 1.0000 g/cc).

Density = mass / volume
and volume = mass / density
(in case you don't know how to work these out).