I "rescued" an adult male beardie from a pet store (had been dropped off by his previous owners) in early June. (Couple other posts on here about him.) He never ate VERY well, but did eat his greens to a small degree. Always ate crickets when I gave them. He was thin, but was slowly gaining weight. Then I gave him superworms. Loved them. Ate a LOT of them. And from that point I cannot get him to eat as well as he had been. He now will go 5+ days without eating ANYthing at all if I put just greens in. If I give him crickets, he goes on another greens-hunger-strike. If I wait him out and try to force him to eat the greens by giving him nothing else at all, he outwaits me. He's already thin (can see his pelvic/hip? bones) and when I can start seeing ribs, I start flipping out and give in and give him either crickets or baby food (chicken/squash). I haven't a clue what to do here. I've tried putting baby food on the greens - no good. He just licks it off and ignores the actual green. He loves carrots, so I've tried putting carrots (chopped and/or shredded) on top and within the greens - no good. He pushes the greens off and eats the carrots. I wait as long as I can to give crickets but like I said, I start worrying about his weight and lack of eating and also worrying that he's not getting calcium, so finally give in. He gets fed in separate container, btw - don't want crickets in his cage. He eats them well when offered.
He showed coccidia in a recent fecal - got some Reptaid delivered just today, so will start that. I'm loathe to worm him with the strong meds from the vet. (He has already been through 2 wormings (my then-vet [since changed] was a strong believer in worming prophylactically - even without a fecal.)
FYI: He's in a 40 gallon breeder until the new cage finally arrives. (Should be soon and that is a 48Lx24Wx18H.) His basking spot is somewhere around 95-100, cool side around 75. Overnight is around 72. He sleeps a lot - climbs under his cork bark to go to sleep sometimes around 2-3 in the afternoon. No idea why. Starts his day around 7. Could any of this be from the coccidia or...?
But most of all - what on earth do I do to get him to eat his greens? Feels like the wrong thing to do to keep sort of starving him by refusing to give crickets until he eats his greens, which he pretty much refuses every day. ??? Right now, he's ending up with crickets only like once a week. But if I give them more often, there's no way I'll ever get him to eat greens at all. What shall I do here?
He showed coccidia in a recent fecal - got some Reptaid delivered just today, so will start that. I'm loathe to worm him with the strong meds from the vet. (He has already been through 2 wormings (my then-vet [since changed] was a strong believer in worming prophylactically - even without a fecal.)
FYI: He's in a 40 gallon breeder until the new cage finally arrives. (Should be soon and that is a 48Lx24Wx18H.) His basking spot is somewhere around 95-100, cool side around 75. Overnight is around 72. He sleeps a lot - climbs under his cork bark to go to sleep sometimes around 2-3 in the afternoon. No idea why. Starts his day around 7. Could any of this be from the coccidia or...?
But most of all - what on earth do I do to get him to eat his greens? Feels like the wrong thing to do to keep sort of starving him by refusing to give crickets until he eats his greens, which he pretty much refuses every day. ??? Right now, he's ending up with crickets only like once a week. But if I give them more often, there's no way I'll ever get him to eat greens at all. What shall I do here?
