Baby Food

[Smawg]

Those who are not familiar with smawg, she is 9 months old. I will add more information on this situation after my question.

While feeding her baby food threw the syringe, how many times a day should I feed her & should she be pooping right a way from it or will it take a couple days?

I have no problem feeding it to her & she eats it as if she is starving is this a normal reaction from them when eating from a syringe? & should I just feed her until she walk away & seems not to want anymore?

Baby Foods....green beans,squash,sweet potatoes, also mixed in a piece of banana & given her apple juice mixed with water, in the baby food too.
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What started was a couple months ago smawg stopped pooping & would only go when I bathed her. Then soon after, she stopped eating & would only eat if I held it in her face but it would only be 2 or 3 cricks. then she stopped eating period & showed no interests in anything. She stayed active in her cage & out. I figured brumation or impacted, I took her to the vet & he said he does not seem impacted & sexed her as a male. I soon found out with help here that smawg is a girl.

I took her to another vet because if the last vet gave me the wrong sex, I wanted to have her re checked, not only for the sex but for her health too.

Well that was a horrible mistake taking her there.he was afraid to even handle her, he told me not to feed her cricks to only feed her meal & super worms, & also told me that the basking temp should stay at 85 & the cooler side 70-75 & he sexed her from judging on her belly, & pinched her hind legs and said she is dehydrated. he gave her a shot & sent me home with medicine to give her for 6 days. & told me to feed her ensure.I found out that beardies can`t have dairy. I called when I got home & the receptionist said he was afraid to touch smawg because he ( Dr ) is on a medicine & he is afraid to get bit.

smawg still has not went poop even when I bath her, She did make a pea size poop a week ago but that`s it.

I mix her calcium d+3 & her multi vitamin with her baby food, how many times a day/week should I give her the calcium & vitamins?

Smawg stays under her hide house a lot, but she does come out. she does not stay up under her uvb light like she used to, Is this ok? I know it`s important for them to have the uvb, but if she is not going under it, that means she is not getting it, for she is under her hiding house at that.

She does seem to be losing weight, she was a little over a pound a month ago, now she is a pound maybe less now since last vet apt. unless this wack case dr does not know how to read a scale either

 

[CooperDragon]

It may be worth getting a kitchen scale to track her weight. Based on the last photos I saw of her, she looks pretty good overall. You can offer her as much of the baby food as she wants to eat, just go slowly and stop when she loses interest. You can try it several times a day if she doesn't eat a lot at once. If you mix just a little pinch of multivitamin in with the baby food a couple of times per week that should be fine. The dusting is usually designed to coat bugs so it's tougher to dose it for syringe feeding so it's better just to go a bit easy on it. I'd imagine she'll eventually get full and poop after a few days on the syringe feeding but it could take longer. You could try some babyfood applesauce or prunes if you want but I'd imagine the fiber in the squash should help on it's own after a while.

 

[Smawg]

Thank you CooperDragon! I hope I am worrying over nothing :lol:

 

[Smawg]

Should I take smawg from under his house & feed her, or should I feed her when she is out of her house?

 

[CooperDragon]

Since she seems to be a healthy weight at the moment I'd let her stay in the house for a while if she wants to. Take her out to weigh her every few days and record the weight. If she is stable, just give her a quick bath and put her back. If her weight is decreasing, give her food more regularly.

 

[Smawg]

Thank you I came across another new thing today now. Smawg went into her water bowl & layed down & stayed for like 45 min. if longer. The water is on the other end of the tank ( cooler side )
So the water is cold since not near the heat. I touched her & she was fine and she lifted up, then layed back down. I left her alone but kept watching her & she moved in the other direction & layed back down, I took her out 15 min after that. I don`t know if I should of let her come out when she wanted to, or if I done the right thing. but she was in there for a while. is that normal? because of staying in the cold water? she seems starving when I feed her from the syringe, I had her out running around & noticed her skin color very light, as if she was dusted in a whitest colored sand, might she be starting a shed beginning? Ive only seen her shed one time & that`s when she was 2 months old. She will be 1 yr in march Ive noticed her skin color difference a couple hours after her soaking in the water.

 

[CooperDragon]

That sounds like maybe she's hot. Are you sure of the temperatures in the enclosure?

 

[Smawg]

I have a zoo med gauge on the cooler end that reads 70 it`s all the way at the other end. and I have a accurite digital that I keep in the middle of the tank. that reads in the higher 80`s then I have a zoo med digital probe that I keep by the basking area that reads sometimes up to 109 or give a few sometimes.

Should I keep his hide house on the warmer side of the tank?

 

[CooperDragon]

That should be OK then. I'd have a hide in a warm area and a hide in a cool area so she can choose.

 

[Smawg]

Very good idea! CooperDragon I think I am always going to have a question for you :lol: here`s another one.

If they get to cold do they get like temporary paralyzed & are not able to move again until they get warm?

Will beardies go where ever in there enclosure that they want to when needed, do they know what they need, I know that sounds funny, I ask because I removed her hide house & she went right on her log under the uvb, then went to the cooler side. seems when her hide house is in there she is always in it, is this what they do all day/night until they want to bask or go under the uvb or go to eat?

If I make her another hide house & put it on the cooler end, will she stay in there & freeze since it`s cooler over there. She will know when to go get warm right ?

Thank you

 

[CooperDragon]

They don't get paralyzed but they slow themselves down to conserve energy and protect themselves. That's kind of what brumation is on a large scale. They shut down to protect themselves during the cold season.

Inside the tank, as long as they are able to get to a variety of heat levels and UVB levels they will take what they need. They know what they want and are able to self regulate so it's just a matter of providing variety for them.

 

[Smawg]

Thanks cooper, Is it possible for smawg to be going threw all this if the temp is to hot?

He is not on the cooler side a lot, so that tells me a little something Now if she goes in her water bowl & stays in there for 1/2 to a hour. do they do that when something is wrong? she used to play in the water & scratch around, Now all she has been doing is laying in there. would she be cooling herself off, trying to soak so she can poop? I hope nothing is hurting her or anything.

 

[CooperDragon]

Your temperature gradient is good so she'd likely just move over to the cool side if she's too hot. Sometimes they will sit in their water bowls but I'm not sure of all the reasons why. She may just want a soak or is using it to cool down. If you move the temp probe over to a surface on the cool side, what does it read (after 30-45 min or so)?

 

[Smawg]

I was hoping when I got home I`d find a little poop pile But nothing. I am not able to get her to this other vet until wednesday. I really hope she is not in any type of pain. This might mean she is constipated or there is something wrong with her digestive system? I will put the probe on the cooler side now & I`ll be back with the temp

 

[Smawg]

It reads 76 & that`s at the cooler side, the tank is 4 ft long,