We just picked up our new bearded dragon, Beetlejuice, from a local rescue. They told us that he is 1 to 4 years old and he is a messy eater, hence the name. He is eating, but he bites into his food and sucks on it for a little while before finishing it. Also, half his food falls out of his mouth. I went to check on him and he has leftover food in his cheeks from eating an hour ago. The owners of the rescue seemed to think he has some sort of jaw malformation. I plan on taking him to a reptile vet this week, but was wondering if anyone had any experience with this.
Please post pics of him --- did he have proper lighting like tube UVB at the rescue? https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at the top of the message box then click on the pic it should post
Karrie
In the first picture he is just hanging out with a meal worm hanging out of his mouth.
The second picture shows a bunch of red pelleted food in his cheeks.
The rescue had several bearded dragons, 2 that were 13 years old. I assume the lighting was good. He was surrendered because his owner went to college and the parents thought he wasn’t eating. He eats, it’s just strange. He was adopted out once, but returned because “he wasn’t eating.” I would like to feed him fresh greens and bugs, but he is more interested in store bought food.
He looks ok-- store bought food? You mean like pellets? I would start him on greens-- have you offered greens? Ahbd and Tracie need to see him - but your right he is eating strange
Karrie
Try getting some live bugs and worms add them to the fresh salads-- dubias work good along w/ silk worms- poor thing that's what he was fed early on-- super worms horn worms--meal worms - if you need websites let me know I will post some for you and we can try and get him on a better diet--
Karrie
He tried eating greens and a small piece of strawberry. He pecked at it and just couldn’t pick it up. He finally got a small piece of greens, but it just hung out of his mouth. He eats quite slow with little jaw strength. He would have a hard time with live bugs—He’s too slow. He probably could catch slow moving larvae, but he definitely has some sort of jaw issue. He doesn’t seem to have typical mouth strength or the ability to pick up food easily.
Ok w/ that being said get some BSFL and some silk worms --- they are both good staple feeders www.symtonbsf.com order large www.reptilianarts.com silk worms if you order in bulk like 50 order food - you will need to feed them and clean containers out daily- they are really soft - also they come small and will grow www.coastilsilkworms.com www.dubiaroches.com -- they have good horn worms and butter worms - the butter worms are out of stock now but he would be able to eat those they are soft as well --
Karrie