loljelloclowdz
Juvie Member
Mari was about to shed the top of her head (it was ghostly white, not crispy yet, but was very white) when all of a sudden it got dull grey again and now it’s not making any progress. She moved onto shedding her next segment (her back left leg) so now I’m at a loss for how I’m gonna stimulate her to get the job done because I don’t want her to get stuck on shed.
The hardest part is that since this is on top of her head, soaking her in water isn’t really helpful because she’d have to submerge the top of her head somehow, and that’s just not possible because she’d drown if she did.
I started cutting back to one feeding a day + salad (shes 6.5 months old and is 18 inches long - she’s a long lizard!) but I’m wondering if she’s malnourished, and if I should go back to 2x daily feedings. Her fat pads aren’t sunken, but I know malnourishment doesn’t always present in weight loss. Here’s her diet (I’m strictly prohibited from ordering dubia roaches):
- kale (she doesn’t even touch this, and I stopped putting it in her mouth because she genuinely gags at the smell of it, so I just offer it. She is just super anti-kale for some reason - maybe it’s the trichomes on it - I’m not gonna lie, I hate how sharp those trichomes are, so I planted some smooth kale, but she won’t eat it either. She’s just not a fan.)
- Red lettuce (READ THIS: I only pulled off the tiniest piece (Like the size of a US dime) and cut it up really tiny just to sprinkle on her kale to make it look more interesting (like sprinkles I guess) but she wouldn’t have that, either, so I stopped offering lettuce altogether.
- Red bell pepper (she actually eats this but she gets tired of it super fast and won’t eat it.)
- collard greens (she hates them and looks at me like I’m an ***** when I put them in her salads.)
- Cilantro (this is her favorite and I unfortunately haven’t had luck obtaining it in months! I’ll go on a hunt again, but doubt I’ll find any.)
- Green Beans (she kinda likes them)
- Cucumber (these are a treat but she doesn’t like them that much. I personally think cucumbers taste like soap.)
- Blueberries (TREATS ONLY - she loses her mind and dives face first into these. I offer them daily only after she’s had her meal.)
- Raspberries (TREATS ONLY - I’ve never seen a reptile pucker their lips from sourness before until I offered one to her ?)
- Dandelion greens (zero interest)
- yellow Dandelion flower (still doesn’t know she can eat that so she ignores it)
- Banana (VERY RARELY - she hates it with a passion but it has potassium, so I gutload her BSFL with it so her potassium pumps all throughout her body can function.)
- Carrot shreds or disks (about once a week in low amounts to prevent hypervitaminosis A)
Insects:
- BSFL (I dust them once in a while, but very sparingly. Like probably a couple nanograms of calcium carbonate actually get on the worm. I dust with vitamins if I don’t gutload them.)
- Crickets (once a month I go out and buy the largest crickets I can get because Mari is large and eats like a maniac. She can eat 100 medium crickets in 2 days flat, no joke. I always dust the crickets in both calcium w/ d3 and vitamins.
- Mealworms (TREAT ONLY - I HATE mealworms because they seem problematic, but I let Mari eat ONE about once every 3 weeks. I never use freeze-dried!)
- Canned silkworms (these were an emergency staple - I keep canned bugs to hold her over between live shipments. She LOVED these, but I sadly can’t find any more of these.)
- Canned grasshoppers (emergency staple)
- Canned crickets (emergency staple to alternate between grasshoppers and silkworms for variety.)
- Rephashy grub pie (Emergency staple since it once took 2 weeks to get bug shipments.)
- hornworms (I stopped feeding these because they look cute and I feel sorry for them because their little cartoon eyes meant to confuse predators made me confused into thinking they are adorable.)
I dust all insects with her multivitamins and calcium w/ d3. I make sure to dose her calcium correctly to prevent hypercalcemia and I make sure to prevent hypervitaminosis by correctly dosing her vitamins.
Oh and I have a reptisun T8 10.0 under the screen 8 inches from her basking platform, and her heat lamp basking temperature is 102 F and her cool side is room temperature because I built her enclosure super large to let that sort of gradient exist. Her basking bulb is a bright white bulb.
The hardest part is that since this is on top of her head, soaking her in water isn’t really helpful because she’d have to submerge the top of her head somehow, and that’s just not possible because she’d drown if she did.
I started cutting back to one feeding a day + salad (shes 6.5 months old and is 18 inches long - she’s a long lizard!) but I’m wondering if she’s malnourished, and if I should go back to 2x daily feedings. Her fat pads aren’t sunken, but I know malnourishment doesn’t always present in weight loss. Here’s her diet (I’m strictly prohibited from ordering dubia roaches):
- kale (she doesn’t even touch this, and I stopped putting it in her mouth because she genuinely gags at the smell of it, so I just offer it. She is just super anti-kale for some reason - maybe it’s the trichomes on it - I’m not gonna lie, I hate how sharp those trichomes are, so I planted some smooth kale, but she won’t eat it either. She’s just not a fan.)
- Red lettuce (READ THIS: I only pulled off the tiniest piece (Like the size of a US dime) and cut it up really tiny just to sprinkle on her kale to make it look more interesting (like sprinkles I guess) but she wouldn’t have that, either, so I stopped offering lettuce altogether.
- Red bell pepper (she actually eats this but she gets tired of it super fast and won’t eat it.)
- collard greens (she hates them and looks at me like I’m an ***** when I put them in her salads.)
- Cilantro (this is her favorite and I unfortunately haven’t had luck obtaining it in months! I’ll go on a hunt again, but doubt I’ll find any.)
- Green Beans (she kinda likes them)
- Cucumber (these are a treat but she doesn’t like them that much. I personally think cucumbers taste like soap.)
- Blueberries (TREATS ONLY - she loses her mind and dives face first into these. I offer them daily only after she’s had her meal.)
- Raspberries (TREATS ONLY - I’ve never seen a reptile pucker their lips from sourness before until I offered one to her ?)
- Dandelion greens (zero interest)
- yellow Dandelion flower (still doesn’t know she can eat that so she ignores it)
- Banana (VERY RARELY - she hates it with a passion but it has potassium, so I gutload her BSFL with it so her potassium pumps all throughout her body can function.)
- Carrot shreds or disks (about once a week in low amounts to prevent hypervitaminosis A)
Insects:
- BSFL (I dust them once in a while, but very sparingly. Like probably a couple nanograms of calcium carbonate actually get on the worm. I dust with vitamins if I don’t gutload them.)
- Crickets (once a month I go out and buy the largest crickets I can get because Mari is large and eats like a maniac. She can eat 100 medium crickets in 2 days flat, no joke. I always dust the crickets in both calcium w/ d3 and vitamins.
- Mealworms (TREAT ONLY - I HATE mealworms because they seem problematic, but I let Mari eat ONE about once every 3 weeks. I never use freeze-dried!)
- Canned silkworms (these were an emergency staple - I keep canned bugs to hold her over between live shipments. She LOVED these, but I sadly can’t find any more of these.)
- Canned grasshoppers (emergency staple)
- Canned crickets (emergency staple to alternate between grasshoppers and silkworms for variety.)
- Rephashy grub pie (Emergency staple since it once took 2 weeks to get bug shipments.)
- hornworms (I stopped feeding these because they look cute and I feel sorry for them because their little cartoon eyes meant to confuse predators made me confused into thinking they are adorable.)
I dust all insects with her multivitamins and calcium w/ d3. I make sure to dose her calcium correctly to prevent hypercalcemia and I make sure to prevent hypervitaminosis by correctly dosing her vitamins.
Oh and I have a reptisun T8 10.0 under the screen 8 inches from her basking platform, and her heat lamp basking temperature is 102 F and her cool side is room temperature because I built her enclosure super large to let that sort of gradient exist. Her basking bulb is a bright white bulb.