couple of questions...

[argolupin]

ok one is a question about shedding because i'm a new beardie mom... The last 2 times that Apollo has shed around his nose area he has needed help getting the shed out of the inside of his nose (on each nostril. there comes about half an inch worth of shed) he digs at it and shakes his head but lets me pull it right out...

Question 2: What can cause a beardie to throw up? i fed him yesterday (I am trying to get him to eat his veggies and i read you can go about a week of offering veggies in the morning and if he doesn't eat his veggies don't give him crickets or bugs, he is 16 inches long) and well he has decided not to eat for about a week, i gave him about 20 super worms which he scarfed right down then offered him some kale which he ate a bit of. That night i gave him some crickets about 5 or 6 and this morning i went in to find a huge pile of veggie matter and superworm parts in his cage...

Also: He is also refusing to drink water, he has gone about 2 weeks now and i havn't seen him drink a bit, not even when i soak him, until today he drank half a bowl full of water (mind you water is in his cage all the time) do dragons do this?

He does have MBD and i put calcium on all his food as well as multivitimins abotu 2 times a week
I gave him some of those nutribites, but the next day they didn't smell too good - could that make him sick?
I have him on sand that is very fine, i use a home made scoop that is made from very fine window screen. I put him on there before i read not to and when i took him off he would act depressed, he likes to dig in the cage, i even tried giving him a sand box to dig in, but he kept tipping it over and kicking the sand everywhere, wasn't sure what else to do, so this is a tempory solution and i ground up a toon of calcium powder and mixed into the sand to help it digest easier, i feed him everything in a dish and thcrickets i feed him one at a time and watch, i have never seen him get a mouthful of sand, or any sand for that matter.... he usually grabs the crickets off the top of one of his 2 hide spots.
the temp. gague says 98 and it's not directly under the light.
He is housed in a 75 gallon tank
I did recently have a massive die-off in my crickets, not sure why though the colony has been good for a month
I try to soak him every day but sometimes with work it goes a few days without a soak
He has had normal stools for him, by the time i see them they look black and hard, except the ones in the tub look fine
Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Please, I am just hoping i didn't do anything wrong!!!

A little history on him:
I have only had him 2 months and have no idea how old he is
he was part of a massive bird and reptile rescue from a lady who died where he was only being fed a few crickets every few days and he looked pitch black when he came in as his cage hadn't been cleaned for quite some time. He was also in a 10 gallon tank.
Recently i had a friends female beardie at my house and they saw each other across the room and that's about the time he decided he wanted to do a mini hunger strike, got him to eat for a couple of days then tried veggies again.

Could he be lonely for another beardie to look at? My friend said her's did the exact same thing that night, it's in a 40 breeder and ate evry day i had her (veggies included) and had been used as a breeder before before i got him he had 8 other beardies, a huge amoun t of birds, 3 water dragons, a monitor, 4 toads, and 5 treefrogs to keep company with

I also just added a kitten and she is mostly kept in another room, but she did sit on the toliet watching me soak him the other day...

sorry for information overload, but i'm trying to rule out as much as possible...

Also he hates being handled, so i don't get him out too much, right now i am petting him and hand feeding him, getting him used to my hands in the tank, i only handle him to soak him or to pull the shed out of his nose for it... if it gives any resistance i don't pull and try again the next day....

 

[AHBD]

Well, I'm a little tired and lazy right now, but I'll address one concern. Beardies love superworms and will gobble them up quickly....so, 20 at one time is too many. That's what made him vomit. Next time just give him 7-8 at a time , as far as greens, mustard, turnip, collard and dandelion greens are best. Kale is not highly recommended. I'm sure others will chime in...oh, do not get another dragon for him. There will be problems without a doubt.

 

[catUK]

ok one is a question about shedding because i'm a new beardie mom... The last 2 times that Apollo has shed around his nose area he has needed help getting the shed out of the inside of his nose (on each nostril. there comes about half an inch worth of shed) he digs at it and shakes his head but lets me pull it right out...My beardies nose shed gets stuck too. Just be very gentle pulling it out, im sure you are. I don't pull it out as such, more stroke it until it falls out (if its loose enough). Any other shed should not be pulled as it can harm the scales

Question 2: What can cause a beardie to throw up? i fed him yesterday (I am trying to get him to eat his veggies and i read you can go about a week of offering veggies in the morning and if he doesn't eat his veggies don't give him crickets or bugs, he is 16 inches long) and well he has decided not to eat for about a week, i gave him about 20 super worms which he scarfed right down then offered him some kale which he ate a bit of. That night i gave him some crickets about 5 or 6 and this morning i went in to find a huge pile of veggie matter and superworm parts in his cage...as AHBD said, its probably due to overeating. A good site for list of veg is beautiful dragons. make sure you feed him at least 1-2 hours after lights on and no later than about 2 hours before lights out so he has time to digest

Also: He is also refusing to drink water, he has gone about 2 weeks now and i havn't seen him drink a bit, not even when i soak him, until today he drank half a bowl full of water (mind you water is in his cage all the time) do dragons do this? mine has only ever drank water once or twice in the 10 months i've had her. Beardies get their hydration from the veg and regular bathing through their vent. Sometimes i syringe feed my beardie water at the side of her mouth and she happily takes it- i don't force it though

He does have MBD and i put calcium on all his food as well as multivitimins abotu 2 times a week have a look at the beautiful dragons website for list of calcium rich veg http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
I gave him some of those nutribites, but the next day they didn't smell too good - could that make him sick? i'm not too sure about this, i doubt any dragon food smells good so it mightn't have meant they were off
I have him on sand that is very fine, i use a home made scoop that is made from very fine window screen. I put him on there before i read not to and when i took him off he would act depressed, he likes to dig in the cage, i even tried giving him a sand box to dig in, but he kept tipping it over and kicking the sand everywhere, wasn't sure what else to do, so this is a tempory solution and i ground up a toon of calcium powder and mixed into the sand to help it digest easier, my beardie didn't like when i changed to tile but they soon get used to the change- its worth not having the riski feed him everything in a dish and thcrickets i feed him one at a time and watch, i have never seen him get a mouthful of sand, or any sand for that matter.... he usually grabs the crickets off the top of one of his 2 hide spots.
the temp. gague says 98 and it's not directly under the light.
He is housed in a 75 gallon tank
I did recently have a massive die-off in my crickets, not sure why though the colony has been good for a month
I try to soak him every day but sometimes with work it goes a few days without a soak
He has had normal stools for him, by the time i see them they look black and hard, except the ones in the tub look fine
Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Please, I am just hoping i didn't do anything wrong!!!

A little history on him:
I have only had him 2 months and have no idea how old he is
he was part of a massive bird and reptile rescue from a lady who died where he was only being fed a few crickets every few days and he looked pitch black when he came in as his cage hadn't been cleaned for quite some time. He was also in a 10 gallon tank.
Recently i had a friends female beardie at my house and they saw each other across the room and that's about the time he decided he wanted to do a mini hunger strike, got him to eat for a couple of days then tried veggies again.

Could he be lonely for another beardie to look at? My friend said her's did the exact same thing that night, it's in a 40 breeder and ate evry day i had her (veggies included) and had been used as a breeder before before i got him he had 8 other beardies, a huge amoun t of birds, 3 water dragons, a monitor, 4 toads, and 5 treefrogs to keep company with beardies are solitary animals and live alone in the wild, they don't get lonely. Having 2 beardies in one enclosure is very risky. It often causes stress due to dominance issues, fighting or even worse. If they are in seperate cages, even just being able to see each other can cause huge stress

I also just added a kitten and she is mostly kept in another room, but she did sit on the toliet watching me soak him the other day...

sorry for information overload, but i'm trying to rule out as much as possible...

Also he hates being handled, so i don't get him out too much, right now i am petting him and hand feeding him, getting him used to my hands in the tank, i only handle him to soak him or to pull the shed out of his nose for it... if it gives any resistance i don't pull and try again the next day....

 

[FBradshaw]

Contrary to the popular belief of the members of this forum, sand is perfectly fine as a substrate. It is actually one of the many they live on in the wild and there are beardies that go their entire lives never seeing anything but sand. They thrive all throughout the coastal areas of Australia making their homes right on the beaches. As long as you are using natural sand, not the calci sand or vits sand, and your beardie isn't eating it in large quantities he should live a long and happy life on it. Some dragons do have problems with wanting to eat sand and as I've stated before some dragons much like some people are too stupid for their own good.

As you've been told, 20 supers in one feeding is way too many, which is why he vomited. I personally would never use supers as a staple feeder, they contain way too much chitin in their exoskeleton and should only be given as an occasional treat in my opinion. Most dragons also wont drink water, I have 2 that will and 3 that wont. They absorb water through their skin and vents at bath time and get water from their feeders and veggies as well.

 

[argolupin]

ok, i can't go to the store and get more veggies til friday (forgot about renewing my license plates) so kale is all i have on hand right now, that's why he is getting that... he only gets supers a couple of times a week most, and crickets only if he eats veggies of or the week in between me trying to get him to eat his veggies. I don't use the calcium sand or the vita sand because my brother had a leopard gecko that would not quit eating it and impacted within a week of us getting her. we went to washed playsand (we washed it again by putting it in a strainer with a cloth lining it and running it under water) and then i strain out the big pieces. I am hoping to be able to order worms this weekend from lisas gone buggy so i can try some different things. if i have them on hand then i try to give him waxworms abut once a week, but he doesn't seem to like those. I do use the beautiful dragons website when i make my shopping list for the week and compare that to what my birds are allowed to have, they are allowed mostly the same foods so normally it is not a problem getting food for everyone, and then i can make one bigger bowl of salad and split it up versus making 2 whole new meals every day.I generally turn his light on then i wake up - around 9 am - but i also generally have to leave by about 10:30 am to get to work so i stick veggies in cages right before i leave, only 2 times have i actually gotten him to eat some of his veggies. i also have pelleted food for him - my vet suggested to try it incase he used to get it when he was younger - and it stays in the cage all the time, haven't seen him eat it though, just make a mess. i have misted him and he seems to drink then, and for awhile he was drinking in the tub, i can still see wrinkles where is is still a little dehydrated, but it doesn't stay up as high as when i first got him. I also meant the food had a strong "plastic" or almost chemical smell so i didn't feed it the next day i threw it away...