Darwin

[CooperDragon]

Hi back! I'm glad to hear Gabriel is hanging in and getting about a little bit.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I'm seriously amazed at his tenacity, he was diagnosed last July, the aneurysm was 2" by 2" at the time, now it's 4x that size at least, yet he keeps on trucking. I hope he lives a good long time still. He's 6 1/2 now and I want him to have a few years left, if possible.

 

[CooperDragon]

I certainly hope he has a few good years left as well. Seems clear he wants that too =).

 

[sweetiepie9]

 

[CooperDragon]

Bugger got some time outside today since it's so hot and sunny. His face speaks volumes.

 

[NBGwen]

LOL that's awesome

 

[sweetiepie9]

He sure is a happy dragon. Still no joy over here for spring weather yet, getting a bit warmer, but cold rain still. I envy you guys!

 

[CooperDragon]

Introduced him to hornworms the other day and he seems to like them quite a bit now that he's figured out what they are. Only small silkworms were in stock so I picked these up instead. He ran across the room for them today and went after it so aggressively he caught one of my fingers in his death grip. Nothing wrong with his side teeth or jaws, that's for sure!

He has gotten into a recent habit of 2-3 very watery poops almost every day instead of once per day. It makes me think he may be losing control. I'm not certain though. He's going through a heck of a shed cycle too so that may be playing into it. Going to try another round of probiotics and see if that helps give him a bit more control. Not sure what else to try at this point and I don't want to cut back on his hydration. He has also been craving squash like a mad man. He'll eat other veges but he is sure to pick out all of the squash first.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Glad to hear his teeth are all in good shape :mrgreen: Hope you didn't lose too much finger!

I'm sorry to hear about his daily poops. Hope the probiotics work! Imp was like that for awhile but not 3x a day. He's had blood tests, right, were the kidney/liver function ok? If not, then he's like Imp, doesn't digest his food very well. Imp get Reptophilus through bug-de-lite.com and really likes it. It seems to help. He needs to go in for a blood test to figure out his stomach. I finally got him to eat bugs by throwing them to him on the living room floor, so he can chase and catch them. he's eating better that way than anything else I've tried.

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah blood tests were fine. They were taken back in December though so I'm going to get another one done in a month or so just to check in. Darwin was on Reptiphilus for about 5 weeks at one point but it didn't help the messy poops. Either those flagellates are really stubborn or he has some kind of dragon version of IBS or Crohn's perhaps. Otherwise super healthy. As active as ever. Appetite is great. Weight is great. If you never saw his poop you'd think he's the healthiest dragon ever.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Then I wouldn't worry about it. He's just made that way, as long as he's holding his weight and eating well and all tests are normal, then that's just how he is. Because he was rescued you can't really know that how he was treated affected his digestive system.

I have a friend who's dragon had the same thing & he needed a digestive enzyme to digest his food. But it sounds as if Darwin is digesting, either way, I'll find out what he's being given, maybe it would help Darwin?

 

[CooperDragon]

Couldn't hurt I suppose. Thanks!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Welcome!

 

[CooperDragon]

Went to Omaha zoo again a couple of weekends back. Paid my usual visit to the bearded dragon display. They had a single leatherback in the enclosure. Based on memory, it didn't have many changes since the last visit. I was able to pay closer attention to the setup since my last visit due to learning so much more over the last few years. It's built into a wall that juts out so it's tough to get close or get details about it. It is approximately 4'x4'x5' with some branches criss crossed and a loose gravel substrate that may be some kind of bioactive but it just looked like dry pebbles and I didn't see much leaf litter, sand, or dirt. The lighting is a flood light and what looked like an MVB but I couldn't see details. I wasn't sure about the output but I'm guessing it's a higher wattage bulb producing a small basking area high up and a lower, cooler basking spot at the base of the branches. It didn't seem like as much coverage as I would provide in an enclosure that big. Certainly no good for two dragons (they had 2 years back) The dragon seemed OK but apathetic. It was near the end of the day though so probably just tired. I could hear crickets that were left in the enclosure and there was a salad in the corner. I wish I could have spoken with one of the caregivers to get more info, but there were no zoo employees to be found which is the same as on previous visits unfortunately.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Wow, that poor dragon, probably not getting enough UVB at all & sure so space to run around. I've seen dragons at a couple of zoos and they're never kept properly or given enough space to run around. Makes me sad that they don't even look into what a dragon needs. Oh well, at least our dragons are well cared for.