Dragon Help??

[lilvamp]

hiya guys can someone give me some advice?
i bought female bearded dragon a few months ago, the previous owners said she was 14 months howether she is only 12" now at (apparently) 16 months. shes refusing to eat any crickets so i switched her to meal wrms and for a few weeks she seemed fine on those but for the last 4 days she hasnt eated a thing at all and is pooping freequently. any ideas what might be up with her?

 

[sweetpea1981]

Meal worms should not be fed to bearded dragons they can cause impaction, and are virtually worthless in nutritional value. Try crickets, phoenix worms, or dubias. I'm sure some others will chime in too.

 

[lilvamp]

she wont eat crickets at all. and i cant get dubias or pheonix worms, the bug choice in the uk is extremly limited.
she wont eat her greens either which she usually wolfs down, any ideas anyone??

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....let's see if we can figure out what's going on. Can you list your set up, what type + brand of lights you use and what the tepmps. are ? Improper lights + temps. can put them off food, so can parasites. Also, can you post a picture of her ?

 

[lilvamp]

http://s1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/beckym32/?action=view&current=15122012637_zpsebd93a31.jpg
ok this is her set up she has : a 100w exo terra basking bulb which keeps the tank at about 42 degrees celcius on the hot end. she also has an arcadia 10%+ uvb desert tube light. she used to have wood shavings as substrate but i changed her to newspaper as soon as i found out that ANY loose substrate can cause impaction.
she also has a bath every evening to help hydrate her as she refuses to drink from her water bowl

 

[lilvamp]

also this is her at the moment basking, shes not looking at all like her ussual self

 

[AHBD]

She doesn't look bad at all, sitting upright and bright eyed. She may have a partial impaction from the mealies, it's not that they always cause it, but it's a possibility if she was eating loads of them. Mealworms are O.K. for treats , but superworms are better if you can get them. She could eat the medium supers if she is 12". but the large could be hard for her to digest. How long ago did you take the wood chips out ?

 

[lilvamp]

a few days ago, and shes only been on the meal worms two weeks and she defo hasnt gobbled em down.
how would i find out for defo about impaction? the nearest rep vet is about 200 miles away

 

[AHBD]

If you say that she is still pooing, it may be a slight impaction that you can clear by giving her any of the following, or a combo of: applesauce, veg. oil, baby food prunes or canned pumpkin,[ some people say the pumpkin works best ] Keep offering her food , though, and be sure to keep her well hydrated,warm baths once a day [ early or mid day rather than late ] and drip water on her nose in the bath to encourage her to drink.

 

[lilvamp]

ok thank you so much ill try get her to have some baby food now.
also, any idea what may have caused her to stay so small if she is the age i was told she was, if not what age about would she be ish?
and its definatlyy the last time im listening to pet shops about dragon food as i went to three diferent reptile shops and they all said meal worms would be fine for her.
also would celci worms be ok for her just to try and fatten her up? nt as a staple though
thanks in advance

 

[AHBD]

There's a chance that the other owners did not actually know her true age, but there are situations that can cause stunted growth....like not enough food as a baby for long periods of time, sometimes owner's just not knowing exactly how much to feed, and/or coming from a mother dragon that had many clutches with the last clutch having one or several runts. But , I must say that from the picture she looks reasonably healthy, and just like there are small human beings that can live long, healthy lives, so there are animals that do as well. As for the celci worms, you mean calci worms ? If so, yes, they are great for beardies.