Drastically reduced daily crix numbers

[angelpaws]

My beardie isnt quite a year old yet. He's beautiful and healthy as a horse. THe last 2 weeks he has not wanted to eat his crix like normal. I used to feed him 120 medium sized crix a week including his salad of veggies and varied fruits. I noticed there were many more left-over crix than normal. I am aware that beardies begin to change over to a higher percentage of veggie diet but does it normally happen so quickly? Its only two weeks and I am prepared to reduce the number to 50 a week. He still shows interest but now that hes bigger, hes not as quick as he used to be - hes pretty much waiting for them to come to him.

Just wondering what other folks have been experiencing with their beardies during their "puberty" cross-over to vegetarianism.

 

[joea]

Try some superworms. Kirbi :love5: is off the crix. I even tried hand feeding them to her but she just turns her head. We just bought 2 medium hissers tonight but their eating right now. One started eating a speck of dried greens and she just stared at them with a WTH? look :lol: So tomorrow after a good gut loading I'll reintroduce them.

 

[angelpaws]

Oh he loves superworms but it gives him diahrrea so I give them only once a week. :?
What about brumation? Does that happen to captive beardies? I've started to dust his salad becasue he just doesnt seem to be eating his crix unless I feed it to him. This is just so sudden and so unlike him.

 

[angelpaws]

Bump

Anybody know anything about Brumation? I'm alittle worried about my beardie.

He looks fine but I woke up this morning and he did not come out of his cave. He's never done that since Ive had him. He's usually always out and about. That coupled with his drastically diminished appetite is alarming. This behavior has been going on for about a week now. I DO notice that he wanted the superworm I gave him like no-body's business! He practically ran to eat that..

Another growing concern is that while he doesnt eat, he doesnt get his calcium... :study:

 

[angelpaws]

Ok, well..Ithought it was worth letting you all know how Zorro has been. Maybe this will help fellow owners about odd beardie habits.

That last day (Sat) poor Zorro sat in front of the food bowl with his head hovering over the bowl but would not eat. I coaxed him a bit, he really looked like he wanted to eat but just wouldnt do it. His food bowl is on the cool side of his viv at about 83-87 degrees respectively. He spent all day there. He never really got a black beard but hid often in his little cave for the Saturday and the beginning of Sunday. I was unhappy that he would not go to the warm side even when i placed him there. This would not end well if he continued to behave this way.

On Sunday, it was cage cleaning time and time for his warm bath. (I soak him for about a half hour, once a week). Zorro spent the majority of the time just soaking but just before I took him out, he left a huge poop. There was nothing odd about it - it was formed and healthy looking, it just looked very long in length. It made me think he could have been constipated. Since then he has reverted back to normal - basking and eating his crix.

I write this to remind beardie parents not to underestimate the good that comes from those long soaks. The warmth and the absorption of h2O truly seem to be an important part of beardie maintenance. The things that could potentially cause impaction have never been used. He's not housed on sand and he hadn't eaten a mealworm in a long time. Even though he loves those superworms, he only gets one every 3-4 days (they give him the runs). That said, I did think about giving him a few to promote soft stools but when he had his bout of diarrhea, he had the blackest beard I ever saw! What an upset tummy he mustve had!

I soak Zorro because he will not drink from a bowl. I find the soaking sessions keeps him very well hydrated along with the large amounts of fresh veggies and fruits he gets daily.

Anyway..it's a relief he's back to his active contented self. Lets hope these episodes are not a common thing.

 

[joea]

Glad to hear he doing better! Maybe some probiotics (non-dairy) will help Zorro by augmenting his intestinal microbial population. Honey is good for the prebiotic portion. (food for probiotics) You can get probiotic pills at the vitamin isle, pet store, or... http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/category&path=61 We have grocery store pills and recently got the Bene-Bac Plus. (it has prebiotics)

 

[Mediabandit]

Glad he is doing well.
As an FYI, most of us on here bathe our Beardies every couple days and do not wait a full week to do so.

 

[angelpaws]

Glad to hear he doing better! Maybe some probiotics (non-dairy) will help Zorro by augmenting his intestinal microbial population. Honey is good for the prebiotic portion. (food for probiotics) You can get probiotic pills at the vitamin isle, pet store, or... http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/category&path=61 We have grocery store pills and recently got the Bene-Bac Plus. (it has prebiotics)

This is new info and sounds like a great idea! Do the beardies enjoy honey? Is it liquid or powder? How would I administer it?

Glad he is doing well.
As an FYI, most of us on here bathe our Beardies every couple days and do not wait a full week to do so.

I was concerned about promoting respiratory issues...how often do you recommend? 2x a week? Maybe shorter sessions?

Thanks...Im so happy he's ok!

 

[joea]

[This is new info and sounds like a great idea! Do the beardies enjoy honey? Is it liquid or powder? How would I administer it? ]

Kirbi's :love5: honey was used medicinally for early treatment of mouth breathing.
I first used a butter knife type of spatula and force fed it to her. I don't know if she liked the honey but she didn't like the force feeding.
It is available in both forms.
Now I use a feeding syringe and a slurry of mixed ingredients. You can add to a slurry, dustings, inject into bugs.
http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=294
http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=60
http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=392