Dying Lizard :/

[beardie osk]

They are waxworms. I'm not sure if it's considered an adult, but we sat down and tried to figure out how old he was, and we figured he's about 1 year/ 1 1/2 years, not 2 yet. :/

Hi folks,
I somehow always feel like I'm the bearer of bad news, but.............waxworms should only be given to beardies like you would give children candy........They're not considered a staple to be given as protein, waxworms don't have anything nutritious in them......I'm sure he's eating them but I'd switch them for crickets, butterworms, phoenix worms, small hornworms or silkworms. Best place to order these are from Mulberry Farms: http://www.mulberryfarms.com/faq.htm
Of course the cheapest of all these are crickets. (crickets should not be larger than the space between Spikes eyes)

An adult beardie is 18 mo. or older..................... superworms can be given if Spike is longer than 16" to 18". You can ask for smaller sizes when ordering.

It is so nice to hear that he is improving every day.

 

[daggerz]

The vet told us that they have a lot of nutrients, so they were fine... I guess he said the wrong name?
He's running around a lot more and is starting to eat by himself more.
My sister (the REAL owner of the lizard; don't get me started on her :evil: ) tried feeding him this morning and he bit her. :laughhard: So I tried feeding him. He took a few worms and tried catching some crickets last night (not sure if he got any; was too far away). He let me know he was done by crawling from the table onto my shirt. But he's holding his mouth open still. Is it normal or is it a sign of dehydration? He's keeping his eye open a lot! Though he still can't see out of it because of the inner eyelid. I'll post some pictures in a little while. :]

 

[daggerz]

Here are some pictures.

He loves to lay like this for some odd reason.

I scared him with the camera... Oops. :lol:

He's gotten darker.

 

[Pleaides]

hey can i ask what the substrate is in the 2nd pic?
cute beardie!
glad to hear hes doing better
wax worms as far as i know are fine for them but as a treat as the only thing bad about them is their extremely fattening, if your trying to put some weight on him then your going the right way about it, my Mischief wont eat anything but wax worms i keep on trying loads of other things, i can not give him livefood for a week or so (he is an adult btw) and he still wont touch nothing else so i sort of have no choice but to feed him waxies, lol, little devils, im in complete slavery to my 2.

 

[daggerz]

hey can i ask what the substrate is in the 2nd pic?
cute beardie!
glad to hear hes doing better
wax worms as far as i know are fine for them but as a treat as the only thing bad about them is their extremely fattening, if your trying to put some weight on him then your going the right way about it, my Mischief wont eat anything but wax worms i keep on trying loads of other things, i can not give him livefood for a week or so (he is an adult btw) and he still wont touch nothing else so i sort of have no choice but to feed him waxies, lol, little devils, im in complete slavery to my 2.

It's the walnut shells. I know, I know, it's not good. But he hardly leaves his logs. Thanks. ^-^ Originally we got them for my fat-tail gecko, Africa, since she got extremely skinny, but then the vet said we could give him those, so we've been giving them to Spike instead. :|

 

[beardie osk]

Hi guys, :wave:

Pics are great showing improvement,................... just a comment on the waxworms, their nutritional value is just about nil, but high in fat, you really have to think of them as beardie "candy". And if you keep that in mind, you can understand why once they get used to them, they will want only the waxworms, and may snub the rest of protein that's so high in calcium, etc. Think of it as if we had only candy what it would do to us (mmm, sounds good, oh no, what am I thinking) that is what would happen to our beardies.

As you know, the walnut shells if ingested, can really rip up the digestive system, you can always use tile, newspaper or papertowel as a substrate. I only mention these things not to criticize, but to look out for Spikes best interest.

The're truely is a noticable difference in his pics from the beginning.......so I contunue to wish you all well.

Bugs and hugs, :love5:

 

[diamc]

Spike does look much better. They like to lay in the weirdest positions so I wouldn't be concerned about that at all.

I have to agree about the wax worms, there are quite a few other feeders that would be much better for him.

If you could remove the walnut shells, that would be much safer. Not only are the edges sharp and dangerous when ingested, it is also a breeding ground for bacteria because it's just about impossible to clean up all the residue poo from it. It's very possible that he could have gotten some walnut shells in his eyes causing irritation or that there is some bacteria from it causing the symptoms. We are not trying to be critical at all, just pointing things out and we all want what is best for Spike.

 

[daggerz]

Is keeping his mouth open a sign of dehydration? What should I do about his inner eyelid not opening? I put saline on it 2-3 times a day, but he's still not opening it.

Thank you all again! (I know, I know; "Shut up lady! Stop thanking us!") I wouldn't have been able to get him this healthy without you guys! :mrgreen:

 

[daggerz]

He's rubbing his eye on everything now! The glass, the logs, the waterdish... How do I stop him from doing this?

** He opened the inner eyelid.

 

[beardie osk]

He's rubbing his eye on everything now! The glass, the logs, the waterdish... How do I stop him from doing this?

** He opened the inner eyelid.

Hi there,
That's great news.........opening the inner eyelid.........I wouldn't worry about the rubbing, is he shedding? They do that rubbing if their shedding, and I don't think he'd continue to do it if it hurt him. He may be rubbing his eye to get that lid off of his eyeball as well, so I don't think you have to worry unless you see damage done. Sounds like great progress is being made daily.

 

[daggerz]

He's rubbing his eye on everything now! The glass, the logs, the waterdish... How do I stop him from doing this?

** He opened the inner eyelid.

Hi there,
That's great news.........opening the inner eyelid.........I wouldn't worry about the rubbing, is he shedding? They do that rubbing if their shedding, and I don't think he'd continue to do it if it hurt him. He may be rubbing his eye to get that lid off of his eyeball as well, so I don't think you have to worry unless you see damage done. Sounds like great progress is being made daily.

He just shed not too long ago, but he's rubbing his eye, nothing else. He even gets onto the shells/sand and tries rubbing his eye on that, but he ends up with an eye full of it & I have to wash it out. :? He's stopped that, though. :roll:

 

[daggerz]

His eye... It looks a little worse this morning.

 

[beardie osk]

Yes, I agree, his eye looks irritated, another reason why the walnut shells should go, (please don't be upset with me continuing to harp on this) why not put paper towels down for a while, till you can get some tile or reptile carpet? All 3 of mine are on paper towels.

I'm sure he was rubbing his eye to get the white film off, but even with the swelling, he must feel great that he can see now. I would continue to carefully drop some saline over the area, let air dry, and don't rub, this will continue to flush out foreign substances out. My eyes swell like that with my allergies, and it's very itchy, so I'm sure that's what he was doing.

His improvement is so exciting, isn't it?

 

[daggerz]

Yes, I agree, his eye looks irritated, another reason why the walnut shells should go, (please don't be upset with me continuing to harp on this) why not put paper towels down for a while, till you can get some tile or reptile carpet? All 3 of mine are on paper towels.

I'm sure he was rubbing his eye to get the white film off, but even with the swelling, he must feel great that he can see now. I would continue to carefully drop some saline over the area, let air dry, and don't rub, this will continue to flush out foreign substances out. My eyes swell like that with my allergies, and it's very itchy, so I'm sure that's what he was doing.

His improvement is so exciting, isn't it?

I'll try to change it out in a while.
I know, though he's still using his other eye to watch the people going by. I'm not rubbing his eye anymore because he's opened it. He's trying to drink the saline, though. Whenever I put it on his eye, he opens his mouth or licks the side of his lips that it's on.
He's getting more active. He tried walking off the table again. :lol:

 

[beardie osk]

Oh, he's becoming so active and alive again, great job! Yes, the papertowel will be better, the shells also have a fine brown substance that's barely seen but airborne, that gets in eyes, mouth, nose,etc, so I'll be good when it's gone. (I'm going to stop now, promise,) :silent:

You might want to try giving him some fluids first with the dropper, since he seems like he wants to lick, so cute. I see that he's more active, so be careful, it'll only take him a second to jump off the table, :roll: (I know you know that) :silent: ............shows he's feeling better.