RosieBear0304
Member
Hello, early in March I got two baby beardies. One was 2 months old and the other about 4-5 months (at least that’s what we were told). The first few weeks were going smoothly, with both of them eating and drinking plenty and eating their greens like champs. However, suddenly the youngest, Erik, appetite starting going down and he was acting extremely lethargic. He stopped growing, while the other one, Peach, was growing extremely fast. That’s where things started going downhill.
First his appetite went down, but this happened when he was shedding so I assumed it was due to that. However, it didn’t get better. He continued to get worse and worse, going from having occasional perky moments to never holding himself up or opening his eyes all the way. He stopped eating crickets, and would only take water and strawberries.
We took him to the vet and were told he was most likely a Failure to Thrive case, considering his fecal sample came back fine and had no parasites in it. She also said there was no impaction, and was unable to do a blood test because he is too small. We were pretty much told to give him extra care and hope for the best. She gave us something called Critical Care, which was supposed to help with the how malnourished he was. After that, he started getting much better. We changed out the UVB light for a lower wattage which seemed to help and also gave him the Critical Care. He started perking up a lot more and was eating crickets again, especially if we took him outside on a warm day for some natural sunlight. We were regularly giving him baths to keep him hydrated (the Critical Care is mixed with water so he was also drinking regularly). However, he’s once again stopped eating crickets and is still losing weight. He’s pretty much skin and bones now. Oddly enough though he’s much more active. We still give him Critical Care along with chicken baby food mixed with calcium (that’s all we can get him to eat). When we give him crickets, he acts terrified and runs away even tho we only put one in there and it’s tiny. He’s pooping regularly, and they’re solid. But he obviously can’t live off of baby food, and he’s not gaining weight or growing.
Originally they both shared a 40 gallon, with a basking area that’s 90-100. The bedding is felt. The basking light was 100 Watt, and the UVB is a ReptiSun 10.0 26 Watt. They were misted twice a day, and after feeding we’d go in with a water dropper to make sure they were drinking. Peach started to display dominating behavior, so we put Erik in a 10 gallon, with felt bedding and a basking area with the same temp as in the 40 gallon. We got him a ReptiSun 10.0 UVB also, but this time it’s a 13 Watt. The crickets are dusted with Calcium (with D3), and I also feed the crickets greens and veggies.
Is there anything else we can do to get him healthier? He won’t take crickets even if we try hand feeding them to him. I’ve seen to try soft bodied worms, but I don’t know where I could get those. I’m going to try attaching a picture of when we got him verses now (there is sand in the first picture, but he was only in it for that day).
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First his appetite went down, but this happened when he was shedding so I assumed it was due to that. However, it didn’t get better. He continued to get worse and worse, going from having occasional perky moments to never holding himself up or opening his eyes all the way. He stopped eating crickets, and would only take water and strawberries.
We took him to the vet and were told he was most likely a Failure to Thrive case, considering his fecal sample came back fine and had no parasites in it. She also said there was no impaction, and was unable to do a blood test because he is too small. We were pretty much told to give him extra care and hope for the best. She gave us something called Critical Care, which was supposed to help with the how malnourished he was. After that, he started getting much better. We changed out the UVB light for a lower wattage which seemed to help and also gave him the Critical Care. He started perking up a lot more and was eating crickets again, especially if we took him outside on a warm day for some natural sunlight. We were regularly giving him baths to keep him hydrated (the Critical Care is mixed with water so he was also drinking regularly). However, he’s once again stopped eating crickets and is still losing weight. He’s pretty much skin and bones now. Oddly enough though he’s much more active. We still give him Critical Care along with chicken baby food mixed with calcium (that’s all we can get him to eat). When we give him crickets, he acts terrified and runs away even tho we only put one in there and it’s tiny. He’s pooping regularly, and they’re solid. But he obviously can’t live off of baby food, and he’s not gaining weight or growing.
Originally they both shared a 40 gallon, with a basking area that’s 90-100. The bedding is felt. The basking light was 100 Watt, and the UVB is a ReptiSun 10.0 26 Watt. They were misted twice a day, and after feeding we’d go in with a water dropper to make sure they were drinking. Peach started to display dominating behavior, so we put Erik in a 10 gallon, with felt bedding and a basking area with the same temp as in the 40 gallon. We got him a ReptiSun 10.0 UVB also, but this time it’s a 13 Watt. The crickets are dusted with Calcium (with D3), and I also feed the crickets greens and veggies.
Is there anything else we can do to get him healthier? He won’t take crickets even if we try hand feeding them to him. I’ve seen to try soft bodied worms, but I don’t know where I could get those. I’m going to try attaching a picture of when we got him verses now (there is sand in the first picture, but he was only in it for that day).