Force Feed

[makubex01]

Hey guys,

My beardie suddenly refuses to eat anything fed to him. When he was a baby, he would chase the crickets around his cage, then the crickes have to be in front him, and now he refuses to eat. I am thinking I should try to force feed him since he wouldnt eat nething.

I will bring him to the vet, but in the meantime, how do you force feed a beardie?

 

[peera]

Have you offered other feeders? Some dragons just decide they don't like crickets. How old is he? Is he losing weight? Sleeping more? There's lots of things to rule out before jumping to force feeding.

How old is your dragon?
How long have you had your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What is the sex of your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?

However, if force feeding is really nessisary, the best way to go about it is baby food (squash mixed with a little chicken is usually recommended), either dropped on his nose, offered on a spoon, or if absolutely nessisary, through a syringe.

 

[makubex01]

To answer your questions:

How old is your dragon?
- 1 and half years old.
How long have you had your dragon?
- For one and half years
What is the sex of your dragon?
- I think its a male.
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
- I use shelf liner
Do you use UVB lights?
Yes, I use repti sun 10.0
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
Its a fluorescent tube
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
- I also have the MVB bulb that is 60 Watts.
How old is your UVB bulb?
I got it recently. I start using it this week
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
He can get real close.


Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
No
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
I try feeding it raspberries, superworms, mealworms, crickets. He won't eat any of them
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Since he wont eat, I try feeding him once a day. In the afternoon. But i do leave some food in his tank, in case, he decides to eat.
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Yes, carrots.

Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
-Yes
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Bathe him 5 times a week.
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?

Yes.
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
No
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?
Nope, not yet.

 

[patrickb]

Considering the age of your beardie, I would just wait until the vet visit before taking any action at this point, that is assuming your beardie still looks healthy. No sunken eyes, doesn't look real skinny etc...

If he is still pooping, do they look normal compared to what they have looked like in the past? If so he may just be on a hunger strike. Attempting to force feed in this case would cause more harm than good and stress him out a lot. As long as he looks healthy and your vet visit is soon, I would just wait it out. Keep offering food, but don't stress yourself out too much either.