Force feeding

[dooshie]

My little guys being force fed for now since he wont eat enough on his own yet (and going from eating nothing for 4 days to eating 7 wax worms on his own is awesome) but my boyfriend is going nuts that he's not eating enough so were force feeding him. Anyways, so were pinching his beard and pulling his mouth open, trying to be as gentle as possible but he squirms so much! now he has this line of black/brown going down the pinch site. I told him "it looks like a little bit of blood" and he says its not blood. It looked like it to me so, what should I do for it? I know it hurts him cuz when he goes to pinch him there again the dragon makes a big huge fuss. Should I just put a little bacitracin on it? how do I treat that?

He's in a 20 long, using a reptisun 10.0 uvb & a zoomed basking light. his temps on the hot side are about 100-105, cool side is about 80-83. He's being force fed super worms, dubia roaches and wax worms. He's about 3 months old now. he's 12 inches long exactly. he grew 2 inches since we got him.

 

[Menolly]

First of all, NEVER EVER...I MEAN NEVER pull your beardies beard. Really, that is just going to get him more scared and will make him less cooperative. Of course he is going to squirm, it would be like me trying to pull your lip forciblly open. No matter how gentle you think you are, forcing him is NEVER the way. It will do a lot more harm then good.
How long has he not been eating? How long have you had him?

 

[dooshie]

First of all, NEVER EVER...I MEAN NEVER pull your beardies beard...

...How long has he not been eating? How long have you had him?

Really? my friend who happens to be a breeder told me to do it, he even showed me the way it was done. Im not saying ur wrong but, if i dont force feed him he wont eat at all. nothing. hes been to the vet and were waiting on results for the fecal.

we've had him for about 3 weeks or so, maybe a month. And he just out of no where stopped eating so he didnt eat for like 5 days, nothing! not a bite.

if i dont force feed him he will not eat at all, no matter what. if theres any other way to get food in him aside from force feeding him, please let me know.

 

[Menolly]

Sometimes beardies can go off their diet because of parasites. There are other ways. You can start feeding him some baby food with a syringe. Put some on the tip of his nose and he should lick it off.
And I'm not saying that your breeder friend was wrong, but obviously the beardie is not liking whatever you do and is hurting him/her if it is squirming so much. 5 days is not that long without food. I highly doubt that it would let itself starve. How long did you wait to start force feeding him?

And a 20 gallon tank is a little small for your dragon. You should really look into getting an upgrade.

 

[dooshie]

Sometimes beardies can go off their diet because of parasites. There are other ways. You can start feeding him some baby food with a syringe. Put some on the tip of his nose and he should lick it off.
And I'm not saying that your breeder friend was wrong, but obviously the beardie is not liking whatever you do and is hurting him/her if it is squirming so much. 5 days is not that long without food. I highly doubt that it would let itself starve. How long did you wait to start force feeding him?

I tried the baby food, he didnt eat it. I didnt put it in a syringe because how else would i get it in his mouth? I would have to do the same thing and pull his beard down and put it in there. I put some on his nose, and again, he just let it sit there. one time it sat there for an entire day up until his next bath time. He would take nothing. We waited the 5 days and on the 5th day we took him to the breeders house and he showed us how to do it. So thats what we've been doing.

 

[Jasper's Mom]

Try this: put the food in the syringe, then place the tip of the syringe between his lips. You're not trying to open his actual jaw, just his lips. Eventually he will open his mouth to bite the syringe, and that's when you squirt a little bit of the food in. Go in from the side so you don't accidentally squirt the food down his airway. Give him a minute or two to swallow, then repeat until all the food is gone. It works every time! Just make sure you are using a plastic syringe and not a glass one. They have been known to bite the tips off the glass syringes.

 

[ChamNW]

Dooshie
At Chameleons Northwest we do a lot of rescues and often have animals who will not eat. Now chameleons are a different animals than dragons but the principles and practices are still the same. I firmly agree that pulling on a dragons beard hurts them. What you are seeing is a bruise and every time you pull it again it hurts even more. You are pulling against the strength of his jaw muscles so unless he just opens up very willingly you have to exert a lot of pressure and it does hurt him.
We often use a small rubber spatula, like the one in your kitchen. Only after you use it on your dragon, label it and don't use it in your kitchen again. Hold him with one hand and gently rub the spatula between his lips along his teeth. Usually they will start to chomp down on the rubber and once the rubber is in the mouth you can then use the syringe with the food mixture or whatever you are tying to feed.
But even more important than that is we suggest you try Reptaid. It is an incredible appetite stimulant which hundreds of dragon owners and breeders have used with amazing results. Look at the ForSale section of this forum and see the thread about Reptaid. It is a very long thread and lots and lots of people have written in about what Reptaid has done for their dragons. And you can see more on our website http://www.chameleonsnorthwest.com. Reptaid can also be used to help conquer any and all parasites or infection that is causing your dragon to lose appetite to begin with. There is no need to wait for the fecal results, which should be available the day you take the feces to the vet. You can just start treating with reptaid and your dragon will be quickly on the road to recovery. If you have any concerns or questions, we welcome phone calls or PM's .