FTT baby help needed.

[Krisymof2]

I have what in the nursing world we would call a failure to thrive or FTT baby and I don't know what I am doing wrong. The pic is a comparison of two of the dragons I received from the same clutch (I'm going to contact the breeder about it too). These babies came to me on Christmas eve and were 10 days old, so that makes them 2 months old. They have the same cages that my husband built. The only difference is that the bigger one is the master of my sister and lives with her, and thats the only pet she has.

My little baby has been hard from the day I got her but when I compared them today I really feel like I've done something wrong. This is the one I posted about that would run from crickets and would only eat pheonix worms. I've gotten her to eat some crickets once in a while but her diet consists mainly of PW's. I feed her squash babyfood (with calcium) every other day with a syringe and I add chicken babyfood when she really gives me a hard time (since she won't touch veggies). She rarely has a white belly, and is black almost when I go near the cage but gets a little better when I feed her but compared to all my others her belly never looks completely white.

Here is her set-up:
-4x2x18" with slate tile & reptile carpet (she doesn't have linoleum because I didn't want to stress her with change)
-36" Reptisun 10.0 with a 60 watt flood light bulb (I took out the MVB because she was always closing her eyes and I was afraid it was effecting her even though she couldn't get closer than 12")
-I don't bath her but she gets water throught the syringe daily.
-Basking temps with digital probe are 106-109, but she can move on the log to cooler places, cool side runs at 78.

If I'm missing something please chime in. Thanks in advance.

 

[citrusdragon]

Wow, big difference. From what I've experienced you can get babies in the same clutch with similar results. Some just don't thrive even in optimum conditions. At 2 weeks it is difficult to tell which are going to be the better dragons, since they're fresh out of the egg. At 6 weeks the runts really stand out. Also until they are 8 weeks almost anything can go wrong internally.

I do think that a 4 x 2 cage is really big for a baby. I would get a small Sterilite (15qt) tub maybe and put it on the warmer side of the cage, without substrate, some egg crate with some greens and crix a couple time a day.
It sounds like you're doing your best to keep it hydrated which is important, but I think shrinking its territory can do a lot to add security, and lessen stress.

I have successfully rehabilitated runts before and it just takes patience. Some actually can surprise you and grow into normal size dragons.

Keep us posted

Jeff

 

[Krisymof2]

I will try to block off one side of the cage I was just a little worried that I would stress it out to change things around in the cage. I can't take her out and put her something else because I don't have any extra lights at the moment.

Last time I tried crickets she ran from them, so she gets PW's. She does like baby dubias but I've feed her all of my babies from the colony.

I'm at such a loss.

 

[Krisymof2]

OK I think she is more stressed now by the piece of cardboard blocking half of her cage. She has been very dark since yesterday morning and not eating, so I'm taking it out.

Any other thoughts?

Anyone think Reptiaid might help?

 

[sixxmum]

I don't know, but I think my babies born at the beginning of December might be closer in size to your small one (about 8 inches long) than to your large one. The bigger one looks big for 2 months to me.

 

[vickson420]

Topic moved to health

 

[sixxmum]

Just to add.... my two are from the same clutch and have been raised in the same conditions. One has quite a bit more body mass than the other and regularly eats more (today the little one ate 74 crickets and the big one ate 130). So, I understand your worry.

 

[vickson420]

I think maybe the issue here is going to be protien intake.You said your baby is only eating PW's right?How many?It would require enormous amounts of them to equal a full days nutrition content.Have you tried mixing it up with heftier worms to try to raise the protien intake?I also think personally the bathing should be done not so much for hydration but as an appetite stimulant as well.I find that my babies are always hungriest after bath time.

 

[sixxmum]

Vickson,
My two little ones were born at the start of December and they are not quite 8 inches long (so a little bit bigger than the small baby, but not as big as the large). Does that seem too small to you? They eat 3x a day, as much live food as they want and always veggies and pellets. They vary on the crickets, but they go through about 1000 a week between them.

 

[vickson420]

Vickson,
My two little ones were born at the start of December and they are not quite 8 inches long (so a little bit bigger than the small baby, but not as big as the large). Does that seem too small to you? They eat 3x a day, as much live food as they want and always veggies and pellets. They vary on the crickets, but they go through about 1000 a week between them.

No not at all too small.I think they are right in line and it sounds like there appetite is great.Most times I tell people not to worry about size so long as the husbandry is there and they are acting healthy and active.

 

[sixxmum]

Thank you : ) I'm a worrier (as I've mentioned before)

 

[vickson420]

Thank you : ) I'm a worrier (as I've mentioned before)

LOL aren't we all

 

[Krisymof2]

I go through about 1000 small size PW's per month. She will eat waxworms when I get them about once a week I guess, I give her about 5 and then she gets the PW's. Like I said she ate me out of baby dubais, I checked them yesterday and I have babies again but I'm waiting for them to get a little bigger before I use them again.

Tonight I placed her in a small litter box IN HER CAGE and I fed her some crickets and SHE ATE THEM!! And then she had a white belly before bedtime when I went to put lights out, so I'm hoping I've figured this out.

 

[vickson420]

I go through about 1000 small size PW's per month. She will eat waxworms when I get them about once a week I guess, I give her about 5 and then she gets the PW's. Like I said she ate me out of baby dubais, I checked them yesterday and I have babies again but I'm waiting for them to get a little bigger before I use them again.

Tonight I placed her in a small litter box IN HER CAGE and I fed her some crickets and SHE ATE THEM!! And then she had a white belly before bedtime when I went to put lights out, so I'm hoping I've figured this out.

Oh thats great she ate the crix tonight.I really do think just adding more protien you will see a big difference in her growth rate.Just as an example for you Phoenix would go through 1000 crix every 10 days in order to accomplish that much protien with phoenix you would have to up it to about 1500 every 10 days but then your posed with overdosing on the calcium intake.Hopefully she will go back to eating crix for you to give the dubia time to thrive and your problems will be solved :mrgreen:

 

[Krisymof2]

She's actually never really eaten crickets, I've always had a problem with her eating them. She used to run from them, then she would just close her eyes when I gave them to her. Then I tired putting her in a seperate bin cuz they were a pain to catch when she wouldn't eat them. But I think the security of eating in a tub in her cage made her feel ok to eat them, and she didn't have to run so far to catch them.