BeardieGrandma
Juvie Member
Just wanted to post that Joga is finally eating like the ferocious lizard I remember her as before she abruptly stopped eating at 9 mos old (which was last April). Before that, she at crickets 2X a day at 30-40 a shot, with 5-10 superworms to boot. I had a fecal check at that time that came up with coccidia and pinworms, treated her for that over a month's time, and came out in June with an all-clear. During the meds I expected her to stop eating, and tried all the usual stuff (acidopholiz+ and reptaid) to stimulate her appetite. She flat out stopped eating by July. Worried, I fed her babyfood every day spiked with calcium powder, what little I could get her to eat, and bathed her every other day to keep her hydrated. I'd offer her dubias and superworms everyday, and once or twice a month she'd eat one dubia. I also put fresh greens in her tank everyday, which she wouldn't touch. She didn't poop worth anything, and she was sluggish all summer, snoozing on her hammock, but would perk up if I took her outside to run around a bit. She lost a total of 33 grams (from 565 to 532) over this period of time up until the end of November. She's about 17.5" long.
So, on a whim I went into petsmart and bought a dozen large crickets. They are still kinda small for crickets (compared to the man-eating crickets I got from mulberryfarms recently). Fed them for a day on veggies and fishfood, and offered them to her. She wiped out every one of them. So, I went back and bought 3 dozen. She wiped those out over a few days. So I placed an order for 500 from mulberry, along with some hornworms. Since about mid-december, she's eating a few syringes of babyfood each morning (by now she should be on more of a veggie diet overall than protein), and eats about 8-10 of these very large crickets I have a day. I switch out the dubias for the crickets to keep some variety going. The hornworms she gobbled up when I gave them to her. I keep offering her greens with no interest, although yesterday she ate a piece of grape out of my hand. Her weight is up around 555 now. I think I'm going to give her babyfood everyday going forward, and offer the bugs every other day to even out her diet a bit. Each morning now she's down on the floor of the tank waiting for me around breakfast time.
So my point is, I've read 100s of stories on this board about this happening to others, and wanted to share my own personal experience. Each beardie is different it seems, but when they worry us like mad we try to find some answers. I'm not sure what her deal was this past summer, whether she was brumating, bored, recovering from meds, or what. But what I did learn was to rule out the parasites, keep her hydrated, keep her tank cleaned each week, and just go with it.
I plan to get her fecal checks yearly around April time-frame just in case her brumating cycle is summertime (my beardie is on Australian timezone LOL) so she's not subjected to parasites taking her down when she decides to slow down.
So, on a whim I went into petsmart and bought a dozen large crickets. They are still kinda small for crickets (compared to the man-eating crickets I got from mulberryfarms recently). Fed them for a day on veggies and fishfood, and offered them to her. She wiped out every one of them. So, I went back and bought 3 dozen. She wiped those out over a few days. So I placed an order for 500 from mulberry, along with some hornworms. Since about mid-december, she's eating a few syringes of babyfood each morning (by now she should be on more of a veggie diet overall than protein), and eats about 8-10 of these very large crickets I have a day. I switch out the dubias for the crickets to keep some variety going. The hornworms she gobbled up when I gave them to her. I keep offering her greens with no interest, although yesterday she ate a piece of grape out of my hand. Her weight is up around 555 now. I think I'm going to give her babyfood everyday going forward, and offer the bugs every other day to even out her diet a bit. Each morning now she's down on the floor of the tank waiting for me around breakfast time.
So my point is, I've read 100s of stories on this board about this happening to others, and wanted to share my own personal experience. Each beardie is different it seems, but when they worry us like mad we try to find some answers. I'm not sure what her deal was this past summer, whether she was brumating, bored, recovering from meds, or what. But what I did learn was to rule out the parasites, keep her hydrated, keep her tank cleaned each week, and just go with it.
I plan to get her fecal checks yearly around April time-frame just in case her brumating cycle is summertime (my beardie is on Australian timezone LOL) so she's not subjected to parasites taking her down when she decides to slow down.
