How many xsmall mealworms to feed juvenile?

[brenleigh]

Now I typically don't use meal worms, but yesterday I took in a baby (maybe 6-8 weeks, I'm not really sure) that has a funky eye that I'm working on healing (not sure if she's blind or even has an eye under the crusties). I have spoken to my regular reptile vet who said to give her a few days with warm compresses because her appetite and activity is still really good, and if she still has the crustiness or there is no change to bring her in.

I have ordered some small & medium calciworms for this little one as my older dragon really isn't into live food (another rescue/rehab patient of mine), so I didn't have anything on hand and the only appropriately sized live food the local store had was xsmall meal worms. The calciworms should be here on Wednesday, but until then, I don't really know how many micro meal worms to leave in the bowl.

I would say she ate about 15 from last night until this afternoon, then maybe another 15 tonight. She also has a little bit basil & strawberries all chopped up she was snacking on. Is that enough, too much, or too little? I've never fed with these worms before and she's only my second beardie (I got my older one at 6months). I would say the worms are 1cm at the absolute longest and very skinny.

 

[MushuTheBeardie]

My beardie is 3 weeks old and I feed him 5-7 worms every morning before 12 and he usually eats them all that day.

 

[beardy27]

As far as the crustines on the eye, have you tried putting some neosporin on it?

 

[CooperDragon]

The small worms should be OK for the time being. The calci worms will be better in the long run so good that you ordered them. The mealworms may be tough to digest so maybe drip a bit of water on her nose and see if she wants some extra hydration. As far as the eye goes, you could try gently rinsing it with plain saline solution and then put some unpasteurized honey over it. That acts as a natural antibiotic and I've seen good results when using it on wounds including eye wounds.

 

[brenleigh]

Thank you all for your advice...the eye turned out to be a large scab with went away with some warm water (boiled spring water cooled down) soaks with cotton balls for a week as recommended by my vet. She has a little scarring and kind of weird skin around her eye, but it seems to work fine and she can see out of it so that's good.

She will eat calci-worms but still likes those fatty meal worms so I put them in her veggies to sneak in the good stuff. She does however, like to sleep in the little flakes of kale in her veggie bowl that have dried by day's end so I'm thinking about making her a little spot to dig in a dish dried kale I could change regularly for a bed. My other dragon sleeps on his piece of slate underneath his basking branch because it retains a little more warmth than the rest of the cage at night, so I'm not as experienced with the idea of making a little bed -- I'll figure something out.