how much to syringe feed baby beardie?

[audreymc]

my two baby leather backs are sisters from the same clutch but one is growing perfect and the other is still tiny, so I had them both at the vet today to check nothing is seriously wrong with the small one but all looks fine and now we just need a fresh stool sample to get checked, vet thinks its because shes eating more like an adult, only really eating veg and refusing insects where her sister is mainly eating insects so till we get the stool sample tested he has given me a sort of build up food which has all her nutrients etc in it which I have to make up into a paste and give her it a few times a day, little and often but because she refuses anything other than veg I have to syringe feed her.. only problem is I just realised when I went to feed her that he never mentioned just how much to give to her each time just that it should be little and often.. so my question is should I be giving her a full 2.5 syringe, less than that or more than that? her sister is currently 105 grams and weighing what she should for almost 3 month old but she is only 40 grams.. any help on this subject would be very appreciated as I want my baby to start putting on weight like her sister and my other beardies.. tia

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, first of all are they housed together ? If so, you'l need to separate them ASAP, putting the bigger dragon in a new tank and leaving the smaller one in the home she's used to. What type of insects are you feeding them ? You can try this : smash a bug until the guts come out and rub it lightly on her snout. That will often get them to eat. From the syringe you can try about 1 cc twice a day.

 

[EllenD]

My thought exactly, if you are housing them together you need to separate them immediately, as they are solitary animals naturally in the wild, they don't live with one another, and one of two things always happens: Either they rip each other to shreds and one usually ends up being killed, or more often than not one dragon will absolutely thrive and be fine (dominant dragon) and the other fails to thrive at all, is stunted in growth, develops nutritional deficiencies and resulting diseases like MBD, and usually this submissive dragon ends up not making it. They both need their own complete setup, and it's best if they cannot see each other from their tanks, meaning you either need to stack their tanks one on top of the other, or keep them in entirely different rooms. I wouldn't even let the smaller dragon that isn't thriving see the other dragon at all for a long, long time until she's healthy again, and even then they need to be supervised if they are ever out together, as it only takes one bite to the skull to kill them. It happens all the time...

 

[lizardowner]

Hi there, first of all are they housed together ? If so, you'l need to separate them ASAP, putting the bigger dragon in a new tank and leaving the smaller one in the home she's used to. What type of insects are you feeding them ? You can try this : smash a bug until the guts come out and rub it lightly on her snout. That will often get them to eat. From the syringe you can try about 1 cc twice a day.

hi thanks for reply.. they were housed together ever since they were hatchlings but I separated them around 2 months old.. but they can still see each other from their vivs and the little one can also see my older beardies when they chose to leave their vivs for a wander, I was also letting the two babies out at the same time as each other up till the size difference was noticeable mainly just because my two older beardies although I know should be solitary, my two older ones are extremely close, they were housed together when babies although came from two separate breeders and when I split them once they started to grow they both went into horrible moods and completely black bearded for days not eating or drinking and only stopped when I put them back together so in the end I put their vivs facing each other and let them out together too, although I can't let them out together lately as they are male and female and keep trying to breed but I won't allow it as they are only coming up for a year old with the female one month older and although other ppl have said they are fine because they are massive for their age, I am not prepared to put my female at risk.. thanks for the idea on smashing up the bug im about to try that with her now as its feeding time for all of my lizards not just my beardies.. also before anyone asks no my lizards aren't mixed I keep them separate in separate rooms so beardies are in one room, mhds are in another and my chameleon is also separate from them. I do plan on moving my baby beardy vivs so that they don't see each other at all today. appreciate any and all help on the subject, my lizards are like my babies and it hurts me to think one of them might be hurting ?

 

[Drache613]

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