How to entice beard to eat on his own...

[brenleigh]

I rescued this beard last month...he was given to me by a friend who cares for the animals at a pet shop, and he was left there by someone who had received him as an Xmas gift. They had kept his entire cage at 110 degrees, so when my friend got him, he was lethargic, weak, and not eating or pooping. She had him for two months, during which he began pooping once a weak, and eating very small amounts of repeat-boost and calciworms only when she could trick him into eating them.

I've had him for a little less than a month now, and I syringe feed him repta boost 3 times a day -- the frequency is due to how little of it he eats, I prepare 1 cc for each meal and he eats about half of that most of the time. He is in a 20g desert set up, with a UVB light & white basking light during the day, and a black heat lamp at night. His basking spot is between 95-105 from morning until around 10pm, and at night, I keep his tank at 80 on the warm side and around 70 on the cooler side. He receives daily baths, usually in the morning, and is misted throughout the day to maintain humidity -- he just shed his whole head and it looks like the rest of his body will be short to follow.

My issue with him is that he will only eat when I syringe feed him. I've kept calci-worms in a ceramic dish (they cannot get out of) in his tank in the hopes that he will eat them on his own but as of yet hasn't touched one. I snuck one mealworm into his mouth while he was gulping down some reptaboost last week, but that's it, and I'm reluctant to give him more mealworms than that because I know they are difficult to digest and not as nutritious as crickets or calciworms. I do mash fruit and greens in with his paste, as well as a calcium citrate supplement, but he will not touch bugs or salad on his own.

I'm looking for any advice on how to get him to perk up and eat on his own. It's not that I mind syringe feeding him, its a nice bonding time for us, but he is approximately 6.5-7 months old, and very small -- maybe 10 inches from nose to the end of his tail, and I think he would grow a lot faster is he would eat more things on his own.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there...it's so nice of you to help this poor little dragon ! He was really in critical condition and will probably have long term health issues. The conditions he was in with such constant high temps. probably caused kidney damage, so there's no way to tell how long he might live. Just keep doing what your'e doing, add a smoothie of greens and extra water to his syringe feedings and try to pop a few calci worms or tiny crickets in his mouth rather than a mealworm. Be careful that you only spray him once a day in the tank so the humidity doesn't go up too much. Also, you can get rid of the night light, they need darkness to sleep well....if it gets below 65 at night you can get a ceramic heat emitter that produces heat but no light. Keep up the good work !

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Bless him, what a lucky dragon to be out of the previous situation.
You are doing a great job. Remember, reptiles recover quite slowly so it may take several months for him to have the strength or will to eat much on his own right now. You could add some bee pollen into his mix to help with appetite stimulation. The reptaboost should be working well for him also.
What type of calcium are you using for him?
Which UVB light are you using right now? The temperatures sound fine, are you using a digital probe to measure them?
Do you have pictures of him also?
Keep doing what you are doing & only time will tell how his condition will improve.

Tracie

 

[brenleigh]

I believe it's called repti-calcium. I picked it up at petco but it's superfine calcium citrate powder. I have also ordered some oxbow carnivore care. I do not have a probe, but there are three thermometers in there, one by the basking spot, and one on the bottom of the tank on the hot and cool sides. I also just ordered an adhesive digital thermometer and humidity monitor.

As I'm on my phone I can't post any pictures but I will next time I am on my laptop. But he's very tiny. There was a three month old I saw that was a lot stockier and well devolved, and a little bit bigger than my guy. Today was also a good day, he ate almost 2.5 cc of food, and his paste this morning had strawberries and basil mashed in so he got some real food...still no luck with worms :/.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Daily bathing of a bearded dragon is TOO MUCH bathing, they need only a nice shallow warm (body temp) bath when they are having trouble passing their poos (a tummy rub for up to 20mins helps getting things moving while bathing them too), or if shedding to help loosen and remove difficult shed on toes, and feet, legs and tail.

You can make the dragon sick with a RI if you are bathing too often . Constant high humidity in the enclosure is also bad , I don't have a water dish in my beardie enclosures , they should get sufficient water from the insects and leafy greens and vegs and fruit they eat.

The advise I received when I brought home my 2 beardies as little hatchies (7 and 8 g and 8weeks old) was only bath them if shedding and they need help getting the old skin off difficult areas (can constrict blood flow and lead to lost toes, feet, and even loss of part the tail if old shed is not removed) or if they have really soiled themselves and need a bath to make them presentable to be have around and handle.

Feeding difficulties : you may have no choice for now to but to hand feed your little guy, it's easy to coax them to eat if you gently prize open the mouth just a little with a little pressure on the lips near the snout and then poke the insect in the gap enough for the dragon to taste it , if it's hungry it'll eat the rest (just watch the ends of your fingers because until the dragon get's the hang of the handfeeding process it might accidentially nip the end of the finger a few times.

I know someone who used plastic playing cards to prize open resistant beardie's mouths.

If you want to build up your little rescued dragon, I suggest buying a supply of medium and large silkworms and some silkworm chow or getting some nice clean mulberry leafs to feed the worms. Never met a skink or dragon who doesn't love silkworms once they've eaten a few and work out they are food. Very rich in Ca and beneficial enzymes too and I've noticed my beardies and skinks go to the toilet very regularly when eating a few silkworms each day along with their Ca and vitamins dusted and gut loaded crickets and greens (Puk and Bok Choi greens are excellent as dandelion greens and flowers just be sure they haven't been sprayed and make sure to wash them thoroughly).
2 huge benefits :
- promotes strong bonding
- you know exactly what's been eaten.

Mealworms are a treat ONLY. Their pupae are better as are their beetles when newly "emerged and still white and soft.

I have been using Repti-Cal and Repti-Vite for all my lizards for several years, only I saw a report last year that their Ca powder (ground oyster shells enriched with Vit D) were not been ground as finely as in the past so I've started screening off the bits of grit larger than 250 micrometres with a plastic flour sieve ( the bits of grit I remove and throw away are probably OK for the lizards to eat but I don't want to risk it ).

UV lamp should give 10% UVA and 10% UVB at least ( I use compact fluorescent globes for my dragons and run them on a timer that turns them on 6am and off at 9pm as well as the incandescent reflector style spot lamp (I use Phillips globes). I aim for 40oC basking temp , and min during the day of 26oC in the beardies enclosures , about a min of 22oC overnight but my beardies can retire into their hide overnight if they choose to and I have 7W heatpads sandwiched between ceramic tiles and controlled to stay at about 37oC 24/7 , my beardies have a nice warm refuge to sleep in if they want it.

Some people use MVBs to provide heat, bright light and UVA and UVB for their beardies , they are run on timers only , thermostats kill the MVBs pretty quick.

Lizards have a very slow metabolic rate governed by the temperature they are at, so be patient and it's likely your rescue will thrive , might never be as big as it might have been , but so long as it's happy and healthy who cares.

Have ypu had the rescue examined by a good reptile vet ? might be a good idea , it might have a parasitic infestation internally.