Introducing Isabel

[Nanci]

Hi,

My name is Nanci and I am a new dragon owner. My dragon is a two year old Citrus, Isabel. I bought her a bit impulsively at Daytona, although I had been doing background research and had an empty 40 with appropriate lighting sitting there empty. I'd hoped that by buying an adult, I'd be skipping the million-cricket-eating baby phase, but found out by trial and error and then confirmed with the seller that Isabel hates salad. She was eating crix supplemented with a few supers, with minimal waxies and mealies for treats, but stopped eating a week after I brought her home- of course over Labor Day weekend. So we went to the vet Tuesday, where a fecal revealed hookworms, pinworms, roundworms and two species of coccidia. So she is undergoing treatment for that, and had been doing ok with me handfeeding her, but then took to acting ticklish- like she couldn't stand to have any part of the cricket touch her- like an antennae or leg. She would greet this with violent headshaking, face rubbing, clawing at her face with her front or hind feet and galloping around her viv...So I have to hold the crickets very carefully to avoid setting her off. Not exactly the easy keeper I had envisioned! I am giving her Acidopholiz+ and actually have a question relating to that in the Enclosures section. I'm soaking her daily to keep her from getting dehydrated, and she is doing all her pooing in the bathtub, which I then disinfect with ammonia prior to letting her get a good soak in. She really seems to enjoy her daily baths. I also take her out to bask for 15-60 minutes a day- longer on weekends. She enjoys lounging on the wall of my outdoor tortoise enclosure, watching the sky for birds, and dropping into the pen and running for cover if I glance away from her. She thinks she's so tricky! If I hold her on my lap, she'll sit contentedly forever.

Here are some pics! BTW, her enclosure has a slate floor with a partitioned play sand area. I would like to buy her a 4x2 new enclosure, though, and may skip the play sand, though she seems to enjoy digging in it and I've never caught her licking or tasting it...

Out at the tortoise pen:

Superman!

Tucked in with her blankie.

Besides Isabel, I have seven snakes- two corns, a Cali king, a Florida king, a Nelson's milk, an Eastern hoggy and a tri-color hoggy, two California desert tortoises, a Florida boxie, an Eastern boxie (both rescues, housed and brumated outdoors!) and a Southern toad. And two pigeons.

Nanci

 

[blazinbeardie]

Welcome! I hope Isabel gets better soon. She has really pretty colors. And lots of other species of friends! Good luck with her and enjoy this site, it's great.

 

[Gail]

Hi Nanci :wave: nice to see you on BD.org

 

[Mistyck]

Very pretty girl. Welcome to the board. :wave: I hope she gets better soon.

 

[Nanci]

Hi, thanks for the well wishes! I got my silkworms and phoenix worms today. Too bad Isabel is not an anole- the size would be more appropriate! I hope the silkworms grow. I got a bunch of stuff down her today- three supers, about 12 small pws, six crickets, four big waxies...Her heat emitter and a new Zoo Med 10 fluorescent are arriving tomorrow, and some Jump Start. She's only lost a little weight, but I'm going to give her a bit of that mixture I read about here with the Jump Start, chicken baby food, Pedialyte and pinches of her vits and calc. She's on the week off from Albon, two dewormings down, two to go. Very perky and her color gets brighter by the day. She's shedding some on her face and left arm. I've got her trained to poo the second she gets in the bathtub- so her viv is staying nice and clean (from coccidia) and I just rinse the tub with ammonia and refill and she goes in for a 20 minute soak daily. She seems to really enjoy bathing. Once I get the ceramic heater set up, then I can do the Acidophiliz+ at bedtime that I also read about here. I'm giving it to her in the afternoon, now, anyway. I'm leaving her tempting dishes of insects to eat whie I'm at work, but she isn't interested yet.

Nanci

 

[Nanci]

So apparently I spoke too soon. Phoenix worms must be the dragon equivalent of crack! I put five in her dish, walked into my bedroom, almost immediately heard this ceramic clinking noise, walked back out there, and she's on her hide, and four of the five worms are gone! First thing she's eaten by herself in almost two weeks!! I put in six more- and I can hear her back in there right now!

Nancib

 

[Nanci]

So Phoenix Worms are the miracle food for non-eating dragons, as far as I'm concerned. I left her a dish of them yesterday morning- all gone! Same thing this morning. Same thing this afternoon! If only they were bigger...I geve her two teaspoons of the Jump Start/chicken baby food mixture this afternoon with a syringe- she swallowed it right down. I'd like to get her back to her original weight. I think one meal a day of that, and all the PWs she can eat, with a few waxies, and the silkworms when they grow up. Just till her deworming/coccidiosis treatment is over.

Nanci

 

[Dr. Phoenix]

Hello Nanci,

We are so happy to hear that Phoenix Worms are making a difference for your Isabel! Lots of people write to tell us that these worms stimulate the appetite of sick animals and then soon other feeders will be accepted, too. There is some new information that you may wish to share with your vet and others concerning another health benefit of PWs. You might want to post your story in the "feeding" section for others to read, too. Here's the press release:

PHOENIX WORMS® – A NUTRICEUTICAL TO COMBAT COCCIDIOSIS AND MBD
Tifton, GA - In addition to having a perfect balance of calcium and phosphorus allowing use as a staple food, Phoenix Worms provide high levels of natural lauric acid. Lauric acid is known for its excellent antimicrobial properties including very potent activity against lipid coated viruses, clostridium and pathogenic protozoa including coccidia. Lauric acid is a medium chain saturated fatty acid found in Phoenix Worms as well as some vegetable oils and in dairy products. 53% of the fat in Phoenix Worms is beneficial lauric acid, a proven antimicrobial especially effective against coccidiosis.

We appreciate your kind comments and expect that soon you'll be noticing real improvement in Isabel. Breeders tell us that they obtain measurable increases in weight and growth in two weeks or less when PWs are added to the diet. Wishing you all the best,

Craig Sheppard, Ph.D.
President, Insect Science Resource
Professor Emeritus
http://www.phoenixworm.com

 

[Nanci]

That's interesting! My vet expressed an interest in Phoenix Worms after I was raving about them, and is going to look them up. He breeds chams. I ordered 400 more PWs for Isabel today, since she loves them so much.

And there's more good news! Three of my new silkworms grew to eating size today, and I offered one to Isabel. She inspected it closely and quickly gobbled it up. So I got her out two more and set them in front of her and she ate them both in one bite- a double! I feel kind of bad for them- they are about the "cutest" feeder insect...

I ordered Isabel a pod of hornworms to try- although they seem very expensive.

Does this mean no more smelly crickets in my life? Luckily, my toad will eat anything I put in front of him, so he just goes along with what eveyone else is eating.

Nanci

 

[Nanci]

You guys aren't going to belive this!! I fed Iz a couple more silkworms this afternoon. Wow, they grow fast! Then I thought, let's just see what she'd do with some baby food squash. She licked that off my fingers, and was looking like she was going to take a big bite of me!! Her first voluntary veg!!!

Looks like crickets aren't out of my life after all...I just couldn't resist a Marine Toad at the Tallahassee show today. I've been wanting one for ages.

Nanci

 

[bonsai.]

What a darling girl!
My name is Isabel, too. Hehe!

 

[Nanci]

I hope my new supply of PWs and silkies arrives today! The piglet formerly known as Non-Feeder has eaten everything in the house except a big tub of waxies, so for breakfast this morning I made her a sneaky salad of waxies with yellow squash shavings and slivers of yellow bell pepper cut to the size and shape of waxies. She fell for it!!! I had a couple silkies big enough for breakfast, too.

Yesterday at the vet she was re-weighed for her second course of Albon, and had gained weight from two weeks ago! And I was going to throw out the syringe feeding formula since it seemed kind of pointless now, but I offered her some off my fingers and I thought she was going to take my whole finger after the first lick!

Nanci

 

[lauraslizzard]

I hope my new supply of PWs and silkies arrives today! The piglet formerly known as Non-Feeder has eaten everything in the house except a big tub of waxies, so for breakfast this morning I made her a sneaky salad of waxies with yellow squash shavings and slivers of yellow bell pepper cut to the size and shape of waxies. She fell for it!!! I had a couple silkies big enough for breakfast, too.

Yesterday at the vet she was re-weighed for her second course of Albon, and had gained weight from two weeks ago! And I was going to throw out the syringe feeding formula since it seemed kind of pointless now, but I offered her some off my fingers and I thought she was going to take my whole finger after the first lick!

Nanci

Glad to hear Ishbel is doing better!! I have noticed That if they have worms, nad the meds start working their appetite increases BIG TIME!! Keirra is on Pancur for worms, and after the first dose, she was eating 2x the amount she was. SO that is good!! I am waiting for my Phoenix worms as well. So good luck with your new girl!