Lotus vomited - Doing much better now!!

[nikkistorms]

THATS AWESOME!!! YAY

 

[Esther19]

Christina, you are doing an amazing job! You are an awesome beardie slave and mom!

 

[Drache613]

Hello Christina,

That is incredibly awesome Lotus is doing so much better now!
I knew you could do it. She is such a lucky girl.


Tracie

 

[speedyfuzzball]

Hey Christina, just wondering how Lotus is doing I hope she's back to normal or close to it!

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

Hi Joanne, thanks for asking (I'll respond to your PM soon, I promise)!

Lotus seems to be doing well. I was getting worried for a while because she hadn't pooped again since the last time on Monday 7/16. On Friday I gave her a super long 35+ minute soak and kept massaging her belly & changing out the water when it got below 95 degrees. She rewarded me with a huge, most normal looking poop I've ever seen come from her. The only thing is, she had to push really hard to get it out so I'm not sure if it was just a formed stool due to being dehydrated or something...? I don't see how, as she's still on a mostly liquid diet & she gets soaked every other day. However, before all this started she would always eat a ton of her greens/veggies - so maybe she really is taking in less water now? I don't know. She refused to take oral fluids as soon as she got better, but yesterday in the bath she drank a ton of water so I guess she must need more. Her urates were giant, but not chalky from what I could tell. There was a bit of a pink/orange tint to the urates & her poop didn't smell terrible like it usually does. I think that may be due to the switch from dubias to butterworms (the ones I got are bright orange). She still gets a few freshly shed dubias when I can find them. I'm going to start giving her fresh greens slurries within the next few days, so hopefully that will help if there's any hydration issues. I'll see if she'll start taking additional oral fluids again too. Does anyone know where I can get one of those long squeeze dropper things? I think that would work better than a syringe for water.

One thing I'm really struggling with is figuring out how many live feeders to give her on a weekly basis. I've read various recommendations for quantities, but how does that make sense when every feeder can be a different size (not to mention varying nutritional values)?? I really wish I could find a recommendation for amount of feeders by weight instead of quantity. I weighed 4 dubias & 4 butterworms the other day and the dubias weigh twice as much as the butters even though they looked the same size! Any suggestions on that one?

P.S. Moderators - feel free to move this into the "Health" section. Lotus is much better now, and I don't want my thread to distract from any true dragon emergencies

 

[SpikesAgirl]

Yay for giant poopies! :wink: I wish I had some knowledge on feeders to share with you but I haven't a clue about that! As far as droppers go, when our first dragon, Spike, was little and needed to be fed that way, I got a bottle of Infant Tylenol and flushed that dropper with super hot water and used that. I've never seen droppers anywhere for sale, only syringes. That was the only way I could think to get one! It was a plastic one too. Definitely don't use a glass one. One good bite on it and it could break, then you'll have a whole 'nother issue...glass in her mouth. :shock: Don't want that! Maybe ask a local pharmacy if they have one they'd be willing to give/sell you? CVS or something? I would think they would have those to give with infant meds? Anyway, I'm so glad to hear that Lotus is doing so much better!

 

[speedyfuzzball]

Hurray for the second poopie!
For the droppers, yeah, definitely check your pharmacy or pharmacy section at Target or Walmart (or whichever store you go to) first; they should have something for you. If not, http://classicmdm.com/newsite1/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-medisense.tpl&product_id=24&category_id=24&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=76 might be good. I was looking online for droppers and a lot of sites make you order in bulk but this one seems fine. I think you can also find something at a pet store for hand feeding

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I have a plastic dropper from my last bottle of probiotics so I can use that until I find something better (just want a bigger one), never thought of doing that - great idea! She certainly has been thirsty lately, but still refuses to take oral fluids through a syringe. So the only time she gets straight oral fluids is in the bath since I have to constantly drip it over her nose and that would make a big mess outside of the bath. Of course I mix extra water into her liquid syringe feedings so she gets some that way too. She used to lower her head and drink straight from the bath water, but for some reason she stopped doing that a long time ago. I think she's just a spoiled brat... "Yes mom, I see the huge pool of water one inch from my face but I want you to drip it on my little nosey so all I have to do is stick my tongue out!" :roll: Ugh... yes Princess Lotus, whatever you please my dear. :whip:

On a side note, she made another big poopie this morning and it wasn't dry at all woohoo!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello Christina,

Great news Lotus IS doing a lot better now.
Hopefully her stools continue to improve right now. How is her appetite doing now?
She couldn't be spoiled could she? LOL At least she loves to take food & fluids from the syringe.

Tracie

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

Hello Christina,

Great news Lotus IS doing a lot better now.
Hopefully her stools continue to improve right now. How is her appetite doing now?
She couldn't be spoiled could she? LOL At least she loves to take food & fluids from the syringe.

Tracie

Oh geeze, she never lost her appetite even at her weakest point. She's never really refused food. Whatever you put in front of her, she will eat it. She weighs 480g now, which is more than she's ever weighed... so I got some greens & made a slurry today so we can get away from all the high-calorie Critical/Carnivore Care + babyfood. I blended up a bunch of turnip greens with some squash baby food and water. We'll see how she likes it tomorrow morning, but hopefully she'll be as willing to take this just as much as any other food. It'll probably be one of the least tasty things she's eaten though. I have some black cherry extract powder I can add for flavoring if need be. I'll also be cutting down on the butterworms for less fat. I ordered some hornworms from Great Lakes Hornworm (thanks for the recommendation AHBD!) as well to add variety to her staple feeders. I think I'll stick to soft bodied worms and freshly shed dubias for at least several weeks. I know dubias are supposed to be a good staple feeder, but less chitin has got to be better - right?

Now I just have no clue how much of the turnip greens + squash slurry try to get into her :dontknow: I think I used about 8 big turnip leaves, 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup squash baby food. It made about 1 & 1/2 cups of total "slurry". Any suggestions for that much appreciated. I'm afraid she's putting on weight too rapidly, and I don't want her to become obese or end up with fatty liver disease :|

 

[speedyfuzzball]

That's great that Lotus has such a good appetite! I would have given anything to see Yoshi eat on his own.
I've actually been reading a lot about hornworms lately and I've heard that they can be pretty mean/nasty and they can and will bite your dragon. :shock: You probably already knew this since you do seem like the type to do her research but just letting you know =) I guess just see if your hornworms are aggressive and if they are, you can cut their heads off...?
Say hi to Lotus for me =)

 

[LadyMeridius]

I've actually been reading a lot about hornworms lately and I've heard that they can be pretty mean/nasty and they can and will bite your dragon.

If they get too big, they can get aggressive. You can cut off the teeth pretty easily. We did it with nail clippers. Also since she was SLURPING them down and not chewing, I cut them in half, killing them instantly. She still ate them She adores them. She would eat the first half, let that settle, then slurp up the second half I left for her.

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

That's great that Lotus has such a good appetite! I would have given anything to see Yoshi eat on his own.
I've actually been reading a lot about hornworms lately and I've heard that they can be pretty mean/nasty and they can and will bite your dragon. :shock: You probably already knew this since you do seem like the type to do her research but just letting you know =) I guess just see if your hornworms are aggressive and if they are, you can cut their heads off...?
Say hi to Lotus for me =)

Yes, I did read that about hornworms as well! From what I understand, they don't get like that until they're at least 2+ inches long. The ones I have now are about 1" long, but I do plan on letting them grow bigger. Oh my gosh they grow SO fast! I just got them on Wednesday and I could already tell a noticeable difference in size by Thursday!! I've heard of others clipping off the teeth like Lady Meridius said, so that's what I'll probably do if they start to get an attitude lol.

 

[SpikesAgirl]

Ewwww you guys! :laughhard: It was bad enough when I hadda rip the back legs off crickets to make them slow movers and unable to climb outta the dish but teeth and heads???? Note to self: No hornworms over 2"!

 

[AHBD]

What kind of sissy dragons are getting bitten by hornworms ? [ JK, JK, before I get a lecture ] I let my hornworms get as BIG as they can and my guys chomp and pulverize them. Don't worry, if your dragon is an aggressive feeder, she will not have any problem at all....for that matter, Lotus is probably fine back on the dubias as well....just maybe the medium ones in smaller number than the past, but by all means, let her eat !