My Beast won't eat!!!

[MsWanda10166]

How old is your dragon? Unknown and 271 grams I think, the scale is new, and I may be off a decimal
How long have you had your dragon? 3 weeks
How long is your dragon? 14"
What is the sex of your dragon? Male
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 36" long x18" wide x 18" tall
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? slate tiles (scrubbed free of glue, and bleached and rinsed)
Do you use UVB lights? Yes, a Reptisun 10 UVB
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? fluorescent tube
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? Reptisun
How old is your UVB bulb? 3 weeks
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? within 6 inches
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb? yes, ZooMed 100 watt for each, both white and red, (red is for night, white for day)
Are you using any kind of night time heat source (colored bulb, ceramic heat emitter, etc)?Red 100 watt ZooMed bulb
What are the basking temps?105 to 110
What is the cool side temp? 80
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? We have taken temps with multiple thermometers, from Mercury to probes, and temp gun, All seem to read the same, so for quick temp checks, I use the gun, it is faster.
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? I have taken temps all over, including on the dragons skin.
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. He will only eat a few mealworms a day and a super worm on occasion.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? I try all three, he seems to eat mid morning 3 meal worms, and evening he will eat either one surperworm or five meal worms if I am lucky
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? I gut load the mealworms, he will not touch crickets, phoenix worms, or wax worms
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? Flukers Liquid Vitamin, 2 xs a week, Flukers calsiumD3 dust on his worms
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? They are a little watery.
Do you bath your dragon? How often? 3 times a week
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? Yes he always has fresh water daily treated with ZooMed reptisafe
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? Yes, First check showed pin worms second was clean
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? NO



He has a small appitite and I am worried that he will starve himself to death. I have fed him slushed salad mix, and get about a tablespoon down him before he becomes impossible to feed. I try four or five times a day to feed him, he will eat a few worms and no salad on his own. I am worried about him. Please help!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....well, you did a good job getting the tank specs. listed and his history [ since you've had him ] First off, mealworms are O.K. as a treat for older juvies but not as a staple, but I'm sure that you would like to see him eat the staples like crickets. Medium supers are O.K., but only in moderation [ 2-4 a day ] for a dragon that is not an adult. Some dragons will hold out for the worms and ignore crickets. To try a better , nutritious worm, you might get some hornworms. He may be slightly impacted, just passing watery stools, or he may have parasites. It would be good to have a fecal test done. Can you post a picture ? His weight sounds pretty high for a 14", he must be very hefty !

 

[daner923]

AHBD - it looks like OP already did get fecals done recently, so I don't think it is parasites. I'm really not sure though - everything seems right.

Ms. Wanda: Maybe it is just a winter slowdown? Do you find him sleeping much during the day? One thing I will note - you should turn off the red night lamp. Beardies CAN in fact see red light, and it disturbs their sleep. As long as it stays above 65F in the tank, you don't need any night time heat. If it falls below 65F, you can get a ceramic heat emitter, which doesn't generate any light.

 

[MsWanda10166]

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testing to see if this worked

 

[daner923]

You have one too many img tags.

 

[MsWanda10166]

Ok, so I hope this takes care of the image, but now Beast has not pooed today, and because of the mealworms, he may be impacted. I saw the vet put a Q-tip up his vent at the first Vet visit, is this what I should do? Until today, he has been fairly active, and eating some, but today he has not eaten anything at all. Yesterday I did get Super worms in, and he ate about 10, very fast, could this be the problem? Before yesterday I did not know not to feed him meal worms, I hate to think that I did this, but that is probably the case, so what now? Thank you all for letting me know, and I did take the red lights off them. (JFYI)

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[daner923]

They don't have to poop every day. Don't put a qtip up there. You should use olive oil, unspiced canned pumpkin, or baby food prunes to help him go if he is impacted.

 

[MsWanda10166]

Thank you, I will wait and see what happens tomorrow, with baby food. I am concerned about going into the weekend with him sick, my Vet does not work on Monday, so, if I do not take him in tomorrow it will be Tue before he can be seen. What are the signs of point of no return on dragons? I am really concerned about him, and probably hovering like a mother hen, I just do not know what to do, and woould hate to mess anything else up with him.

 

[Esther19]

I would suggest taking him in if you are that concerned. You do not want to go through the weekend and Monday worrying.

 

[AHBD]

He looks bigger than 14", does he possibly have a tail nip ? It doesn't look like he is uncomfortable, I don't think he is having a problem so it's probably best to be patient....as was mentioned, some dragons don't poo every day. Try to get a little more water in him via syringe or spray bottle [ a gentle stream on his nose ] he may just need more water, but baby food will also help, especially if you add a little bit of extra water to it. It may have been mentioned, but olive oil, canned pumpkin [ with no spices ] baby food prunes or applesauce can all help him to go, as will a bit of iceberg lettuce. Iceburg lettuce is not a normal food item for dragons [ no nutritional value ] but it can help to produce a bowel movement.

 

[MsWanda10166]

ABHD, I did remeasure him today, and I must have made a mistake, he is 16 inches, but no tail nip, he even still has that little bent part of his tail at the very end. I have not seen anyone say anything about that, but all my Dragons have it, so I am guessing it is normal. Unless something really alarms, me I am going to be patient and pray. These guys have cost a fortune over the past month. I thought I had plenty set aside to do this, so the animals would not have to wait on my finances, but I have spent nearly $2000 getting the 4 of them set up, and vet visits. I am finding out that they are going to need probably another $500 next month, so I am going to try to keep cost down. Not at the price of putting them in harms way though, I do have a CC and will use it if I have to.
How much baby food should I try to get him to eat? I tried chicken tonight, but her really does not like me forcing him to do anything, he only just tolerates his soaks, and only for 10 min at a time, so I have been giving him 2 soaks a day, instead of one. He is very sad and pitiful looking in his viv, lays his head on the floor, and sluggish, but when I pulled him out for his daily run around the house he ran up high on all fours just like normal. So I think he can't be that sick, and maybe I just still need to learn his behaviors.
Thanks for the encouragement. I will keep ya posted.
Wanda

 

[daner923]

It's good that he is active out of the tank - he clearly has some energy. It is very possible he has parasites, and it would probably be best to get a fecal done soon. This could very likely account for the low appetite and lethargy. As for the bent part of the tail - they aren't "normal" in that they aren't born with that. However, it is pretty common for babies to nip each other and cause these kinds of injuries - nothing to worry about as long as the flesh is alive and healthy.

 

[MsWanda10166]

Thank you everyone! He did poo this morning, so I am thankful for that, still not eating though. He has had two fecals, and goes in for a third on Feb. 12th. He runs around like crazy out of his viv, hangs out on his rock, or cactus inside his viv, so I am thinking possibly that he just likes his rock? I am not sure what their activity level should be.

 

[MsWanda10166]

Is there ANYTHING that lives in water that a BD can eat? I have tried every vegi and fruit on the Beautiful dragon nutrition list, baby food, chicken and squash, and all the different worms and crickets, and I still only get him to eat a few (as in 2 or 3 small supers a day). I have tried soy yogurt. He is getting a 20 min bath everyday. The reason for my question is, today he went over to his bath bowl and looked at it, looked at me several times, like I was supposed to do something. I don't know if that is nuts or not, but I am getting desperate to get him to eat something. Thanks

 

[MsWanda10166]

More pics today
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