Nef will only eat mealworms

[blacklotus]

Please NEVER give bearded dragons meal worms regardless of there age! I know of too many that have died due to impaction. They can not digest them properly! Please do not feed them!

 

[diamc]

He just did the bath thing again, I just noticed that it's not like he's drowning. He's just holding his breath... You think it might be like a little kid throwing a tantrum and holding their breath? I thought he was passed out but I noticed if i turned him upside down he'd wake up freak out and try to right himself. Maybe he's just mad about having to take a bath. I've been doing it once every 2 days because he's shedding.

Please don't ever turn them upside down, it is very hard for them to breathe that way which can cause them to panic as well as stress them out.

 

[Seven65]

Oh, I didn't know that, thanks.

 

[Seven65]

Please NEVER give bearded dragons meal worms regardless of there age! I know of too many that have died due to impaction. They can not digest them properly! Please do not feed them!

I understand that they aren't healthy for them, that was the purpose of this thread in the first place was to try and find a way to get him to eat something else.

He's been eating nothing but veggies and fruit for a week because he won't eat anything else, he just got accustomed to eating meal worms at the pet store. I'm waiting for silk worms to come in hopefully they'll go over better than the butterworms. I just hope they don't send me a bunch of big ones, they don't ever specify size.

Does anyone know a worm supplier in western Canada?

 

[gwoody]

I have no answer to the supplier question. Sorry! I have two little Dragons out of my clutch of 14 that would hardly eat at all. a cricket once in a while,then wouldn't eat those at all after a while. as calci/phoenix worms were in short supply at the time, I did resort to the meals as it was all they would eat. So I would only give them about 4 between them each feeding, making sure they were torn in half. after finally being able to get some calci worms, IE: a little more nutrition then meal worms, into them for a couple days. I decided to to let them go w/out food for a few days. At that point they at least tried some greens. ( greens never being lettuce's of any kind) But the biggest thing is I finally got some tiny roaches and they love them. And they eat them! One of them still doesn't eat as much as the other and certainly they are tiny as compared to the rest of the clutch. The lighting matters alot. But also you could drop a fecal by your vet and just have a look see. Parasites can really build up ,especially if they are not getting enough nutrition to keep up their immune system. Try wet cat or dog food if you have to. My vet has given me vitamin liquid B to stimulate other pets appetites in the past. Or find a liquid protein of some sort that they might drink from a dropper from you if you can. Anything to get the hunger going. Kids liquid supplements are made to taste yummy and fruity so sometimes I find things there that are helpful. Caution, be careful of ingredients , you want just the one or so ingredients you need, and not a bunch of other stuff. Vit. c is OK. Also liquid calcium has been recommended for dragons,most any liquid will assimilate or be better absorbed by any living creature then a solid or powder. Also I would not shy away from homeopathic remedies. They are generally harmless w/ no contraindications to much of anything. I don't know what access you have to a natural store of some sort. But if you give the wet cat or dog food a try. Not to be a staple at all.. A very organic just plain meat and real food juices etc.. type would be better. Not so much crap in it. If all there eating are mealworms. They need no more phos. You could try a soy milk, yummy flavors, and its at least veggie protein. If something is tasty enough i can usually get them to at least try some from a dropper. Children's Echinacea, liquid is yummy to all of them! Reptiles, and the rats. So sometimes i use it as a base to mix in less appetizing supplements. If you have a good REPTILE vet, ask them questions, try to get away w/ asking Q's on phone as much as you can. But if you can find a vet that is a reptile vet and also holistic or alternative, you will be given more , well...., alternatives! ALL That said! LOL , if this issue persists you just need to take them in to the vet. AS someone else mentioned earlier when they are this young it can be more dangerous for them not to eat or get anything nutritious for too long of periods. Can cause other problems, some organ damage due to nutritional starvation or not enough fluids would be tough to come back from in a small young one.

 

[Seven65]

Thank you very much for the information. I just got a fresh container of butterworms after about a week of not offering him anything live other than crickets (which I don't think he considers food) and for some reason he was really excited about it i put on down and he had his back turned to me and saw it over his shoulder and flipped himself around and ran over to it licked it a bit then finally ate 3 good sized butterworms. Hopefully he keeps it up, he was probably getting bored of nothing but greens over the week and his stools were getting a bit runny. I have some calcium, vitamin b and a multi coming soon so ill start adding that. If he starts to shy away from the worms again Ill try some soy or protein. I'd rather stay away from dog/cat food if possible (especially cat food). Thanks again I appreciate it.