Not eating after meds...

[Sherri]

I honestly do not know if it will help, but have you tried bee pollen?

It could have been all the combination of things, but 4-5 days into taking bee pollen is when my guy suddenly decided he wanted to eat his bugs.

I guess it can't hurt and is cheap so worth a try.

Wish I knew what would help for certain :?

Sherri

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Ok tell me more. How do you dose it and where did you get it from?

 

[BeardieGrandma]

ok, 7 days taking reptaid XL.
Baths every other day.
Babyfood if the feeders are refused - she'll only tolerate 1ml before she starts really fighting me.
No greens.
Goes outside couple times a week.
Weighed in this AM at 541 grams/
Today SHE ATE A DUBIA ROACH!!!! YAY
Who knew watching a lizard eat a bug could bring one so much joy...LOL
I took a follow-up fecal into the vet yesterday, so I'll hear back next week how her parasite levels are.

Here's a snap of her diving in the bushes...

My garden turtles grew a long orange tail...

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Heard from the vet yesterday
Her fecal was all clear. no more parasites (at least for now)
Been boiling the sparse amount of fixtures (a big basking rock, hammock, and 3 slate tiles LOL) every 5-6 days to keep things clean.
She hasn't eaten much to speak of since the bug event last Saturday. *sigh*

WTH

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Wow, a whole month has gone by.

Joga is still doing the same stuff. She's lost another 10 grams or so - down to 531 grams in total. We bathe her every other day to keep her hydrated, take her outside 2-3 times a week - man it's so hot outside she heads for shade after about 10 mins, but she really seems to enjoy herself outside.

She's eaten a roach only one other time since the last posting, so needless to say the roaches are multiplying and the super worms are getting bigger, she simply has no interest in eating them or her greens. She's a big lazy bum in her cage, but perks up in the earlier part of the day if I take her out of her tank. By 5 she's ready to snuggle up to my neck and check out.

I've been keeping her tank clean with a good steam and boil (i just imagine the parasites dying a hot steamy death DIE DIE DIE) every time I do it.

3-4 times a week I sit her down and shove baby food in her mouth - I want to make sure she gets a consistent dose of calcium (i mix the powder in). She hates the whole experience, but seems to slightly tolerate green beans more than the squash (both get a hit of chicken in them to provide some protein). She goes poo in the bath, but not much there to write home about (or here for that matter).

So in September I plan to do another 10 days of reptaid, just to try again to stimulate her appetite. She's had acidophiliz a few times over the past month, nothing seems to make a difference. She just seems 'over it all'. She's losing weight pretty slowly, but still steadily, at what point will she eat normally again? I can't imagine her just wasting away and dying from not eating, but it seems that if she went on like this she wouldn't live a long time...

Is this semi-brumation?
Does this mean she's going into brumation in the winter? Geez, will I ever get my lizard back?

Then I was also wondering, is she living on Australia time? Is it possible she has her light cycle backwards and she thinks she lives down under?

When you are dropping feeders in front of your beardie every day for 4 months with no interest in food, these are the questions you ponder...I wish I had some answers.

Signed,

Still worried beardie grandma

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Ok, would like some feedback from the board at some point, but in the meantime I'll discuss this with myself

Joga ate a roach on Friday, Sunday, and Today. No greens yet, but that's more bugs that she's been eating in a month. I'm still giving her babyfood, going to back it up to just the green beans with some calcium to get some veggies in her and some calcium at the same time.

Gave her a bath today, her poop looked like a regular poop instead of a little dribble of poo from our fistfights over 1ml of babyfood.

So, it's good to be persistent, I'm glad to see her eat what she has over the past couple of days, so I'm cautiously optimistic!

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Thank you Esther, appreciate your reply.

I fretted so much over her when she was a baby...they still need a lot of attention as adults (at least I think so), but my fretting has turned into doting LOL. Even after 4 months or so I'm still not used to her not eating a handful of super worms, or loads of crickets everyday -man she went through so many when she was a baby.

Good luck getting your girl interested in eating again. It seems like its a process of elimination (fecal check, time of year, age, etc.), and then its all about patience, which I don't seem to have a lot of. I've read about many dragons on the board here that change their eating habits pretty abruptly at 10-12 mos old, and others that keep cruising along like it's no big deal. I happen to have one of the former

 

[Valerie]

I am not happy to hear about your beardie not eating after meds but it makes me feel better as my Beardie has not eaten after her meds either. She was never a great eater but she will not eat anything now. I have given proboitics.I guess I thought after the meds she would eat but NOT.
It is very stressful wondering if she will ever eat again. Now that I read your has not eaten on it's own for such a long time I do not feel so bad and I will continue to hand feed her.
Hopefully, both of our bd's will eat soon.
Valerie

 

[Valerie]

I decided to purchase some reptaid. I should get it hopefully Monday or Tuesday.I will let you know if it works for me but that maybe something you may try.
Valerie

 

[the4campbells]

What is reptaid and What causes the parasites?

 

[BeardieGrandma]

I did a course of reptaid on her her back in June I think and after 8 days she ate a bug. That stuff made her brighter in color, perky but didnt have a dramatic change. I plan to do another round of 10 days in a few weeks to give it another go around. It's a natural antibiotic so it can't hurt. Be careful on the dosage, it's .05ml for every 500 grams, which is a tiny bit in the dozing syringe. I read a bit about it on the boards here and some give it a few days a month as a health boost. It is certainly easier on their systems than the meds we give them. My own opinion after all this is that if you have a really high parasite count in the fecal then meds are probably the way to go. If they are evident but not too high, maybe try this stuff instead. Let me know how it goes and I'll post when I start her on that again as well.
For the campbells parasites are causes by unclean environments and other animals or bugs that may carry them. It is always good to have a fecal check on your lizard a few weeks after you get them to check for parasites, lizards naturally carry a parasite called coccidia anyway, you just have to make sure they are healthy enough to keep the counts down in their system (thru good husbandry, cleaning tank, etc..) then just as routine might be good to check every 6 months and/or if your lizard stops eating or gets lethargic. Other parasites like pinworms need to be treated to get rid of them, usually with meds u get from a vet.

 

[loobylu]

I wish that i had found this forum last week!! I have taken on a beardie (named her Norma) that was abandoned and she is in a terrible state she is emaciated was dehydrated and she is now undergoing treatment for coccidia and pinworms. she has only eaten one meal of mealworms since ive had her and i thought that may be turning a corner but alas that is not the case. Im having to syringe feed her and give her medication for the parasie. im so grateful for this thread and to hear others experiences of the same problem. I am definately going to try bee pollen and maybe find some probiotic .. she has got this far i cant give up on her now!! I may be back on here for more advice soon. But so nice to now have somwhere to go ... so thank you !!

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Glad this thread has helped you...still waiting on my girl to start eating like a regular lizard

Your poor baby...it's so hard when you have to fatten them up and their not eating.
While on the meds make sure you are bathing every other day or so to keep her hydrated. The probiotics are definitely a must - you can get them online or at an exotic pet store...

I'd stay away from the mealworms as well, they are high in chitin (hard exoskeleton) and difficult to digest. If Norma hasn't been eating in a while, please take it easy on the proteins and allow her body to adjust to digesting them again. You'll want to try feeders that are higher in protein than fat (crickets, dubia roaches, hornworms, silkies), and be careful with the high fat feeders (like supers, although they usually love them, so a few here and there would be good!). Offer fresh greens every day, even if all they are taking in is what you force feed with the syringe (which is such a pain but necessary in some cases).

good luck and let us know how she's doing!

 

[Valerie]

I would still love to hear from Sherri about the bee pollen , how to dose and where to get it?
Valerie

 

[loobylu]

I offered her the mealworms just to see if she would eat, as she seem more intrested in wiggly things that the crickets that just kept running off and hiding from her (I no they are not ideal, and then started to worry that she may not be able to cope with them!) Last week I was giving her crickets wax worms few locusts. She would eat them if put in her mouth but now she just spits them back at me. What would anyone recommend for syringe feeding I was using the Vetark critical care as she was eating the insects. Since starting her treatment I think her appetite has declined further. I am now using the Oxbow critical (for herbivores!) and carnivore care as they kindly emailed me a guide saying it was suitable but if anyone has anything else that works be great to know she is the same with veg spits back at me. She wont open her mouth so am having to prise her mouth open which i hate doing but i need to get food into her. i even made her some bug soup (discusting) whizzed up some squash and other veg then through some crickets in and sieved it all through ... but she didnt like that much either!!! not sure whether to carry on with the oxbow stuff or try something else but dont want to keep changing her diet as altho still very loose her faeces/urates are no longer watery.