Please help - baby won't eat!

[Xander]

Hi all, we really need help with our little baby Cosmo.

My 9 year old son and I got him 2 weeks ago from a breeder at a reptile show. The breeder said he was about 6 weeks at that time so I guess he's 8 weeks old now. He's about 8.5" from nose to tail. The problem is that he won't eat. When he first came home we tried phoenix worms. He ate 6 on the first day but then wouldn't eat them any more. Last weekend we switched to crickets. He ate 10 the first day but now only eats about 2-3 a day (1 in the morning and maybe 2 in the evening). He has taken maybe a couple nibbles of salad (collard greens, and sweet potato). We just ordered dubia roaches and they should arrive within the next day or two.

His stool seems okay - he poops 1-2 times a day and it looks like a white ball with some clear liquid and sometimes a brown/black ball. We give him a bath almost every night and he'll drink several swallows at that time.

His activity seems okay but I don't know how they are supposed to be. He's active in the bath and runs around during the day sometimes but spends a lot of time basking.

In terms of husbandry, we originally had him in a big 48"x24"x20" tank but a few people suggested it was too big so we put him in a 10 gallon tank instead. He has a 18" Reptisun 10.0 mounted inside the tank. We use an indoor/outdoor thermometer with a probe and our temps run about 105-110 in the basking area and 85-90 on the cool side. We had been using slate siles for substrate but the breeder told us to switch to paper towels (something about the ammonia needs to be absorbed - is this true??) so when we set up the smaller tank I put paper towels on the bottom. I feed him in a plastic bin so the crickets can't hide in his enclosure. I dust them most of time but as he hardly eats them he's probably not getting much calcium...

He's lost weight! He was 15g when we got him and is down to 11g. I'm very worried he's not going to make it and can't figure out what we are doing wrong...

Thanks,
Annie

PS I can't figure out how to post pictures but here's one of him (when we first got him - I don't have a recent one but he's skinnier) and one of the small enclosure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69524977@N06/7718231586/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69524977@N06/7774231406/

 

[AHBD]

Hi there...first off, he may be too hot in the 10 gal. There is not enough room for a temp. gradient. That may be why he's drinking so much. I'd switch back to the larger tank. That in itself may cause a new round of re location stress, but unless you can get the temps. down in the 10 gal, that may be your solution. The cool end should never be over 85. Second thing to consider...how big were the crickets ? They must be no longer than the space between the eyes. Eating a larger cricket can cause impaction . So there are 2 things to consider. It may also be just a bad case of relocation stress, or something else.

 

[Xander]

Thank you for your response. I don't think the temps in the smaller tank are the issue because I only moved him into the smaller tank about 3 days ago. I actually thought he was fine in the bigger tank, but someone on here and the breeder both said it was too big so I thought I would try it. I have to say that he didn't really seem stressed in either tank. He only has stress marks occasionally. He comes onto my hand readily. He doesn't seem skittish. I will mess with the basking light a bit more to see if I can get the cool end a bit cooler.

The roaches are supposed to arrive tomorrow. I have a reptile vet who is a friend, so I can take him to her but it seems strange that he was fine when we got him. Maybe it is just a bad case of stress. But will he starve himself to death? How long can he live on 3 crickets a day? Should I try baby food or pedialyte or something like that?

Thanks,
Annie and Xander

 

[kaylorin]

Hi, sorry your baby is giving you fits =( It is so hard if this is your first as you don't know what is normal and what is not. I like the larger tank, but I don't think that is the problem. If the breeder had him in tub that was not see through, he may still not be thrilled with how much he can see. I can see that you have 3 sides covered, try covering the front also about 3/4. When you see him looking out the glass, you know it is time to start moving that back a little more. It took me almost 2 months to get Kerra ok with the whole front and sides of her tank being clear. That could be part of it. With few stress marks, I don't see anything that you are doing wrong... the size of your crickets will be a big determination on how many he will eat. The smaller you can get the better it is on them. Since he is eating a few bites of greens, put a little calcium on them. You are more worried about the ratio of calcium to phosphorous he is getting rather than the total amount. The fact that he is losing weight is worrisome, coupled with the fact that he is so young. If he does not eat the dubia readily I would see about having him tested for Adenovirus.

Good luck with him, hope he loves his dubia!

 

[Xander]

So I got the dubia roaches. He ate one the first day but none for the last 2 days.

Here's a picture of how he looks now:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69524977@N06/7795148834/

He's still fairly active and affectionate. He poops every day - it looks like mostly urate.

I think he's going to die! We've had him for 3 weeks and haven't had a reassuring day yet. I'm not sure how much I can spend on vet bills for him when we haven't even gotten started. I emailed the breeder to see if he would take him back and give us an older one instead, but I haven't heard back.

I'm just at my wits end with him.

 

[Esther19]

I would check the temps like AHBD advised. Make sure he is hydrated. I hope he makes it.

 

[Kalyn876]

I would check the temps like AHBD advised. Make sure he is hydrated. I hope he makes it.

Yes, Hydration is soo important in young beardies. Try letting him lick drops of water off a needless syringe, when Tyrus was a baby he would drink A LOT at least three times a day. Use warm water in the syringe they prefer it warm.

If you decide to switch to the larger tank, which I would reccommend. You could block off a portion of the tank, the only reason a tank could be considered too big is if your feeding in the tank. Babies can have a hard time hunting in larger tanks, since you feed in a seperate container I see no issues in the larger tank.

Keep us updated :mrgreen:

 

[kaylorin]

Make sure to give him the baths, and try to get him to lick it off his nose like was previously suggested. Get some chicken baby food and water it down a bit for him - use pedialyte or the generic diluted about 50%. If he is dehydrated you can cause more problems by feeding them - so get the extra fluid into him at the same time.

If you google adenovirus, you can see that this is a very real possibility. The only way to know for sure is to have him tested. Even search for it here on the boards. Tracy has access to cheaper tests for it.

I hope that he will eat the baby food for you.

 

[Xander]

Well he's eating a bit of it. He'll take about 1mL of pedialyte and 1mL of chicken/sweet potato baby food by syringe twice a day. I know this isn't enough to keep him alive. He seems interested in it though - it's just that after the 2 mL total he's all done. I wonder how big his stomach is? He still seems happy and active. No stress marks. *sigh*

Anyway, we're taking him to a herp vet tomorrow so we'll see what she says.

 

[beamingdragon]

hi, i know what you are going threw!! mine is 11 months old!! i want you to take him to your vet first off but i have found that i have to force feed him!! i know it sound bad but thats what your going to have to do!! mine is super super picky and hates calcuim powder!! so what i do is put water and calcuim powder in a bowl mix together the water should come to a cloudy color which is good then take a suringe and suck up the water and open his mouth or put on the tip of his nose and he will lick it off!! make sure he gets alot of that!! it will help with his calcium needs. then take squash and zuccini and make into a mash get a rubber baby spoon and open his mouth and feed him that!! also with the mash put 4 tsp of water in thier!! mix well after you feed him the mash take the left over juice put in a suringe and give him that!! he should love that but it may take him a little while to like the flavor! next take a egg and make it scrambeld then let it cool off and feed him that make sure he eats it but not a lot of it!! buggs have a lot of protien and so do eggs!! so that should help with the protien if this dosnt help take him to the vet!! you should notice him being more alert!! good luck hopw this helps

 

[Xander]

Your is 11 months old and you're still force feeding him? I don't think I can do that. I'm willing to do it to get him over whatever is ailing him, but this is not going to be possible for the long term.

 

[wisegirl]

I hope your baby gets better :!:

 

[Esther19]

How did the vet visit go?

 

[Xander]

We saw the vet today. He actually looked skinny and a bit dehydrated but otherwise not ill appearing. Fecal showed isospora and giardia but not a severe infection. He was prescribed zantac and sulcrafate for gastritis and a sulfa drug I think for the parasites. And a high nutrition formula. She feels his prognosis is good. Adenovirus PCR is pending.

So keep your fingers crossed for him!!

 

[Kalyn876]

I have a dragon positive for adenovirus, hydration is much more important for him. Also he doesn't absorb powder calcium, he has to be on liquid calcium instead. Other than that he is a perfectly healthy dragon. Just wanted to throw this info out there so you don't worry too too much about the adeno.