Puff ate an entire mouthful of sand...

[coastergirl946]

When Curt was having problems passing his stools, my boyfriend got him to eat from a spoon.. no joke! We used organic baby food prunes (no sugar or added preservatives), and since we didn't have an eyedropper, we put a little bit on the tip of a round spoon, and touched it gently to the edge of Curt's mouth.. he started licking the spoon! He LOVES his fruit, so that was not only an easy fix, but it was funny to watch!

 

[Cheline101]

I'm putting a spoon of baby food up to him and touching his mouth with it to get him to start liking, but I havn't gotten him to voluntarily lick off the spoon... he's thinking about it though...He used to eat off my finger when he was little, but i never take the time to do that now... maybe in a week or so...

 

[Cheline101]

Today, Puff ate off of his spoon. He apparently loves baby food. He definitely tried to take the spoon with the food, but he likes it, so I don't have to try to force feed him. I wasn't looking forward to that... He doesn't like it on his face though... I think I'm going to try the chicken flavored one so he can have some protein. The new substrate is supposed to come in tomorrow, and he still seems happy...

 

[wizbee]

What is the new substrate?

 

[coastergirl946]

How is Puff doing today?

 

[Cheline101]

The new substrate is Hulled Millet, but it hasn't been put in his tank yet. Right now It's newspaper. He hasn't eaten in about 2 days, sometimes he just decides he's not hungry, so that's not all that abnormal for him, especially when his bell is really big like it is now (he just has a lot of food in there that he hasn't pooped out yet. I havn't been force feeding him, but I've been leaving some babyfood mixed with olive oil on his dish (he's not eating it though). Today I threw in some thawed veggied so see if he would eat (I think there was corn, peas, and carrots, but there were only a few little cubes of each and they were all soft... not like fresh carrots that are hard) I know carrots arn't the best for him, but he likes them the best, and right now I want him to eat... he didn't eat it though.

Yesterday I took him out and gave him a bath... he looked like he was scared of the water (even on a wash cloth) so I put on some bad clothes and filled the tub a little more and got in with him and let him sit on my leg mostly out of the water... (he didn't really care for that either) Tomorrow I'm going to cash an old paycheck that I found (forgot about it a long time ago) and it's just enough for a new UVB light... he's due for a new one, so he'll be getting that to see if it helps.

He usually just sits on his stump all day until I take him out, and he looks at me if I walk by. He's staying on his stump, but he's not holding himself up as much as usual, and he looks like he's tired all the time. That bothers me.

Any suggestions? I really don't know what to do... he's so over licking his lips when I put baby food on them... it's like he knows what i'm doing, and he's not buying it anymore. He likes crickets... do you think that if I threw some crickets in there it would make him at least eat something? I think tomorrow I'm going to change the UVB light and give him a bath in the morningish and rub his tummy... and put some more baby food in front of him to see if he'll eat it...

One more thing... he has two basking lights because his tank is so huge, he sits under one of them most of the day (it's about 6 inches from his stump), and the other one (that's over a rock like a foot and a half away from him) for like 30 min after he eats, then he goes back to the one that's 6 inches away from him... most of that had nothing to to with anything... now to my point... These Basking bulbs emit UVA rays, but they don't say anything about UVB, so I'm assuming that they don't... Is it ok for him to be sitting under a light with UVA coming out? he has a seperate UVB light that's right next to where he basks, but would it be better to have a light without the UVA?

 

[Jess]

Does he still ike to run around? Give him some apple sauce/babyfood/pumpkin/whatever you're giving him on the day before his bath, and the next day let him run around for 20 min or so and let him bask for a few minutes to warm back up before his bath... Exercise helps "get things moving"!
I would try using a smaller tub for him, incase the bath tub (I'm guessing that that is what you are using, if you got in with him) is too big for him to feel comfortable in. I use a XL never-been-used cat litter box for Dudley. Then massage his tummy on the right side, from his arm pit down to his vent. This is what I did for Dudley during brumation, when he would only go to the bathroom once a month. :roll: I hope Puff feels better soon!

 

[Cheline101]

I didn't think about that exercise thing... I used to let him run around my office for hours. I had a heat lamp mounted to the bottom of my desk with a rock under it so he could run and run and run, then when he got cold he'd go sit on his rock for a little bit, then go run and run and run... He pooped every time. I'm gonna let him out now... just gotta make sure all the cats are out... I have 5 of them! I bought him the Repti-sun 10.0 today... I was thinking that it was a strip light for some reason, but when he was a baby I used the repti-sun 5.0 so I already had the hardware for it... now he's got that light on one side of his tank and the outdated UVB strip light on the side of the tank he doesn't use as much. I'm sure it still emits UVB, just not as much as he needs, but it helps... I threw some crickets in there this morning because he hadn't eaten in 2 days and I wanted him to at least eat something... he jumped down and started chasing them around... I think he's just sick of baby food... He gets bored with his food after like 1 day... then he wants something new. SO PICKY! He usually doesn't run around much in his tank unless he's chasing crickets. He waits for me to take him out.

 

[coastergirl946]

Unless you want to be dealing with the risk of impaction all the time, I would not use a loose substrate.

 

[discojan]

If you don't have luck with olive oil, you might try flaxseed oil (which is also good for humans and especially tasty on morning cereal). Only use a tiny bit, b/c it is alleged to be quite effective. It worked for our girl who hadn't eaten any sand, but also hadn't pooped in 10 days!

 

[Cheline101]

The substrate is food... so if he eats it, it's just like eating crickets, or collards, but the nutritional value is a little different. He still hasn't pooped... I think he's getting a little blacker, and his belly is REALLY full, but still no poop...

 

[coastergirl946]

Millet is in fact bird seed, and I read something on here not too long ago about a dragon that was rescued, and the previous owners had fed him bird seed. He was badly impacted to the point where they thought he would need surgery.
Loose substrates are not sanitary either.. the millet will soak up the juices from his poo and urates, no matter how much you scoop out, the bacteria will stay.. do you really want him getting a mouthful of that?
Please, for the sake of your dragon, reconsider and use tile or repti-carpet.

 

[Cheline101]

He's pooped 3 times this week... i didn't see any sand in his poop the last time, so I think he's good. I don't think I really like the hulled millet anyhow... It moves around more than the sand so his feet sink in it a little bit... I'm going to price repti-carpet

 

[discojan]

Paper towels are a cheap and easy alternative, as are just plain old ceramic tiles from Lowes or Home Depot. The kind we have are less than a dollar a tile. good luck!