RANKINS DRAGON NOT EATING

[haileytaco]

Hello,

Long story short, I have two female Rankins Dragons who are sisters that are currently about a year and a half old. They were housed together for their first year but Alli was stressed because of dominance as she had always been below Sami on the basking log, had constant stress marks, ate 0 to 1 mealworm per day, and was barely growing, therefore, she never grew to her full potential size/the size she should be.

For the past couple months, they have been seperated and Alli's appetite has very very slowly came back. Though she eats better than she used to, she still eats sparatically. For example, 4 out of 5 days she will refuse to eat so I end up gently force feeding the insects to her so that she doesn't starve. I have tried not force feeding them to her to see how long it will take her to start eating on her own and she has gone 2 weeks without food in the past and then I give in to the force feeding. Let me clarify, by force feeding, I mean opening her mouth, putting the insect in her mouth, and keeping my fingers beside her mouth so she can't spit out the food which forces her to chew and swallow the insect.

The girls both have a great diet, cage setup, temps, etc. so I'm not sure how I can get Alli to eat normally? I don't know if she just isn't used to eating a lot since she barely ate anything the first year of her life or if I can somehow liven up her appetite? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Hailey

 

[diamc]

Hi Hailey. That is puzzling although all animals/reptiles can grow at different rates so they don't always get to the same size.

I did want to ask though if they are in view of each other? If so and since she was stressed and dominated when they were housed together, she may still be affected by being able to see her so blocking their view of each other would be a good idea if it is occuring.

Have you ever had a fecal checked for parasites? If not, that would be a good idea to rule that out.

What feeders are you using to put in her mouth? Does she seem to find the force feeding that way? If she isn't eating well, she probably isn't getting the calcium & vitamins she needs regularly either, right? Have you thought about picking up some Bene-bac gel or even some Bee Pollen or Brewer's Yeast to see if that helps with her appetite?

How does she look and how is her coloring? Is she quite active?

 

[haileytaco]

Hi Hailey. That is puzzling although all animals/reptiles can grow at different rates so they don't always get to the same size.

I did want to ask though if they are in view of each other? If so and since she was stressed and dominated when they were housed together, she may still be affected by being able to see her so blocking their view of each other would be a good idea if it is occuring.

Have you ever had a fecal checked for parasites? If not, that would be a good idea to rule that out.

What feeders are you using to put in her mouth? Does she seem to find the force feeding that way? If she isn't eating well, she probably isn't getting the calcium & vitamins she needs regularly either, right? Have you thought about picking up some Bene-bac gel or even some Bee Pollen or Brewer's Yeast to see if that helps with her appetite?

How does she look and how is her coloring? Is she quite active?

The cages are side by side but there is a blocker in between them so they do not have view of each other.

I have never had a fecal done on her, but she has been this way for about a year so could parasites linger that long? Also, her fecals look visually okay but I'm sure that is not a good way to judge it.

I offer torn mixed greens daily but I'm not sure if she eats them so should I feed a few pieces of greens to her along with the feeders? I am giving her mealworms and Dubia roaches and I'm sure she doesn't love being forced to eat them but as long as I gently block around the outside of her mouth she always chews and swallows them. Also, I dust feeders with vitamins and calcium every couple feedings.

She has continued to almost always display stress marks so could that be because of her lack of appetite? And no, I have not tried an appetite stimulent yet but I was wondering if anyone has had experience with the Zilla Jump Start Caloric Suppliment And Appetite Stimulent or if another option tends to have a better effect? Thaks again for any advice.

 

[Dragongirl848]

Hello!
I would try different kinds of bugs.
Some of my rankins that don't like other bugs will go for waxworms or phoenix/calci worms (soldier fly larva). I think this has something to do with the way they move.
I've used Flukers Repta Boost for dragons that won't eat. It's about $8 on amazon ans they just lick it right off the syringe.

 

[haileytaco]

Hello, sorry I didn't see your reply. She is still not eating on her own and I have tried meal worms and dubia roaches and she has had no interest so should I still try other feeders?

 

[Dragongirl848]

I would try waxworms and reptiworms, reptiworms (soldier fly larva) being the more nutritious.
My dragons seem to like them better than crickets and roaches.