RE: Pumpkin Still not well Need immediate Iron help.

[Drache613]

Hello,

If she is going to lay & the eggs have dropped & are shelled there isn't anything you can do to stop her from laying.
You could have the vet do an emergency surgery to remove the eggs & then spay her at that time.
I sent a link for a product to help with hormonal control, you could consider.

How is she doing?

Tracie

 

[johnnyze]

Sorry I don't know much about this, as I'm new to bearded dragons ;/

I just wanted to say I hope little Pumpkin gets better

 

[waltersgirl]

Thank you. This store is full of invaluable information And wonderful helpful people who love beardies and can help you take the best care of your beardie. Thanks again for your kind words. Have a blessed day.

 

[waltersgirl]

Thank you. This store is full of invaluable information And wonderful helpful people who love beardies and can help you take the best care of your beardie. Thanks again for your kind words. Have a blessed day.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Shonna,

How is Pumpkin doing this evening? Any improvements at all today?
Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

 

[waltersgirl]

So far she seems more alert but I think that is just the pre- egg laying restlessness. She was digging in her cage like crazy so I put her in her lay box where she has been digging for the past two hours. She has laid most of her eggs around midnight...I should go check on her again since it is just after. Tomorrow we should have the injectable iron supplement to give her instead of my natural liquid iron I take myself. She gets so mad at me when I give it to her...I am assuming she doesn't like the taste any more than I do. Her second clutch has started hatching and i am starting to question my ablility to feed this growing multitude, they sure are cute though.

 

[AHBD]

Did she lay them ? How is she doing ? So you have 2 clutches of babies now...? Or the first clutch didn't hatch ? And yes, it is very expensive to raise the babies, they need soooooo many tiny crickets and they need to be separated in to groups of 6-10 depending on the size of the plastic totes [ if that's what you're raising them in ] And then even further separations and more totes as they grow. I always use nice branches collected from outside , about the size of my thumb, and criss-cross these and lay them on a rock or log in the tank for multiple climbing + perching areas. Anything I gathered from outside I put in a preheated oven at about 225 -250 degrees to sterilize them. Smaller branches only take about 45 minutes. It saves money that way and the babies love to climb all over the branches which mimics their natural environment.

 

[waltersgirl]

Thanks for the ideas for cage "furniture". The current clutch that is hatching, is clutch number 2. I have 4 babies that made it from her first clutch, so far 15 have hatched from the second with one on his way out and 10 left to go. The third clutch is only 3 weeks behind this one in incubation with 29 of them! Clutch number 1 is growing fast and eating like no tomorrow. I went through 240 small dubias and 1200 phoenix worms in just the past 2.5 weeks. I don't know how I will afford to feed all these babies..
Pumpkin seems to be doing well tonight. She laid 29 infertile eggs this morning (Tuesday morning) and her black beard went away. I guess it is like you said AHBD - her beard is black when she is with eggs. I didn't hear back from the vet on the injectable iron we expected to be in today but I will call her in the morning to check on status. Pumpkin has been doing okay taking my liquid iron supplement as the vet said to give her but I feel bad forcing so much on her - iron, black cherry juice, b12, baytril...poor thing is just getting put through the wringer. I tell her ever time though to keep fighting and I will keep doing my best by her. I love the girl and will do whatever it takes.
Thanks for all the support and help through the hard times. I don't know where I would be without this site.
Thanks guys.

 

[AHBD]

You're welcome ! As for feeding the little monsters, you will have to be independently wealthy to afford all the Phoenix worms. If you have unlimited dubia that would be good, but it's most likely that you need to order small crix ASAP. Order about 3-5,000 per week from somewhere that you can get the best deal. Check out Armstrong, Premium, Ghann's or Coldbloods.com. The size you need will probably be the 1/4". Some company's crix run on the small side, others run a bit larger. If in doubt, order the 1/8" inch .....better to be on the small side than too large, but in most cases the 1/4 are just right.

 

[waltersgirl]

I have heard crix carry pinworms but I found on here some good info on it. Ordered 4000 to start. How do you keep them from dying so quickly? Probably just pet store problems because they never seemed to live but a couple of days.
Pumpkin is doing okay today. Her black beard is still gone which I like. Love my girl and would hate to lose her.

 

[AHBD]

It's easy to keep them alive as long as they aren't shipped in severe cold or heat. Where did you order them from, and what are your temps., and is it a 1 or 2 day delivery time ? If the box is cold when you get it, let it set for a half hour before you open it. To set them up, get about an 18 gal. [ or larger ] plastic tote. Cut the cricket box open holding it directly over the tote and very quickly turn it upside down to dump them. There will be egg crating that fits the box snuggly so you can pull those out quickly as you're dumping it. It's good to leave the egg crating for them to climb on, but you can tear it in to smaller pieces [ knock the pieces on the side of the tote to get the crix off to tear the crating ] Set up some food for them....you might buy cricket food at the pet store or better yet use a variety of shredded veggies set out on paper plate but changed daily or every other day so nothing gets spoiled or moldy. You can also set a small plastic lid [ like from a coffee can ] and put a very wet wadded paper towel on it for hydration. You don't want the egg crating to get wet or the plastic tote. Most of the time the baby crix can't crawl out so I don't use the lid, but if your'e concerned then you can cut a large hole in the lid and put it back on....they can almost never get out that way. Even if a few escape they won't live long. Some people use old aquariums but the crix can easily crawl up the sealant that seals the corners.

 

[waltersgirl]

I ordered them from premium overnight. Should be here tomorrow. In Montana but we have current highs of 55-60 but I also paid for the winter packaging. I have tons of roach and cricket food nut feed veggies daily to all my babies so can add some to the cricket cage. It is fairly warm in the little lizard room with all the lights in there so they should be fine. Thanks for the helpful advice.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Shonna,

Wow I am glad that she did lay & that she doesn't have a black beard now either. She is probably feeling much better now! I am sure she doesn't like the taste of the liquid iron.
You do have quite a little colony going then, I hope you are able to keep them fed. They grow so fast, too. The Premium crickets are good quality so you shouldn't have any problems with them dying on you.
As AHBD said, making sure that they are not overcrowded is a big thing so you can keep an eye on them to be sure there aren't any dominance issues.
Definitely use a plastic bin/tote to set up your crickets, those are the best.

You have your hands full! Let us know how things are going.

Tracie

 

[AHBD]

How is Pumpkin doing ? I was wondering how long she has been on antibiotics, one of your posts said a month ? Anyway, in humans some antibiotics can cause anemia if taken for extended periods....I wonder if this might be a contributing factor in Pumpkin's anemia ? Long term a.b use is always a health risk. If she's still on them it might be good to get her off. I hope thst she and her babies are doing well.

 

[waltersgirl]

Boy all these babies are a lot of work...but they are sure cute. Good thing I couldn't build a whole house walled with beardie cages...I might have to keep more of them-sounds like a creepy hoarder, LOL. I have homes for a couple of them and need to solidify things with the pet store a couple hours away to transport some over there when they are ready to go. Pumpkin it turns out-I had only seen baby leatherbacks not adult-is a leatherback

. About 50% of the babies are leatherbacks. Most have Pumpkins beautiful orange and black coloring. All will be het hypo as Popeye is hypo. I cheated and did one bath Friday night instead of my normal bath for each tote...too many babies to keep that up

. Babies are all doing well-eating and pooping and eating and pooping and well you know. The four from the first clutch do well with being held for the most part. One of them just finished a shed and the other three are right behind him.
As for Pumpkin, I can't tell anymore. Her beard isn't black but I worry she is working on another clutch. I got her on 11/27/14 from a local kid and she has been with eggs from 2 weeks after I bought her. She is eating like crazy. She doesn't like the iron injections but then again who likes to be poked. I want to say she is better but she isn't sleeping right. I check on them and she will be awake as soon as I open the door to the room, laying in her hammock, eyes open and looking like she is gone and I have to watch her breathe to know she is still with me. I am always worried about her. I wish she was well. I guess I am just overly sensitive to loosing them as I had to fight so hard with the first couple before I got my Popeye.
Better get some sleep as tomorrow is another busy day of beardie care and I need to go to the office for a couple hours. I will post another update soon.
Thanks again.