[Edit 1/08/20 - Vet thinks between 2-3 weeks is acceptable before any poop or urate waking from brumating. Unless there signs something was wrong it's okay to wait and reassess. My water efforts are good unless she goes 3 weeks without poop/urate or there were symptoms of a problem]
Edit #2 on 1/20/20, Devlyn started pooping last week. Several good poops so far. The 3rd poop was watery, rest were normal. I think she needed those hornworms and I did enforce drinking some water every few days. I offered fruit and moist vegetables, nope.
Hi all, of you've never met Devlyn she doesn't like to drink water. She woke from brumating on Saturday and from some behaviors and appearance I think she woke up dehydrated.
Her skin was tenting and has extra small folds along the abdomen. She is smacking her lips, for lack of a better description, which is unusual. 16 months old. I put in a new Arcadia T5 12% that has a reflector. Her hot spot is 100-105°F but she is staying at about 90-98°F by her choice depending on where she is basking.
Through some effort she has drank some water. Do I need to worry about giving water with enough time under her heat lamp like with food? I couldn't find a decent answer looking around online. It takes over an hour with a dropper for her to drink 5mL of water. She is very reluctant to drink, always has been. This is the first time she has ever accepted water by dropper, that has me worried that is willing to drink, she must be so thirsty. She also is not a fan of fruit or water rich vegetables like cucumber, but I'll keep trying on that end too
I have also given her smallish hornworms, one each day the past three days. I can get more hornworms, not an issue. But then I worry since she hasn't poop yet from waking up. She also ate a small amount of collard and bok choy greens and 6 small crickets since waking up
She is much less wrinkled, and nearly smooth abdomen skin after the efforts listed above. Pic below, not the best. Top is after waking, see on left that wrinkled tenting skin. A few days of some pretty heavy drinking effort and her pancake is smooth now
Its the way shes sitting -- if your feeding her horn worms and shes not drinking much she probably isnt thirsty--- you can tell by her poop --- if its formed moist and dark and the urate is formed moist and white shes hydrated
Karrie
Its the way shes sitting -- if your feeding her horn worms and shes not drinking much she probably isnt thirsty--- you can tell by her poop --- if its formed moist and dark and the urate is formed moist and white shes hydrated
Karrie
The pictures weren't the best. If she turns now it is maybe 1-2 wrinkle in skin, not multiple wrinkles back-to-back like top picture, normal wrinkling. Since she has not pooped yet that is also a concern. Making sure she is hydrated enough to poop and make urate
I put in a new Arcadia T5 12% that has a reflector, less than 1 week old. Her hot spot is 105°F but she is staying at about 90-98°F by her choice depending on where she is basking. She is between 8 to 15 inches away from UVB most the time. Measuring by probes (a Herpstat1 and a couple ZooMed probes). Today she planted herself at an 8 inch spot from UVB and about 98°F.
Her old UVB bulb was about 9 months old, my plan was to put in a new one in any case since she woke up from brumating.
I was giving the last drops of water at least 2 hours before lights out in case she needed time to absorb the water. Not sure if I have to. Going off beautiful dragon's of 1%-2% daily max water by bodyweight in grams guide. 5mL is estimated, because she spills a lot lapping up water
EDIT, she last poop September 2019 before brumating, some time between 9/11 and 9/21
So depending on how much she has eaten will depend on the pooping? Sounds like all the lighting is good --- what has she eaten since she has come out of brumation - w/ her being hydrated she will go eventually - her metabolism needs to kick start again -- you can always feed her some shredded sweet potato to speed things along --- or some baby food prunes or unsweetened applesauce --- and have you tried giving her a warm bath ? all those things will help w/ the pooping -- I think I posted what her poop should look like if shes hydrated correct?
Karrie
Her last poop before brumating looked great. Formed and pliable brown poo. All white formed but pliable urate.
She has not eaten much since waking. 6 small crickets, 3 hormworms, collards, and bok choy, 1 meal was calcium dusted. I can offer her sweet potato or plain applesauce, however she has never eaten either. Today I left mashed peas, mango, collards, and cilantro with bee pollen on top. Misted with water. (I expect her to pick at the collards and leave the rest, she likes her collards)
Thank you Karrie, I was reading that thread too. Enemas do seem too extreme. I found a video of a beardie enema on National Geographic (through Disney+) and it looked awful