sick beardie

[Kimi13]

4 days ago I picked a dragon up from a kid who wasnt taking care of him. His lights werent changed in a long time and he was feeding him nothing but bok choy (SP? a chinese lettece) So needless to say he is only pooping liquid, he is skin and bones and he couldnt even lift his head. he isnt twitching, he just seemed restless. After giving him banana baby food and pedilite with calcium dust threw a sirange, he is able to lift his head and is moving around a bit. his poops keep going from nice brown real poops to a pit of white bird looking poop. he does seem to be getting a bit better each day but I cant get him to eat anything. if we try and put something into his mouth he spits it back out. should I just keep doing what Im doing? (im switching to a vegi based baby food tomorrow) so stop feeding him to see if he gets hungry enough to eat? even the new lights seemed to help his energy level right away. what do I do?

 

[Rukii]

This is why I think people who buy beardies (well, this goes for all animals for that matter) should be interviewed to see if they know what they're doing ANYWAY, I would just keep at it with the baby food for now. Have you tried dusting your crickets/live feeders with calcium/vitamins? My 5 beardies all go nuts for dusted ones and could care less for plain ones; I assume its the bright eye-catching white. try giving him a salad with some bright stuff on top. Like cut up some collard/turnip/mustard greens and put some strawberries and squash on top.

 

[Kimi13]

Ive tried all foods. I dusted everything that went into the cage as well..he's still too weak. we even dusted a meal worm and put it into his mouth for him and he spit it out still..he's not intrested..im hoping a few days more will give him the motivation to eat. and yea i agree..some people shouldnt be allowed pets. I garentee he has a great home now I just feel bad because my other two beardies have been in lock down because Im scared they may catch something...they're used to an hour of romp time around the house and they're waiting for it LOL I'll keep you updated on Wesley's recovery. I was just starting to think maybe he wont eat his vegi's or crickets if he's full from the baby food...but at lease i know he has something in his system

 

[Rukii]

Thats what I thought too when my babies wouldn't eat anything but baby food. It still sucks that they won't eat anything, but t least they have some nutrition going in. Plus it counts a little towards water intake as well. If you feed him baby food in the morning/afternoon, try skipping the morning meal and feed him some live food/green and veggie and fruit salad around dinnertime. If he still won't touch it, go back to the baby food. Did you add any greens/fruits to the baby food? Maybe you could try blending up some greens and fruits/veggies with some vitamin/calcium dust into a baby food consistency. Or you could try dipping a live feeder into some baby food and putting it in his mouth. And by the way, the white part of the poop is perfectly normal. It's called 'urate', it's solid pee basically. Also, I assume you have UV lights and all? Maybe her hunger strike is just relocation stress from moving to a new home and being so undernourished and all. It can last from a week to 3 weeks. They look very stressed and lethargic and they won't eat or do things like a normal dragon for a while like basking and such. Have you been giving him baths, or has his previous owner given him any? He might be a little dehydrated as well, but baths and baby food should help that.

 

[jeritta]

You can also try the baby food that is chicken in vegtables. I used it for a while then started putting it on Amigo's salad. He would eat the baby food and then the salad. Just a suggestion but sometimes you have to trick them into eating the salads.

 

[Kimi13]

lol thats funny. thats the kind I just bought, but right now I can only make him eat by putting it into a needle sirenge and forcing it into his mouth. he wont eat it any other way, but I did put some in a bowl and Im keeping my eye on it to see if he touches it. I also have 2 peas 2 corn 2 carrots 2 green beans 2 peicces of kale 2 peices of peeled grapes put in a different bowl spread out..I put two so i can keep track if he eats any of it. he also has dusted crickets (4) in his cage and a meal worm in his bowl. If he eats something on his own I will know about it! lol last night I gave him the last of his bannaa baby food and he seemed to have thrown some of it up. I dont think I gave him too much..how bad is that?