Skinny Dragon?

[Mking0347]

So I've had my beardy for about 3-4 weeks now, and she's only been eating for me for about 2 of those weeks; she's an absolute pig now! However I notice in earlier pictures that I can see her ribs, and has gotten slightly better. I figured maybe the owners didn't feed her as much, so I'm trying my best to provide more meals for her, with as much fat as possible. I figured meal worms would work great, considering that they run small enough and are high in fat.

I checked this afternoon, after she'd eaten about 30 worms (probably around there) and I can still see some ribbage, and feel them easily when I run my finger down her sides. Figured I should mention, she doesnt really eat her greens, unless I trick her into it with the mealworms. (I offer collard greens, lettuce, bell pepper, zucchini, and sometimes apple, daily)

As for her feces, today I noticed it was slightly riddled with meal worm shells, which was a little irregular. It doesn't exactly smell the best, and gives off a scent at about 10 inches away. However she, herself, smells fine.

She's a three month old Leatherback female, she poops twice a day (completely solid), and seems to be doing fine other than that.

Could she possibly have a parasite?
Or could it be she's not digesting properly?

Please help!

 

[BeardieLover232]

hello there,
I am glad she is getting fed, but the meal worms are a nono. she needs to be fed crickets, dubia roaches, Calci-worms, wax worms, phenix worms, and horn worms.
the problem with meal worms, is there hard shells, which it makes it hard for the dragon to digest and cause impaction later. I am glad she is getting her greens and etc. if you want to fatten her up I go with the dubia,wax worms, or butter worms.
careful how much butter worms to feed, they can get the beardies fat 0 to 100 in a day or two
i hope this helps

 

[Mking0347]

hello there,
I am glad she is getting fed, but the meal worms are a nono. she needs to be fed crickets, dubia roaches, Calci-worms, wax worms, phenix worms, and horn worms.
the problem with meal worms, is there hard shells, which it makes it hard for the dragon to digest and cause impaction later. I am glad she is getting her greens and etc. if you want to fatten her up I go with the dubia,wax worms, or butter worms.
careful how much butter worms to feed, they can get the beardies fat 0 to 100 in a day or two
i hope this helps

Awesome! Thank you so very much! I originally got he Dubia roaches when I got her, but I fed her all those, and she seems to enjoy the chase Would Calci worms help fatten her up?

 

[BeardieLover232]

hello there,
I am glad she is getting fed, but the meal worms are a nono. she needs to be fed crickets, dubia roaches, Calci-worms, wax worms, phenix worms, and horn worms.
the problem with meal worms, is there hard shells, which it makes it hard for the dragon to digest and cause impaction later. I am glad she is getting her greens and etc. if you want to fatten her up I go with the dubia,wax worms, or butter worms.
careful how much butter worms to feed, they can get the beardies fat 0 to 100 in a day or two
i hope this helps

Awesome! Thank you so very much! I originally got he Dubia roaches when I got her, but I fed her all those, and she seems to enjoy the chase Would Calci worms help fatten her up?

from what I heard, is that they give extra calcium! especially for the dragons that need calcium. I don't know if they fatten dragons up. butter worms and wax worms for sure make them chubby if fed enough! so are dubia, since they are rich in protein when guttloaded

 

[Gormagon]

I hate to be a dark cloud but, wax worms lack nutritional value. They are also VERY ADDICTING to dragons. To the point of refusing to eat and, holding out for them, the become wax worm junkies, lol! Everything else mentioned are good!

 

[kingofnobbys]

I hate to be a dark cloud but, wax worms lack nutritional value. They are also VERY ADDICTING to dragons. To the point of refusing to eat and, holding out for them, the become wax worm junkies, lol! Everything else mentioned are good!

Yep, keep the waxworms as TREATS only, for your little hatchling (3 month old) beardie.

They LIKE what they LIKE ,and can be very stubborn, in cases like that (with mine, it's holding out for superworms or mealworms, I give in and give them one super or a couple of mealworms then they are usually happy to take the crickets (my staple insect)). You guessed it , all mine are terribly pampered and spoilt , only the best for my scaley 4 legged children).

If she loves her worms , best worms for her as staples are :
>BSF maggots (phoenix worms) as many as she wants when ever she wants them (naturally rich in calcium and near perfect Ca/P).
>Blowfly gents , also rich in calcium (but pupate fast), but the pupae are great croutons, and they love the flies too)
>Silkworms , she can manage silkworms up tp about 2in long .... very soft and squishy and full of goodness, as many as she wants. Most hatchings (in fact most beardies) go bananas for silkworms and literally hoover them down....

Other good staple feeder insects are :
Crickets (maybe as large as 1/4 or 1/3 size), need to gutload these with fresh high calcium greens , and dust them LIGHTLY with calcium , similar with roaches and locust.

At 3 months old , ideal is three live insect meals per day , but if three meals per day are impossible because you are not home at lunchtime , then two live insect per day will do , and I suggest this schedule (2x live feeds / day) be maintained until she's about 12 months old.
If the feeder insects are slow moving and unlikely to crawl off and hide, it's ok to leave a bunch of them in a feeding bowl where she can easily see and access them ( I'd count them in and then out so you know many were eaten) .
If the feeder insects are fast moving , hoppy , give a few at a time , this way she wont be overwhelmed by bugs crawling/scurrying/hopping in all directions.
It is ok to handfeed some of her live insects to each day - i'd make a little ritual of it at the same time each day , it's a wonder way to bond with a lizard and well with the occasional accidential finger tip nip (the soon get the hang of the hand feeding lurk and can become very dainty in how they take they buggy gifts)..

Also , offer her some high quality fresh washed high calcium greens each day , if she nibbles on them at her age it's a bonus , but if she ignores them , no lost, feed the left over greens to the crickets/roaches/locusts and they will be great food for them and will be very good gutloading.

Very good idea to weigh her weekly (this is a good way to track growth).

We'd love to see some photos of your new spikey baby and her viv .