So sorry Nox

[carpedraconum]

Hello,

My little girl Nox, that I received on Friday, started devouring crickets that day. Over the weekend she stopped eating. I've seen her munch on a couple greens, but I have not seen her eat a cricket in four days now. Could this be part of relocation stress? I'm getting worried because she is only around five inches in length and a bit skinny. She is also very thin and very inactive. I have a repti sun on her, but I have to keep switching it between her and Shadow because I was not expecting to get two Dragons from Josh. The other light is on order, but Petmountain is being slow. I am just worried cause Josh warned me that the darker dragons either thrive or don't, and I am trying to give her the best care possible. I was gonna get baby food and squash tonight after work to try, I just don't want to resort to force feeding. The little girl is gorgeous and I really am worried of losing her. Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

Drew and Nox

 

[jeritta]

Hi
sorry to hear you are having problems with your baby. She is awefully small. Are you bathing her to keep her hydrated?
If you can you can try a couple of baths a day. We have had a couple of little ones that size we have had problems with
luckily there have been many people on here willing to lend a hand and ideas.
If you get the babyfood try some chicken stage one and dilute with a little water to make it work in a syringe easier. Just place
a drop on her nose. she may not lick it off for a looooong time but eventually she will have to try it. just keep at it with her.
I also would mix the vitamins or calcium in with the babyfood to make sure my girls were getting it. Also someone had told me
to mix a little plain unflavored pedialyte in the bath water for her to swim in.
as for the lights maybe someone else can give you some ideas on that one. Petmountain has changed their shipping and they
are having a lot of problems.
hope this helps some

 

[GlueStick]

Just a few questions:

What are her basking temps?
What is the temp for the cool side of the tank?

What size is the tank?
At what time of day are you feeding her?

What kind of substrate (stuff you put on the bottom) are you using?

And when was her last bowel movement?

It would def help to soak her 2x a day in water a little above lukewarm, up to her shoulders. If she is skinny or emaciated, dehydration can take its toll quite rapidly.

 

[carpedraconum]

Her temps are 105 bask, and 85 cool. The tank is a 20 gallon. I am feeding her at 11:30 and 5:30 and she had a bowel movement yesterday afternoon I'm guessing due to the greens. The substrate is a repti carpet. It was tile but I moved her from the tank cause I was keeping her with shadow, but felt that there was definitely and intimidation thing going on. Thanks for the help.

Drew and Nox

 

[carpedraconum]

The little girl ate a bit of baby food, so I will keep doing so. I also figured I would post some pics of her to see if it helps with any of the advice.

Thanks for any and all additional help, the size is what is scarring me so much with her not eating.

Drew and Nox

 

[nair88]

i just love how dark she is!

 

[GlueStick]

Well you are doing everything right =D

But wow, she is very skinny. The emaciation could have been caused by the intimidation of the other one (as you said you once housed her with another?) or this can be a medical problem that may involve blood tests. In either case, she needs to be seen by a vet. When reptiles or any animal looses that much weight, I would only do what a vet instructs you to do with feeding and hydration. On another note, is she some kind of special color morph? Because her coloring concerns me =(

 

[carpedraconum]

This is how the little one arrived from Josh of Phantom. She was actually a bit scrawnier and and the color seems to be on the verge of melanistic. The color is identical to another I received from him that is doing well. This little girl is just a bit smaller, but about the same size as the two leusitic/snow that i received three weeks ago and are now growing like weeds. I'm only asking about her cause she ate for two days then stopped. I'm gonna try to get some smaller crickets this weekend. I was just incredibly happy to see her eat two full droppers of baby food.

Drew and Nox

 

[GlueStick]

Im glad that she is taking things from a dropper, as mine did when he stopped eating. But his will/appetite to eat stopped completely and shoving baby food in his mouth made me realize that there may have been some underlying reason for it.

If she continues to eat and gain weight, then I wouldn't worry about it.

My only concern, as from experience, that bearded dragons that got like that would hang for a while, then perish suddenly. I don't mean to alarm you - she is a beautiful dragon (i knew she had to be some colormorph! Shes pretty awesome), but if she is gaining nothing from the baby food/pedialyte mixtures after 1 week, then I would take her to the vet.

Although my male, Aussie, is much older than she, I found out that he had stopped eating for so long because he had a blood infection, and possible parasitism XD

 

[carpedraconum]

thanks for the heads up. I'm trying smaller crix today as well as still going with the dropper. she is still active. i'm really hoping that she is just trying to settle.

Drew

 

[NCSUCarrie]

Good luck with her!! Hopefully it's just stress, but I would definitely look to having a fecal screen done at a vet even if she does start eating more on her own. If she has something like coccidia that may be contributing to her skinniness and not eating , and is really easy to treat now with ponazuril.

 

[carpedraconum]

Okay, so the baby has still only been eating by way of dropper. I have had small repti worms and crix, but nothing stirs her attention. She becomes incredibly active after I feed her, but has no interest in any foods. She is regularly pooping, and there is a solid white urate and a small poo to boot. I am trying everything but am almost positive she has coccidia. I have an app at the vet on Friday. is there anything i can possibly do besides what I've done already till then. I have completely re-wiped her tank, clean every poo immediately, feed her twice a day(once with calcium and vitamins), give her baths twice a day at ten min soaks, and her temps are at 107 and 83.

Thanks for any help,

Drew

 

[NCSUCarrie]

I'm sorry your baby hasn't been eating on her/his own yet. Assist feeding her to keep up her strength and hydration status is going to be your best bet for now. You could try squishing a cricket and try to hand feed her that... But most babies dont' have to be coaxed much into eating, so there definitely might be something else going on. Hopefully the vet will be able to find out what it might be. The most common parasites are coccidia, pinworms, and protozoans (like giardia), so make sure the vet tests for all those. Ii'd keep up what you are doing at home so far, it all sounds good to me and hopefully you can help pull this little through this!!

 

[carpedraconum]

Please Help. The vet doesn't have any openings until Monday to see Nox. I am going to have a fecal smear done, because I am worried about coccidia or other worms/parasites. Should I have any other tests done? Is there anything I could do that is good at countering a broad spectrum of worms and parasites. I'm really worried about her cause whenever she doesn't have food put into her, she is very lethargic and has her hands and feet dragging do that they look unnaturally uncomfortable. I just really want to make sure she makes it. I'm trying my best and am trying to do better. I guess one benefit I have is that her stomach isn't starting to retract into her chest, but she is really reminding me of my brother's first dragon that had the same symptoms, was taken to the vet, told to force feed something, and he died two days later. I'm sorry for rambling, I am just very scared for my little girl.

Drew and Nox

 

[carpedraconum]

I could really use any advice, there is a possability to get her to the vet tomorrow, but I was hoping to be the one to take her, but her health comes first. I really can't lose my little girl.

Drew and nox