still refusing to eat

[jjb99]

Hello! I posted a topic two months back about my female 1 1/2 year old beardie. I was advised to take her to the vet and , sure enough, she had pinworms. She has now been treated through a couple weeks of oral medication.

When she had the parasite and was refusing to eat, I was force feeding, either with veggies/fruits that I cut flat and could slide into her mouth effortlessly, or with a syringe after making her food into a baby food-like consistency, depending on how fussy she was being that day. Her weight went back up to normal, and her vitamin intake became much better during her recovery. I've been feeding her this way 1-2 times a day for the past two months.

However, she is STILL refusing to eat on her own. I'm assuming I got her so used to the hand feeding, she's just not doing it the regular way anymore. The vet suggested that I don't feed her for a little while, and if she got hungry enough, she'd eat on her own. But if I let her go for more than 24-36 hours, she acts all droopy and I feel the need to feed her again. I just feel so bad and get worried.

How long can I (healthily) go without feeding her? I'm starting to get scared that she will never eat on her own again. Melodramatic, maybe, but that's what it's starting to feel like!

 

[BlueMorpho]

Sorry to hear she wasn't feeling well! Hopefully all those nasty worms are gone!
Mixing bee pollen or probiotics into the baby food mixture might stimulate some appetite. Sprinkling bee pollen on the greens might work, too. They would both help her bounce back from the meds, too.
Perhaps giving worms as a treat but not hand-feeding them?
Personally I wouldn't want to deny her food for more than two days, but the vet is right; if she's hungry enough, she'll eat. Leave greens in the tank all day, and try offering live food a few times throughout the day.
If after two days she doesn't eat, give her the baby food and supplements for a day or two, then try again.

What are your temps at? Sometimes cool temps can lower appetite.
Her tummy might still be feeling off from the meds, too.

I really hope she starts eating for you soon!
Keep us updated, and we would love to see pictures of her, too!

 

[jjb99]

Sorry to hear she wasn't feeling well! Hopefully all those nasty worms are gone!
Mixing bee pollen or probiotics into the baby food mixture might stimulate some appetite. Sprinkling bee pollen on the greens might work, too. They would both help her bounce back from the meds, too.
Perhaps giving worms as a treat but not hand-feeding them?
Personally I wouldn't want to deny her food for more than two days, but the vet is right; if she's hungry enough, she'll eat. Leave greens in the tank all day, and try offering live food a few times throughout the day.
If after two days she doesn't eat, give her the baby food and supplements for a day or two, then try again.

What are your temps at? Sometimes cool temps can lower appetite.
Her tummy might still be feeling off from the meds, too.

I really hope she starts eating for you soon!
Keep us updated, and we would love to see pictures of her, too!

I was actually doing a little research on appetite stimulators, but wasn't sure if it would work. I will definitely try it!
She hasn't even looked at live food in months. When I put crickets in, it's like she doesn't even know they're in there. It makes me sad, because she used to be such a quick little hunter! Worms, though, wiggle around and can catch her interest but can't really get away from her the way crickets can. Thanks for the idea
Her basking side averages around 100, sometimes a little more or less depending on how hot it is in my room. Cool side averages 80-85, and sometimes I'll still catch her sleeping there for hours during the day, which worries me. I hope her belly is still just feeling off from the meds and from having the parasite for so long, and that she'll perk up soon.
My icon is a photo of her, if that helps! I'm still kind of new to this site (this is only my second post ) so I still haven't explored how to put photos up yet. Soon, hopefully!
Thanks so much for replying

 

[CooperDragon]

You can upload photos to an image hosting site like tinypic or photobucket. Then paste the url to the photo here using the img tag so it appears in the thread.

 

[jjb99]

You can upload photos to an image hosting site like tinypic or photobucket. Then paste the url to the photo here using the img tag so it appears in the thread.

Ah, okay, I don't have any accounts like that, not for a long time anyway. Thanks!

 

[BlueMorpho]

Aww, I'm on mobile, so I can't see tags
Mine's a link to Striker and Eri's thread, though
Hopefully you can do a photobucket account; it would be wonderful to see lots of her!!
By the way, what's her name?

 

[jjb99]

Her name is Joshua...when I first got her, she was too small to tell the gender. I figured I had a 50/50 chance, gave her a boy name, and sure enough, I was wrong She doesn't know the difference anyway, right? The people at the vet get a kick out of it

 

[jjb99]

Just an update - Joshua ate her first cricket all by herself in almost three months. However, I screamed so loud in excitement that I scared her and she wouldn't eat the other one. Progress, though, right?