STILL wont eat veggies!!?? HELP!

[mrgoogls]

iv tried that with things like slices or carrot, bell peppper, and apple. and it doesnt work with him. lol. ill let you guys know what the vet says when i get him in

 

[lilvamp]

i use rocket with my dragon and she loves it, its the only thing she will eat other than crickets and meal worms

 

[mrgoogls]

I've heard a little about rocket. But not much. I've never seen it. I'll ask my mom about it when she gets home. Where do you buy it?

 

[lilvamp]

well im in the UK and can get in in pretty much any supermarket as getting kale and other veg like that is difficult.
i also use mint leaves she likes those aswell

 

[Mustashio]

What is "rocket"? Is it a green or a vegi of some kind? Can you order online? .......can you tell I'm desperate enough to try anything once??????

 

[lilvamp]

its a green leafy plant, where about do you live and i can see if i can find a shop near you that sells it

 

[mrgoogls]

i beleive from the little iv heard that rocket is some kind of green like collards ect. but just another flavor/smell that some like more that others. i just tryed parsly and phoenix didnt look anymore interested than before. ill be sure to try mint too. along with rocket if i can get it.

new news!! i believe he may be starting some mini brumation. a have a few reasons.
1. i just tried to fee crix, and he ate but was reluctant. i was planning to max him out at around 20-30. he only ate like 15. i had to get the last few out of his cage. so he is starting to slow down on those.

2. i put the hide right in front of his face and kind of lightly slide him(he is on tiles) into it. once he was like halfway inside he climbed the rest of the way in and layed down. now, he has NEVER done that before. i tried that before and all i got was some tail whips and hissing. lol. he came running out. this is the first tim he has EVER been in a hide in his life.

3. he usually sleeps up on his basking spot(one of the two...) because that is usually just where he is at lights out. but yesterday from about 1 hour before lights out and til morning, he was on the ground trying to tuck up underneath one of his logs in the corner. that is also a 1st. it seems like he was trying to hide like he would in brumation

4. he is REAAAAAAAAAALLY lazy. usually he is pretty lazy. but he is really really bad now. he barley moves around in his cage. doesnt chase crix at all. not eating greens. when i take him out doesnt run much. all around very very very very lazy.

those are my reasons for beleive he is in a mini brumation. i dont think itis brumation because he still basks all day. doesnt really hide much besides what i said above. i will ask the vet if that is a possibility.

also, i have a question. whenever i put him down in his cage he just like lays down. he doesnt hold himself up like normal. i know he CAN hold himself because outside the cage he does. and walks with his belly well off the ground. but when he stands still he just sinks down. is that normal for going into brumation? or should i ask the vet? thanks guys! sorry for such a long post!

 

[Mustashio]

its a green leafy plant, where about do you live and i can see if i can find a shop near you that sells it

I'm in Roseville, Minnesota, very close to the Twin Cities. I'll try and look it up here too, but if you have any leads, let me know!!

also, i have a question. whenever i put him down in his cage he just like lays down. he doesnt hold himself up like normal. i know he CAN hold himself because outside the cage he does. and walks with his belly well off the ground. but when he stands still he just sinks down. is that normal for going into brumation?

Yep, Tashi does that right now too. I thought maybe it was because he was getting too "heavy" for the wood climbs he uses as a basking spot, but then we put a platform in there for him, and same thing. He also loves to just squish himself down into a corner and wiggle his nose down under the leaves so just his head is hiding. I'm guessing (and I've heard from some of the moderators here) that Tashi is in a semi-brumation state too. He doesn't really "sleep all day", but he is very lazy and of course has turned up his nose at greens and slower on the crickets and phoenix worms too. One of the most important things to do before letting him brumate is to make sure he has a clean bill of health and a fecal test that is free of parasites. If they decide to brumate then whatever is in their stomach might sit in there for quite awhile, so its best to make sure the fecal is clear. Since your going to the vet anyway it might be a good idea to bring along a lovely scented sample to your vet for Xmas present!!!! Let us know how the vet goes!

 

[Mustashio]

Just found out that "Rocket" is the same thing as Arugula. We have that at the grocery stores here, so I'll definitely try that and the mint too. I currently have some cilantro that I thought I'd try, but of course Tashi doesn't want anything to do with it. Its also pretty flimsy and hard to cut up, especially when its wet. It is very fragrant too so I that that would entice him, but I guess not. Guess we will try the mint!!!

 

[mrgoogls]

okay thanks! so since he is in a semi brumation like state, should i feed him? bathe him? the only time he will poop currently is in a bath so it will be hard to get a fecal test. but i was planning on trying. ill also ask my vet to amke sure that its just a semi brumations state and not an illness or anything. i should be going in the next week or 1. we just had to buy a new transmition for our truck and a whole new furnce plus chirstmas shopping for our GIAT family. so moneys a bit tight! haha. but he needs to go in so he will ill keep you guys updated!!


PS: thanks for letting me know arugala and rockets are the same thing. haha. i can deifinatly get that! ill give that and mint a try!

 

[Russell84]

I had a beardie who wouldn't eat his greens and I came up with a good tactic to trick him into eating greens! He used to love morio worms. I'd offer him a dish of worms, then just as he was about to strike with his tongue I'd throw a salad leaf in front of the worm, it would stick to his tongue and he would eat that instead! It worked a treat! Give it a go?

 

[Mustashio]

While Tashi is in a semi brumation state, I still feed him and he eats what he wants. Usually he'll eat 12-15 crix and 20 phoenix worms or so per day. Seems like a lot for semi brumation, but that is about half of what he eats when he isn't in his lazy state! And he has totally turned his nose up at all vegis. The only think I can get in him is the occasional collard piece, and that is only if I hand feed it and force it under his lip until he opens. He hates me when I do this, but I guess it is one way of getting his greens in him! I'm hoping he'll shake this bad habit once he pops out of brumation!

Also, keep giving him baths. Tashi only poops in the bath too, and I asked my vet here if I could still bring in a "bath poop" for fecal testing and she said that was totally fine. They take that into consideration. This is gross, but I usually let him go in the bath and then I take a fork and scoop and strain out the water and then put it in a plastic bag. Put both urates and poo in there and try not to squish it! Its best if the sample is fresh, like less than 8 hours old if you can. Man...the things we do for these dragons!!

~Jill

 

[coco88]

If you try to put calcium powder on the veggies that should work :study:

 

[wolfysluv]

Yeah I am in the same situation with my 1 1/2 year old Heli who will not take one bite of a veggie.

I have yet to read an idea of how to get him to eat his veggies here that I haven't yet tried. Sigh. I've done it all. And all I can do is keep marching foward trying tough love and going all out to hydrate him as much as possible.

At about 8 months or so old, he slowly stopped nibbling any veggies (which wasnt nearly enough to begin with anyway) and went on straight bugs. At the same time we went from having a nice potty every other day to what it is today ... indefinatey not going. Even though he soaks almost every single day, he wont go himself. Eventually I have to 'help' him poop in the sink. His urates are like chalky rocks. Taking calcium totally out of the equation for more than a week did nothing. Putting him on oral syringe of water each day did nothing. His poops havent changed whatsoever... and daily baths, daily syringe waterings, daily baby food feeding attempts, lowered calcium doses ....... has had zero. No effect on the hard urates. How bizarre is that? Out of morbid curiosity, I put him back on a normal dragon scheducal of a soaking 3x a week, no syringe waters, no baby food feedings, mild dusting of calcium on bugs ...... and the whole pooping issue was unchanged. No difference between that and when I break my butt going all out to hydrate him. I still do the later though, so I can sleep at night.

Its extremely stressful on my family. We want a normal guy more than anything in the entire world.

 

[Bestpittbull]

Here's an update on my Finicky Dragon, I tried everything my friends suggested on this site but to no avail! I was making him/her a super salad every day composing of cactus fruit, spaghetti squash, romaine lettuce, wax worm's, giant meal worm's, even cricket's which would bound out of the plate. Gizmo seemed uninterested. I would give gizmo his nightly warm bath and belly rub. The weird thing was he was showing no weight loss was very active and alert and pooping every other day was I missing something here? Was he eating behind my back or ordering take out (ha,ha). So I tried one more thing which was suggested to me but forgot because of all the stress and worry I had. I changed his repti-glo uvb light 10.0/ Wow now he's started to eat, he's picking off the meal worm's again, he's still not much on the veggie's yet but at-least I got my baby back. Thank's beardie family. Your friend charles