Thin beardy wont eat

[5hane]

Ok, i got my beardy off a faimly freind about 2 years ago. And hes always been very thin :?:

at first he would go through about 3 boxes of locus a week ? (about 15 in each) but now very rarly eats.
To get him to eat veggies is just inpossible. (veggies are offered though, usally romain lettuice, berrys and some times dandylions)

Hes proably about 5-6 years old now, could it be a case of "cant teach a old dog new tricks"?

When he was very little, he broke both his back legs in a fall (dont know the whole stroy) could this have stunned his growth ? He also lost his mate (which is why the family were re-homing him) could this have caused him to not eat and loose weight?

i think im going to try change his food, but the pervious owner said he frothed in the mouth when fed meel worms? has any one heard of this before?

thanks for reading

 

[5hane]

here's a pic i took about 5 mins ago :

its just i see all these huge ones, and my uncle also had one which whas about three times the thinkness of him ??

 

[Delshara]

I am going to PM a moderator for you. He doesn't look well at all.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Hi mate ! Can you fill us in on some details ?
what are the current basking spot temps ( how do you measure those), warm side, and cool side temps.
Do you have a uvb, what kind ( brand please) and how old is it ?
Do you offer calcium, what kind and how often.
Do you offer vitamins, what kind and how often.

Here is an excellent list to choose healthy foods for your dragon. Green for daily staples, and Black for 1-2 times a Week treats:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

If you can offer us that information, I think we might be able to help out !
Janie.

 

[5hane]

Hi mate ! Can you fill us in on some details ?
what are the current basking spot temps ( how do you measure those), warm side, and cool side temps.
Do you have a uvb, what kind ( brand please) and how old is it ?
Do you offer calcium, what kind and how often.
Do you offer vitamins, what kind and how often.

Here is an excellent list to choose healthy foods for your dragon. Green for daily staples, and Black for 1-2 times a Week treats:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

If you can offer us that information, I think we might be able to help out !
Janie.

ok his basking spot was around 35C* - now raised to 40C* after reading the forum
The UVB bulb is " Exo terra - repti glow 10.0 uvb "
he has a multy vitamin and calcium powder


also, forgot to mention. The previous owner didnt have a UVB, just a strip bulb - untill his rear leags broke and they were told to replce it. I dont know how long this was though as i dont talk to the previous owner (was a freind of a freind)

 

[diamc]

Moved here from Feeding forum to get more exposure

 

[diamc]

Hi mate ! Can you fill us in on some details ?
what are the current basking spot temps ( how do you measure those), warm side, and cool side temps.
Do you have a uvb, what kind ( brand please) and how old is it ?
Do you offer calcium, what kind and how often.
Do you offer vitamins, what kind and how often.

Here is an excellent list to choose healthy foods for your dragon. Green for daily staples, and Black for 1-2 times a Week treats:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

If you can offer us that information, I think we might be able to help out !
Janie.

Could you fill us in on the rest of these answers, please be as detailed as possible. Especially important is the type of UVB, coil, compact, strip fluorescent. Also, how close is your beardie to this bulb?

Your beardie is very thin, looks more like 4 to 6 mo old rather than years. We want to help figure out why he hasn't/isn't gaining. Also, have you had a fecal tested for parasites?

 

[5hane]

his basking spot is measured by a mercury strip and a digi thermometer. His cold side is measured by a mercury strip

his bulb is about 2 -3 weeks old, and gets changed every 6 months

his calcium and multy vitamin is " vetark - Nutrobal" and is put on his locust most feeds

havent had a fecal test,

his bulb is a 2 foor strip bulb (3 ft long viv) and is about 8 inch form him, But his had a new viv and the previous one was proably 10 inch or a little bit more

thanks for the help, feel really helpless
he is quite active though, been running up and down his viv all day since ive upped his temps,

 

[crickest]

The Repti-glo 10.0 isn't a good bulb, it puts out inconsistent UVB. If you search the site you will find lots of threads talking about the Repti-glo. A better bulb is the Repti-sun 10.0 or the Arcadia 12% bulb. A bad bulb can contribute to a dragon being lethargic, not eating, eye issues, etc.

On the food front, you might try feeding squash baby food through a dropper. You dribble it on the end of his nose and he licks it off. I started feeding my boy by hand because I had a bad bulb and he had stopped eating, now I do it because its fun! Try it and see if he's interested.

 

[5hane]

The Repti-glo 10.0 isn't a good bulb, it puts out inconsistent UVB. If you search the site you will find lots of threads talking about the Repti-glo. A better bulb is the Repti-sun 10.0 or the Arcadia 12% bulb. A bad bulb can contribute to a dragon being lethargic, not eating, eye issues, etc.

On the food front, you might try feeding squash baby food through a dropper. You dribble it on the end of his nose and he licks it off. I started feeding my boy by hand because I had a bad bulb and he had stopped eating, now I do it because its fun! Try it and see if he's interested.

yes i have been repeatedly seeing repti glow come up ill try change it soon, he has had it before and been fine (not defending it) but hes also had repti-sun (iirc)

ill definatly try baby food, ill get some tommorow. Is there any flavours i shouldnt feed him?

thanks

 

[5hane]

also, i always feed his locus, but if i was to add some calcium/ multy vitamins to there diet would this help?

 

[zebraflavencs]

I agree totally with crickest. The arcadia 12% is what you want, here is a link:
http://www.petcityonline.com.au/details.asp?ItemID=830857008504&CatID=&MainID=Reptile

You will want to get this fellow into a vet for a fecal exam, and an all over exam. You can offer baths too, on a daily basis, as this will help the dehydration he has, as well as help him with that body shed.
Water to his shoulders, either your hand or a wash cloth under claws ( feet) for traction, temps around 90-100*F for 15-20 minutes, daily.

Here is an excellent list to choose foods from, that are healthy:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

This needs to be within 6-8" of the dragon, the fixture you have now will do fine.
Start out with soft foods. baby foods level 1-2 are fine. Pedialyte for hydration and watering down the baby foods for easy dispensing from an eye dropper onto the nose ( just a drop not around the nostrils though.) Any flavor that isn't plain will work fine.


Hope this helps out !
Janie.

 

[5hane]

Ok ill try sort out an health exam and fecal

he does have a bath every now and again, i didnt know they needed to be that regular ! hes well asleep now (its 10:30pm), ill give him one in the morning definatly. Then head to the shops for baby food. Would putting a bit of my calcium powder into the baby food help? thinking more the merrier ?

also, what should his night time temps be?
at the moment ive turned the heat bulb right down, and his warm end is 34* and his cold 30*. He is sleeping at his cold end at the moment - is it too warm?

thanks for the help!!

 

[crickest]

Squash and maybe chicken or turkey baby food (I always look for just plain food - nothing added but water.) I use squash as a staple, give it to Spark twice a day out of an eye dropper. He loves it and I enjoy feeding it to him. You can use the chicken as a supplement until he starts eating his protein regular again. You can either add a little calcium to his baby food or you could dust his feeders with calcium, but either way, its only one feeding a day. Are you using calcium with D3 and without phosphorous? You can add a multi-vitamin twice a week, for one feeding a day.

As for sleeping time, unless your house is colder than 65 (sorry, I'm not knowledgable about how to convert it to celcius) he doesn't need heat at all during the night. They prefer it cooler (think desert - hot during the day, cold at night) and will sleep better with it cool. They also don't need any kind of light at night either.

A couple of changes in his environment and you'll see a huge difference. He is still isn't eating and is acting lethargic, you can turn off the UVB until you get a new one. A week or so won't hurt him and most of the time the bad UVB is worse than no UVB.

Let us know how he is doing. . . and how you are doing.

 

[diesel75]

good job i hope he pulls through