Think I have a sick dragon from hornworms

[Sauzo]

I actually had that same problem with an order of dubias I placed a long time ago. It was when I was first starting up my colony. Most of them were lethargic and would lose balance you could say and flip over on their back and not right themselves. I had at least 50% death on that. I personally think it was the person I got them from cause I had ordered before from others and they were fine. Eventually after about 2 weeks of dead ones popping up, they cleared up and everything was great. Anyways good luck and hope what's left recovers and your beardie feels better.

 

[diamc]

Hi, how's your beardie doing now? Has he had a poop since Friday yet? If not, would suggest heating up the baby food applesauce so that it is quite warm as that helps push things along. You could use the applesauce a couple times a day and let him lick off as much as he wants, within reason of course. Hope he passes that pebble soon. If you notice a change in his behavior ex: lethargy, dark beard and/or tail, pushing but no poop coming out, not wanting to eat, sick looking eyes, wanting to hide & sleep, etc, please take him to a vet asap.

 

[KarenInCA]

He pooped today. Again, he pooped before hubby got home, so by the time I got home, he was cleaning out the viv. Anyone who says they are not happy that the dragon left the present for someone else, is flat out lying. :lol:
Hubby said he did not see anything that looked like a large pebble but he didn't fish through it either. It was not diaharia splatter, so that's a plus, and that also confirms for me that it had to have been a bad batch of hornworm chow that the hornworms were eating, which, in turn, was messing with his stomach. If nothing else, it has been a great lesson for my 9 yr old daughter in the subject of food chain and why we should take care of the earth to ensure health, up the food chain.

He's eating again, except that I need to feed him the dubia one at a time, off of my fingers, or he just looks beyond them. Im wondering though, if feeding him outside is too distracting for him, due to the rocks out there. His main focus is to turn around and stare at me, then make a mad dash for the rocks, and then look sideways a them like he is going to dive in again at some tasty stones. And the more I turn him around and fight with him to look at the tasty dubia and phoenix worms, the more he ignores, turns, runs, rinses, and repeats... Teenage angst.. I swear!

I'm really hoping he passes that pebble/stone by this weekend so I can stop babying him so much, and get back to being a dragon/owner relationship (whatever that looks like). But at least he is eating salads again, and dubia when I baby him with finger food. So, Im thinking wherever it is in his system, it has not stopped him from eating, which is a good sign.

 

[cfjustin]

He pooped today. Again, he pooped before hubby got home, so by the time I got home, he was cleaning out the viv. Anyone who says they are not happy that the dragon left the present for someone else, is flat out lying. :lol:
Hubby said he did not see anything that looked like a large pebble but he didn't fish through it either. It was not diaharia splatter, so that's a plus, and that also confirms for me that it had to have been a bad batch of hornworm chow that the hornworms were eating, which, in turn, was messing with his stomach. If nothing else, it has been a great lesson for my 9 yr old daughter in the subject of food chain and why we should take care of the earth to ensure health, up the food chain.

He's eating again, except that I need to feed him the dubia one at a time, off of my fingers, or he just looks beyond them. Im wondering though, if feeding him outside is too distracting for him, due to the rocks out there. His main focus is to turn around and stare at me, then make a mad dash for the rocks, and then look sideways a them like he is going to dive in again at some tasty stones. And the more I turn him around and fight with him to look at the tasty dubia and phoenix worms, the more he ignores, turns, runs, rinses, and repeats... Teenage angst.. I swear!

I'm really hoping he passes that pebble/stone by this weekend so I can stop babying him so much, and get back to being a dragon/owner relationship (whatever that looks like). But at least he is eating salads again, and dubia when I baby him with finger food. So, Im thinking wherever it is in his system, it has not stopped him from eating, which is a good sign.

Im glad he got the solid form of his poop back, thats great. So, hornworms couldve been bad chow, which upon further research never really spoils. Id estimate the chow was atleast 2 weeks old. The chow we use is preserved until all of it is digested which in turn is a full cycle of life/growth. I personally believe it was too much moisture and hydration at once. Hornworms are around %85 moisture. The moisture make his feces wet and loose.

 

[KarenInCA]

Im glad he got the solid form of his poop back, thats great. So, hornworms couldve been bad chow, which upon further research never really spoils. Id estimate the chow was atleast 2 weeks old. The chow we use is preserved until all of it is digested which in turn is a full cycle of life/growth. I personally believe it was too much moisture and hydration at once. Hornworms are around %85 moisture. The moisture make his feces wet and loose.

I don't think it was the fact that I fed him hornworms, because I feed those to him daily, 1-2 per day. He did not get diaharia till feeding him these actual hornworms that had rancid smelling chow. These particular hornworms also had dry, infrequent, and blackish fras balls. I've gotten one other batch of hornworms before that were identical to what happened with this batch. He happened to get diaharia in the same week as we got the rancid smelling chow.

I've been doing some reading about the chow, and although the chow itself does not spoil per se, I've read that sometimes the chow can get bacteria growth on it and will make it smell badly, and can, in turn, make the hornworms not eat it as often, or when they do, they ingest bad bacteria, causing the blackish fras balls, and it makes sense that they would stop eating, which is why there were two non growing hornworms left. That all makes perfect sense.

This particular container of hornworms was having hornworms taken out as people purchased particular amounts, and I got the container after mixing in more to make a total of 12. It's very possible that in fishing through them with fingers, the wrong kind of bacteria got into the chow..maybe the person placing the hornworms into this container had a small amount of lizard poop on their fingers prior to grabbing new hornworms and placing them in there to make the total of 12..who knows? That too, makes sense, especially if someone grows comfortable with working in a shop and forgets to wash thoroughly after handling a lizard for customers, or cleaning out a viv, etc. It would be easy to contaminate a feeder container that way.

 

[cfjustin]

Im glad he got the solid form of his poop back, thats great. So, hornworms couldve been bad chow, which upon further research never really spoils. Id estimate the chow was atleast 2 weeks old. The chow we use is preserved until all of it is digested which in turn is a full cycle of life/growth. I personally believe it was too much moisture and hydration at once. Hornworms are around %85 moisture. The moisture make his feces wet and loose.

I don't think it was the fact that I fed him hornworms, because I feed those to him daily, 1-2 per day. He did not get diaharia till feeding him these actual hornworms that had rancid smelling chow. These particular hornworms also had dry, infrequent, and blackish fras balls. I've gotten one other batch of hornworms before that were identical to what happened with this batch. He happened to get diaharia in the same week as we got the rancid smelling chow.

I've been doing some reading about the chow, and although the chow itself does not spoil per se, I've read that sometimes the chow can get bacteria growth on it and will make it smell badly, and can, in turn, make the hornworms not eat it as often, or when they do, they ingest bad bacteria, causing the blackish fras balls, and it makes sense that they would stop eating, which is why there were two non growing hornworms left. That all makes perfect sense.

This particular container of hornworms was having hornworms taken out as people purchased particular amounts, and I got the container after mixing in more to make a total of 12. It's very possible that in fishing through them with fingers, the wrong kind of bacteria got into the chow..maybe the person placing the hornworms into this container had a small amount of lizard poop on their fingers prior to grabbing new hornworms and placing them in there to make the total of 12..who knows? That too, makes sense, especially if someone grows comfortable with working in a shop and forgets to wash thoroughly after handling a lizard for customers, or cleaning out a viv, etc. It would be easy to contaminate a feeder container that way.

The hornworms poop may have gotten into the chow, you are right. We may never know what happens. Next time, request a fresh cup and fresh hornworms and we will help you.