underweight beardie

[featheredgoon]

Hi everyone,

I have a question about one of my beardies. Her name is Dewey Dell, and she's roughly a year old. I got her from a previous owner a few months ago, and she was underweight then and continues to be. She has regular bowel movements and will eat some, but she definitely isn't eating enough.

This may not matter, but she seems to have high hydration needs and drinks a lot of water, though I have to dip her nose in the water to remind her it's there. Essentially, something just seems off both physically and mentally. She's stiff and doesn't move a whole lot, but she will run around occasionally.

I tried getting her waxworms and she wouldn't eat them (the other two do, though they don't need them!). A friend suggested I grind up food in a dropper and feed her that way (like a lizard protein shake, I guess).

Is this a good idea? Has anyone else dealt with this? I'm worried about her.

Thanks,
Courtney

 

[Gail]

Yes, you can make a beardie smoothie and handfeed her for now. I would suggest a vet visit and a fecal, it sounds like something is going on with her.

 

[kingofnobbys]

The common practice here for beardies is to not have water in the enclosure , few beardies will regularly take water from a drinking dish , increased risk of RI due to increased enclosure humidity is sited as the reason . My observation with my 2 beardies is they rearly drink from standing water, and are more likely sit in it (to cool down ? or maybe take up water via their bottoms ) or to deposit their poos in it (wont stink if under the water). So I removed the water dishes from my beardie's enclosures , they get plenty of water from their live insects (crickets, superworms and silkworms when I can get them) and from their leafy greens (puk choy greens etc).

I'm a strong advocate for establishing a good bond with pet lizards by hand feeding them treats that you know they like , soon the lizard will regard you as giver of nice treats and will associate handling by you with something pleasureable and all will be hunkidorry again and you'll have a happy dragon who at least doesn't mind the physical interaction. All my lizards get their insects handfed (including my water skink) , I also give them their greens by hand too. I enjoy it , and it seems they quite like the attention and 5 star service from their human slave.

You might find a product call HERPABOOST might help , people here sware by it for sick and injured beardies. I think there is a reptile omnivore version of INTENSIVE CARE mix too. Your vet can probably line you up with some of these.

More time out of the enclosure might be reat tonic too, to let her roam about inside the house each day for a while after a meal, and in the yard when it's sunny and warm (if it's safe and escape proof) to give her some mental stimulation and enrichment.

How old is the UV globe / tube or MVB , if it's too old , it may not be providing sufficient UVB and UVC and he's no longer sensing enough to make basking worth her while.




A vet visit may be in order too.

 

[featheredgoon]

Thanks for your advice - I've gotten her some National Geographic brand food pellets that are soft, so I've been mashing them up and making her eat them. I'm also giving her a few drops of olive oil every other day - she really likes it, and I feel like the high calorie content may help her put on weight.

My mom is a vet, and she said if I overnight a fecal sample, she can check for parasites, so I'll be sending one in a few days. In the meantime, she has perked up some, which is encouraging.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Thanks for your advice - I've gotten her some National Geographic brand food pellets that are soft, so I've been mashing them up and making her eat them. I'm also giving her a few drops of olive oil every other day - she really likes it, and I feel like the high calorie content may help her put on weight.

My mom is a vet, and she said if I overnight a fecal sample, she can check for parasites, so I'll be sending one in a few days. In the meantime, she has perked up some, which is encouraging.

Not familiar with NatGeog pellets.

Making a wet slurry of juvenile beardie pellets with non-sugar added preservative free sweet fruit juice and giving it by syringe is something my friend had suggested to her by the vet prior to the desasterous vet visit (careful of animal mothering syringes with soft tubes/nipples on the end of them beardies are fully capable of biting these off and swallowing the piece of plastic which can then result in serious impaction (requiring surgery to remove !!!).

They do seem to like the taste of olive oil and it certainly wont harm them.

She was told NOT TO GIVE SOLIDS (insects or veg/greens) while her beardie was still impacted as they'd just rot inside her lizard.

Aside - some beardies can go nearly a week between poos , my girl does so regularly , saves it up and then does a stinky whopper !! , then she'll go every day for while. Meanwhile it's rare for my boy NOT to do a poo each day, sometimes 2 in a day. Exact same diet, and living conditions.