Underweight

[littlelizyd]

Hi everyone,
It's been awhile since my last post so I'll give you some history. Rosie (approx 3 years old) was in really bad shape when we got her which was about 6 months ago. She was really underweight, dehydrated and covered in mites and not eating a lot then refusing to eat at all.
We managed to get her back on track and she started to gain some weight, the problem is I just can't seem to get her past about 290g, her hip bones still show and she still has sunken fat pads even though she looks heaps better than she use to. She's very happy, basks alot, chases her roaches and seems healthy overall but she has a very small appetite and is quite picky. She'll eat 5-6 roaches/crickets every 2nd day and she gets offered a salad but if I put anything other than rocket, strawberries or blueberries in it she won't touch it and even if she does it's only ever a few bites. I am wondering if years of neglect and being underfed has now led to her having a reduced stomach size and appetite and therefore I may never be able to get her much bigger. I'm in Australia and in a few months we will be heading into winter and I hate the thought of her brumating in this condition.
She hates BSFL, silkworms and mealworms so I am stuck feeding her crickets and roaches and occasionally she'll eat a few of those canned silkworms.
She won't eat any bearded dragon pellets or veggie slurries unless I force feed her which I don't do.
I'm really stuck on how to get her to gain anymore weight when she's so picky and has a small appetite.

UVB Reptisun 10.0 T5 with reflector inside enclosure 14in away from basking platform.
Heat: Hot side 38° cool side 23° checked with probe thermometer and heat gun.

Any tips would be appreciated

 

[KarrieRee]

Well it sounds like Rosie is in very good hands -- at least shes eating healthy -- can you post a pic of her please https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at the top of the message box then click on the pic it should post

 

[littlelizyd]

Thanks for the reply, I'm wondering if its worth trying reptaid as an appetite stimulator.

Here are the photos, the last photo is when we first got her

[XIMG]109183 1582037863[/XIMG

]

 

[CooperDragon]

She looks MUCH better than when you first got her. Great work! She may remain on the small side, but that's OK as long as she is active and seems happy. It may take a while to establish her favorite foods. At her age, I'd keep focusing on the veges. She'll be able to gain wait eating them. Bugs every few days is fine though if she wants them. I had good luck getting my rescue to eat squash if I cut it into worm shapes. I'd give that a shot and see if she likes it. She may also like being hand fed since you can give the veges some movement with your fingers. Keep up the good work, slowly but surely she will continue to bounce back.

 

[littlelizyd]

Thanks for the tips, I have tried cutting squash and veggies into all different kinds of shapes both hand feeding and not, I think she's getting full from the insects so I might cut back on them a little bit and see if she eats more salad