Underwieght?

[Dragonlady1982]

Hi
We recently rescued an adult male beardie. No clue how old he is other then he is an adult judging by size. All we no is that he wasn't cared for properly for quite a while before the rescue group got him. Overall he seems to be doing well... eats well, highly active, normal sleep patterns, poops regularly....my concern is he seems underweight though.

How do you tell if a beardie is underweight?

How many insects should he eat at one time? Right now he can plow through 20 or more crickets plus his salad

We had to teach him how to eat insects because his former owner never fed him anything but veggies. Poor guy ran from crickets.


Will post images as soon as I figure out how

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, pics will be very helpful. Here's how to post :


https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

 

[Dragonlady1982]

 

[AHBD]

Overall he looks pretty good. The fat/muscle pads on top of his head are a bit sunken in but now that he's eating well he should plump back up a bit, but slow + steady is the way to go. He has probably been dehydrated so put him in a plastic tub with about 2-3" of warmish water and trickle some on his head, this usually gets them to drink. Or you can use a spray bottle to direct a gentle stream of water on his snout. Take your time doing this, spray, stop, repeat until he drinks by lowering his head as the water drips down to his mouth. The amount of crickets is fine, you don't ant to stuff him and cause other problems [ like gout ] since he's not used to large amounts of insect protein.

But all in all he looks pretty good, nice thick tail and bright/alert looking eyes.

 

[Dragonlady1982]

Overall he looks pretty good. The fat/muscle pads on top of his head are a bit sunken in but now that he's eating well he should plump back up a bit, but slow + steady is the way to go........

Thanks.... I was worried about him and with his past I really do t want to screw things up for him even more.