Weird Shed..

[towelie200]

Okay this is really weird, my little guy is going through his second full body shed (3-4 weeks since last shed) so i know he is healthy and eating well.. but today im just sitting at my computer, he literally puffs his whole body beard included. He deflates (sorry for the bad word choice) and no his body skin he extremely wrinkly.. is this normal??
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91124400@N08/8465469933/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91124400@N08/8466565942/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91124400@N08/8466564908/in/photostream/

 

[sweetiepie9]

It sounds like he's just trying to increase his body size to try to get the shed to start. They do have the ability to inhale and use that air to puff up their bodies, and the same for their beards. It's just weird when you see it for the first time. He sure looks healthy but a bit skinny, so maybe up the amount of food he's eating. For babies he should be eating as many crickets as he can in 15 min, twice a day. So give that a try. He'll also try to rub off his shed on anything he can find. I always found lots of warm baths helped the shed come off faster and I also always let them rub up against my hand to try to get it to start. They all hate shedding :roll: poor things.

 

[towelie200]

thanks alot! Yeah i was thinking he needs to eat alot more, but since he had problems pooping over the last couple days i laid off a little on the food. How many crickets aprox should he be eating per feeding? that way i have a reference

 

[Mumtozeus]

Hi mine is about 5 months old and he can go through about 30 crickets each time in feed him ( 2-3 per day ) so a lot hehe greedy Lil man hehe

 

[towelie200]

and here is his shed about an hour and a half later

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91124400@N08/8465680525/in/photostream/

 

[sweetiepie9]

Glad the puffing worked. If you're having trouble with his poops, canned pumpkin without spices works well to get things moving, you can put some on your finger to see if he'll lick it off, put it in an oral syringe & drop it on his nose or put it in his feeding dish and see if he'll eat it. There is a great nutrition list here: www.beautifuldragons.com. I've been using this list for the 6 years I've had dragons. So check it out.

More baths might help with the pooping, too, he might be a bit dehydrated which will cause problems with pooping. So try a daily bath, warm water up to his armpits and for 20 min soakings. If you're lucky, he'll poop in the bath, like mine do!

Anything else, just ask, there are no silly questions when it comes to our dragons, everything is important

 

[towelie200]

Do you buy bulk online? Because I hate going through crickets in like 3 days and going back to petsmart to buy 50 for 6 bucks XD im still trying to figure all the good stuff out still

 

[Killzone3265]

when he puffs up it stretches the dry scales to help make them fall off, its a good technique i must say

 

[sweetiepie9]

I was lucky, when I needed lots of crickets I was able to buy them in bulk at my pet shop, so I've never had to buy online, but I know of one good place you can try. http://www.mulberryfarms.com. If you're in the states there are alot of places on line to buy crickets in bulk, just google crickets & check them out one by one.

Have you ever thought of starting a dubia colony? They are great to raise, don't die off like crickets, don't stink, don't jump or fly, can't climb glass or plastic and are really easy to raise. If you live in the states there are a few online places in the For Sale section here. There is one person, Lance, known as twobeardieguy and he sells starter colonies. So you can look into that, they're cheaper than crickets, the females give live birth to babies every 40 days and they take care of their young.

I'm sure others will be able to give you other sites, too.

 

[towelie200]

I have used Dubias and love them, and Bowser loves them too im looking to buy some of those in bulk and start a colony when he is bigger, that way im not wasting the bigger roaches when he is so tiny

 

[Mumtozeus]

Hi am in the uk and can not find any shops that sell dubias roaches can anyone help please?
Thank you

 

[sweetiepie9]

I know someone in the UK and he has roaches, I'll ask him to answer your question.

 

[Nathan1995]

Hi Mumtozeus, Deb asked me to answer your question and here it is!

http://www.roachcolony.com/

That's the site I used to buy my starter colony from, I wouldn't recommend buying the starter colony they have for sale, it's much cheaper to just make your own bin. But the roaches are very good and mine are thriving, also he's really easy to get in contact with (replies to emails within 1 day). Good luck!

 

[Mumtozeus]

Hi Nathan
Aww great thank u very much
It's just that crickets are a pain and die within like a day

Thanks
-rachel