Whats your opinion??

[getgab92]

Okay so my beardie Riley has come to the point where he is just not eating everyday. I am a little worried that he is not getting the nutrients that he needs. What are your opinions on the liquid form of calcium and stuff like that? I do leave food for him in his cage everyday but he doesn't always eat it. I am not sure why he is not eating well anymore. He used to be a good eater. All his levels are good and I treated him for worms about a month ago so he is parasite free. He sleeps a lot. Sometimes I will come home during the day and he is inside of his hide.

I am not sure whats going on but your opinions on the calcium and stuff would really help. And any other advice on getting him to eat again would be great.

BTW he does get his baths and acidophilus.

 

[kbro]

How old is he? Also I know you said his setup is good, but will you post temps anyways basking spot, around it and cool side. Also type of uvb as well as how old it is. I know it's a pain but all of these can affect eating.
Also what are you offering for food? Sometimes adding something with some color can attract attention, like sweet potatoe or pick something from the beautiful dragons nutrition chart.

 

[getgab92]

He is almost a year old. His basking temps are about 90-95 degrees and his cool side runs about 75-80. I use a repti sun10 uvb TUBE mounted on the back of his cage and I offer him dubia and collard greens. I usually add in mustards and dandelion greens but they are out of season and are not that great right now. I have tried everything off of the beautiful dragon nutrition chart and he just wont eat anything else. I wish he would but i try over and over again but he still wont even touch it if it is even near his collards.

He sorta likes butternut squash but wont eat it as mainstream. He has just been really sluggish lately and it is making me worried.

 

[Tonja]

You may want to up his basking temps to 100-105 and see if that helps any. His basking spot isn't much hotter than the cool side of his tank. I am not going to say this will work but, when Geico was off his food after meds for parasites I added a dressing of sorts to his greens. I would puree strawberry or blueberries in a little water and pour it over his greens and he ate them that way. I don't know if they can smell the strawberry or blueberry but he sure went after them and I gradually decreased the dressing till it had none on it and he continued to eat them. Hope this helps some.

 

[getgab92]

Okay. Yeah I just bought a new light bulb today and put it in. Sometimes I can tell he gets too hot because he will have his mouth open slightly to let the body heat out. Then he starts going crazy and running around his cage. If I have time to stay I usually let him out and run around my room.

His timers are set to come on at 9 am and go off at 9 pm but sometimes if he is in his hide when he goes to sleep at night he doesn't come back out in the morning when the lights come on. He wakes up but he doesn't come out until I make him lol.

 

[kbro]

Yeah, I agree about the basking temp like the above poster stated. I have done a lot of research and it seems 95 as a basking temp is optimal for digestion so I wouldn't really go lower than that. I hope by adjusting the temperature his appetite increases, but they also don't eat as much as when they are babies as they get older so keep that in mind. Although at a year he is most likely still growing and eating like a pig :lol: . Let us know if the temp change helps how are you measuring the temps btw? Like what type of thermometor digital with probe or temp gun or other?

 

[getgab92]

Yeah he is not eating piggish at all lol. It is a bit concerning. I came home today and he was inside of his hide. Okay so let me try to describe his hide to you. So I made it myself. It's pretty much a rectangular box with a hole cut in the front for him to go inside and it sits underneath his basking area with a slate tile that fits over the top. I actually calculated the temp inside of his hide to see what it was and maybe to tell me why he was spending so much time in there and it was actually measuring about 72-75 degrees. So its cooler under there. I did adjust his basking area so it will get hotter. I measure my temps using a digital thermometer with a probe on the end of it sitting on his basking spot.

Just real quick does anyone have an opinion on that liquid calcium and stuff? Is it reliable/safe? Like the powder kind?

 

[kbro]

I think liquid calcium is more for gravid/pre gravid (you are going to breed soon) females and dragons your concerned or know have mbd. I'm really not sure about a healthy one, when was the last time you were able to get any calcium or multivitamin's in him?

Is he still pooping anything? When was the last time if he is not? If he does have a poop I would suggest taking it to a vet for a fecal, sometimes you can drop one off without taking in your dragon. What do you use for substrate? I see tile for above his hide, is it all tile?
Does he eat at all? How close can he get to the reptisun (between 6-8 inches is recommended)? Do you bathe him at all or does he get water anyway?

Sorry about all the questions but if you can answer them maybe we can figure out what's going on with your guy.

Edit: I did send a message to someone about the liquid calcium so I will let you know what I hear.

 

[getgab92]

Okay lol so here we go:

Last time he got calcium and multivits: He ate a few dubia yesterday dusted in multivits and maybe earlier in the week into last week for the dusted calcium dubia but I can't remember exactly.

Last poop: was yesterday. I believe I may have had temps too low for proper digestion. Also I have my own fecal kit I used a few months ago to find out and treat him for wormies.

Substrate: Yes, it is all tile.

Eating: Occasionally. Maybe 2-3x a week but he only eats a few dubia at a time or just nibbles on his greens.

Repti-sun: Depending on where he is sitting he gets between 6 1/2" to 10" from the tube.

Bathing: He gets a bath 3-4x a week and gets offered water to drink out of a dropper each time he is bathed. Sometimes he drinks a lot and sometimes he doesn't.

Just took this now. He messed his cage up a bit lol. Normally it is clean.

 

[kbro]

Ok, well some of the questions were about impaction and that seems fine, some dehydration and you sound good with that. Since you have the fecal kit it would be a good idea to test just in case, it won't hurt any. The best way to remember when calcium is given would be only do it certain days, at his age it should be 5-6x a week (only one feeding per day) for calcium and 3-4x for a multivitamin until he is 2 years old. Maybe do calcium every weekday the multivitamin on Sat, sun and pick one other day. What are you using for both anyways? I know you can't get that quite right since he isn't eating correctly.

I would do the fecal, and give his system a bit to catch up to the increase in temps, how is he liking it hotter, what do you have the temps at now? I know it's gross but how did the poop look?

How old is the reptisun by the way?

I like the way you have it set up, I bet he loves the hide, nice btw, what type of wood is it?. I know, it's like playing 20 questions :lol: sorry.

 

[getgab92]

Yeah it is hard to keep the calcium and multivits on a schedule cause he doesn't easy everyday. I am not home at the moment but I know they are in small white containers. The calcium hada Magenta colored label and the multivits have a dark blue label. I'll get the names when I get home.

He seems to be more active since I raised the temps. You can see I have 2 lamps to make sure it gets hot enough. Temps are around 100 degrees.

His poops are sometimes big sometimes not. They area greenish tint which I would expect because he eats more greens than he does dubia. I will definitely do another fecal the next time I can. If he does have worms I already have medicine to treat it cause I already did it once.

The repti sun is brand new.i just bought a replacement since I had the old one about 6 months.

The weird for the hide is made of poplar wood. I researched to make sure it was safe. It was a pain to cut though. It's very strong. I broke several nails and screws in it lol. The wood branch however I'm not sure what it is. I got it from my backyard. I put it in the oven for a while first after I washed it to make sure it was sanitary.

And it's okay I will answer as many questions as you ask I do not mind one bit!

 

[kbro]

Ok, the hide is fine then, pine or cedar are toxic as well as some other in the same family I believe, but those two are the most common. As long as you don't have any pine or cedars in you backyard you should be fine with the log, you can always smell it to see if it smells like Christmas trees lol. Just asked as an after thought to make sure.

The reptisun question was an afterthought as well, since I never asked before how old it was. There are so many things that can affect their appetite. Again, I would just do the fecal anyways since you have the stuff just to be safe (when you can). But, I bet within the next week or so his appetite will pick up and he will be pigging out again. If not and you ran a fecal come back and post something (if you post in this thread I will see it, if not I may not see it). It is also that time of year and as a young male I'm sure his hormones are raging :lol: even if not around any other dragons.

 

[kbro]

Oh, and it sounds like you use rep cal calcium and multivitamin those are great, some of the best.

 

[getgab92]

Yeah yeah! That's the name lol

 

[kbro]

:lol:
I have a reply about the liquid calcium I'll just copy and paste.

Hello,

Sure, I do have the bug-de-lite.com site.
The liquid calcium, can be used for dragons without metabolic bone disease or ones that do have it. I make a regular one with just glubionate & one with a mix of glubionate & gluconate both for higher absorption.
I find that a lot of adults don't always eat enough dusted feeders or greens to ensure they get enough calcium. I use liquid as I can control how much they get.

Tracie

She can also help with dosing it.