Will a baby starve itself to death?

[PogoLover]

I have had Pogo for 8 days. When I got him/her, he was about 7" and 10g. He was eating five dusted crickets a day (smaller than space between eyes) for the first couple days, and mustard greens, and an occasional dragon pellet. He was active and pooping once a day - healthy looking. He even drank from his water dish, and in his bath.

His food intake has gotten progressively smaller each day I have had him. Yesterday, he would not eat anything at all, and today, so far, nothing. The crickets and pellets being offered are the same as he was getting at the pet store (so there was no major change in diet). This morning, I cut the screen out of the top of the cage to make sure he was getting enough UVB (Reptisun 10.0 T8 tube). He basks around 6" from it and I have a reflective fixture, so that should give him enough. He has not perked up.

I should note several days ago he also started shedding around the nose and jaw area (with healthy scales underneath), but other than that does not appear to be shedding elsewhere.

He has lost weight - he is now only 8.5g (was 10g one week ago). I ordered small dubias to see if maybe he would eat those, but they won't be here until Tuesday.

Finally, he pooped yesterday, but it was almost like a clear jello with a little bit of urate and it smelled like poo - not horrendous, but not nice either. Prior to yesterday, when he was still eating a little, his poo looked normal (from the pics I have seen).

He has a 50 gal viv, temps are within the correct range, he has a few dark or shady spots to get out of the light/heat, and multiple levels/temps to sit at. I have a probe thermometer on the cool side, and I check temps all over the cage with a temp gun.

I know sometimes they don't eat due to relocation stress or shedding, but he is going down hill fast and when you are that small, there is not a lot of room for hunger strikes.

 

[AHBD]

No they won't unless it is a symptom of serious illness like atadenovirus or severe parasite infection. It's possible that he's grumpy from shedding, but is he otherwise active ? It can still be a bit of relocation stress. You might find an experienced reptile vet to take a fecal sample in if Pogo doesn't start eating by midweek but you must be cautious giving meds. to a tiny baby. Can you post a pic of him now ?

 

[PogoLover]

No they won't unless it is a symptom of serious illness like atadenovirus or severe parasite infection. It's possible that he's grumpy from shedding, but is he otherwise active ? It can still be a bit of relocation stress. You might find an experienced reptile vet to take a fecal sample in if Pogo doesn't start eating by midweek but you must be cautious giving meds. to a tiny baby. Can you post a pic of him now ?

He looks awful right now. Earlier, thought, he was standing up and alert. He goes back and forth between that sleepy look and pretty normal. I tried to get him to eat some baby food squash from a needle-less syringe - he took a couple of bites and then jumped away.

His poop was perfectly normal and not particularly smelly until he completely stopped eating (yesterday), and he was very active when I first got him. I have no other reptiles, so I don't know how he could have contracted atadenovirus here - and whatever it is, it seems to have happened here since he was very healthy looking and acting last weekend. Maybe he got parasites here? Not sure how that would happen - feeders were from the same place as he was being fed at the pet store. The only time he was outside was when I put him in his bathing bin outside in the 86F sun for ten minutes (and I was with him the whole time, he stayed in the bath and there were no bugs anywhere near him).

I am ordering some CarnivoreCare and some F10 cleaner today.

EDIT: And he is definitely going to the vet if he does this much longer. I called around last week to make sure I could find a reptile vet - I asked them whether they just saw reptiles once in a while, etc. - they said that they saw reptiles daily (called "feathers, scales and tails", so they are clearly trying to get that business). They were referred by my regular cat and dog vet. The only reason I didn't call the vet already is that the trip is about an hour and I don't want to stress the poor little guy out anymore than he already is.

 

[AHBD]

Some babies are born with adv and it shows right away,some live with no symptoms, others can just slowly develop symptoms. Same with parasites. By the way, are you close to the store where you bought him so that you can pop in to see what the other babies are looking like ? If the other babies are looking bad then you can determine that the whole clutch possibly came from an unhealthy source.

Now when you took him out in his bathing bin, was there water in it ? Sorry for the dumb question....I just want to rule out heat exhaustion if he was om bare plastic that would heat up very hot in the sun.

But keep offering the baby food, and the Carnivore Care is a good idea.

 

[PogoLover]

Some babies are born with adv and it shows right away,some live with no symptoms, others can just slowly develop symptoms. Same with parasites. By the way, are you close to the store where you bought him so that you can pop in to see what the other babies are looking like ? If the other babies are looking bad then you can determine that the whole clutch possibly came from an unhealthy source.

Now when you took him out in his bathing bin, was there water in it ? Sorry for the dumb question....I just want to rule out heat exhaustion if he was om bare plastic that would heat up very hot in the sun.

But keep offering the baby food, and the Carnivore Care is a good idea.

He was alone in his cage at the pet store. They only keep one or two at a time in stock. I have been watching theirs for over a month and they all have looked and acted healthy (i.e., I go there a lot and look at the lizards). Through the years all of the animals that I have purchased there have been healthy (guinea pigs and rats), with the exception of one guinea pig who was hiding a respiratory infection. The pet store paid for the $400 emergency vet bill for the guinea pig and replaced her (sadly, she died about 12 hours after I took her the vet).

In his bathing bin, there was water at about 100F at its hottest. I basically walk around with a temp gun holstered constantly checking temps - so he was definitely not too hot. He was standing up and alert in his bath - and then after about 10 mins he goes to the side wall and scratches on it (and that's how we know he wants out). So I took him out and dried him off and put him back in the viv. Normally he drinks from the bath - he did not do that yesterday.

 

[AHBD]

You are a good beardie " helicopter mom". Temp. gun ready at the draw. :lol: So anyway, do you have a pic of his set up ? I should look in the intro forum, I think you have one there, huh ? Never mind , I just looked + saw it. And that's good that you found an experienced vet....they can prescribe + dose things properly.

One more thing you might try, take a small cricket, smash it so the guts come out a bit anr rub that lightly on his snout. Sometimes it works.

 

[PogoLover]

You are a good beardie " helicopter mom". Temp. gun ready at the draw. :lol: So anyway, do you have a pic of his set up ? I should look in the intro forum, I think you have one there, huh ? Never mind , I just looked + saw it. And that's good that you found an experienced vet....they can prescribe + dose things properly.

One more thing you might try, take a small cricket, smash it so the guts come out a bit anr rub that lightly on his snout. Sometimes it works.

I am hoping that he wasn't getting enough UVB and now that I have cut a hole in the screen (this morning) that will bring his appetite back. I measured the distance and with my bulb with no screen, he should be getting an acceptable amount. He was probably not getting enough before.

My son suggested that we make a puree of crickets and collard greens, so if he is still on the hunger strike tomorrow - that is what we will try! We can even measure an 80%/20% ratio by weight. That way I can use up some of those stinky crickets that molted and are too big too give him!!!

Thank you so much for answering me!!! If he is still not eating in a couple of days, I will take him to the vet. (I got $700 surgery for a rat once - so if whatever this is is fixable, it will get fixed!)

 

[AHBD]

Slurry sounds good. Just make a tiny bit , though in case he doesn't go for it. And yes there's a slight chance it's UVB related if he doesn't spend too much time up on his platform. As for the crix being a bit large, you can still try the squishing thing I suggested, first pinch the head off and pull the back legs off too. I know it sounds crazy, but some lizards will eat if you do that especially if you hold them while you do it. If he gets TOO squirmy, just try again later while he's in his tank chillin'.

 

[PogoLover]

Slurry sounds good. Just make a tiny bit , though in case he doesn't go for it. And yes there's a slight chance it's UVB related if he doesn't spend too much time up on his platform. As for the crix being a bit large, you can still try the squishing thing I suggested, first pinch the head off and pull the back legs off too. I know it sounds crazy, but some lizards will eat if you do that especially if you hold them while you do it. If he gets TOO squirmy, just try again later while he's in his tank chillin'.

I got him to take more of the baby food squash from the syringe. And then I had to give him a bath because I got it all over his beard. But he took a huge drink of water in his bath, so at least he won't get dehydrated.

If we make cricket collard slurry, we will keep it small to see if it passes the taste test! I will try the cricket guts method - I might still be too squeamish for that, but if it looks like it will work, I will suck it up. I got over the handling of the crickets, but I am not past getting their goo on me when I grab them too tightly yet.

 

[Kessed]

My beardie stops eating (mostly) when she is shedding. Her pattern so far is to start with her legs while eating normally. Then things are normal for a couple days. Then she stops eating while her body sheds. Her head is last and while she starts eating again, that's when she is grumpy.

 

[PogoLover]

My beardie stops eating (mostly) when she is shedding. Her pattern so far is to start with her legs while eating normally. Then things are normal for a couple days. Then she stops eating while her body sheds. Her head is last and while she starts eating again, that's when she is grumpy.

Thanks! It possible that he shed his body/legs before I got him - they don't look dull like his tail and head. I have only seen shed come off his head (with good scales underneath) - and he is scratching his chin on stuff. Hopefully, this will pass, because making cricket collard squash slurry was pretty gross - and I could only get him to eat a little before he ran!