Worried about our dragon not eating

KarrieRee

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Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 5
thank you so much! We will definitely upgrade soon.
Now that we have the light corrected, should I keep giving him critical care, 3ml a day? Was it also suggested that I give him scrambled eggs?
and soak with a little bit of Pedialyte??
Regular water can be given by eye dropper or dropped on his nose --- w/ the lighting and temps corrected he should start eating on his own - offer his food to him using the BSFL on the salads - rinse your salads before serving them --- he will get hydration thru them -- bathing is only going to stress him out -- you want him to start adjusting to his tank and surroundings -- the correct temps and UVB will help --- you should notice a difference in his behavior w/ the lighting being on par right away -- watch his poops the urate should be moist white and firm poop dark moist and firm - if the urate is dry and chalky looking hes dehydrated
 

xp29

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Beardie name(s)
Ruby, Sinatra, Zsa Zsa
The soak is pointless unless he actually drinks from it. To give water the easiest way is to use an eyedropper to drip it on their snout. It sometimes takes babies some time to figure it out. You can add in a little none citrus fruit juice or punch to give it flavor. Be sure to use a wet cloth to wipe away any that runs down their chin. No need to take a chance on causing bacteria or fungus to start in their scales.
 

Hookfang

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Beardie name(s)
Hookfang
Regular water can be given by eye dropper or dropped on his nose --- w/ the lighting and temps corrected he should start eating on his own - offer his food to him using the BSFL on the salads - rinse your salads before serving them --- he will get hydration thru them -- bathing is only going to stress him out -- you want him to start adjusting to his tank and surroundings -- the correct temps and UVB will help --- you should notice a difference in his behavior w/ the lighting being on par right away -- watch his poops the urate should be moist white and firm poop dark moist and firm - if the urate is dry and chalky looking hes dehydrated
Thank you again! he just pooped. this is what it looked like. It does looks better than before. we have been giving him critical care and soaking for the past two days.
 

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xp29

BD.org Sicko
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Ruby, Sinatra, Zsa Zsa
Also the wattage of the bulb is only relevant in so far as the basking temp. Whatever wattage makes the basking temp correct is the correct wattage 🙂 that is pretty much trial and error. Remember to give your digital probes a few minutes to stabilize when checking temps. Once you dail in the temp, you'll have a baseline to work off of it adjustments are needed.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
You're doing a great job ! Everyone replying, remember that this dragon came to the O.P in this condition so be supportive.

As far as tank size, this b.d is still very small, don't put it in a larger one until it's doing better, eating, growing. When they are weak and not well the last thing they need is to be moved yet again. And yes, that piece of wood is good, I didn't see it before.
 

Hookfang

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Beardie name(s)
Hookfang
You're doing a great job ! Everyone replying, remember that this dragon came to the O.P in this condition so be supportive.

As far as tank size, this b.d is still very small, don't put it in a larger one until it's doing better, eating, growing. When they are weak and not well the last thing they need is to be moved yet again. And yes, that piece of wood is good, I didn't see it before.
thank you! All of the help received today has been so helpful and I've learned alot! I will keep ya'll posted. :)
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Just a thought, have you tried putting a small bowl with a few bsfl [ bowl they can't escape from ] near him while he's basking ? If you set them near him he might go for them now if they can't escape. You might also try small dubia if you can get them or very small crickets if no dubias. Use tongs to get the bugs near his face to try to entice him. Or you can cripple the bugs so they can slowly wobble in the bsfl bowl without escaping.
 

Hookfang

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Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Hookfang
Just a thought, have you tried putting a small bowl with a few bsfl [ bowl they can't escape from ] near him while he's basking ? If you set them near him he might go for them now if they can't escape. You might also try small dubia if you can get them or very small crickets if no dubias. Use tongs to get the bugs near his face to try to entice him. Or you can cripple the bugs so they can slowly wobble in the bsfl bowl without escaping.
The no escape bowl just arrived from Amazon 🙌
We also got some small crickets
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
O.K, geat ! Just try 1-2 crickets at a time. They can climb or jump out of bowls. Use tongs or get a jar or plastic container with lid to put them in and give them a good shake to cripple them. Then let them wobble slowly near Hookfang. Sometimes fearful or weak babies will go for a slow moving easy target.
 

Hookfang

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Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Hookfang
O.K, geat ! Just try 1-2 crickets at a time. They can climb or jump out of bowls. Use tongs or get a jar or plastic container with lid to put them in and give them a good shake to cripple them. Then let them wobble slowly near Hookfang. Sometimes fearful or weak babies will go for a slow moving easy target.
Awesome tip...thanks!!
 

Hookfang

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Beardie name(s)
Hookfang
Just wondering how little H.F is doing ? Any progress ?
Hi! We ended up taking him to the vet. They gave him a shot and sent us home with Calcium Carbonate - 0.01 ML once a day, plus continued giving him 0.01 of critical care once a day and 1 to 2 crickets. He has been responding well and is eating the crickets. They also said to soak him for 10 min daily. He has a follow-up appointment on Sept 8th. The vet said he is too young to be adopted by new beardie dragon parents with no experience 😟

Here is his progress....to us he's looking better. We are so hopefully he's on the right path to getting healthy! 🤞
Thank you again for all of the help and guidance!
 

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KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 5
Hi! We ended up taking him to the vet. They gave him a shot and sent us home with Calcium Carbonate - 0.01 ML once a day, plus continued giving him 0.01 of critical care once a day and 1 to 2 crickets. He has been responding well and is eating the crickets. They also said to soak him for 10 min daily. He has a follow-up appointment on Sept 8th. The vet said he is too young to be adopted by new beardie dragon parents with no experience 😟

Here is his progress....to us he's looking better. We are so hopefully he's on the right path to getting healthy! 🤞
Thank you again for all of the help and guidance!
Correct surface basking temps and UVB are the absolute main things to keeping a healthy dragon--- bathing everyday is going to stress the dragon out -- he should be eating 20-25 crickets per feeding --- two times per day or three 5 x per week depending on what else hes eating -- dusted in calcium D3 ONCE per feeding and multivitamin w/ beta carotene 2 x per week ONCE per feeding lightly coated on both -- if the dragon is eating his salads that is where the main hydration comes from - you can always drop water on his nose to see if he will lick - or use a eye dropper - his poops will tell you if hes hydrated or not -- dark firm and moist poop and urate white firm and moist if the urate is dry and chalky looking hes dehydrated -- the vet is wrong about adopting a baby --- if you get the correct set up from the beginning the dragon will do good I am talking about the lighting and temps --- its always good to do research before getting the dragon and coming to this forum was good ---
 

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