Zilla RIP 3/2/14 : Started a new thread for Sid!

Hi all. Never in a million years did I think I'd get so excited about a lizard pooping in his bath before. Lol

I want to potty train him, so I'm super excited. He's only ever pooped i the tub once. I was hoping today was the day since its Saturday, since he hasn't pooped in about a week and since he ate about 14 supers for breakfast. Yay!!!!!

What a nice birthday present. For him. Lol. He's a year old roughly right around now.

 

[zandi202]

Congratulations! That is a fantastic way to end the year! And congrats, Zilla, now you get to dress up like the dapper little man you are.

 

[sweetiepie9]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

[BrendaKay]

Made an appt. for Zilla today. He's STILL not eating, still very sluggish, still losing weight. He didn't fully brumate, and is not popping out of it either. This morning he was smacking his lips and sticking his tongue out - like when you give a dog peanut butter, haha - so i thought he should be seen so i know there isn't anything stuck in there, or a sore or something......

Last week in the tub, after he pooped in it (YAY!!!) and i cleaned it of course, he showed a LOT of interest in the moving water and actually drank from it. He's never done that and i thought that could be the first signs of coming out of semi brumation. Nope.

Will post after appointment.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hopefully it's not anything serious. What I do when they're sluggish, is I get Carnivore Care (I get it from my vet, but you can also buy it from www.beardeddragon.co. I add butternut squash babyfood and a bit of water & feed that, plus chicken or turkey babyfood. It's always helped to get their appetite back, so you can always try that. The Carnivore Care has protein in it and it's designed to get their appetites back. I've been using this for 7 years on my dragons and it's always worked. I'll be waiting to hear about the visit. Good luck!

 

[BrendaKay]

His visit couldn't have gone any better. She poked, prodded and felt up every square inch of him. He never black bearded or stress marked at all. Seemed to love the attention. Could I get a more laid back lizard? I think not.

She even convinced him to open his mouth for her. AND HE DID! What a brat. I think maybe he was flirting. Lol

She was impressed that I had both carnivore care and critical care and really the only thing she said to do was keep feeding him that and up his tank temps a bit. I need to go back for a recheck in two weeks if nothing changes.

I'm so relieved he had an awesome checkup with rave reviews, but I would have preferred to NOT spend the $50 so close after Christmas and moving. Oh well. Peace of mind is worth every penny.

It was nice to get so many compliments from the employees too. How big he was, how pretty he was, how textbook posing he did, how laid back he was. I brought his light, light stand, and pillow to prop him up on and I swear he just laid there like the perfect little dragon he was.

I took some pix of his adventure, will post next.

 

[BrendaKay]

At the vet. It is so cold here I brought his light so I knew he'd stay warm.

After the appointment at my office. I hadn't planned on bringing him to work, but the appointment ran late, so I just put him in a bin.

He didn't mind at all. Tried to take a little nap.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I'm so glad to hear he did so well at the vet. I think it's just part of winter lethargy, I've got a few here that hardly move, have to be hand fed, yet in the spring they'll come back to life. Just make sure he doesn't lose too much weight.

 

[BrendaKay]

That's the thing, I don't know how much is to much...... He's now down to 591g.

 

[BrendaKay]

His weights are as follows:
7/14 631g
8/17 660g
10/25 700g (per the vet, not sure I completely agree)
11/7 685g
11/16 681g
11/17 667g after a big poop
11/24 647g
12/27 613g
1/8 591g

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well, he's getting down there, so I'd be giving him lots of the carnivore care with squash baby food and chicken baby food for protein. Will he eat that? Can you give it to him at least a couple of days, as much as he'll eat, at least he'll maintain where he is & not lose any more. That's the problem with the winter slow down, they don't want to eat, but they're up & using energy, so lose weight. Try that as often a day as possible, see if that works.

 

[BrendaKay]

Is ten licks enough? I mix it on the thick side, put a glob on the end of a spoon, wait til he decides to lick it, then hold it at the end of his mouth while he licks some at a time.

Is that how to hand feed?

I feel like a *****.....

 

[sweetiepie9]

Feeding by spoon is fine & if you do that a few times a day, as you can, that should be enough. It's just to get his appetite going for bugs & greens again. Just keep doing what you're doing, you could syringe feed him, too. Safeway has 5 ml syringes (without needles) that you can get or ask your vet for a large bore syringe. That's what I use because I can never get them to eat off a spoon :lol:

 

[BrendaKay]

Yeah I have a few syringes here. I use them for feeding and water too. He's pretty good either way. Spoon or syringe. When I mix a flavor of baby food he's not to fond of, when it's on the spoon he flicks the spoon and food goes flying. Lol. Tomorrow he'll spend time out of the tank where he's happiest, hopefully that will perk him up too.

Had a call from the tenants last night. The garage door broke. Lovely. Will probably run about $300 to get the springs replaced. And I had JUST booked a flight to New York State for my nieces graduation party. Just lovely how $700 can fly out of your possession in a matter of an hour and a half. Al least I didn't have to get a rental car too. I coordinated my flights to match my brothers, so I'll just hitch a ride with them! Woot!

I also took a week off next month to go to "Camp Talkalotta". This year it's in Edisto Beach SC, near charleston. Can't wait. It's just the females in Richards family that can go. This will be my third year. It's usually just for the long weekend, but his step mom got it for a week this time- so three of us are actually staying that long. I'm probably taking Zilla with me so that I know he is being properly spoiled. Heeheehee he's.

Also taking a week in July to go to Rodanthe NC. Richards cousin rented a beach house and invited us. Always wanted to go and check out the house from the movie! Hmmmm......maybe well bite the bullet and get married on the beach in our flip flops. Lol maybe not.

Seems like a lot of vacations, but they are all very cheap. Just pitching in for two of them, and just a plane ticket for the other.

We do still have two others to get on the calendar that are also free, but not thinking about that yet. And Zilla will be going with us on all of them except two. Sweet spoiled boy. For those two he'll go back to his babysitter that took him last July when we went to Alabama.

That's all for now. Trying to keep this updated for anyone who might be reading.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Sounds like you're going to have a lot of fun on those trips. Sorry to hear about the garage door, but that's the pitfalls of being a landlord. That's also why I won't buy anything, I prefer to rent, then have someone else take care of whatever goes wrong :lol:

So how's the feeding with Zilla going? It's just to prevent him from losing too much weight, just until he'll eat his own dragon food.

So no wedding plans yet? NC sounds like a wonderful place to get married, on the beach, guess you'll have to think about it some more...

Big hug to Zilla, tell him to start eating. Have you though about just force feeding bugs or does he only eat crickets. I have to feed Gabriel, Didi and Lonzo food. I feed them mainly roaches, put the bug backsides in their mouths & chomp, they're eating bugs. Lonzo gets both, so that's a lot of fun...NOT, but for some reason it's the only way they'll eat bugs. Gabriel has lost 60g since the summertime but being 489g suits him, guess he was too fat before. He still has a good belly, he's not a big dragon to begin with, so we'll see if he gains it all back in the summertime.

Let us know when wedding plans are afoot :mrgreen:

 

[BrendaKay]

How the heck do you force feed a dragon?!?! He doesn't eat crickets or roaches, just superworms. I don't even force feed the baby food. I glob it on his nose, then wait til he decides to lick it. Then I keep the spoon or syringe there and he licks that. I rub apple pieces on his lips - nada. Won't budge. Same with blueberries and those were both his favorites!