Droopy eyes

My beardie's bottom eye lids droop pretty far and I've been trying to research what it could mean. He's had it ever since he was young. He is 2 years old, refuses to drink out of a dish, eye dropper, or when I mist him. He will not drink when I bathe him, and he hates veggies and refuses those also. I offer veggies every day that are wet but they get old and I have to throw them out.

If this is a genetic issue, is it anything to worry about?

If it is a dehydration issue, what can I do?

Hi I have not heard of anything that causes his eye lids to droop like that unless it was an injury from when he was young. I have had one dragon who suffered and eye lid injury as a baby from another dragon and he has one (droopy eye lid) but it doesn't affect him.

As far as dehydration goes usually beardies skin will become wrinklier on their back when they are lacking water. If your having trouble getting him to take water from drinking or syringe you could try horn worms. They are a favorite of all my beardies and are very good source of water. They start small but get huge depending on how big your boy is. I use them for my breeding females and rehabing dragons. Hope this helps :)

He is a big boy probably 18 inches long. His skin does become wrinkly and he has both eyes droop and it was not an injury.

I'm guessing I would have to order horn worms online, would shipping be crazy expensive to get them to Fairbanks, Ak? Do you have a good supplier site?

I've been trying to look into other food sources because he will only eat "meat" which are his dubias.

As beardies get older they should definitely be eating their veggies. I would say that he's possibly dehydrated. Good soaks will rehydrate him. But I'd start offering his veggies in morning and protein every other day in afternoon. The veggies are important to them living a long healthy life. I use that regemine on my colony of 7 and they all eat their veggies daily, and the prey insects every other day. Some times when they are over fed the protein they stop eating their veggies. You could play the waiting game and cutting him down on protein giving him veggies every day and when he starts eating his veggies start the protein back only in the pm.

Oh believe me, I've been trying to get him to eat his greens since he was a baby, but starting at 1 1/2 I tried to play the waiting game and see how long he'd go without protein. He just..won't eat. I've tried every green I can think of, and every fruit. He goes to the bowl, looks at it, licks it, and then craps in his bowl. Yes, I don't know if it's an accident or not, but every time he gets salad he will take a big dump in his bowl. If there's bugs in there, you better believe he won't mess in the bowl. Right now I'm playing the waiting game and came home to a lovely poo covered salad.

I've tried moving the bowl around the cage thinking that was his potty area...but...no luck.

He has always been a frustrating Beardie.

I soak him for 15-30 minutes at a time. I've heard that Beardies can absorb water through their vents, is this true? He hates baths also, but he enjoys them after about 10 minutes haha.

Well they absorb through the skin.

The waiting game is a pain. But you have to be patient. Possibly try getting the greens off the ground? If he's nice and fat he can go without food for a while. You dont have to stop food altogether. Just cut him way down and try every other day with greens daily. If they know that the protein is coming they will refuse the greens. Sounds like he's throwing a temper tantrum. That's to be expected.

Yeah he just came out of brumation and has been extra cranky because he wants a woman.

What do you mean get them off the ground? Haha

I've been giving him mustard greens and/or another type of green I don't remember the name, I think turnip, every morning.

I've had to attatch the greens dish to a little holder about an inch or two up the side of the enclosure. I use plastic throw away dishes that work quite well. But I just installed a couple hooks on my wood sides and just kind of hanged it. That may or may not work depending on your setup. But that prevents them from sitting and pooping in it. Does he have a water dish that he can soak in? Mine like to do that alot but either way he should be getting the veggies. Try breaking his system up and making be a little hungry. It won't hurt him.

It's probably going to be difficult to find in Alaska, but one thing that always get my beardie is purple cactus pears, around here they're sometimes called nopales which is just Spanish for cactus pear. There are green ones, but the purple ones seem to get my beardie way more excited. If he's full grown he should be able to pass the seeds from what I've read, but I've never just fed Isis a full one, I usually push it through a mesh strainer to get the seeds out. I put it on yellow squash that I put in the food processor and she went nuts. Be careful though, the juice and all will stain anything it touches including beardie faces, fingers, clothes, everything.

Another thing to try that my beardie LOVES is... baby food. Yup. Baby food. We got her a chicken kind after she laid eggs to get her back up to a healthy weight, but on beardeddragon.org, a lot of keepers use veggie baby food as a treat or to get picky beardies to eat. The fruit baby food should only be fed in small amounts, the veggie and chicken/turkey/beef/etc kind can be fed more often but not as a staple really. I looked at a brand called Beech Nut and it seems to have less fillers like corn starch. The Beech Nut Chicken and Chicken Broth only has chicken and chicken broth as ingredients while Gerber and another brand [I don't remember what it was] had chicken, chicken broth, and corn starch. The Beech Nut brand also had better nutrition facts imo.

Good luck!

The only thing I'll say about the baby food is if you are going to use it put just a little on the veggies. Otherwise im not a fan of baby food for any herp.

I usually just dip the ends Isis's mustard greens in the chicken baby food. I bought a jar about two weeks ago and I've used it like five times maybe [feeding twice a day] and I still have 3/4 of a jar. Too much and it'll cause diarrhea especially with the fruit ones and some veggie ones with more sugar. Should've mentioned to put it on the greens and not just feed it straight. Sorry I forgot that part.

They get used to being babied. I like to get them to do it themselves. I just absolutely refuse to do something like that everyday. One of my females is a rescue and her last owner used to cut the greens up small and then finger feed. For 3 years she was finger fed every day. SCREW that. That habit was broken in less than 2 weeks. When veggies go in the cages everyday everyone goes over to their dish and digs in. They dont need mom to feed them. They won't starve themselves and greens and veggies are a huge part of an adults diet.

Yea I figured the babying part out the hard way for a while. Last November-ish she started slowing way down on eating anything. Wouldn't even look at a cricket or a superworm let alone her greens. The only way she'd eat is if I started out hand-feeding her one or two pieces while putting the rest of her greens in her bowl. Over the winter she continued to refuse food [brumation] but my fiance and I went out of town for a week and a half and Isis stayed with my mom. My mom had the best intentions... But she hand fed Isis everyday after she got off work because Isis wouldn't eat and she didn't want Isis to die while I was on vacation. Unfortunately it took me a while to get Isis to eat from her bowl again... We still have stand-offs where she'll try to grab greens out of my hand while I'm trying to put them in her bowl just so I'll "hand-feed" her again. :rolleyes:

Ya they can be super brats. It Sounds like she was going through a brumation which is normal for them to stop eating. But Hand feeding never helps things.

My boy's never really been spoiled, the first time I tried hand feeding him a roach, he engulfed my finger lmao, so no more hand feeding.

I've tried on and off for the past year to get him to eat veggies, doing the veggies in the morning, and bugs every other day at night thing, but, he just doesn't budge.

But tomorrow it will be 3 days, so we'll see how he does!

Hold out he'll start eating his veggies. You could try putting 1 or 2 prey items in his veggies. Until he starts eating them. What kinds of veggies are you feeding?
I've noticed mine love parsley and other pungent smelling fresh herbs in their veggies.

He will pick through his salad to get to the bugs. I've even tried mealworms, and he will literally sit at his bowl picking through the salad.

I also am going to have to start tong feeding him bugs, because apparently, he's been diving into the bowl allowing the roaches to climb up him to get out. I cleaned his house last weekend and found about 20 roaches stashed under a log!

I've just been sticking to the mustard and turnip greens because I don't want to buy a lot and have it go to waste, but I will pick up some parsley this weekend.

I use mustard greens, dandelion geeens, parsley, carrots, green and yellow squash, collard greens, chives, green onion sometimes, every once in a while Kale, Lima beans,sugar snap peas, green beans, and black berries when they are in season. Variety is the spice of life in my house. You can go to the grocery store and pick and choose how much you get of whatever veggies. Like some greens I only buy a couple stalks or leaves others I buy the whole pound. Also snapping off the stems reduces the weight so you pay less or get more for your $. Little tricks mom taught me about grocery shopping to save $. The stems is all water so that adds alot of weight.

haha wow, our grocery store is not like that. Everything is already bundled together and you have to buy it like that :P

Sure you can just un- bundle it. 

Haha yes I could, but we don't pay by the pound, one bundle is a set price. so if I took a leaf off, I'd still pay the bundle price.

Well, I just gave him a nice bowl of mustard and turnip greens, grabbed him out of a corner because he was throwing a hissy fit and he ate some of his vittles like a good boy! :D

I'm going to take your list to the store and buy a couple different things and see if maybe he's just not a big fan of the things I've been offering.

He just tried to bite me!!

I was holding him on my shoulder on the couch with the blinds open so he could have some sunlight, and then he just launched himself at me and tried to bite me!

He's such a jerk!

Temper tantrum haha. Give me my bugs back!!!!!

DES or droopy eye syndrome.

I have seen it in a few dragons and it does not seem to bother them, they eat grow and breed.

Normally a dragon that is not offered greens/veggies at hatchling stage will not eat veggies later on in life. they are all different in preference towards food items. a dragon that will not eat veggies is normally a somewhat dehydrated dragon.

He got veggies every day as a baby and he still does.

He gets regular baths and I mist him down(not his cage) really regularly.

He is just going crazy right now also and it's really annoying. The second his lights are on he's running around his cage crashing into the glass and trying to climb it. He sits in one corner and just freaks out for 12 hours sometimes.

Can you post a pic of his droopy eyes?

I'll see if I have any on my comp, if not I'll take pictures later.

Just took this.

http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/m...Pepper/011.jpg

Yes that is droopy eye syndrome.

Not so bad in your pic I have seen much worse. if you keep him on sand make sure to check now and then to see if any sand has collected in there.

I had a female that was worse than your guy and she lived a long happy life.:)

It's a tiny bit worse than that because he was squinting angrily at me for getting near him lol. Yeah I had read about the condition and figured thats what he had. Do you have any sites with more info?

He has shelf liner in his cage because he eats eveything else, like papertowel! He won't eat veggies but he'll take giant bites of papertowel! But he has never been on sand.

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

Do you have any sites with more info?

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Look on beardeddragon.org may be something there.

Too me...and I am no expert here....but I would say he might be a little dehydrated. Make sure to give your beardie a good soak in a bath at least once a week for about 20 minutes. This will help them to get the hydration they need as well.

When doing the veggies make sure you are always giving a couple of staples...collards and squash!!!! You might try taking a stawberry or something like that and cutting it up super super small pieces and mixing it in to the salad as well.

And what homegrown said is soooooooooooooooooooo true.....they will make you their slaves. Just ask Princess Bob about that one. I may have to re-hab her at his house. lol She will only eat her greens if I hand feed her. And heaven forefend she chase her food. PLUUUUUEEEESE....lol:rolleyes:

He gets quite a few baths because he refuses to drink out of a dish, eat any type of veggies, or drink out of a dropper..

You have quite the pita!! How'd the waiting game play out? They get most of their water content from the veggies. That's why it's important for him to eat them. Did you ever play the waiting game with the insects?

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

You have quite the pita!! How'd the waiting game play out? They get most of their water content from the veggies. That's why it's important for him to eat them. Did you ever play the waiting game with the insects?

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Who me??? I have not....Princess Bob turns completely black when one gets loose in her cage. Totally freaks out. LOL:rolleyes: But I totally create this monster. She was my first lizard...rocked to bed everynight, given baths with a little scrubby brush, has a cage that is all decked out, and a bed that she insists on using everynight with a blankey, and poop cleaned up immediately or she will again get angry with you. :rolleyes:

Seriously Im screwed!! lol

No I have the pain in the butt haha.
The waiting game has pretty much failed. I've tried every stinking veggie and he refuses to eat them. I've mixed a couple superworms in because they are smaller so I figured he'd have to eat some salad, but he picked through the salad....I still havent given him any roaches. But now he is really angry and I can't hold him because he tries to bite me...

I think this might be Princess Bob's soulmate.....lol

Yeah I don't know, it's really frustrating, he used to be really cool, now he's just annoying. All he does is scratch at the sides of his glass and freak out and I can't even hold him anymore.

I have won the battle! Hopefully the war?

I have still been holding out for the last couple days and made him a salad of bok choy, collard greens, and some green beans, stuck them on a plate and put them right next to him and he started gobbling them up!

A couple days ago I was also able to trick him into eating salad by using the trick someone suggested. Wrapping a bug in some veggies! He caught on after a couple bites but I cut the pieces of greens pretty big.

Woohoo!! Congrats!!

Ahhhh omg it's a miracle. Let's all take this time to thank the beardy gods. See, the waiting game eventually does it. Glad he liked the bug veggie tacoSuper. I think that if you give him veggies in the am daily and bugs every other day in the pm (give him a little less than normal for a few feedings, this will keep him a little hungry so by the time veggies come around he's chomping them down) then he'll start to get on a schedule and since he'll be on a better diet he'll regulate himself better between bugs/veggies. So much better. Excellent!