Droopy eyes

[AkHerps]

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?

[Action Reptiles]

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

[AkHerps]

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.

[Homegrownscales]

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.

[AkHerps]

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.

[Homegrownscales]

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.

[AkHerps]

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.

[Homegrownscales]

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.

[maverickgtr]

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!

[Homegrownscales]

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.