Advice for a malnourished dragon

[Christina]

Hey all. I've been off the forum for quite some time, due to a busy schedule at school, blah blah blah. Finally have a reason that (fortunately or unfortunately) got me to jump back on.

I rescued a dragon earlier this year, maybe in October? I was at school when the dragon came home. I told my parents how to tell the difference and we were happy to learn that we acquired a girl (Ziggy)! I have another dragon, a boy named Munch, who's been around for 2 years now.

Mom sent me a picture and quite frankly, she looked quite weird. Then I got home for a weekend to see her and she was really thin, having a hard time functioning/moving around. She couldn't close her mouth entirely either.

When my family cleaned out the tank, they found about 50 meal worms in the critter country. She never ate crickets and never had veggies. She did have a bowl of water. This confirmed my suspicions of a calcium deficiency and the fact that she probably had been surviving on water.

Here's where I ask for help. She won't eat veggies, crickets, worms, anything on her own. I've been force feeding a chicken and veggie baby food mix, heavy on the protein and light on the veggies. I load it with calcium. She drinks water like a fiend. She's had the appropriate lighting (surprisingly) and I switched her over to tile a month ago. She actually has improved drastically and her color is coming back (she was super pale before). She's pooping much more regularly and they are looking a lot more normal. She's starting to move more/better and even starting to shed some parts of her skin. I honestly never thought she would make it this far. She's even starting to make gestures towards my other guy (separate tanks, no worries).

I'm worried she's never going to eat on her own. What do you do to start getting an animal back on that track?

Let me know about your experiences, ideas and thoughts! Thanks all!

Here's a picture for reference:

[deto360]

Like u said she's a rescue so keep doin what u are doin specially if she's gettin better just make her as comfy as u can and try the freeze dried crickets just to give her alil take of butter worms since there so :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: in color and have some calcium in them



Good luck with her

[deto360]

And most import try and find a vet

[Scaleyz]

Tomato horned worms I've heard have more protein than crickets and seem to be a delicacy. I've never seen a beardie that would turn them down. Congratulations on nursing your bearding back to health. Hope this helps.

[Christina]

That's what the guys at my shop said. I tried a tomato worm and a pinky. The other dragon loves when we try to feed her things, because he is a garbage disposal.

[Christina]

Alright! Randomly, Zig started eyeballing some supers that I was feeding to the other guy. I tossed one in, just to see what would happen, and for some reason she decided to eat!

She ate 3 supers and a cricket tonight. Crickets are harder for her to catch. I'm still doing the baby food mix, but now that she will eat supers, I'm covering them in calcium too.

Off tomorrow to buy a few tomato worms! This girl has made some progress, let me tell you!

I think she even ate a small piece (although a bit dried up) of romaine today. We are finally getting places! Woo hoo!

[mike_B]

you might also want to give it repty boost its a combination of vitamins and insects its high in calcium and all the good stuff a canvor lizard needs you can all so give it a bath it will help the dry skin just fill a container with warm water like if u wear going to bathe a baby just enuf that the water will cover the spikes on the side of her belly it will do wonders trust me i bread bearded dragons and i also take in rescues so iv bin wear u r here is a good web sight u might want to try Bearded-Dragons.com Community its full of info hope your dragon gets better

[kitedemon]

What a poor little dear! You might take a peek for black soldier fly larva (Phoenix worms) too they maybe hard to find or not depending... Good luck!!

[babyknees]

What a poor little dear! You might take a peek for black soldier fly larva (Phoenix worms) too they maybe hard to find or not depending... Good luck!!

ReptiWorms are also the same thing!

[Homegrownscales]

I know from experience rescuing beardies is quite a feat. So congrats already on what you've gotten her to do. The most important thing will be to get her on a steady staple of good food. Like roaches or crix. IMO crickets might be a little easier because if you cut off most of their legs they won't be as able to move. This making it a bit easier for her to catch. If the lights came with her I honestly wouldnt trust them and I would just go grab new ones. Make sure to be using cal w/ vt d3 as well at least 2-3x a week. If she has a ca deff. Which she does she will need the extra ca. The only words of warning I will give is beardies that get babied will get accustomed to being hand feed/ force fed etc. They will strictly only want to be fed by hand or fingers or syringe. I've seen this with a few beardies that have been rescued. They love being coddled. The only problem is it makes it hard for them to function as a normal adult in the future. So as hard as it may be. Get her hydrated, good lamps, make sure husbandry is spot on, get some crix, and veggies and try and get her to eat them on her own. Just try to not have her get in the habit of being manually fed. That way she will be able to function and live a normal life. Make sure to gutload the crix or roaches with a high ca high protein food. I use laying hen mash for all my feeders. I just scoop a bit out and wet it with water. It's great gutload and cheap.

The ca deficiency is most likely ceasing her appetite. Calcium levels play huge roles in these animals lives from muscle and motor control, to appetite and bone development. So I would also have some calcium glubionate ( liquid ca ) on hand and give her a small dose weekly. You can get it at any pharmacy. Its a syrupy calcium supplement and it really helps for animals that are ca deficient. I give it to my own animals especially in egg laying seasons.

I would still have her checked by a vet. Especially for any parasites. Just in case. But beyond that just try to get her eating on her own and living a healthy life.

Ok sorry for the rambling. Good luck!




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