Finally - 5 years late: An introduction to Cleo, Carra, and Kayla

[dakski]

Anyway, if she was going to hack up anything, I'm not surprised it was a grasshopper. The large legs on grasshoppers (also on large crickets) are very hard to
digest & can plug up lizards that eat them (& keep them down). That's what happened to the bearded dragon I rescued many years ago...he was starved & dying
when he was dumped on me, after being fed only crickets & becoming constipated from the large back legs he couldn't digest. And he was much bigger than an LG.

I pulled him thru though...oral doses of mineral oil per my vet, plus luke-warm water soaks in my bathtub- my hunch that proved to be spot on, both helped him
clear his constipation & be able to eat again, after which he gained & did very well. But during his treatment, he got very spoiled eating little dabs of baby food, LOL! That kept him going just enough without overloading his GI tract. Long after he was eating normal dragon "salads" he saw me eating ice cream...& apparently thought it looked enough like the baby food he still remembered that he tried to jump into my bowl, hahaha! Dragons are goofy!

Cleo and Kayla have a history of not holding down big meals - super worms even sometimes. Carra can eat anything and with zero issue. She ate canned crickets and a grasshopper and digested it fine. I think it depends on the animal. Remember though, LG's are insectivores/carnivores. Beardies are omnivorous. LG's cannot eat as much, but they can handle more chitin in their diets than beardies can. Toref (dwarf monitor) can hold down anything! Grasshoppers, mice with bones, crickets, etc. Again, a pure carnivore.

I also have good news. I got Cleo to eat today. She had 3 Hornworms and loved them, and a wax worm. All were coated in Nutribac in case her stomach is bothering her. I think it's just the time of year and she's being picky. Either way, I am glad I got some easily digestible food into her, with nutribac, and she held it all down. This proves to me that she's probably just being picky and it's not an issue with her mouth, etc. Kayla has been spotty lately too. Maybe it's just the time of year. Carra, of course, continues to devour anything near her. This might get Cleo started, but even if I've found a few items she likes and will eat sometimes, and she's not losing weight, we are on the right track.