Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a Bearded Dragon that stopped eating. When I got him 3 months ago, he had strongyles & coccidia. After the treatment (panacur & albon) he hasn't been eating much. He is around 4-5 months old but weighs 21grams and is 6 inches head to tail. Basically, he hasn't shed for the past 3 months. He was active before but not anymore, and I have to force feed him for the past 5 days.

He is in a 15gl tank. UVB 8.0, 60 watt light bulb 6 inches from basking area. Basking 115F, 75F cool. I use shelf liner and have plastic plants as decor. I give him warm bath mornings and after he poops.

I am currently feeding him small crickets and silkworms (with calcium), Acidolphiliz+ 2 drops daily and Parazap 1cc 2x/day. He poops daily but only because I force feed which I know is stressful for him, but I don't want him to die from not eating.

As you can see in the pic, I have 2 digital thermometers and digital timers. 13hr light cycle. The pics show the basking to be 94F as the light just turned on. It is usually 115F.

I disinfect the tank with Novalsan weekly and I do make sure to air dry. I also disinfect the area he poops immediately.

He has been parasite free for the past 3 weeks. What can I do? I do not want to force feed him but I may lose him.

Link

The previous link is not working. This is the correct link to view the pics. Please click on CAPPUCCINO. Thanks.

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/petloverrescue

I just figured out that I can't share my pics. How do I upload it here?

It sounds like you are doing every thing right. The right basking temp, right UVB bulbs, using a probiotic after parasite treatment to help restore beneficial gut flora, etc. Forcefeeding is stressful for your dragon but I can understand you don't want him to starve to death.

Though not good as a regular diet, you can try mixing a bit of unsweetened low fat fruit yogurt in with finely chopped greens (you can use a food processor to cut the greens really fine, take out any big stems, especially the ones from collard greens and kale). Instead of force feeding, put a bit of this into a jar lid and into his cage. Or use a spoon and rub a bit on his nose or side of his mouth, so he can lick it off and get a taste for it. If he likes it he will most likely take the rest off the spoon.

Silkworms are great insects to offer, you can try and hand feed him these, by holding the head part of the silkworm and let it wiggle it's back end while it tries to escape from your hand and find purchase for the rest of his body. I have found this would get my bearded dragont o take the silkworm if she was being particularly stubbern about eating.

It may be a good ideal to take another stool sample to the vet, to make sure no more parasites have returned.

I would recommend not cleaning the entire cage every week, just spot clean. Having the cage cleaned that often can be stressful for the dragon. Daily spot cleaning and disinfecting the area with appropriately diluted novasand will be enough, especially since you use the shelf liner. A entire cage clean once a month is fine.