Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All. My 8 month old beardie recently stopped eating her greens and then stopped eating crickets (still eats butterworms but I know that's not a good staple). She's 14 inches long and in a 50 x 24 cage on shelf liner with a 10.0 uvb bulb. The basking spot is around 105 and the cool side is around 82 - this is a new enclosure but she stopped eating the greens before I moved her. When I first got her 2 months ago, she jumped off her rock and ran to greens and crickets at every feeding. She had runny stool for the first week that I had her so I took her to the vet and we treated her for flagellates. That fixed the problem but that was when she stopped eating greens. I put fresh salad in every morning (collards, turnip, mustard, squash) but she doesn't touch it. The last couple of days, she's been disinterested in crickets (she'll eat only one or two) but will gobble up butterworms. Any ideas?

she needs a probiotic to get her gut flora working properly again.

Acidophiliz is commonly used with reptiles, talk with your vet about proper dosage.

Other probiotics you can use are parazap (not a probiotic per say, but it does contain some, since it conditions the gut, to better increase the dragon's natural resistance to parasites) and in a pinch, no fat/unsweetened yogurt (but only in a very small amount...the active bacterial culture is what is good for the dragon, not the dairy part of yogurt...hence no more than a level teaspoon for an adult dragon once a day for a couple days then stop)

Make sure your dragon is very well hydrated. Parasite treatments tend to dehydrate animals, and extra water is needed to protect their kidneys.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks for the tip. I'm ordering AcidophiLiz online right now.

So PHLdy...what is Acidophiliz? Been trying to google it...can't get a clear answer. How do you know if your beardie needs it?

Acidophiliz is a probiotic...helps restore beneficial gut flora (bacterias etc) which aid in digestion of food. Anti-biotics, dewormers and other parasite removers often destroy beneficial gut flora and can lead to loss of appetite and improper digestion.

Most reptile vets will carry Acidophiliz if you ask your vet for it. Or you can just ask for a good probiotic. You can also buy Acidophiliz online, but I recommend talking to your vet about proper dosages.

It is also called Acidophilus, which may be why you haven't been able to find it online. I have seen it go by both names, but it seems to refer to the same type of probiotic.
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PHLdyPayne

You can buy it at beautifuldragons.com if you want.

Hello Niddy,

I know they have already told you what acidophiliz is. I just wanted to reiterate how good of a product it is. You can get it from either www.beautifuldragons.com or from www.reptilesupply.com
Meds destroy the normal gut flora that exists in their GI tract. The acidohpiliz which contains a mixture of active cultures, helps to replace it. No vet is needed to dose her on it though. They can safely take up to 1 cc of the mixture. She may like it straight. It contains papaya & yucca enzymes which help with digestion. It helps alot.
I hope she is feeling better soon.

Tracie

Thanks, Drache! But Bindy's fine...I was just curious.

> > > "Meds destroy the normal gut flora that exists in their GI tract."

Precisely why man (humans) needs to let nature take its course and keep their cotton-pickin' hands off of things.

Once you start poking, probing, groping & doping, you have to continually do so just to try to compensate for the last thing you attempted to compensate for. Quite a vicious cycle.

I wonder if they go see Dr. Beardie in the wild for a treatment of replenishing vital organisms that some silly human killed off? Hmmmmmm......
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

I realize you said this is a new enclosure but she did the same thing two weeks prior to moving into this one. One thing that can creep up on us sometimes is low light levels. This can happen when relocating or changing a setup, or, replacing a setup. Just make sure the cage is bright enough to simulate a sunny Australian day.

Have a good one!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

I'm pretty sure it's bright enough - it's a custom enclosure and we had the inside made out of a lighter color than the outside so it would reflect the light. Here's a pic - what do you think?

Nice setup!

Yeah, if that's the way the cage normally looks (room lighting, cage lighting, etc...) then I think your lighting is perfectly fine.

Just to clarify, I didn't intend for my lighting comment to come across as; "I don't think it has anything to do with parasites, or whatever, it's probably poor lighting, instead."

My comment was meant as more of a "heads up" when re-doing setups, and I thought that it might could be a factor, not the culprit, but a factor, in your case.
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

This is exactly what my beardie did at about 7-8 months. She stopped eating crickets one day...had enough, I guess. Giving her more light really helped her activity level, but NOT her eating. She eats a few worms every 2-3 days and has just started eating greens, but that's it.

Wish I could help more, but this is more of a "I know what you're going through" post. If it helps, my Bindy seems very healthy, and suprisingly has a lot of meat on her. (It's been 2 months since her change in eating.)

Good luck!

Hi Niddy. I read your post after I posted mine and thought it sounded like the same situation. I'm going to try the Acidophiliz that PHLdypayne recommended and see if that doesn't help. I know the feeling though when you said that you walked in the room and saw yours eating greens. I have a Rankins that didn't eat for almost 4 months. The first time he ate a worm I literally danced around the room. : ) Hope yours continues to eat.