Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

Herby is doing well,she is the most beat-up looking thing but we think she's beautiful!! We call her our short-tailed, no-horned, 15-toed dragon Ha-Ha We are coming up on her first anniversary with us. I never thought we'd make it this far...I'm sure we wouldn't have without all you guys esp. Marcia and Joe.

My 2 y.o. (is that right Joe?) MHD Texas has been flat lately. She usually (always!) hangs from the side of the cage unless she has to come down. A couple of times lately I have found her just sitting on the floor of the cage. When I talk to her, she opens her eyes but will close them again right away. If I offer super mealies-her favorite- she seems to take interest for a brief second but will just close her eyes again. Her hip bones are starting to show and she's getting skinny.

How long should I wait (she hasn't eaten in a week) before I start forcing her on baby food/pedialyte? She has no other physical symptoms that I can see, can't be pregnant and Herby in the same tank is fine. I don't want to be all paranoid, but I don't want to wait too long either.

Thanks for reading this far!
Windy

if it were me
and my GUT said soemthing was wrong
I would start with a bit of Pedialyte (2-3 cc a feeding, one - tweo feedings a day is what I do)
then if no improvment after 3-4 days, mix in a bit of meat
and same scedule
this is what I did for my Erowen after she layed the eggs
and when I see her doing poorly I give her a bit of Pedialyte, and she perks up nicely
do you ever give Pinky Mice?
Erowen finally ate one, and she seems to LOVE them (4 1/2 in a week)
her apetite is UP now, so I M dropping worms in front of her daily
I wish her color was better, I hate seeing her drab and brown
but green will happen again someday (I HOPE)

-----
Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

I have not tried the pinky mice-I am just a bit too squeamish. I use crickets, super mealies and wax worms. Neither of my MHDs would ever eat red wigglers so I stopped buying them.

You're probably right-I need to start the pedialyte tomorrow. I've not had to force this particular dragon before so it'll be interesting.

I will stay tuned for more ideas,
Windy

Big old Canadian Nightcrawlers are good too
and I keep trying the "other" food stuffs
and once she actually tries them, she seems to love all of them
it is good to see her go for other things, and one of my daughters was squeemish about her eating her little pinkie friends, until she saw how hungry she was.
They seem more satisfying, as do the Nightcrawlers
it is MY belief (just mine) that the bigger the dragon, the more complex their diet needs to be
Crickets are simple food, and superworms/Mealworms are a step up
and earthworms and nightcrawlers are another step up
and Pinkies are yet another one

Since Erowen started with the pinkies, her intake of worms has gone up as well, she needs 5-6 BIG red wrigglers, or 4-5 Nightcrawlers to satisfy her, AND she is eating twice a day
its nice to see her eating so well, makes me wonder how well her nutrition intake was before
oh well, we shall see how she does
the muscles in her legs seem bigger, its good to see something besides her BELLY getting fat
-----
Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*