Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 5 year old male beardie named Spike that we are very attached to. About 6 months ago he was sick with a respiratory infection that apparently spread to his esophogus and it was causing him to vomit. I took him to a very good reptile vet (Dr. Harkewicz at Berkeley Dog and Cat Hospital, look him up!) and after lots of antibiotics Spike seemed more or less to have recovered. Now, though, his stomach/esophogus seems to be very sensitive to the hard exoskeleton of insects. He can't eat mealworms anymore at all or it will make him puke up the shells. A few days ago it happened with crikets, he puked up a whole bunch of them a day or so after eating them. Maybe his stomach is sensitive now since he is getting older and he was sick, or maybe there is some other more serious problem. I have an appointment with the vet again for this weekend, but I was wondering if anyone here has experienced this.

Many Thanks.
Tom

Most common reason for vomiting (other than parasites and infections) seems to be if the tempatures are too low for the beardie to digest food properly. Also, since he's had problems in the past you might want to extra careful and feed him smaller crickets (or freshly mottled ones). That should be easier on his stomach.

A fully adult dragon wouldn't need much insect foods. He should (or maybe he is, as you didn't mention what else he eats) be eating greens every day with 1-2 feedings of insects per week. If he is having trouble keeping crickets down, try silkworms a couple times a week instead. Silkworms are very soft bodied with a high water content so are very easy to digest.

I have a female (Marissa) who cannot eat superworms or mealworms. She will puke them up every time. But, she does okay with crickets, silkworms and butterworms.

I'll let you know what the vet says this weekend. I'll try raising his temps.

Spike is very picky about the veggies that he eats these days. He eats squash sometimes but he almost never eats greens anymore, I wish that he would.

any time a reptile or bird vomit, a probiotic should be used to replace the lost gut flora needed for proper digestion. BTW what is your basking side temp? if you want to feed bugs, you might considder roaches as they seem to digest better than crix or supers (don't know about silkies, have not tried that yet). Lobsters are small and easiest to digest.

If you want to try to win some for free, send a pic of your BD and maybe win the photo contest.
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

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Signature edited for TOS violation.

Edited on August 23, 2004 at 00:35:40 by phwyvern.

Roaches you say? Do you have a caresheet on those? I would like to know how you keep them in the cage! Seems like a problem could arise especially if some get out, I live in Florida and that is the LAST thing I need!

they are very easy to care for, especially lobsters. get a rubbermaid tub, vasaline, some bran and egg flats. put about 1" of bran in the tub and then coat a 2" strip of vasaline around the top. Roaches that climb dont like the feel of vasaline and will not cross the barrier. as long as the barrier is there and free of dirt they wont escape. stand up the egg flats and your cage is done. for food, you can feed them scraps that are leftover in the house. lobsters eat anything, turkey, meat, fruit, veggies nothing goes to waste.

temps need to be around 80-87 (the higher the better), and make sure they have good ventilation. they like the dark so you can keep them in a closet. smell is only a problem if you let the food sit too long. way better than crix. it is best to feed just enough for a day at a time.

these are lobsters

and death heads

.

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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

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Signature edited for TOS violation.

Edited on August 23, 2004 at 00:27:12 by phwyvern.

Hey thanks a lot! Lets see what my roomate thinks about that though...