Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
We have two 13 month old females(Mia and Xena) housed in a 65 gallon cage. The basking area ranges from 98 to 105 degrees and the rest of the cage ranges from 75 at night to 85 or so during the day. We feed them veggies dusted with VGF twice a day and superworms dusted with Calcium every other day. In the past they have both been very good eaters but Mia has always eaten more veggies than Xena. We went away for a week and had our housekeeper only feed them veggies as she was afraid of the superworms. When we returned, both dragons were very anxious for superworms. We fed them both approx 8 superworms each and they were looking for more. We also fed them veggies which they ate moderately. Since then( 1 week ago) Mia has no appetite and refuses to eat even superworms. We believed a couple days after she last ate she had a very hard white(bone -like) poop. We soaked her in warm water(which she didn't seem to mind) 4 days ago thinking that she may be constipated but she didn't go. 2 days ago( 5 days after she last ate) we soaked her again and she pooped which was again that white stuff and some brown. Since she hadn't eaten for 5 days does this mean she is somewhat impacted? She is very alert, had 100% use of both back legs and even though she is a bit less active than Xena she still can walk around just fine. How long can they go without eating before their health will deteriorate? We had attended a show in Hamburg PA a while ago and talk to several breeders that indicated they feed their dragons superworms as a staple. Is this a bad thing to do? Is it true that a superworm could still be alive in her stomach? We live in Collegeville, PA(Eastern PA) and would greatly appreciate any suggestions or help any of you can give us. I would rather speak to someone on the phone if possible as we are somewhat desperate for advice at this point. Mia is a beautiful dragon(sandfire)and we want to get her help ASAP. We are also looking for a real GOOD reptile Vet in our area(zip is 19426) in case of an emergency so any contacts for Vets would also be greatly appreciated. Our email to contact us privately is vntgmbk@msn.com. If you think you may be able to help us or know of someone that can, please email us your phone number(or I can email you back our phone number) so we can get Mia help before she starts getting too weak and it's too late.
Thanks for your help in advance,
Mike Ricci

first off, you should not feed suppliments with t-rex food products. Too many suppliments can do more harm than good. the white urates (pee)beeing hard like bone is a sign of that.
superworms are not a staple. they are can be hard to digest especially when given in large quanity. they can also cause impaction when too many are given even to large Beardies.
worms die long before they get to the somach, not to worry.

there can be several reasons for not eating. assuming your temps are ok and they are not impacted they may be getting ready to brumate. there are several people that have stopped giving VGF due to decreased appetite.

You can get some more answers on my site or call me if you wish.

Beardiedragon Q&A

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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

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Signature edited for TOS violation.

Edited on August 23, 2004 at 00:16:27 by phwyvern.