Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Five months ago, I took in an almost ten year old male beardie who has been a classroom pet for most of his life. He was thin, dehydrated, and impacted when he came home...not to mention his previous owners had never heard of a UV lamp. >.<

He eats well, though he vomits up crickets and mealworms so he has been eating greens and silkworms almost exclusively. A bath took care of the sand in his system and for now he's on paper towels. A fecal smear came back clean.

My question is...he has gained a lot of weight, but he still looks thin, and the fat pads on the back of his head are still concave. How can I help him to put on that last bit of weight and fill out?

He's a very good-natured little fellow and I want to see him fat and happy. Thanks in advance!

I guess I can't help answer your question, but I felt the need to reply and say Bless you. I can't imagine what else you could do, but will look forward to replies from the experts. I took in a dying hingeback tortoise and literally brought him back by using a needless syringe to put babyfood in his mouth. He is now happy and healthy and eating his bugs as well as his veggies, but it took a long, long time.

Reptile lovers have HUGE hearts.

Maleea

PS as an educator, I'm pretty appalled that this classroom pet was not cared for properly. The whole idea of a classroom pet is to teach children to care for an animal responsibly. The children should have been involved in research to make sure that they knew how to care for the pet. sigh

Wow - kudos to you for helping this poor old soul. I think it's gonna just take time. After he's had good care for awhile (and lots of healthy greens), try crickets again, then the superworms. Just give him a few (maybe 6) to see if he can keep them down. Sounds like he hasn't ate well in a long time, and just can't handle the chitin in the bugs.
Also, waxworms are like candy for beardies, mostly calories, but it sounds like this guy could probably stand some calories - just not too many, as you don't want to take his appetite from the stuff that's better for him.
But if I took him on, I'd try some pinkie mice on him. Great source of calcuim, and very fattening. They're usually only recommended for breeding females because of how fattening they are, but I also give my elderly male them about once every 6 weeks to help keep weight on him. My vet can't believe how energetic and young-seeming my dragon is, so I must be doing something right! (I get the frozen pinkies, then plunk in hot water till they're warm - sometimes you gotta flick them a bit with your finger in front of the beardie to make them move before he gets the idea).
Please, let us know how you do with the old fella.
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1.0.0 Dumeril's Boa, Bruce
1.0.0 Mexican Kingsnake, Vincent
1.0.0 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris
1.1.0 Ball Pythons, Pete & Frank
2.3.0 Bearded Dragons, Bela, Sally, Caijun, Phoenix & Spook
0.1.0 Fattailed Gecko, Sahein
2.0.0 Rats, Captian Howdy & Despero
1.0.0 Pushy Lovebird Baxter

IT's great you have done so well with this dragon. To get him to put on good weight, I suggeset sticking with the silkworms. These are one of the healthiest feeder insects out there. Mealworms are very heavy in chitin which could be why he throws them up. Adult crickets have hard exoskeletons as well. Try younger crickets, maybe about half inch long instead. Offer only a few per day, then offer silkworms and lots of fresh mixed greens. Maybe you fed him too much crickets and mealworms at once, as you didn't indicate how many of each you fed.

Make sure he stays well hydrated, silkworms help with this as well. You can also add superworms (bigger than mealworms, though rather fatty, but not as bad as waxworms). Being fully adult, the bulk of his diet should still be greens. Fruits and grains could help put weight on as well as crickets. Add a bit of cooked barley to his salad. Or grind up dry barly and spinkle it ontop of his salad. Other grains can be used too but shouldn't be more than 5% of his daily intake of food.

It may take awhile to put the weight on the dragon. Being older, they don't tend to eat as much as they did when younger. Have food available at all times, offer a variety and keeping him well hydrated and stress free will get that weight back on. You don't want to get him fat too fast, this may put more stress on his body than not having alot of stored fat. However I would try and keep him from deciding to burmate, since he doesn't have any stored fats. Though burmation doesn't cause much loss of weight, if he is still under weight, it could be very hard, even dangerous for him.
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PHLdyPayne