Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well i have a female frill dragon that i recieved back from my friend (who posted up about silk worm juice out of the nose) and i built her a nice lil vivi and scenery and she seems to be doingg great, basking and everything. very very active. the first 5 days i had her back she was eating, only when i offerd her food she'd frill, strike, and eat, and each day she got worce with her am and eventualy striked, missed and just ran away not to try again. now she just wont eat, i've left silk worms in there for her for days, a bowl of her fav, super worms, crickets (that got out and now are roaming the house) you name it i've tried it, even force feeding her flukers emergency care yesterday because she looked dehydrated.

she is overall doing fine. only she wont eat, most of the time her head is purked up and she isnt in fear and slouched showing signs of stress, her enclosure's front is coverd so she cant see out and handleing has been at a minimum.
she has had a fecal done when i first got her and she was clean.

when i got her back she was 130 grams at 5.5 inches snout to vent(which is slightly more then typical)
and now she's 115, she looks at a healthy weight and she does soak in her water so she doesnt look dehydrated.

what do you guys think? what should i do if she's not eating no matter what?

my friend didnt have an issue with her eating, i even added a MVB and that made her alot more active, temps are 85-95 with basking branch sloped up and highest temp is 115, but she ususaly doenst bask as the temps are so warm already, i only see her basking in morning.
humidity: 35 in morning, 85-95 after i spray, and 65 by time lights turn off at night.
night temp is 75-80

Have you seen her drink water or is it she just not eating. How did you do the force feeding (I don't like this term)
You can make a slurry made of bugs, crix,supers, little acidophilus,calcium and water then mix up in a blender. I use a small spoon and drop a small amount of the liquid on the tip of the snout,once she starts to lick the liquid then add more of the bug juice and parts.

yes she drinks and likes sitting in her large water container(small kitty litter pan)
i "force feed" by using flukers emergency care wich is a powder you mix with water and use a seringe and place it into the mouth, once its in her mouth she drinks it up, i hate doing it and have only done it once in the last 3 weeks. i leave on vacation on the 22nd this month for 12 days, and i will be giving her flukers care on tuesday if she still hasnt eaten. it just sucks because i have tried hand feeding, and i dont believe there really is anything else for me to do

her temps are high on the spectrum and her humidity is up too .. i even have the front coverd so she cant see us.

I have had a similar problem with my frill refusing to eat. He is juv. frill. He has been on flukers emergency care for at least three weeks and I started adding extra calcium. He would refuse to hunt, but if i put insects into his mouth, he would eat them.

For the first time, a couple days ago, he actually reached out with his tongue and ate a couple crickets on his own. I am hoping he is finally turning the corner.

hey there, just making sure you have proper uvb lighting (not compact florecent as its damaging) and you got high humidity and high heat.
if you got that, wlel then your in the same boat as me. for feeding flukers emegency care every day is a bad idea, 3 times a week is about max you should try force feedingg that stuff. but it is great stuff..

the stress from feeding your frill this way will prolong it from eating by itself as stress is the main reason it wont eat.know what i mean?

good luck and keep us posted on when/how your frill starts eating. we really need more information about this for frill dragons. its a very common issue as frill dragons have high stress levels

try horned worms, they really rock @ getting the little guys hungry, also pheniox worms work good to, because they move so much might wanna try that appitite stimulator they sell in pet stores too. i never tried it, but i hear it works wonders. as far as havin em hunt on their own, its difficult after they've been hand fed, i noticed they get very lazy and will expect their food to come to them. best way is to have some active worms on the bottom of cage near the baskin spot and leave em there, they wont starve themselves to death, but when the time comes, they can't help but resist those little tempting tastey morsles. kinda like me when it comes to new castle burgers!

best pic ever

Boomer's gettin bigger i'll post some new ones up soon

Wow! That is a great picture of him frilling!

Thanks fc3schick87,

For the advice and support.
I reduced the supplement amount.
He's eating again!!!
I am so very very relieved...

all the best,

I think i read that you would leave crickets in a bowl for her... I have a girl that is very skittish and nervous and is also weird about eating but lately i have seen her eating more. Have you tried leaving some crickets roaming in the cage? It seems like they are picky sometimes, it has to be the right cricket moving the right way lol for them to eat it. Even my male that eats like crazy will have a cricket right in front of him and not eat it but then another one will come across and he will grab it. And a lot of times when i would try putting crickets in a bowl they wouldnt really go after them like they will when i would throw some in the enclosure. I would suggesst putting some in the enclosure and giving her time and surprisingly she will grab one when you're least expecting it.