New Mountain Horned Dragon... questions.

Hello Gigi,

I know it is frustrating, but as Angie said, just keep trying & doing what you are doing. I really really hope that it pays off for her.
The meds are probably dehydrating her just a tad. They just do that, & it is very hard to keep them hydrated. If that is all she lost, that isn't bad at all.
So you must be getting enough food into her right now.
Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

Well... we have cut her tube feedings back to every other day or so. She will now and then eat A (one) cricket. She isn't pooping as much either... but not as much food. We thought the feeding was stressing her. She still has a more "normal" attitude when we pick her up, etc... getting pissy and puffing out her dewlap. I'll have Gigi write more later...

Excellent progress....she's acting just like a WC should....Diablo was from hell when I first got him. Thrashing around when you tried to pick him up. He bit me all the time. He was a wild man. He's calmed down huge the 3-4 months.

You should only get one poop every two days, that is normal for an adult. She might not be hungry because the tube feeding is so nutrituous. I think you're right to cut that back. You might even go 3-4 days just to see if she'll feed on the insects. Will she eat an earthworm or nightcrawler? I always thought them too big, but they slurp them right down like spagetti.

Keep us posted! Angie =)

Hello Gigi,

That is great she is doing so well! I agree, cutting back on the assisted feeding will help her to gradually get her appetite back & want to eat on her own.
You have done a really super job with her. She is even getting an attitude as well, so she must be feeling pretty well, or quite a bit better anyway.

Tracie

Well I tube fed her yesterday, 2cc, and about ten minutes later i had her sitting on my shirt while I was messing w/ her cage. I had some extra 'formula' left in a 1cc. So just for kicks ,not expecting anything at all,,,,, I tried to see if she would maybe just take some from the dropper from me, ( w/out having to do the hold/ force ,struggle thing etc.. )To my delight she took it! She drank down almost the whole cc on her own w/out having to put in her mouth.
But she still acts so nervous for the most part in or out of her cage. G...

Wow...that's great...mine will do that when I show them the slurry I make for them. She'll take a long time to settle in - I mean a long time. Several months. Mine are just getting over the move to the big cage and I did that in July. If she's just haning out on your shirt and not climbing to your head or jumping off that's a good sign! I'm glad she's coming around. =) Angie

ya she will sit on my shirt for long periods, the less I move around the better of course. but sometimes I have her on me while I'm digging around in her cage etc... Every now and then she gets spooked and moves very quickly around me to away from the front of me.. I tried a big yummy looking butter worm, and a red wiggler, today no interest. ,But she took 1 cc of her liquid from me w/ out having to force her again. What a relief.. G.......

Hello Gigi!

Oh that is great she took formula from you without having to assist feed! That is excellent news to hear. She is starting to slowly come around, & she is even sitting on you peacefully. I am very happy to hear that. Great job with her. Hopefully it will all be downhill from here now.


Tracie

Hey Guys,

How is your girl doing? I've been thinking about you guys...

Angie

Sorry we haven't been online much. Here's our update...
Well... we got her moved to her bigger cage (can't remember if we posted that or not). She seemed to like it... gave her more places to hide.
She still wouldn't eat on her own and if she did it was one cricket. So still tube feed. She really didn't seem like she wanted to acclimate.
We took her to the vet a couple of times. The scales on her dewlap and knees would flake off and not grow back. She was getting a little thinner even with feedings, which increasingly stressed her out. Got a bit of medicine and vitamins to add to the feedings. She just wanted to give up we think... so about a week and a half ago she passed away. She actually didn't look unhealthy really or even skinny. She just never did seem to acclimate. We did everything we could think of and we wouldn't have done as well with her if it hadn't been for you all helping, so thanks for that. I will say the lesson learned here is no more wild caught for us. It's just too sad...