Wasting away.

It's a sad thing when you have done everything and still are doing all you can to help your dragons and they still are wasting away. I have been hand feeding for some time now and they still won't eat any other way. My one female is very hard to get to feed so she gets even less. They finished their meds a while ago and I am trying to get another fecal to retest to see how they are doing but have not got a good enough one yet. I have not even got one to send to test for andeo yet. They have been refusing everything I give them. Is there something else that might start them to eat on their own? I fear if they keep on this way they will not make it.

I dont know what to say to help the. But Im sorry that you have to watch that. It must be hard It sounds like you are doing all you can. Im sorry And I hope they turn atround for you soon. Have oyu tried parazap? It is supposed to increase thier appitites. I had a adult that wouldnt eat and wasway skinny I gave that to her and with in a 2 month time she gained over 150 grams. Just started eating like a pig. I wish you the best of luck.

A vet can easily do a cloacal swab in their office to test for parasites. Ask your vet to do this and hopefully you will be able to determine what parasite they have.

I already had a fecal done and they had pinworms and coccidiosis. They gave me meds and I gave it to them for the time they told me to. They started looking like they were getting back to normal then they started losing weight again. I don't get enough in them to get a good fecal to take another one. I have never heard of parazap? Where do you get it? The vet has been trying to help. I just hope it is not andeo. I heard if they have low immune systems from andeo it can leave them susceptible to other things.

Originally Posted by SteveHiss

A vet can easily do a cloacal swab in their office to test for parasites. Ask your vet to do this and hopefully you will be able to determine what parasite they have.

Exactly what I was going to suggest.

You can also make a slurry and feed them that with a syringe. The slurry mix is very high in protein. It also has some acidophiliz, jump start and calcium mixed in it. The slurry should perk your dragons up and stimulate their appetite. I have seen it save dragons before and hopefully it can save your dragons as well.


1 lb. of chicken thighs or leg quarters with skin
1 tablespoon calcium powder
1/2 cup of superworms
3 teaspoons acidophiliz (supplement for digestion - can be made without it)
2 pinkies
1 teaspoon of jump start

Boil the chicken thighs or leg quarters for 20 minutes. Cut the meat and skin off the bone and cut them into small pieces and put into your blender or food processor in small sections (add about a 1/2 cup to a cup of cool water with each blending). Add the pinkies, superworms, calcium powder and acidophiliz. Now blend blend blend........

Add water until for a soupy consistency while blending, so it's not clumpy. Once finished it should have a creamy, smooth consistency. Pour into ice cube trays. Freeze one day in the ice cube trays and then transfer cubes into a freezer safe bag. Cubes should be good in freezer up to 3 months.

One defrosted ice cube of soup is the perfect serving for one dragon.

Draw the soup into a syringe and feed as much as they will take every 4-6 hours.

Good luck,

I have never fed them pinkies, can you get them at a pet store? Your recipe says 1 teaspoon of jump start. What is jump start? I will give it a try. Thanks Mike for your help.

You can get pinkies at some pet stores, not Petco or Petsmart mind you. You can always call and ask. I don't know if pinkies would be a good idea because if they haven't eaten in awhile, the high fat and size of the pinky might be too much for them to handle. Try the slurry, hopefully it will help. What about getting fluids done at the vet to keep hydration and electrolytes up? Maybe even some vitamin shots? I hope something works out for you soon.

Having a couple pinkies in the slurry is perfectly fine. They will be ground up into a million pieces and distributed between all the ice cubes you will be making. So I don't see where size would be an issue, techgirl........

Most pet stores these days carry frozen pinkies. Just thaw them before adding them to the blender or food processor.

Hey Mike what is a (1 teaspoon of jump start)?

Jeez, sorry. I thought the pinkies were going to be fed as is, not blenderized. I even re-read the slurry mix and still missed the pinkies in the mix. Yeah, then the pinkies aren't going to matter. Sorry there. I'm a yutz