Stump and Tequila! My Beardies!

[Iguanagirl8662]

We got him to eat some of the baby food mix out of the syringe last night. Boy was he NOT happy! He was happy once he started eating it but not happy with me "forcing" the syringe in. He tolerated about 1/4 of teaspoon last night. I'm going to see if I can get him to take a full teaspoon throughout the day. They both got a little bit of diced up cactus in their greens this morning so we'll see how they like that.

I'm glad you got a bit of baby food into him.

If you think he gets mad when you try feeding him you should try force feeding Iguanas with a syringe, lol. I've got bit many times giving them medicine and force feeding.

I'm still crossing my fingers and hoping Stump will eat on his own.

 

[Agent Psychocat]

It's awesome that you're getting some down with him, tons of hope from my side

 

[MinLynn]

So far so good! Stump is regularly taking greens on his own everyday. Still no source of protein without forcing though. Today I put a little bit of the babyfood mix in a little dish and put in his viv to see if just maybe he'll take some on his own. He's moving around A LOT more! In fact his favorite place to rest lately is inside his greens bowl. When he's eating his greens, he likes to get inside the dish and eat. Then he usually nods off in there. Kind of cute, really! He is staying awake a lot longer as each day goes by and when we get him out he gets pretty excited and actually walks around instead of just lying there.

Tequila was pretty ticked at me yesterday! I had a bit of a stomach bug, so I didn't really handle him much except for the usual daily things like feeding him and cleaning up. I just wasn't feeling up to having him out on the carpet for play time. I layed down for a couple of hours and woke up to a destroyed viv and a grumpy beardie! He wouldn't look at me at all! When Matt got home I made him get him out for carpet time. He seems like maybe he has forgiven me today.

Mind you, the other side of the viv was COVERED in greens and babyfood!

 

[Floof]

LOL! Tequila has an attitude!!! He's a social little PITA, then, huh?

Good to hear Stump is doing better! Hopefully he'll go for insects before too long here. =)

 

[MinLynn]

Well, I figured out putting the babyfood in the viv is just not a good idea at all! They have both decided that they'd rather paint with it,than eat it! Both tanks were COVERED in squash! The glass, the floors, the perches,everything! I don't even think they ate any of it! I took Tequila out to get a bath since he decided to bathe in the squash and when he was done I set him down in the viv and before I could get the dang dish out he ran and sat right in it again! Silly Dragon! Off to the bath again! Then he REALLY wasn't happy because I had to bust out the toothbrush. Matt got him out this evening and he decided he wanted to roam the living room. It's hilarious just how scared my cats are of him. Whenever one walks up to him, he licks them and they run like heck! He spent a good hour walking around my couch licking everything then fell asleep. Phew! He wears me out!

 

[Floof]

LOL! Well, it's a good thing Stump's so easy-going... If just the one wears you out, I can't imagine what two would do. Lol @ the cats, too... Silly felines. They confuse me more than any reptile. =)

It's awesome that Stump had the energy and determination to paint his viv with baby food... It really goes to show how far he's come in just a few days!

 

[MinLynn]

Oh, Stump is definetly getting more energetic! He may not want to eat protein on his own, but the force feedings have been really perking him up! He stays awake longer and when he's out of his tank he wants to explore a lot more! Still not getting my hopes up but its hard not to when he's making so much progress in just a matter of a week.

 

[Floof]

It sounds like it'd be pretty safe to let your hopes rise a little... =) I've still got my fingers crossed that the little bugger will take a bug!

I still think it would be a good idea to get him looked at and maybe x-rayed so the vet can prescribe you a good solution/medication for MBD... From your descriptions and pics, I'm about 80% sure he probably has it.... Especially since he didn't have a UVB light on him when you got him and his growth is so stunted.

 

[MinLynn]

I'm sure that's what he has too. And we do plan on getting him into a reptile vet when we can. Closest one to us is about an hour away and Hubs only has weekends off. Sucks when there is only one car! He's had to take quite a bit of personal time off of work for all his doctor's appointments(osteoarthritis in his knee with sever muscle atrophy) so we have to wait a little bit until he can take another day.

 

[Floof]

Ah, I see! I've got a similar situation here... Only, instead of working, it's school, and instead of one car, it's one person in the family with a driver's license... It's really annoying that reptile vets are so few and far between! Especially good ones. Just make sure he gets some good UVB time for now... Maybe take him out in the sunlight, if weather's good over there! =)

 

[MinLynn]

Tequila thinks he's a cat!

Lovin' on his Daddy!

 

[Nanci]

Maybe take him out in the sunlight, if weather's good over there! =)

That's an excellent point. 15 minutes of sunlight is worth a whole day of artificial UVB. It would probably do him a world of good to bask in natural sunlight.

 

[MinLynn]

Yesterday, was a bright,sunny, 76 degree day,so Stump spent a good hour outside with me. He loved it!

 

[Floof]

Aww, Tequila's so cute! Lol... It scares the crap out of me when they climb screens. My boy does that when he starts to get bored of bathing and run-around time in his puppy play pen (a safer-for-him alternative to introducing him to half a dozen curious dogs). =)

And yay! I made a good point! Aren't I smart? Lol

 

[MinLynn]

Tequila weighs 324g!

"Why are you on my table?!"

"It's okay Stump! I shall save you!"
Yes, Callie has been known to pick him up and baby and groom him. I have to keep a close eye on her!

Baby's sleeping!

 

[Nanci]

He's so little!!! Is he doing well?

 

[MinLynn]

He still won't eat cricketts or any insects. However, he is starting to take the baby food mash off a spoon now instead of a syringe. If I put a dish of it in his viv, he just sits in it though.

 

[Nanci]

Well, crickets will just give him worms anyway, and he's probably better off without those...

 

[MinLynn]

I don't mind doing the baby food. This is the first time I've gotten a weight on him,so I'm not sure if he's put on any or not. I can say that he is much more alert and awake for much longer periods of time. So I'm taking that as a good sign. I've also been taking him outside with me everyday, while I hang laundry. He seems to really like that. He's also starting to learn how to climb and just yesterday, I caught him going into his hide by himself at bedtime. I used to have to do that for him. Otherwise he'd fall asleep in places like his food bowl!

 

[Iguanagirl8662]

I'm glad to see they are both still doing well.