how to increase weight fast

[shadowsong]

my beardie laid lots of slugs several times from 3 months ago and she is underweight now. I'm having trouble to put some weight to her, already give her cricket, roaches, supers but still i dont see progress. any advise?

 

[Germ]

How much & how often are you feeding prey & how old is she? Could you post pics to show how she looks? Are your temps right, along with a consistent Day/Night schedule. Is she being well hydrated? This will all affect their digestion & how they process their nourishment.

 

[Aleena]

Pinkies will do it but they're not good in nutrition and I've heard the bones can be hard to digest. I've heard good things about horn worms. I usually will break down and give a couple of pinkies after a birthing. I know they'll eat it and it will get weight on them quick.

 

[shadowsong]

germ: i give her prey item along with greens everyday, cricket 15 - 20, roach 1 - 2, supers 5 - 10. she's about 2 years old. my temp and photo period is right. yes she has dehydrated symptoms then i soak her everyday for several weeks untill now and take her outside to get sunbathing but still she has indentation behind her head. i'll take a pic and post it tomorrow. i wonder why i always have trouble with female beardie while my other 4 males is looking great and very easy to take care.

 

[Aleena]

germ: i give her prey item along with greens everyday, cricket 15 - 20, roach 1 - 2, supers 5 - 10. she's about 2 years old. my temp and photo period is right. yes she has dehydrated symptoms then i soak her everyday for several weeks untill now and take her outside to get sunbathing but still she has indentation behind her head. i'll take a pic and post it tomorrow. i wonder why i always have trouble with female beardie while my other 4 males is looking great and very easy to take care.

You can give her water with a syringe. Perhaps she just is not drinking when she is in the bath? I had trouble keeping my female leatherback hydrated until I started syringe feeding her the water after a recommendation by a vet.

 

[shadowsong]

aleena: many people say no bout pinkies, and i never see hornworn forsale in my country. i make the water splash so she always drink when she is in bath.

 

[Dunc]

I always look at this in the same way Germ has, sure you could use pinkies etc but the root cause is by far the greatest concern.

When she was carrying did you increase the food intake, the calcium intake ?

What temps & UV have you got, what substrate is she on ?

Is pooping normally?

 

[Aleena]

aleena: many people say no bout pinkies, and i never see hornworn forsale in my country. i make the water splash so she always drink when she is in bath.

Many of those same people that say no about pinkies will say that they are okay for quick weight gainers in situations like after birth when you can't get weight to stick, but not to feed them on a regular basis. Dragons can get very finicky about eating while gravid, and sometimes it doesn't matter how much food you provide for them, they might not eat enough to be at a healthy weight. If she's still getting dehydrated, then she isn't drinking enough.

 

[Vincent]

my beardie laid lots of slugs several times from 3 months ago and she is underweight now. I'm having trouble to put some weight to her, already give her cricket, roaches, supers but still i dont see progress. any advise?[waxworms are a great source for bearded dragons that are under weight.

 

[Germ]

If it has been 3 months & no weight gain, you may want to take in a stool for a Fecal, to check for parasitic activity. Too many times I have run across similar questions & when queried about husbandry specs, the OPs reply as you did, 'They're all good'. Upon prying them out of them, more often than not, there are issues, serious or not so serious, but directly relate to the original question. In order to offer any helpful info, we need as much accurate info from you as possible, to give us an idea of the situation.

 

[shadowsong]

dunc: yes i increase the food and calcium, when she laid for the 1st time she looks fine, but after she laid and laid and laid, not much eating and restless then she get thin. the temp is 33-4 C at cool end and 36-37 C at basking, i use newspaper for her, her poop is normal too.
aleena: how many pinkies do you give to yours? once a week or else? yes maybe i should give her more water.
vincent: i gave my other beardies waxworm once and it made their stool loose, is it ok?
germ: thats the problem for me, there is no reptile vet to do that here in Indonesia. sorry i cant take some pic this morning, but i have photo of my set up for all my beardie

 

[Aleena]

2 directly after she lays and not again, unless she's not eating anything for a couple of weeks. But it sounds like yours is eating.

 

[shadowsong]

yep mine's eating, do you give them waxworm too?

 

[Aleena]

not many, and not often. right after a lay though, i will.

 

[shadowsong]

her weight is 297 gram now

 

[Zen ReptileZ]

Hi Shadowsong,

I don't see much light in those enclosures. What are you using for a heat source? What type of UVB bulb do you use? When were they last changed?

 

[shadowsong]

Hi Zen, maybe its just my phone camera, its actually quite bright. I use 5 watt ordinary bulb, and exoterra uvb 10.0, its still 9 month, the manual said i should change it after 1 year.

 

[Bill]

dunc: yes i increase the food and calcium, when she laid for the 1st time she looks fine, but after she laid and laid and laid, not much eating and restless then she get thin. the temp is 33-4 C at cool end and 36-37 C at basking, i use newspaper for her, her poop is normal too.
aleena: how many pinkies do you give to yours? once a week or else? yes maybe i should give her more water.
vincent: i gave my other beardies waxworm once and it made their stool loose, is it ok?
germ: thats the problem for me, there is no reptile vet to do that here in Indonesia. sorry i cant take some pic this morning, but i have photo of my set up for all my beardie
View attachment 1685

Your cool end is to hot 33c is 93f what size tank are you using,my cool spots will range from 75 to 65 at night and 80 and under during the day.

 

[shadowsong]

the ambient temperature is 31-32 C here in jakarta, indonesia. i have to measure the tank size again, but you can see it in my photo above.

 

[Josh]

Your cool end is to hot 33c is 93f what size tank are you using,my cool spots will range from 75 to 65 at night and 80 and under during the day.

Bill came back for a short minute! Bill, we'd love for you to join us again!