Shed help

[jennyk523]

Ok so I need the forums help. My beardie rj4 has not shed correctly in about 9 months we get one leg here a piece of tail here. Well last week he shed just around his mouth. The top of his head is rock hard and hasn't shed in over a year and now it looks like both nostrils are blocked. I attached a picof that's how it looks on both sides. His nostril is to small for tweezers and coconut oil did not help. We do not have an exotic vet within 75 miles so vets out. So if anyone has anything else I can try I would appreciate it. He's 18 months old in a 55 gallon tank. His uva/basking light is 150watts and his uvb is a dessert reptisun 10.0. I can't afford to get the bar light right now. He has never ate right since the day we got him. He saw local vet for stool sample in March. And it was negative for parasites. That's all local vet can do for us. They did give me liquid calcium glubinate for him bc they think his body doesn't break down the powder. He got mbd in 1 leg from a faulty uvb light last year. I got the correct one right away and it's slowly healing. Any help is appreciated because he is a member of our family and I will do anything to help him. Thanks

 

[Sadie]

Ok so I need the forums help. My beardie rj4 has not shed correctly in about 9 months we get one leg here a piece of tail here. Well last week he shed just around his mouth. The top of his head is rock hard and hasn't shed in over a year and now it looks like both nostrils are blocked. I attached a picof that's how it looks on both sides. His nostril is to small for tweezers and coconut oil did not help. We do not have an exotic vet within 75 miles so vets out. So if anyone has anything else I can try I would appreciate it. He's 18 months old in a 55 gallon tank. His uva/basking light is 150watts and his uvb is a dessert reptisun 10.0. I can't afford to get the bar light right now. He has never ate right since the day we got him. He saw local vet for stool sample in March. And it was negative for parasites. That's all local vet can do for us. They did give me liquid calcium glubinate for him bc they think his body doesn't break down the powder. He got mbd in 1 leg from a faulty uvb light last year. I got the correct one right away and it's slowly healing. Any help is appreciated because he is a member of our family and I will do anything to help him. Thanks

Dragons shed at different times at different places and some take longer to shed than others--- you can take a soft baby tooth brush wet w/ some warm water or spray him w / some warm water and take the brush a lightly brush him --- the Reptisun 10.0 bulb is a coil? If so this could be part of the shedding problem w/ him taking so long to shed --- plus coils do not emit enough UVB if any given the size of the tank for proper UVB -- I would recommend you get the fixture ASAP --- for a 50 gallon tank I would recommend a 24" fixture w/ the T 5 bulb --- depending on your screen on the tank it can sit on top of the tank --- https://www.reptilesupplyco.com/who...84-reptisun-terrarium-hood-t5-24-zoo-med.html this is what you need and all my go to places are out of stock - you can try this place I would call them before ordering its in CA 916-226-4089 this fixture comes w/ a 5.0 bulb hang on to it its more like a T 8 distance and placement of fixture is different from the T 5
you need this bulb https://www.reptilesupplyco.com/t5-...00-uvb-t5-ho-fluorescent-bulb-22-zoo-med.html

 

[Emilia Thuet]

Hey hun, first of all I just wanted to say that you are doing great and its amazing to see how much you care for him. Here's some helpful advice. The shedding is nothing to worry about unlike snakes they shed in stages or bits and pieces here and there after they have stopped growing. The only reason why they shed full body when they are babies because they have literally outgrown the skin. After they stop growing there is no need to spend tons of energy on full body shed when they can do it in stages. Kind of like why do a grueling 3 hour full body work out in one day when you can spread it out throughout the week. For his eating, you may have to be more specific on what is wrong, like is he not a fan of his veggies or does he only eat the fatty type of feeders. I'm assuming its the veggies because that's a usual problem with most beardies, and there's a bunch of things you can try. But always start with a salad first thing in the morning, and change it up to see what he likes. Move the salad around for him, some beardies are attracted to movement. I know with one of my beardies I'll place him in front of his food bowl and literally make it rain veggies into the bowl and that will make him very excited for it. You can try and but some bugs on the food, like some sort of worm. Another thing you can do is decrease his insect intake by a little and give it to him every other day so he gets a little more hungry which will make the veggies a bit more appeasing to him. Hope I was able to help and address the problem with his appetite.

 

[jennyk523]

Hey hun, first of all I just wanted to say that you are doing great and its amazing to see how much you care for him. Here's some helpful advice. The shedding is nothing to worry about unlike snakes they shed in stages or bits and pieces here and there after they have stopped growing. The only reason why they shed full body when they are babies because they have literally outgrown the skin. After they stop growing there is no need to spend tons of energy on full body shed when they can do it in stages. Kind of like why do a grueling 3 hour full body work out in one day when you can spread it out throughout the week. For his eating, you may have to be more specific on what is wrong, like is he not a fan of his veggies or does he only eat the fatty type of feeders. I'm assuming its the veggies because that's a usual problem with most beardies, and there's a bunch of things you can try. But always start with a salad first thing in the morning, and change it up to see what he likes. Move the salad around for him, some beardies are attracted to movement. I know with one of my beardies I'll place him in front of his food bowl and literally make it rain veggies into the bowl and that will make him very excited for it. You can try and but some bugs on the food, like some sort of worm. Another thing you can do is decrease his insect intake by a little and give it to him every other day so he gets a little more hungry which will make the veggies a bit more appeasing to him. Hope I was able to help and address the problem with his appetite.

Hi thank u so much for getting back to me. When he was little he loved crickets and mealworms and would literally eat one piece of salad. We used to do kale. Tried switching it up with collards, mustards and even wheat grass he would only eat the collards. As he grew we tried dubias, hornworms, and gave him supers as treats. He loves hornworms but from what I read they are not a staple food only treat. I do have a nice man sending me samples of silk worms to try since he never had those. I've tried all the squashes, carrots, peas, banana, apple,etc. He likes snow peas if and only if I sit him on my lap and put it right in front of his mouth.he would not touch the squash, pumpkin,carrots or apples in his bowl and would literally eat around it or push it out lol.vet told us he is just a picky eater. I'm like yeah but that doesn't help me from keeping him from starving to death. He does like banana but I no it can not be given every day. Just as a treat. I'm at a loss and have to keep giving him the calorie stuff to get him to touch his collards now. I know he could be getting to brumate to as ohio is starting to get cold. Which freaks me out because I'm afraid he's going to lose weight during brumation. Thank u for the info about shedding. I'm so worried about his nostrils that he can't breath. He only gapes a little right now and only a few times a day. So I'm hoping he just gets tired of it and rips out the shed himself because I cannot get it.

 

[Sadie]

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder-- you might try some prickly pear pads -- they can be found on amazon and are a good staple feeder as well - keep them in a ziploc bag in the veg drawer -- try some super worms as treats or lures to the salad bowl along w/ some BSFL they are small and make good salad toppers - if you need websites for worms or insects let me know I will post some for you - silk worms are a great staple feeder

 

[Emilia Thuet]

Hi thank u so much for getting back to me. When he was little he loved crickets and mealworms and would literally eat one piece of salad. We used to do kale. Tried switching it up with collards, mustards and even wheat grass he would only eat the collards. As he grew we tried dubias, hornworms, and gave him supers as treats. He loves hornworms but from what I read they are not a staple food only treat. I do have a nice man sending me samples of silk worms to try since he never had those. I've tried all the squashes, carrots, peas, banana, apple,etc. He likes snow peas if and only if I sit him on my lap and put it right in front of his mouth.he would not touch the squash, pumpkin,carrots or apples in his bowl and would literally eat around it or push it out lol.vet told us he is just a picky eater. I'm like yeah but that doesn't help me from keeping him from starving to death. He does like banana but I no it can not be given every day. Just as a treat. I'm at a loss and have to keep giving him the calorie stuff to get him to touch his collards now. I know he could be getting to brumate to as ohio is starting to get cold. Which freaks me out because I'm afraid he's going to lose weight during brumation. Thank u for the info about shedding. I'm so worried about his nostrils that he can't breath. He only gapes a little right now and only a few times a day. So I'm hoping he just gets tired of it and rips out the shed himself because I cannot get it.

I know the feeling I have an old girl who only eats butternut squash for her veggies and I have to hand feed every piece to her, but she's cute so I don't mind. Adult bearded dragons do need 80% veggie and 20% protein in their diet, so start every morning with a salad it doesn't have to be too complex, most of the time my beardies usually just get squash and collard greens, so keep trying to experiment with different veggies and see what sticks, you can also try putting some worms in it to try and make it more appealing. Bugs should be given every other day during the week and none on the weekend, if you like you can give him some repashy food gel once during the weekend. Dubais, silk worms and crickets are great stable feeders, dubais truly being the best because they don't smell bad like crickets, easy to grow a colony and are easy to take care of as well. They also are really healthy for beardies. So around 10 of those per feeding will do him well. If you think he's on the skinnier side just give him a bigger helping of feeders on those days and his weight should slowly increase. If you like I can send you a picture of my feeding schedule for my normal adult beardie. Do be careful though some morphs of beardies aren't meant to be round, and are just more straight, so while 2 of my beardies are pancakes my other 2 look more like breakfast sausages but they are still healthy, I can send you a pic if you like, also if he has a healthy amount of fat pads, than he's more than alright. The nostril plug thingys don't worry about them, he's still capable of breathing properly and normally. Baths are always helpful and could help make the shedding process easier The gaping could just be him basking, when their body temperature reaches high enough they open their mouths to release extra heat out, kinda like opening an oven door to cool it down quicker. Let me know if you need any other help