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Mvjlinx Dericka Mvjlinx Dericka |
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Mvjlinx View Profile |
I’m new to the repticzone site and this forum. I have 2 bearded dragons, 1 gecko and I just acquired a mountain horned dragon. I have a 6 month old sandfire BD named Yoda... he’s beautiful. Sage is a 4 year old rescued BD that couldn’t lift his head when I rescued him. He’s doing great now. And my gecko is an albino rainwater mack, she’s goregous. Then we got the new additon to our lizard collection and that’s the awesome little mountain horned dragon named Nox. I’ve never owned a tropical lizard before so this has been a great learning experience. It helps that my room mate works for an exotic vet hospital and has given us lots of great advice. We had Nox checked over and the vet says he looks pretty good but most MHD’s are wild caught and his chances of living are slim... I disagree. The first week was tough because he wouldn’t eat so we had to force feed him reptical and he was very dehydrated when we got him. We currently have him in a 55 gallon tank and he seems to have adjusted. Today while feeding him his reptical I stuck a wax worm in his mouth and he ate it... I was very excited especially after he ate 2 wax worms. He’s been moving around his enclosure more and loves to soak in his pool. I did purchase some night crawlers, but they are huge! I just can’t see him eating something that is as long as he is. If anyone has any input on further care and food ideas I would certainly appreciate all the info anyone can give me. Thanks, V |
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| 01/02/09 06:36pm |
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Dericka View Profile |
Message To: Mvjlinx In reference to Message Id: 1925141 New to this site
These guys are my favorite lizards, I have 5, and all of mine were indeed wild caught, and each of them did, as you are experiencing, take a little while to adjust to their new captive homes, but all of mine pulled through just fine. Getting them to eat at first is a very common problem, often even with captive bred ones, it takes them awhile to adjust to their new surroundngs. With wild caught individuals, the biggest problem that comes about is they often have internal parasites and are often pretty dehydrated. All of mine were wormed with pancur, did your vet do that, or mention it? It is good that he is soaking, make sure you mist and keep the humidity up and dehydration shouldn’t be an issue... Nightcrawlers are definatley all of mines’ favorite food, if yours is very young, nighcrawlers indeed may be a little large for him. It’s gross, but you should try cutting them in half, or into a few pieces, and putting them in a dish in front of him. Their movements would definatley get his attention, and nightcrawlers are very good for them. The only thing that has ever happened with mine if the worm was too big, is that they just can’t get it all down and end up chewing it in half and part of it falls to the ground, which is also gross, but none have ever choked or anything. My biggest female Marla ate too many crickets too fast once though, and like spit up the whole glob of them, but then swallowed them back down, thank goodness so I didn’t have to clean them up:) A week isn’t a super long time for them to resist eating, definatley not uncommon at all, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that, especially if he ate some waxworms already, just give him a little time with that, they come around. If you haven’t already, go to www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html it has the best and the most accurate MHD info you will find! We’d love to see pictures if you have any, of your beardies and gecko too! ~deri |
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| 01/03/09 08:11pm |
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Mvjlinx View Profile |
Message To: Dericka In reference to Message Id: 1925799 New to this site
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| 01/14/09 08:41pm |
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Dericka View Profile |
Message To: Mvjlinx In reference to Message Id: 1932372 New to this site
Just a comment about the nightcrawlers, I have read that before about them carrying parasites, and remember being concerned about it when I first got mine. I de-worm my MHD’s once a year, and also dust their food with probiotics every few weeks, so maybe that’s why I’ve never had an issue, but mine do eat their favorite food , nightcrawlers as their main diet, with crickets and waxworms fed every third or fourth time. I also give my clawed frog and leopard frogs, and some of my fish nightcrawlers, and all my pets are at the youngest 3-4 years old and very healthy. Most of the others on here also use earthworms and nightcrawlers, but it’s up to you and I understand your hesitation. Just be careful about too many waxworms, they are fattening, but phoenix worms are fabulous and full of calcium! Once again I am glad your nox has settled in with you! deri |
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| 01/15/09 11:35am |
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