Advice is Appreciated on Starving Dragon

[Makena95GT]

So at work while opening.. I notice our tiniest Dragon is completepy limp. I honestly thought it was dead and was about to wrap and dispose of the body until he shifted a bit.

I imediately whipped up some critical care and force fed him. His stomach was super caved in.. legs thin as his bones.. eyes closed.

He didnt have the strength to even lift his head let alone do the drop on nose and lick method so i ooened his mouth and pretty much shove .5ml of Critical Care down his throat because he would not swallow

After two hours of sitting in the back with him convinced he was dead.. he lifts his head. Eyes still closed.

So i adopted him. Brought him home in the biggest critter keeper wr have on repti carpet. Grabbed a spare desert bulb and some decor to suit him for the next few days or weeks.. and hes home with me now.

so far today hes probably downed at least 1ml of Critical care. I dont have any CC at home but ai have what appears to be an equivalent that I bought at PetCo when I rescued/rehabilitated a Leopard Gecko with MBD from a customer at work.

Clearly what I have him in is no good for long term but I have multiple people lined up ready to give him a home when hes healthy and stable. So this is what he will stay in.

Just looking for advice on how often I should feed him. I have no idea what his weight is or exactly how old he says. Hes been at the store for two months I think. But def more than one month. He came in TINY.

Also should I be trying to force feed him any water since the Critical Care substitute is half water anyways?

the other dragons that came in with him are much larger and eating well. Him.. not so much.

Hes going to have to live without a UVB light till payday Friday. I have the fixture.. just need to grab a bulb. I happened to have a 75w night bulb at home. And my dome fixture is dimmable so thats great.

I have tons of Leopard Gecko experience.. not so much Beardie experience. Im pretty much treating him as I would one of my Geckos.. just with a different lighting setup.

Attached are two photos of him and one photo of a beardie the same age that is well fed.

 

[Canicke]

What is critical care? I tried a web search but could not find anything. I don't think I would try to force-feed him water but you might try to get some baby food down him. Chicken or vegetable. It might be hard to get any crickets in him yet. You could try with some tweezers but I don't think he will chase them. Try soaking him in lukewarm water for a few minutes maybe twice a day. He may be naturally small or he may be a runt. Bless you. good luck. keep us posted.

 

[diegothediggy]

U can also try watered down energy drink like a powerade. Give him a boos of energy.

 

[PatsyB]

Unflavored pedialyte will help too rebuild electrolytes and give him some energy. You can soak him in a mix of pedialyte and water or mix it in with the critical care or baby food.

 

[diegothediggy]

How u getting on with the little 1

 

[riven67]

Hi, poor little guy! I had a rescue that looked similar but had been bitten on his head. He was force fed every 4 hours as much of 1cc as he would take and he was kept in a critter keeper also, with a night heat lamp so it would not bother him but we could still see. Plus keeping a sick beardie warm is a healing thing. The only other thing I can think of to help is silkworm enzyme it acts as a painkiller and natural remedy for sick reptiles. Good luck, by the way my rescue is now a happy spoiled 9 month old, his only reminder of that time is he did loose one eye from crushing, but he makes due!!

 

[Elemental Dragon Lord]

I had a similar situation with Comet. Try rubbing the belly down only and give it vegetable oil with the water, when you place it back in the cage put it as close to the heat as possible. Also tengu minutes a day in pure sunlight, not inside, well do wonders.