Renegade update!!

[peachiest]

For those of you who have been reading my posts about my sickly 11 week old beardie, here's an update:

He started eating a few days ago, though hardly enough. Today though, he quickly polished off a dozen crickets. Many people suggested I try adding a little bit of pedialite to his water and today he drank from the syringe by choice, about 9 ccs. He had a little soak, although only about 5 minutes, and went from looking like an extremely stressed out little beardie wasting away, to a still too small for his age, relaxed chubby boy. He actually looks pretty healthy right now. I'm afraid to let myself become overly optimistic, but his progress over the last few hours alone looks promising. No poop to take in for a fecal yet, but I'm hoping to get one soon so we can clear him for parasites, or treat anything he may have.

 

[Bill]

if he is that small i would not treat him yet unless the vet says to

 

[peachiest]

The vet gave me the go ahead when he last saw him and if he has to go back, the vet already told me we'd have to start force feeding. The vet had to give him fluids and said it was ok if I cut it about 1 tbs per 8ounces of water once or twice a day. As he seems to be improving, just based on today, I'm hoping everything will be comparable to his brother soon. I'm not really expecting him to catch up in size but if he does eventually, that'll be great. I just want him to be a healthy happy beardie. Wish I could get him and Griffin to enjoy the 20 min daily soak the vet suggested. Maybe they'll get used to it and like it for more than 5 min.

I had an overwhelming number of suggestions on how to hydrate and get his appetite back. I ran those by the vet and only implemented a couple based on the vet's okay.

 

[LittleMerlin]

How long ago did you get this beardie? Could he just still be adjusting to the new home? Seems like I keep seeing that it takes some reptiles longer to adjust than others. I'm glad to hear Renegade is doing well today though, hope it keeps up! I was also told something about Pedialite was good for certain lizards that had trouble eating and such. Maybe that will bring the appetite around and he'll start getting more food. If he ate a dozen crickets, that's a great sign.

 

[peachiest]

Finally got the fecal results back from the vet a couple days ago. Renegade has pinworms. And since Griffin was housed with him for a few days, I'm having him tested as well. Dropped off his poop a couple days ago. Really hoping he's clear. Ren was showing improvement already until today. He seems to have had a set back. He's acting all stressed out again. I'm trying to leave him alone except to feed him and give him his medicine. I'm hoping this is good news, as in something we can treat and he can start getting better. I've got him a new tank and as soon as the tank stand gets here, I'm going to move him to it. I know moving him will add to his stress but I think putting him in his permanent tank now is better than keeping him in the too-small 10 gallon, even though he is actually still pretty small.