FLZooMom
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 19
- Location
- SW Florida
I rescued Stimpy about three months ago from a pretty bad situation. His original owner was tired of taking care of him so he was going to release Stimpy outside to die. I got wind of it through his neighbor and made arrangements to bring him into my rescue. Normally I rescue dogs but since I already have a bearded dragon and I can't stand to see any animal suffer I brought him home.
He has a terrible case of MBD and was in such bad shape when I got him here. Extremely emaciated, he could barely get around at first and we honestly thought we were just going to be giving hospice care. I started feeding him good stuff, fruits, and veggies, and greens, along with crickets, super worms, and wax worms, and now Phoenix worms. He's liked pretty much everything I've introduced him to, which is nice. Anyway, when he first got here he would eat out of his bowl when I would put things in there, but he can't catch bugs so I've always hand fed them to him, except wax worms. He just doesn't have very good aim. Also, some things he isn't able to pick up well from his bowl so I'd hand feed him them, as well. On days that he wasn't interested in what's in his bowl I'd feed him baby food or a slurry through a syringe and he usually had no problem with that.
Now, he won't even look at his bowl anymore if it has a salad in it. If I do feed him something in his bowl that he doesn't have to chase, like Phoenix worms or wax worms, he just gives up after trying a couple times to get one. He knows that I'm not going to let him starve, and honestly, I can't because he can't really afford to skip days of eating. He gets very excited when he sees the syringe or the tongs because it means good stuff, but he just eyes his bowl with the same food in it.
Let me say that I'll hand feed him as long as he needs, but I know he can eat out of his bowl, he just chooses not to. So, does anyone have any tips on how to get him to eat out of his bowl again?
He has a terrible case of MBD and was in such bad shape when I got him here. Extremely emaciated, he could barely get around at first and we honestly thought we were just going to be giving hospice care. I started feeding him good stuff, fruits, and veggies, and greens, along with crickets, super worms, and wax worms, and now Phoenix worms. He's liked pretty much everything I've introduced him to, which is nice. Anyway, when he first got here he would eat out of his bowl when I would put things in there, but he can't catch bugs so I've always hand fed them to him, except wax worms. He just doesn't have very good aim. Also, some things he isn't able to pick up well from his bowl so I'd hand feed him them, as well. On days that he wasn't interested in what's in his bowl I'd feed him baby food or a slurry through a syringe and he usually had no problem with that.
Now, he won't even look at his bowl anymore if it has a salad in it. If I do feed him something in his bowl that he doesn't have to chase, like Phoenix worms or wax worms, he just gives up after trying a couple times to get one. He knows that I'm not going to let him starve, and honestly, I can't because he can't really afford to skip days of eating. He gets very excited when he sees the syringe or the tongs because it means good stuff, but he just eyes his bowl with the same food in it.
Let me say that I'll hand feed him as long as he needs, but I know he can eat out of his bowl, he just chooses not to. So, does anyone have any tips on how to get him to eat out of his bowl again?