Is my Beardie "slow"?

Beta Ray Bill

Hi All

I have a question about me beardie (well actually 2 beardies)

I got a male a few months back. his name is steve. He never seemed to be good at catching food. in fact he's terrible at catching crickets. Lately he hasn't been eating much and even when a cricket passes right in front of him he doesn't seem bothered. I don't think he is sick because he run around and is very active. I kinda thought this was the norm.... until yesterday when i got a female called matilda... she is a weapon. she killed and ate about 12 crickets in the space of a minute and she already had a feed that day. she is alot fatter than steve and seem to be alot smarter. steve cant really see crickets unless they are moving. she can see them even when they are well camoflaged against a log or something.

I am really worried about steve now. based on what I seen yesterday I think steve could be losing his vision. what will I do?, IE can this be fixed? (Im going to the vet tonight?)

Please give me advise.

thanks a mil

Graham

Beta Ray Bill

Also I live on the Northside of Dublin City

Can anyone recommend a vet for reptiles for me? I heard the lady in bray (dont know her name) is very good but id never make it over there tonight.

I need one on the northside of the city.

thanks a mil

Graham

Intothesea

Hello. Barring any issues with Steve's sight
(eye or haircut?) he could just have an
atypical orientation towards that kind of
hunt. I have a labrador that had to be
taught and persuaded to fetch balls,
until I threw a decoy bird for her - and
that was that - her interest was sparked.

Is he interested in chasing anything else?
Could he have trouble seeing different
colours (or shades of grey)?

I hope your vet gave his sight the
all-clear. Good luck.

Beta Ray Bill

I think his vision seems to be based on motion rather colour.

I dont know what to do, wont be going to the vet until tonight

carwash_2006

What sort of lighting do you have in your viv? It is very important that you have the right kind of bulbs and that the UVB bulb in particular is changed every 6 months as the UVB wears off after that.

You should have a UVA/UVB flourescent tube, I use the reptisun 5. Then you should also have a basking light that gives off heat too. It is the levels of light and heat that stimulate them to eat. If he has been lacking in this for a long period it could contribute to his lack of hunting.

I don't know of any reptile vets on the Northside of the city, but Argyle and Bainbridge in Dundrum are very good and might be easier for you to get to than Bray. I doubt you'll get there tonight now, not sure if they are there in the morning. Does your beardie eat veggies and other prey items? If he does then I'm sure he will be ok till Monday anyway.

Beta Ray Bill

brought him to the vet,

vet says he looks very thin (which is correct) and he is also very weak

he said try and get him to eat if I can and buy him supplements, he recommend a liquid supplement to me to give him.

went and bought the stuff

also had the not so pretty task of putting crickets in his mouth for him. he resisted but once they were in there he chewed them up and swallowed them quickly. So he is hungry he just doesnt like me opening his mouth. LOL... tough love i suppose

I'll et you know how i get on.

Intothesea

Sorry for the swing and twenty misses,
Graham. I was wondering why you'd want
your bearded collie to catch crickets LOL.

All's well that ends well :pac:

carwash_2006

Was the vet experienced with them at all? Did they question you about the lighting and heating? Beardies like it quite hot. It's all very well putting crickets in his mouth and whatnot to make sure he puts on weight and gets stronger now, but are you looking at addressing why he got like this in the first place?

Not being pushy here, just want to make sure you are looking at important aspects of his life, especially since there is another one now that you want to make sure stays the way she is in her hunting and eating levels.

Glad to hear you did get him to a vet anyway

Ruby Soho

LOL, thats exactly what I was thinking! Why the hell would you want your dog to catch crickets??

Intothesea

Nice one Ruby, I don't feel quite
so daft now

gottaluvlabs

What age is your beardie?

We got ours at 9 weeks old and found it impossible to get it to eat.

Hand fed only and preferred grubs to crickets etc.. but got her fattened but not getting right nutriends, was powdering all the food to get supplements in.

Eventually Barney (the beardie) got into Crickets and Loved Locusts but she had a fatal accident which resulted in Barney being PTS.

Miss Barney so much.

But Lighting is very very important and heating.

Dont worry about hand feeding until you get him better! Once he is better and in correct heat/lighting he will be flying in no time.

You probably know this already too though, dont leave live food in the viv overnight as makes beardies very sick.
ie they crawl all over them and give them infections or nibble their skin.