trouble with boyd's

[thepythonguy]

Hey all

I got some boyd's dragon a month ago. I'm having trouble getting them to eat. I'm bit confused as what I should try next and would like some people suggestions. In the whole month I have had them I have only feed the female 4 woodies by twongs and that was 2 weeks ago. I am starting to get worried as it feels like the female may be pregnant as I can feel 2 lumps in here stomach and they were mating before i bought them. Upon cleaning their enclosure on the weekend I found no poo and what looked like a roach colony off all the escaped roaches out of their food bowl. Every day I top a bowl of woodies up for them and give them a light dusting. The male has only really started to look a bit dryed out past 2 days. Last week teh air humidity was drying out in their enclosure but I have soon fixed it with some more live plants and bigger water dish. Also I have only seen the female drink once out of the bowl. I've tried feeding woodies, mealworms, earth worms even pinkies but they just close their eyes and don't budge also the same when i mist them they just close their eye's rather then attempt to drink the water

Any thoughts on what i should try next?

 

[Scleropages]

Are you spraying them? I have to spray mine everyday so they drink, and they drink alot ( others use running water.. water falls etc) Also maybe try dusted crickets as the roaches are fast for a slow dragon sometimes

 

[Venomous1111]

I don't keep boyd's so I can't really help with the feeding issue possibly mix it up with some mealworms, crickets.. Also correct me if I'm wrong but don't boyd's need running water? that would would also help with your humidity issue also..

 

[thepythonguy]

yeah I spray them in the morning and arvo and when ever the humidity drops I also spray right in front of them to get water droplets to run in front of them and they don't seem interested. In the water bowl I have pond pump making a kinda fountain to create running water all the time for them.

Should I rip the back legs off and chuck them in or feed them with the tongs ? Do you know how boyd's would go feeding in a separate tub ?

 

[redlittlejim]

Hey mate. i used a little 9$ water pump in a big water bowl. keeps it moving etc and the boyds loved it. also try putting the woodies in the fridge for 20mins. it slows them right down. otherwise you might just have to keep on using the tongs for a while. just brush it against the corner of there mouth until they open and then stick it in. i never got mine to eat out of a food bowl. in there enclosure i just lined the top with fluon and threw a heap of woodies in it. the boyds would usually get them on there branches. make sure you got plenty of strait branches in there for them to.

 

[thepythonguy]

I've tried numerous time annoying them with the food rubbing it along their mouth but I'll try it for longer the sarvo. They have the bonsai pot with vaso over the top which was how they were originally fed of the person I bought them. I try feeding them with the tongs and food bowl everyday with no luck

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Temperature - Boyd's don't like heat much, anything over about 26-27C and they go to ground

Dehydration - a very common cause of death in captivity, but easily recognised - lack of appetite, sunken eyes, shrivelling of the skin

Food - Boyd's LOVE earthworms - see if you can find a few and put them in a dish

Branches (as mentioned) - place them absolutely vertical - they perch on these and watch for food below, and then drop on it.

Jamie

 

[thepythonguy]

room temp been sitting around 26-32 degrees during the day. I've been keeping an eye on it being in Brisbane gets quite hot and dry so I've been tryin my best to stay on top of it
Last week tho when the room was hitting the mid 30's their humidity was dropping back to 40% only for short period between me spraying to up it I since have made sure it won't drop back like that again with extra live plants larger water bowl and bit more substrate.
The male is more looking dehydrated then the female bit more shriveling of the skin and they both have lack of appetite no sunken eyes yet
Should I shoot water down tried mouth and try to hydrate him that way? Their waterbowl is large enough for him to jump in and have a dip and with the pond pump making a fountain it's running all the time
Tried earth worms they just crawl straight out of the bowl place the bowl on the floor they have all day to climb out the dragon don't even seem interested in the bowl i place on the ground for them

Would the male be stressed because i have other male dragons in the room of different species tho? the other male isn't sexual mature yet

 

[RSPcrazy]

Can we see a photo of there setup? That would help a lot.

 

[thepythonguy]

yep I'll run home for lunch and grab some photo's and upload them

here's some pics of them and their enclosurethis website don't like me uploading pictures none of them ever turn out i've always gotta reedit them or it just slows down the computer to the point it times out I've got more i'm just working out how to upload them

sorry about the quality I only have a mobile phone camera this is what the male looks like now comapred to the picture in my avatar 2 weeks ago

a bit about the enclosure to it's a flexarium the 100 gallon which measure 1220H x 760W x 410D for substrate I am using coir peat with spagmann moss I have 2 bromelaids plants in there a container filled with water with a pond pump few vines few artificial plants and 5% uvb in a dome light up top

 

[RSPcrazy]

Sorry, I didn't see you post this yesterday.

I have never kept Boyds in a mesh tank, so I can't really comment on that from personal experience, exept I would have thought the mesh would let out to much humidity, which the Boyds need.

Also, I would be freeing up some floor space, that could help them see the food better.

What I've learnt from my experience with Boyds is, if there's a problem, take them to an experienced reptile vet. Boyds can be very sensitive and get sick very easily. If they have there eyes closed most of the time, then I would say there's something wrong and you would need to see a vet.

On a food note, don't feed mealworms, at least not live ones (rip their heads off). They will eat the Boyds stomach.

 

[Erebos]

Honestly mate I would spray the lizards with water drip it on there nose not a mist and hydrate them really well I have had similar experiences with Boyd's they can be touchy animals try not to stress them to much. Can I ask who you got them of and where in aus are you


Cheers Brenton

 

[Mr.James]

Place them where they cannot see any other animals. Humidity maybe an issue, but they also look very under weight.

 

[thepythonguy]

yeah im ditching the flexarium once their new enclosure is finished being built but the rain is delaying me
yep that was the first thing I done cleared the floor and placed my woody colony out the front of the enclosure and took all the hides out and let the woody run free in the container
the boyds were very interested in woody colony but wouldnt venture out of the enclosure into it
So after letting them watch the woody colony for about 5 mins I filled the bowl up
pretty much gave them monsoonal down pour with the mister
Walked away left the room ........... 5 mins later
came back in the room to 2 fat pleased looking boyd's staring at me then at their empty bowl
This morning i let 2 woodies go on the wall of the enclosure and watched the male as the ran past he ate both
I wonder the other dragons may have been an issue as well because the male cbd is positioned on the other side the room directly opposite the boyd's and I have seen the male boyd head bob and the female cbd's do alot of arm waving
it's the ambient temperature that's screwing me up with the flexarium to much ventilation I've placed glass over the top to catch the moisture as it goes up it's only the top half that loses humidity the bottom stays pretty much on 90% humidity