Frilly off her food :/

[Stevo2]

Maggie, my 2yr old girl, has been off her food for a couple of months now (nearly 3). I would have thought brumation time except that she is gravid and HIGHLY active. She runs around her enclosure and also spends most of her days outside running around the yard. That also kind of rules out sulking :/

I have given her a laying box but she's not shown any interest or digging.

She's basically acting normal except there's no feed response (crickets, mealworms, superworms and woodies). I've got some silkworms on the way to give them a try.

We've x-rayed her and the eggs are not fully developed (no hard-ish shells) and she has no abnormal bacteria levels or any parasites.

She last ate a few (6) crickets about 3weeks ago. I've resorted to syringe feeding her herpaboost and crittacare to keep up her nutrition and to keep her body moving food through. She takes these feeds really well, but I'd rather get her back onto a normal diet!!

Anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions?

 

[Stevo2]

Given the lack of any suggestions or advice I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best.

 

[mad_at_arms]

My water dragon didn't eat for 3mths.
Took her a couple of days after laying before her appetite returned.
Keep the fluids up via syringe as you are already doing.

 

[JasonL]

Maybe stressed? Is she kept with the male?

 

[Stevo2]

My water dragon didn't eat for 3mths.
Took her a couple of days after laying before her appetite returned.
Keep the fluids up via syringe as you are already doing.

Cheers

Maybe stressed? Is she kept with the male?

She's sharing an enclosure with a blue tongue (we lost the male Frilly 6months ago to MBD), but the hunger strike started well after the blue tongue was introduced. I've spent the weekend building a new enclosure so we can separate the two of them in any case Thanks for the post.

 

[JasonL]

So the eggs are probably infertile? in which case they prob wont harden as you would expect fertile ones to.

- - - Updated - - -

They will also be drawing calcium from her, if your male died of MBD, then your female may be low on calcium too? and with the added draw from the eggs...... she may not be feeling too well

 

[Stevo2]

So the eggs are probably infertile? in which case they prob wont harden as you would expect fertile ones to.

- - - Updated - - -

They will also be drawing calcium from her, if your male died of MBD, then your female may be low on calcium too? and with the added draw from the eggs...... she may not be feeling too well

The x-rays showed her calcium levels as ok I'm making sure that she gets calcium in her formula though for that very issue. I'm not sure if they have the ability to reabsorb infertile eggs or whether they still need to lay them?

 

[JasonL]

just remember X-rays just show bone density, not the amount of calcium in her blood levels which may fluctuate fast esp if she is making eggs.. try offering her as much different food types as possible, female frillies can be fickle things, as they are generally shy and stressy.

 

[Stevo2]

Update on this - we did a second round of faecal smears/float and found a number of strongyle eggs that weren't present last week. There was also a higher count of gram- bacteria. Bloods were taken and the results were good (including calcium) We're starting her on a dose of Fenbendazole weekly for 4 weeks and will monitor any changes with a view to start antibiotics if the worming leads to no improvement in her appetite.

She showed no interest in the silkworms.

I've removed the bluetongue for the time being, and covered up her glass, to reduce any external stressors.

There is a large laying box in her enclosure to try and encourage her to process the eggs.

Now we wait.......

 

[Stuart]

Good to hear some cause has been found. Heres hoping all goes well for you mate.

 

[JasonL]

Keep us updated to its progress... best of luck

 

[MonitorMayhem]

sounds like you are doing all you can i hope all turns out well for you and the frilly best of luck
cheers mick

 

[Stevo2]

Sad update She went down-hill abruptly the last couple of days and passed away last night Up until a couple of days ago she was taking her feeds well, up until yesterday afternoon she was still active and running around. Yesterday she threw up her feed and wouldn't keep any water down either; lots of head shaking and then open-mouthed and apparent difficulty breathing last night (her throat was clear, and there was no obvious obstruction in her trachea).

We were waiting to finish the course of fenbendazole before considering antibiotics, perhaps we should have gone the other way around

 

[Stuart]

Sorry to hear mate, never a nice thing to happen

 

[phatty]

that's no good keep your chin up now you know for next time around

 

[Albino93]

Sorry to hear, at least u tried ur hardest to help her.

 

[Venomous_RBB]

Sad update She went down-hill abruptly the last couple of days and passed away last night Up until a couple of days ago she was taking her feeds well, up until yesterday afternoon she was still active and running around. Yesterday she threw up her feed and wouldn't keep any water down either; lots of head shaking and then open-mouthed and apparent difficulty breathing last night (her throat was clear, and there was no obvious obstruction in her trachea).

We were waiting to finish the course of fenbendazole before considering antibiotics, perhaps we should have gone the other way around

Aww Mate, I am really sorry to hear that
Thoughts are with you <3

 

[JasonL]

Thanks for the update, always sucks losing a frilly, I used to have a really nice red NT female, kept her on her own and she was shy but would eat fine when you left the room, I borrowed a male off a friend and put them together and the male tore her head open trying to mate with her.... tricky things to breed... females are often just too shy to keep in captivity well, often their eggs dont hatch due to not enough nutrients passed into the eggs... a lizard for those who are really dedicated.

 

[mad_at_arms]

Tough break.
Sorry to hear.

 

[MonitorMayhem]

sorry to hear stevo