help me with my anglehead...

[weptyle]

hi all

i have a male anglhead just under 2 years of age, he doesent eat crickets that i put infront of him. he will only eat like 4 crickets a week.

if i do put a cricket in front of him he'll just look at it and wont eat.

is there another way that i can help him eat.?

he is now getting pretty skinny, and i am worried about him.

thanks everyone

jarryd

 

[hornet]

pink mice, roaches, maybeven a couple of mealies, but first, is there another reason he might not want to eat? what are temps and humidity like?

 

[DrNick]

Certainly doesn't sound right, as Hornet said- try some roaches or a few small mealies, and what are the enclosure conditions like? My Angle's never refuse a feed and will eat til they can't fit any more in if I let 'em, LOL- you can also try commercially bred house fly maggots or flies themselves.

Have you checked his mouth out? Angle Head's are prone to stomatitis (inflammation/infection of the mouth). They can be very fussy regarding humidity and temperature, and make sure you aren't handling him too much or changing the cage furnishings around. They are known for sulking, although mine never have done any more than turn their heads and ignore me.

 

[salebrosus]

If the animal is getting skinny then try this : Buy a can of Hills Scicne Diet A/d formula (cost about $2.30 from the vet) take a small syringe and suck up some of this food with the syringe. Take the syringe and very slowly squirt a little bit of the meat out of the syringe so that it looks like a small worm. If this doesn't get it's attention then dab this little bit of meat at the end of its mouth and leave it alone for a bit. Then try again. I find that by leaving the scent of the food at the end of its mouth they eventually lick at it and will then lunge at the syring the next time you offer it.
This formula will help put on a little bit of weight if the animal is skinny.

Just curious what is the temps like in the cage and how is the cage set up? They are prone to sulking and in a big way.

Simone.

 

[salebrosus]

They can be very fussy regarding humidity and temperature, and make sure you aren't handling him too much or changing the cage furnishings around. They are known for sulking, although mine never have done any more than turn their heads and ignore me.

You beat me to it Dr Nick

Simone.

 

[dragon_tail]

one of mine has stopped eating in the last week too..... all he wants to do is sleep! im told he is hybornating and will shed then come back hungrier than ever! is this true?

 

[salebrosus]

dragon_tail what are your temps and set up like?

Simone.

 

[dragon_tail]

i have a red 60watt globe that goes on and off every 10-15 mins for 4 hours in the middle of the day..... other than that i have 1 X 10.0 uva+uvb screw fitting globe and 1X 5.0 uva+uvb screw fitting globe (all to recomended highs INSIDE the enclosure). the enclosure is 3 foot by 3 foot by 2 foot deep. it has PLENTY (but not too much) arborially placed peices of drifwood wrapped in strands of fake leafy vines, palm peat/coir ground on 2/3 the tank, some real plants like tilandsias and some indoor palms, and 1/3 water (shallow) with a slow trickling waterfall (rock pile). the temps vary from 18 (at lowest) to 25 (at highest).

ive tried sunbathing them in mild tempreatures and dappled light.... hyped them up ( i do this once a week) but still only one food pig!, i mostly tweazer feed them as per the advice of the breeder. i think i should stop though as it may make them too lazy.... these guys barely move with the lights on as it is!

 

[salebrosus]

I was toldto have the lights going on and off every so often and i found that did not work at all for me. I keep them at around 25-26 degrees and the UV light is on from about 7am to 7 pm. I use a thermostat to control the temps in winter as they seem to prefer being cooler than hot. In summer i use those Herparium mesh enclosures to take them outside for their sun and during winter will take them out every so often for some monring rays.
I also found that if i had two females together one would be very feisty the other would not eat as the feisty one would always go berko. So we would separate her so that she could feed in peace.
I would also use two water bowls, one they can sh@ in and the other bowl never seems to get crapped in.
What sex are they?

Simone.

 

[dragon_tail]

they are both patternless and ground color so im guessing both boys? but i dont know their sub adult
also theri balder filled lagoon is twice filtered (powerhead for waterfall, slow trickle, and canister) and i change the water weekly, so its clean!, they love a soak in it! i cant work out what the issue is, constant sleeping for one! and sleeping 2/3 the day and HYPER the other 3rd for the other dragon (lester and delyla!~ sold as a pair, but i think both boys)

 

[grimbeny]

Do you try feeding them seperatly?

 

[dragon_tail]

yes, i have. as i mentioned they are tweazer/tong fed, and the enclosure is large, so they are mostly seperately fed.... ive also tried one in the enclosure only a number of times.....
when they dont take the crickets by tweazer i leave 10-15 crickets dusted in the enclosure for them to hunt at will, but alas only one anglehead and a small water dragon (half the size or less of the angle heads (who ignore him TOTALLY) eat the free range crickets to my knowlege, as i only have one skinny lizard (not emaciated by any stretch!, just a little thin)

 

[Magpie]

It's normal for a 2 year old male to go off food about now, and they are a naturally skinny reptile.
My male would only eat less than 10 woodies a week even when he was very active (breeding with 2 girls )

 

[Wild~Touch]

If they are both males my guess is the dominant male has taken over
I would separate them or you could loose the shy guy
Hope this helps
Sandee

 

[richardsc]

id say male dominance has slowed the other males eating habits

 

[salebrosus]

My late female belted christ out of every other dragon that was in her enclosure.

Can you put post pics of the dragons?

Simone.