In 2 weeks he has eaten 1 waxworm - that's it. He makes zero attempt to feed himself. He's a lovely colour green, he soaks in his water a lot. He is extremely alert and active. I offer him mealworms, crickets, waxworms, fruits and veggies and nothing. He just stares at them. I put him in a feeding box and he just stands in the corner wanting to get out. I syringe feed him 1 cc of babyfood a day - is that enough? we are getting to a pretty good understanding with the baby food - I used to have to force his mouth open and squirt it in but now we seem to understand each other. I squeeze out a bit, he snaps it up. Seriously though....he needs to feed himself. What can I do???
Is it possible getting him another dragon friend is the answer? Nothing else seems to work.

well reptiles are pretty much solitary animals. With crickets do you just stick them in his face or do you let him go after them. I had a problem with Pez not eating until I let her chase down crickets.

__________________
Chinese Water Dragon 1.0.1 (Jim Morrison, Slim Jim)
Iguana 1.0.0 (GINO)
Nile Monitor 0.0.1 (Harry)
Myspace

I put him in a big tupperware thing - ok not too big its about 2x his length (including his tail) and width. The few times he has eaten crickets we had to put the things in front of him, he made zero effort to chase them. He went from snapping up 4 in a row before shedding to not even looking at them. With the worms I put them in his house - sometimes he looks at them, sometimes he doesn't.

I dont think 1cc a day is near enough, thats not very much. You could try putting his feeding bin inside of his enclosure, maybe he feels safer in there.

__________________
MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

I'm not an expert, but MAYBE don't feed him any babyfood and he'll get hungry enough after a day or 2 that he'll eat a cricket or mealie. If you keep on feeding him, chances are he'll depend on you to continue to feed him and he'll think he won't have to catch his own meals.

I'd get a second or third opinion on this. Anybody else know if this may or may not work? Of course, we wouldn't want him to starve but I know that If I had to eat something when I was younger, I couldn't have anything else until I ate what I was supposed to. I learned really fast. I'm no lizard though, either. It seems that it could hold true with any living thing though...eventually (if they're healthy, but they just choose not to eat what is offered to them) they'll come to eat those crickets and mealies.

I think it was on here that I read a thread about introducing pinkies to reptiles. If they don't like them at first, don't feed him anything for a little while and then try the pinky again...if they're hungry enough, they'll eat it. The same should hold true with insects vs. baby food.

Is he still currently in shed? I think reptiles don't eat as much when they're in shed. Somebody confirm or reject this idea please .

he finished shedding a few days ago - I was hoping it was because he was shedding. I have considered trying to not feed him but he is a special case, he's mental. Seriously. He has been to the vet 2x almost dead because he wasn't feeding himself. So I am worried to try making him get hungry he might go into hypoglycemic (sp) shock again.
I'll try and step up his feedings by the syringe..he's still pretty small, maybe 14 inches. I try to feed him at night so he has all day to feed himself. I just don't understand why he won't eat.

Illness is a factor in not eating but you stated that he's fairly healthy-looking. Obstruction maybe? Also, some reptiles will just not eat if they're stressed. Not that he is stressed, but that could be a reason as well. (Check the enclosure to see if it's big enough to see if there's room to roam and hide. Also check the husbandry). I'm sure you have the enclosure stress free though.

Good luck, D! I have a couple of WD's myself and I worry when they don't eat right away, or do anything out of the ordinary. I really do feel for you and hope that you are able to find out the problem and he is able to feed himself!

He's been to the vet twice and both times they can't find anything physically wrong with him - no obstruction, no parasites etc. The vet literally told me "he has mental issues". Well at least he fits in here at my house!

He really doesn't seem stressed anymore. He basks out on his branch. he plays around his enclosure. he has a few hiding spots. He does seem to want out a lot.

hopefully he will snap out of it. If not he will grow up to be well handled!

My Chinese Water Dragon Chidori quit eating for a while and here's what I ended up having to do to get her to gain weight and eat again. I took some crickets and mashed them up into a paste (grose I know), I put into them a little yellow squash baby food for flavor and texture, then I put calcium supplement into it or vitamins depending on the day. You can probably also try to really finely chop fish and mix it in (guppies or other feeder). I don't think that meal worms or wax worms would be as good to mix in there as they don't have as much nutrition value as the others. You can try that and see if it helps at all, if nothing else it will give it more meats in it's diet.

__________________
http://dragcave.net/user/manhirwen