help me...chinese water dragon ?s

Question
QUESTION: We have a beautiful 7 mos old Chinese water dragon, the problem is that he BARELY eats!  He will only eat meal worms if I hand feed him, and thats about 5-6 at a time.  He REFUSES to eat veggies or fruits at all, and we offer a very healthy, green variety.  I tried super worms, but he ignored them.  Every other day, we offer veggies and fruits and NO worms, but he still wont touch them!

How do i get him to eat a more balanced diet?  He is getting ready to shed so he has not been in the mood to be help as much, so could this be why he does not want to eat?

ANSWER: Hello Robyn, are you sure he/she is 7 mos? Pet stores really don't know the age for the most part although the ones speciallizing with reptiles might. But check out http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com that site has a chart stating ages by length of the dragon. The problem with meal worms is that they have very few nutrients and can be hard on the lizard's digestive system. 5-6 meallies is fine for a small dragon. Most dragons will not eat veggies or fruits and its not very common to see it in the stomach contents of wild cwd although it has been seen. Offer them still and he might end up eating them. Fruits are very sugary though so keep them to a minimum. Try silkworms I have had great success with them. Its fine if they wont eat greens. Just make sure his food is vitamin dusted and everything. Shedding will also cause a lot of stress and some lizards will refuse to eat because of the irratation. Just make sure he has food available. Warm water bathes usually help with shedding too. Try crickets too if you haven't they usually love them. Good luck and

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QUESTION: Thank you so much for your help!  I also have one more question.  Why is his one eye "crusted" shut?  There seems to be no seepage and when we asked the per store where we got him from, they said that it was normal due to his shedding process.  Is this right?  I appreciate all the help!

Answer
Your welcome, eye problems are not good. That and don't always trust the pet stores, they are there to make money and usually don't know what they are talking about with reptiles. Although some people do and the ones specializing in reptiles are usually fine. I would take him to a vet to make sure its all right. I have never heard of anything like this caused from shedding. Does it look like skin or a type of dried fluid? Dragons don't shed their eyes like snakes do. But they shed the area around it. So it could be shedded skin around his eye but not causing it to be stuck shut. Give him a warm bath and try to get his eye rinsed. Let him swim. Fill a bath tub a couple inches of water about 78F and place a rock or log in their for him to get out but let him swim and that might help with shedding. The best and only thing you can really do is take him to a vet. Get him some medicine and have him heal up. Eye sight is very important to lizards so get it checked out. Thanks for your concern.