Brain Damage?

Hi, I'm new here, this is a great site.

We got 2 baby beardies about 2 weeks ago, and they were doing very well until yesterday. One of them started acting very strange; he can't seem to see anymore and waves his head around wildly when it's feeding time. Yesterday we finally had to hand feed him his crickets, and he ate very well but tonight he just seemed very confused about eating in general. He would just run wildly in circles, fall over, and ignore any food we held in front of his mouth. He caught one cricket on his own, but just seems... out of it.

My husband isn't optimistic about Zane's behavior, and we certainly don't want the little guy to be suffering. Ugh. Please help, I adore these little guys and our 8-year-old twins love them as well. The only thing I can think is brain damage; is it possible he could have fallen off something or gotten hurt while the boys were holding him?

I read somewhere that it's better to get older dragons (6 mos or so) but we want ours to be very tame and we handle them at least twice a day so they get used to it. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Jodi

what UVB light do you use?

We have 3 lights; (I'm reading off the packages here) Day Blue Light Incandescent Bulb 150 Watt, Flourescent Coil Bulb 20 Watt Vatios, Night Black Heat Incandescent bulb.

He's acting like he's drunk; can't walk straight, etc. It's so sad.

-Jodi

Chuck lights. You need Repti-sun 10 tube or Arcadia+D3 12% for your uvb, no night bulb unless it's a ceramic heat emitter (CHE), some members here use regular household lights for their basking spot light, others use reptile specific such as zoomed's basking spot lamp. Wattage depends on the size of your tank but basking spot for babies should be about 105-110. Those temps should be measured with an infrared temp gun or a digital temp reader with a probe, you can get one of those at Petco for like $8.

Aussies info is spot on.

You really need two lights.

The uvb bulb, a reptisun 10.0 fluorescent tube or the arcadia 12%
And a bulb for heat. This can be a normal household bulb or like mentioned, an expensive bulb with a reptile face on its box.

Do you dust with calcium and vitamins?

I understand you just got your dragons, so there is likely some relocation stress going on that would be making them not eat very much, but what you are describing is more worrysome.

Are the dragons housed together?

-Brandon

Crickets are dusted with calcium not vitamins. Now that the ill dragon is not eating, he probably isn't getting much calcium.

Dragons are housed together, no fighting, they seem to be getting along. Frequently they will both be on the log getting heat. Tank size is 36x18x16 (40L).

The healthy dragon has a very good appetite and has no problems catching crickets. The unhealthy ones appetite seems ok (although yesterday it seemed better). He just can't go after the crickets. Almost like he is having trouble seeing or neurologically something isn't right.

So are the symptoms the result of our lighting choices, ie. Vit D deficiency?

No its nothing you would have done since you've only had the dragons for two weeks, thats not enough time for bad lighting to cause any ill effects unless there was already ill effects happening from previous bad lighting.

Has the sick one always acted like this or has it just started recently?

I recommend you separate them though. It will make it easier on both dragons.

-Brandon

Symptoms have come to a head the last two days. I could only get the dragon to take one cricket today (hand fed). I'll switch out the lights but I think something else is going on. Thanks for the response.

If he's acting drunk, it could be water in his ear. Have you given him a bath, and if so, did any water get in the holes where their ears are? Even a teeny bit can upset their equilibrium. That doesn't explain the vision though, unless he's so dizzy he can't move to where he's looking, or it has disrupted his appetite.

If it's water in his ear, that's a vet visit I think. I'm not sure if there's any way to diagnose it or treat it at home.

No baths. We have set them in the water dish before- occasionally they take a drink. Heads are not submerged though (water is only about 5 mm deep). They get water spray a couple times a day.

I'm so sorry your little one isn't doing well. He probably would benefit from a vet visit!

Separating your dragons is a priority for 2 reasons.

1} They are solitary creatures. In the wild they only come together to mate then go their separate ways. They live alone. If housed together one will dominate, the other will be intimidated causing all kinds of problems. Your dragons can Injure, maim or kill each other. Here is a link on co-habitation, complete with graphic photos.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=154908

2} You don't know what is wrong with your little one who isn't acting right. If it's something contagious the other one can possibly become ill also.
Amanda

Thanks for that link Amanda, very informative. I guess I need to go to the pet store tomorrow and get another setup. Thanks again.

Hello,

You have gotten great advice.
I would work at changing the lights out to see if that helps the situation. Is there a possibility that he has not gotten enough food in comparison to the other dragon? Have you seen any domination at all?
An injury could have caused this type of behavior, also.
If this continues, a vet visit is in order. I am not sure why there seems to be a neurological issue going on, but you have not had them for very long so it may have been an underlying issue that is just now coming out.
Not all dragons have the same nutritional needs as their chemistry can vary from dragon to dragon. Are they both from the same breeder/clutch?

Tracie

I may have missed this, but what temps are you keeping them at? We once lost a sweet little baby snake due to temps that were too high. She did this sort of upside down all the time thing. I'm constantly worried about temps since then...lots of temp gun use, etc, etc. As far as I know on beardies they will open their mouths to cool off if they get too warm. I think I also read that they pant (like a dog). Any of this going on?
I wish I had more answers

No domination issues yet. Until the last couple days, they have been eating the same amount of food. Injury was something I was thinking about as well.
Temps get up to around 90. I'll change out the bulb and see if I can get it a little hotter.