Help!!!

As I posted on another page I lost one of my baby girls this morning. I tock her cage mate out right away like you are suppose to do and pout her in feeding cage for one of are snakes. No I did not feed her to the snake!! Just storing her there till my husband gets home with now sand and other stuff for the cage.
The death of her cage mat came as a complete surprise to me. She was fine when I pout them to bead and gone this morning. Neither of them eat last night, witch was odd since they never miss a meal, but did not concern me at the time. They both got there vitamins on a regular bases at least twice a week and had new lights pout in just over a month ago. I really don’t know hat happened and I am completely confused. They both where a little skinny, but they always got that whey before they shed and then they would bulk up agene. Over all they where very healthy animals.
I am concerned what aver tock one will soon take the other. We are sanitizing the cage to day. But if any one has any other suggestions on what might have taken my baby from me please feel free to let me know.

i am sorry to hear this, what were the temps like, and what are your lights and UVB, brand etc.

Did she go for a poop recently??

Were their any wounds or anything?? its so strange!

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your pet. I know it's always tough. If you could answer a few questions, it might help us detmine the possible reasons behind her passing.
Were your dragons housed together?
How old and how big are your dragons?
What are the temps in their cage(s) (basking, warm side, cool side)?
How do you measure temps (stick on, digital w/probe, temp gun)?
What type and brand of UVB do you use?
How old is the UVB?
What size enclosure(s) were the dragons housed in?
What type of substrate do you use? If sand is it calci-sand?
How long have you had your dragons?
Sara

Were your dragons housed together? Yes they where and they got a long grate.
How old and how big are your dragons? The one that past was the older of the two at about 1 year and three months. The other is just over a year. They where about the same size.
What are the temps in their cage(s) (basking, warm side, cool side)? We kept there tank at a study 80 dugerys with there basking spot at a bout 90 to 95 during the day.
How do you measure temps (stick on, digital w/probe, temp gun)? We have to stick-on’s one on either side of the cage.
What type and brand of UVB do you use? We have two that we us, one is the new zoo dome light that howses both the heat and a UVB light. And the other is gust a simple strip light housing that we pout another desert UVB light in.
How old is the UVB? One we just changed about a month and a 1/2 a go and the other was do to be change nest week. We only used them for 6 months at the most even if they are rated for a year.
What size enclosure(s) were the dragons housed in? They where in a 40 breeder
What type of substrate do you use? If sand is it calci-sand? They where on sand fortified with calci, and they just got there tank cleaned. (sucoped out there pup and clean water dish and food dish) They also had some hay in there cage that they liked to lay on.
How long have you had your dragons? The one that is still alive we have had sins she was a bout a week old, and the other one we would have had for a bout a year nest month. The one that is still a live we have had the logiest.

A couple of thoughts-
If your dragons were housed together I would try to get a fecal done on your remaining dragon ASAP in case it was parasites.
Calci-sand can be deadly for dragons. Had the one who passed pooped recently? If calci-sand is ingested in can form into clumps in their stomachs and be impossible to pass. If you can, I would take the sand out. You can use paper towel, reptile carpet, non-adhesive shelf liner, or tiles for a substrate. Sifted play sand is less dangerous, but can still harbor microscopic bacteria and germs.
As for the UVB, the only one I will use is the reptisun 10.0. Someone may be able to tell you more about the UVB you have than I can.
The stick-on thermometers can be off by up to 20*F. I would highly recommend that you buy a digital thermometer with a probe ($12 at walmart) or a temp gun (available at auto parts stores). The stick-ons do not measure directly under the heating bulb either.
Housing two dragons together is not recommended because even when things seem to be going great, there may be unseen stress on them.
I forgot to ask, what do you feed your dragons and how often?
I wish I could be more help, but whats listed above is all I know-
Sara

We had them on an organic diet, of salad mix, we mad shore not to give them cabbage or any of the other salad stuff they cant have, and they got at least 2 dozen crickets each fed the Sam diet as they had every week. They also got there vitamins supplements at least twice a week.
The lighting we used was the ones recommended by are herp shop.

If you are using a Mercury vapor type bulb that provides both UVB and UVA you don't need the desert sun UVB. Also with the MVB type lights you need to use a calcium supplement that has no added vitamin D3 (you didn't mention calcium supplements). The desert sun UVB is on the questionable list for quality and safety. They recently were reworking them to try and fix some of the problems they caused in reptiles. What is the brand and model of the combination bulb you are using (its printed on the base of the bulb)?

The other posters are correct in saying that both types of stick on thermometers can be off by up to 20 degrees. keep in mind that if it is telling you its 80 the temperatures are between 60-100F. Also a basking temperature should be taken from directly under the heat light. Beardies use the heat to help them digest and require this temp to be 95-110F, and require a cool side to regulate overall temperature and prevent dehydration.

Housing Beardies together poses several challenges. First is that a grown beardie requires a minimum of 40gallon tank to themselves. Second is that typical behaviors such as baking on top of each other can block UVB from the submissive (non dominant) dragon and cause medical conditions like MBD. Third is that they are solitary creatures that do not socialize with each other in the wild and will make territorial displays towards each other like head bobbing arm waving and black bearding. Many times these displays cause only stress and no physical damage, do a search on this site and you will find a huge number of posts by shocked owners that had discovered the unfortunate result of a territorial display after housing them together for sometimes several years. You should know if you have a male and female they will breed if they are together. If you are unaware of the massive amounts of young and care requirements for both the mother and young you WILL lose many dragons possibly including the mother. If the dragons are related you will risk genetic problems in the young.

I have lost count of the number of topics I wanted to inform you of but next is your substrate. Im not going to tell you to throw out all the sand you just bought and buy reptile carpet, shelf liner, slate tile, or even just newspaper. These are the safest options for bearded dragons but you can minimize the risk with sand for dragons as big as yours (at that age should be over 15in). First don't use calcium sands. Calcium sands were developed to replace regular sand and lower the risk of impaction because it is food. The problem is that when wet (like inside your animal) Calcium sand clumps together and becomes a hard undigestible mass that blocks the digestive tract and can cause death. Sifted play sand is what you would want to use. This is great for harboring bacteria that can make your dragon ill and can pose an impaction risk if he accidentally eats some. This risk can be greatly reduced by feeding him in another container and only using it for larger dragons.

The last thing I would mention is that you need to monitor the humidity levels inside the tank. high humidity levels in the vacinity of 50%-60% and up can cause respiratory problems in beardies and promote the growth of harmful fungus.

WE do give them a vitumen calcium supplement but it dose has vitamin D3 in it, it was the one that was recumended by are herp shop that we go to. They where not full grown yeat they where just over a foot long. And they naver stacked exaped to sleep at night. I am sertent that the minumal tepercher in there tank was at least 80 dugreays, becuse that is the the tempicher of are herp room. Thank you for telling me a bout the sand i did not know that it could harm them, i used it because it is waht all my books recumended. We have are oldest dragon an news paper becuses he has a hard time walking a round, we got him with MBD. I think it my have been because of a bad bach of food, since non of are herps eat last night.

1 small thing to add, an MVB bulb can get too hot for a 40 gallon tank if you're reptile room is always 80 degrees.

Thanks for all the advice every one, but my last baby past on our way to the vats yeasterday afternown. I will post picks of them soon.
Rhanks

ive just been reading this thread and im so sorry to hear that you lost your dragons. it must be very frustrating not knowing why this happened.

after reading everyone elses suggestions, my only other thought was that you mentioned you used hay aswell, ive not known people use this before, i was wondering if their was a chance that they tried to eat any of it?

I really hope you can find the answers you are looking for to help put your mind at rest and again im really sorry to hear about your dragons.

THey neaver eat it, befor. I found out that it was a spider bite for both of them, the little thisng was hiden in there cage very well.
Thanks

That is terrible, just a few days ago someone posted about thier dargons dying from a brown reculae spide bite. I am sorry you lost them!

Hello,

Oh I am very sorry you lost both of your dragons to a spider bite. That is very unfortunate.

Tracie