mustacheddragon
New member
Jake is my older brother's bearded dragon and is a little over a year old.
The past couple days his beard has been turning black and has stayed that way all day for no apparent reason, and he's not eating. My brother's friend has had a bearded dragon for six years, and he told him it probably just had something to do with his natural hormones. Still, we monitored Jake regularly. He's got a big log is his tank, above which is the heat lamp. Today I saw him staring up toward the log/light opening and shutting his mouth. He did the same thing the day before.
You're going to ask me about temperature, but I don't have any specifics. I can tell you that my brother has really done his homework on bearded dragons as far as how to set up Jake's tank and how to feed him/water him/clean after him, so assume ideal conditions.
While the heating and lighting are as they should be, we thought he might be having a tough time acclimating to the coming winter. We live in Southern California, though, and while the outside temperature has been chillier of late, it's been nothing crazy and the heat lamp is set up as it should be. Still, we've shut the house's windows in concern that he may be getting too cold.
Anyway, after two days of showing his dark beard during the day, now Jake's just lying there. You pick him up and there's no movement on his part whatsoever. Instead, he stays still as dead things do, fairly stiff. What stands out most are his eyes. A couple hours ago they were half-open, and now they're completely open but the eyes are light silver/white...somewhat robotic looking. It looks like somebody just place a small pearl in there where his usual black eyes were...very concerning.
I felt his skin temperature and it appears normal. A few hours ago my brother thought maybe it was too cold in there for him, so he ramped up the house's heater on along with the heat lamp, but there was no sign that it was helping, so we've returned the tank to its usual lighting and heating conditions. Jake's body could be warm because of those efforts, but since we turned everything off over an hour ago, maybe it's just a good sign that he's not cold? Also, his color seems fairly normal...maybe a bit more whitish yellow, but nothing crazy.
There are no signs of breathing, and that's never good, but I've read at other places where people freak out because of that and it turns out that their bearded dragon is still alive.
I'm somewhat of an apologist when things go awry, so I wanted to throw it to the board and ask if Jake is dead or if he's going through some brumation-type thing that is natural for this time of year.
After reading about his appearance, I ask is this what a dead bearded dragon looks like?
We're probably going to take him to the vet tomorrow if nothing changes, but some peace of mind/feedback would be fantastic in the meantime. Thanks.
The past couple days his beard has been turning black and has stayed that way all day for no apparent reason, and he's not eating. My brother's friend has had a bearded dragon for six years, and he told him it probably just had something to do with his natural hormones. Still, we monitored Jake regularly. He's got a big log is his tank, above which is the heat lamp. Today I saw him staring up toward the log/light opening and shutting his mouth. He did the same thing the day before.
You're going to ask me about temperature, but I don't have any specifics. I can tell you that my brother has really done his homework on bearded dragons as far as how to set up Jake's tank and how to feed him/water him/clean after him, so assume ideal conditions.
While the heating and lighting are as they should be, we thought he might be having a tough time acclimating to the coming winter. We live in Southern California, though, and while the outside temperature has been chillier of late, it's been nothing crazy and the heat lamp is set up as it should be. Still, we've shut the house's windows in concern that he may be getting too cold.
Anyway, after two days of showing his dark beard during the day, now Jake's just lying there. You pick him up and there's no movement on his part whatsoever. Instead, he stays still as dead things do, fairly stiff. What stands out most are his eyes. A couple hours ago they were half-open, and now they're completely open but the eyes are light silver/white...somewhat robotic looking. It looks like somebody just place a small pearl in there where his usual black eyes were...very concerning.
I felt his skin temperature and it appears normal. A few hours ago my brother thought maybe it was too cold in there for him, so he ramped up the house's heater on along with the heat lamp, but there was no sign that it was helping, so we've returned the tank to its usual lighting and heating conditions. Jake's body could be warm because of those efforts, but since we turned everything off over an hour ago, maybe it's just a good sign that he's not cold? Also, his color seems fairly normal...maybe a bit more whitish yellow, but nothing crazy.
There are no signs of breathing, and that's never good, but I've read at other places where people freak out because of that and it turns out that their bearded dragon is still alive.
I'm somewhat of an apologist when things go awry, so I wanted to throw it to the board and ask if Jake is dead or if he's going through some brumation-type thing that is natural for this time of year.
After reading about his appearance, I ask is this what a dead bearded dragon looks like?
We're probably going to take him to the vet tomorrow if nothing changes, but some peace of mind/feedback would be fantastic in the meantime. Thanks.