Baby beardie VERY lethargic, not eating

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I'm brand new to this forum, so please bare with me. I quick searched but haven't found an answer specific to my problem. A friend of a friend was rehoming a baby beardie, and I picked him up Sunday. She gave me the entire set up for free, and I could tell immediately that something was off. He's 7" long, 10g and lethargic. In his tank were at least 15 dead medium crickets and a few live ones. I got him home, snuggled him awhile, and then got to cleaning his tank. Superworms EVERY WHERE. Under the sand liner (it feels like sand/rock, but isn't loose like sand), in his hide, under the dishes. Everywhere. And then a HUGE dubia roach crawled out from his hide and scared me half to death. So I got his tank totally clean. No cleanser, just hot hot water and a thorough dry. He continued acting lethargic and refused to eat. I tried warm baths and belly rubs, thinking impaction. Then I syringe fed MAYBE a droplet of prunes, again thinking impaction. He got worse. Everything I read said to check his tank temp, and they're spot on. About 85 in the cool side, 105 in the basking spot. So then I checked his lighting. Turns out his lightbulb was not full spectrum like the previous owner thought. They've had him 3 months and he's gotten no UVB. So I hurried to petsmart last night and bought a 26W UVB 150 Exoterra bulb to go in my zoomed deep dome. I know it's not the reptisun 10.0, but they were out of the length I need. So this will have to work until it comes from Amazon. He's in a 40 gallon tank with a hide that is 8" from the basking light at the topmost spot. I left the uvb on all night because I feared he wouldn't make it. He's still very letharic this morning, but is actually basking for the first time since since I've had him. He still won't eat. Is there anything else I can do? Or amI doing anything wrong?
 

Zanna

Hatchling Member
HI Megan, welcome and I'm sorry yr little one is struggling. You're on the right track with the repti sun and try some baby food, chicken. On a small spoon or yr finger. Hoping some of the really wise people drop in here to give u some advice. I just kept offering every thing often and water in a dropper while our baby wasn't eating. Let us know has he's getting on. Glad to hear he's basking today!
 

Zanna

Hatchling Member
Almost forgot! Baby food chicken should be purée for now. Any crickets or dubia roaches u feed him should be no bigger than the space between his eyes and please don't leave live feeders in his tank. Get him off sand and onto paper towels or butchers paper (all loose substrate can get ingested and cause compaction). I feed my 3 month old beardie small dubia roaches as he wont eat crickets and he's fattened up from his underweight 11 grams to 33 in a few weeks. Try some grated butternut squash and greens as well but he really needs protein I think now. ;)
 

BruceLarryOzzie

Hatchling Member
He is likely very stressed out for many reasons. Specifically from having all those feeders running around his tank, being rehomed and lack of UVB. Those feeders will antagonize the little dude and then he will not eat. The crickets could have been nibbling on him too. He is likely very dehydrated so keep dripping warmish water on his nose in hopes that he will drink some.

if you can, order some Reptical and pangea powder. You can get both on amazon. they can be mixed into a slurry (think puree) and syringe fed to him.

Make sure that the sides of the tank are covered in paper or something so that he does not see his reflection too much. It can scare them and causes stress.

The others here will have more advice.
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
The lack of UVB is a major problem. That coupled with rehoming him, he's not going to eat. Then the extra bugs running around didn't really help either. Once he settles in and the uvb is right, he'll start eating again. Let's keep our fingers crossed he'll pull through this, poor little fella. They are so trusting,it is sad when they are mistreated.
 

MeganWise26

Member
Original Poster
He's not on sand. It's a reptile carpet that isn't carpet, but sand and rocks. The sand/rocks don't come off, and I scrubbed it HARD when cleaning. All his food is of proper proportion since coming home with me. Syringe feeding isn't going spectacularly- he's eaten probably .25mL in the past two days. He did drink a lot of water Sunday night after I cleaned the tank and filled his water dish. He's taken daily warm baths, both for hydration and to aid with bowel movements. Still no poop since I've had him. He seems to enjoy being handled. He's very affectionate. Please keep the advice coming! He's my first beardie, and all the research in the world won't trump personal experiences.
 
I'm so sorry you are having trouble with your baby and I completely know how horrible it can feel when you want to help them but they aren't eating. See if you can contact a good herp vet and ask for their opinion and also see if they have something called "Critical Care" to help your baby with nourishment.
 

MeganWise26

Member
Original Poster
Unfortunately, the herp vet comes once a week, on Fridays, and will not be in this Friday. I called yesterday to schedule an appt and was told I'd have to wait until then.
 

sweetiepie9

BD.org Sicko
Retired Moderator
Hi Megan, here's what I did with my dragon when I first got him from the pet shop. He wouldn't eat either and I've had dragons for over 10 years now so found a wonderful mix that I make up that Imp really loved. I mixed Carnivore Care (Oxbow, can get on Amazon) and Critical Care (Oxbow as well. Mixed 1/4 tsp of each, added 1 tsp butternut squash baby food and sprinkled with bee pollen (human grade powder) really well, so it covered the rest of it, added a tiny bit of water, mixed very well and fed by syringe, a drop at a time. Imp ate that stuff 2-3x a day for a month before he started devouring bugs. He was 3 mo old when I bought him and 4 mo old when he started eating bugs, was eating over 100 a day at one point. I've used this mix alot and passed it along to others that also found it worked well. The Carnivore Care is mainly protein. The critical care is mainly vit/minerals, calcium, long list of what is in it but it works. I got the green bag, anise flavoured, but there is also apple banana flavour. I would recommend this mix to anyone who's dragon needs help.

I'm glad you ordered the Reptisun 10.0, it's a good full spectrum light that works great, should be inside the tank, though, not on top of the mesh top, loses too much UVB through the mesh top.

Also you should use pedialyte in his/her baths. You can make your own: 2 qts hot water, 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, mix well and add cold until water is warm and soak. A couple a day for him right now would be good. Adds electrolytes back and will work against the lethargy.

I have 5 dragons, Imp is my youngest at a year old now, here he is on his Ella Elephant:
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I've used the mix on most of my dragons. On Cierra after she laid infertile eggs, helps her get her appetite back. On Nathaniel when he lost his appetite (they are brother and sister, 2 1/2 yrs old. Also Castiel, who's just 2, and Gabriel who's now 6. They all love it and will eat lots of it. It seems to help keep their health, which is why I give it to them couple times a month.

I hope this helps with your baby. And because it will take awhile to get to the vet, maybe this will help him while you wait to get him in.
 

MeganWise26

Member
Original Poster
He's so cute!!! I will order the critical care and carnivore care right now. Do you think Flukers repta boost is any comparison? My local petsmart has it, and I just worry he won't make it the 2 days for Prime shipping to get the others here.
 

sweetiepie9

BD.org Sicko
Retired Moderator
I've heard great things about Reptaid, so for sure get that while waiting for the mix. You can still give him Reptaid even while feeding him the mix. Let me know how it all goes. I'll be following your posts. I'm praying this all works for him and you bring him back to good health!
 

sweetiepie9

BD.org Sicko
Retired Moderator
I know what you mean, babies are so easy to love. So in the meantime, get some babyfood butternut squash and chicken baby food and mix up a spoonful. Add a bit of water to make it runny and feed using a small 1ml syringe, dropping the food on his snout, close to his mouth, so he can lick it off. That's how he'll get a taste of it. When I had little babies at home, I used to wrap them around my finger that had that mix with calcium added. They used to lick it off my finger, that was something I really enjoyed.

I hope he makes it through the night. I used to take some of the babies (injured by another baby at the pet shop where hubby worked, so we have a hospital going at home.) As soon as they were healed from the bite, they went back. I used to make salads for the babies, they loved it and because they never got fed enough, they dove into the salad every day. Mine ate it, too. A mix of grated butternut squash with collard greens cut into really small squares, mixed together.

Keep me posted, I'm praying your little one will be around for a very long time. My oldest dragon, Lonzo, was 11 1/2 yrs old when he passed. He was a wonderful dragon, my security chief. He was just hilarious and I still miss him. But he had a very long life and was pampered for the last 2 because I just loved him to pieces. That's how you take care of generic dragons :D
 

MeganWise26

Member
Original Poster
He made it through the night! I left his basking light and UVB light on all night, and woke up to discover he had moved a little bit! My oldest daughter held him this morning while I packed lunches for school and he crawled I her hand. Definitely more lively than he's been since I got him Sunday. I'm headed to get reptaid now. I syringe fed him baby food mixed with a little calcium last night, and he actually ate more than a droplet. I think he's on the mend, but he's still very lethargic. I definitely see an improvement this morning!!
 
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