Poor baby...
As already mentioned .... sand is horrible as a substrate / bedding for young bearded dragons , ESPECIALLY CALCI-SAND (THAT STUFF IS LETHAL !!! turns into a hard mass like concrete in their gut and intestines and kills lots of young dragons - a bad impaction is a horrible lingering painful death
) for a lizard , so ditch the sand and line her tank with a couple layers of nice clean kitchen grade absorbant paper toweling.
Can you tell us more details about the uv tube or bulb you currently have :
brand name ?
UVB rating - is it a 10%UVB tube or bulb ?
wattage - if it's a compact coil is it 13W or 26W ?
is it in a dome style hood or a box shaped NanoHood ?
where is it mounted - is it sitting ontop of one those horrible mesh lids or mounted under the lid or from the back wall of the tank ?
How far is from your baby beardie's basking spot ?
As said (MANY brands of compact UVB bulbs are very poor , especially shop-branded and reboxed brands like Zilla as these are cheap and nasty clones made in china using poor quality phosphors and near non-existant quality control , these nasty cheap compacts are advertised as being idea for bearded dragons but are far from it because the spectrum of UV emitted includes dangerous wavelengths of UVC and UVB which often cause eye problems.
I only trust really good high quality brand compact UVB bulbs like produced by ExoTerra and Arcadia and have raised two batches of beardied dragons from about 5 week old babies to full grown adults with no issues attributeable to the 26W UVB200s I've been using over the last 5 years.
Also uv bulbs and tubes have an effective life of about 6 months for most , up to 12 months for the best quality , beyond which the flux of UVA and UVB has decayed to a point where they are no longer working to their specified UVA and UVB microwatt / sqr.cm ratings.
This is unlikely the issue here as you baby is very young and you have not had her long.
Also - 8 hours per day exposure to UVA and UVB and heat is EXTREMELY SHORT , a young dragon like you have NEEDS AT LEAST 15 hours of exposure to extreme levels of UVA and UVB ( UVI at least 10 )
to get sufficient UVB to metabolise it's dietary calcium.
Who ever told you 8 hours was sufficient was telling you BS.
It's very worrying that the problems coincided with you putting down sand in her tank , and that this change seems have been sudden. ===> likely she might be impacted from ingesting sand accidentially with her insects or stuck on her greens and veg .
Has she been pooing regularly before and after the sand was put into her tank ?
....if not - can you feel any hard lump in her tummy ?
It is most likely that the
uvb bulb is a poor quality bulb, not a 10% UVB rated bulb, and is not mounted close enough to where she basks to be beneficial to her in absorbing UVA and UVB and she may not be metabolizing any dietary calcium you have been giving her properly as a result.
Shivering is indicative of UVA deficiency - I saw this with my Rex for a short while when I forgot I needed to replace her UVB200 bulb (which was about 8-9 months old) , replacing the bulb with a new 26W UVB200 brought the shivering under control and she back to normal in about a month. But this is something that creeps up on you and just doesn't start all of a sudden , so perhaps UVA deficiency is not the course even if it might have become symptomatic now she's unwell.
I think the same is case with calcium deficiency. But you could help her by getting some good quality vet grade liquid calcium and giving her this orally by syringe each day along with dusting the crickets with calcium powder and gutloading them with calcium rich greens.
These look like good products
https://www.petology.com.au/exo-terra-liquid-calcium-magnesium-supplement-120ml
http://www.vetark.co.uk/Shop/Reptiles/Supplements/Zolcal-D-liquid-calcium.aspx
https://www.petland.ca/products/exo-terra-liquid-calcium-magnesium-supplement-for-reptiles-4-fl-oz
I've used VetaFarm CalciVet solution with my rescued skinks and when George broke his arm as little rambunctious juvenile. It is very good and tastes nice, they all loved it's taste.
He should have been on at least TWO MEALS OF LIVE HIGH QUALITY INSECTS (THREE IS BETTER) AT 4 WEEKS OLD, I suspect a lot of the issue may be malnutrition (insufficient dietary calcium and insect protein + too cold to digest any food he was given + no UVA and no UVB).
This is one sick little hatchling , but She can recover and start to thrive with THREE LIVE INSECT MEALS PER DAY (IF SHE CAN CATCH BUGS - UNLIKELY AT THIS TIME) or by being FORCED FED THREE TIMES PER DAY using something like HERPABOOST, or CARNIVORE CRITICAL CARE ór BUGPIE made as a slurry and given to hER by feeding syringe and crop/feeding needle , you''ll likely need to give hER liquid calcium daily orally by syringe (something like CALCIVET).
You can likely get HERPABOOST (or it's equivalent from a good reptile vet) , see
http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/vetafarm_herpaboost
CALCIVET from a good petshop maybe (or the vet) , see
http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/vetafarm_calcivet_liquid_calcium_supplement ,
HER needs this in order to get his calcium levels up as dusting his insects will be too hit and miss for hER at the present, and so She can produce the needed VitD on exposure to HIGH INTENSITY UVB (AT LEAST 10% from the MVB, or compact (26W UVB200 is minimum for your tank size, placed about 6-8 inches from his basking spot (on the ground as he's too frail to climb safely
), or 10%-14% UVB T8 or T5 tube.
I think Oxbow Carnivore Critical Care is only available from vet see
http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1609
BugPie can be bought from good pet shops or by mailorder see
https://www.store.repashy.com/by-product-name-en/grub-pie-reptile-en/ , made from BSF maggots and so naturally high in calcium and protein.
Crop Feeding Needles are available from good pet shop or from your vet see
http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/crop_medication_needles_birds?size=348
Feeding syringes are available from good pet shops or your vet see
http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/reusable_feeding_syringe_birds?volume=95
I have attached an image of how to use crop needles to feed a lizard :
SHe only has a very small capacity stomache , so you will likely be giving him 1 - 4 ml / 100g of bodyweight, so if She only weighs 10g that meals 0.1 - 0.4ml ) of liquid/slurry/pureed food / food supplement per feed and will likely need to use 14Gauge or 12Gauge crop / feeding needle. The vet or his nursing staff can show you how to do this if you ask them to .
Please no more superworms for now (or mealworms) , at least until she's 12 months old, they have a very hard to digest exoskeleton that can cause impaction in a very young beardie because of the shape of their internal plumbing.
Better feeders for her are :
BSF maggots (sold as reptiworms or Pheonix Worms (USA)) = excellent ! staple feeder insect but small.
Silkworms she'll hand small (1.5 inch) and medium (2 inch) silkworms = an excellent feeder , very soft and squishy and highly nutritious.
Crickets or roaches or locusts (sized to suit her) + gut loaded with calcium rich greens and dusted DAILY with calcium powder.
She should be on at least two live insect meals per day at 4 months old.
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If you can post some pictures of her tank this will likely help us spot any other issues than should be rectified or tweeked.
