panagringa
New member
Alright alright, I've had my bearded dragon for 8+ years, since she was 6 weeks old. The first time I allowed her to be cared for by someone else, I went out of town. She lost weight (according to my friend, she had no appetite). No worries, I fixed her right back up. A few years later, in May of this year, I went out of town and left my beardie with a friend for about a month. He claimed that she was "dying and not eating." Okay. I come to his house, look at the enclosure, all looks well, except he's using a UVB only bulb with no source of heat. I immediately get a new UVB & basking lamp in-one and feed her, she eagerly eats all of the food I place in front of her (25~ crickets, some greens, wax worms). This goes on for two days or so I'm calm, think that she's just stressed again from the move. I had noticed her doing a "yawning" behavior, I believe the term is gaping. At first I assumed that she may be too hot because who knows how long she had been living without heat, but then she was still doing it off the lamp. Then it got more frequent. Then she was becoming lethargic, and when she would walk, her front leg would drag under her body and she could barely lift her torso off the ground. I take her to the vet. The vet gives me injectable antibiotics (Cefradine, if I'm remembering correctly). She's on her third dose now, every 72 hours. Anywho I noticed that she seems extremely dehydrated and lethargic. Not only this, but now that I've been staring at her for so long, I realized the antibiotic has caused some sort of yeasty substance to grow in her mouth. For this, I've taken to giving her pedialyte twice a day as well as chlorohexidine as well as another antifungal/antibacterial solution that I swab on the site with a Q-tip. I've been able to place leafy greens (alfafa, spinach, etc) as well as wax worms in her mouth, because she's not interested at all in eating, but I don't try for very long because I don't want to force her to eat either. I'm beginning to become concerned because she's been on antibiotics for a week now, and still has two weeks left but her condition doesn't seem to be improving. She's extremely lethargic, spends prolonged periods of time with her mouth open, and will shake in my hand. Any advice? I've been told multiple times it could just be old age, but I've also heard stories of beardies living 15+ years with great husbandry.
