Sick beardie? Please help!

Hi. I am a proud owner of a 6 yr old beardie named Nacho. He recently had 30 crickets, and then the day after he started thrashing his head and throwing up a clear liquid. He has also begun black-bearding, and when I take him out he lightens back up to his natural colors. He recently was on antibiotics a few weeks ago, don’t know if that would have any affect. He has right temperatures and a UVB bulb. He also has sand at the moment, but I’m in the process of switching cages and substrate. I think I’ll introduce him to tile. But he’s really worrying me, as he’s never had these problems before. Please help? Anyone?

Hi there, sorry Nacho was sick. How long have you had him and has he ever eaten that many before ? Thirty crickets are too many for an adult if they were medium-large. It may also be that he's eaten some sand, did yu see any sand in the actual vomit ? Can you post pics of his set up + name the lighting that you have ? Here's how to post pics :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

Be sure to give him a drink, whether he likes to drink while being soaked or via eyedropper or spray bottle on his snout.

Picture is uploaded! He usually eats 24-30 crickets and he’s full for a couple days, and then he gets greens. I give him water daily with an eye dropper, mostly to see if he’ll drink or not. Most times he does. His antibiotics were for tail rot. I’ve had him all six years, since he was a wee little baby. His vomit was just clear, no sand. And I feed him in another place. @AHBD

Has he poo'd lately ? He may be impacted or there may be some other cause. Did he have enough time under the heat lamp to digest all the food ?

BTW no pics showed up.

Yes, he has. For some reason he had a black beard and will either be running or in his hide. The black goes away when I take him out for some reason.

Very nice set up you have for him. Is there a uvb bulb as well as the heat bulbs ?

Yes! The heat bulb is on the right, whereas the UVB is on the left.

So that would be a coil or compact uvb. Those don't project much usable uvb very far so your dragon is not getting much uvb. He'll do much better with a long tube bulb like a Reptisun 10.0 t5 or Arcadia D3 12%.

Hello,

I love the name Nacho! Poor guy, it sounds like he has an upset system for some reason.
Crickets are great for him, but were they possibly too large? You might want to keep the
number to 25 or less so he doesn't overeat. Try feeding a little more frequently, too. As
an adult, they don't need as much protein as youngsters so you can stay to around 40-50
per week which is usually sufficient.
What are his temperatures in his tank? The tank does look nice. I agree, the compact/coil
light will need to be changed out for a better quality one.
If you have some probiotics you could try to get some into him to help out his tummy for
a week or so. Try non dairy organic soy yogurt or non dairy acidophiliz for him, daily & if
it's just an upset tummy that should help it settle. I would lay off any solid foods for a few
days also until things pass through him.
That is a good idea of replacing the sand also, with tile. The tile are cleaner & don't harbor
bacteria.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

He has a deep dome bulb with 13 watts for the UVB, it’s Reptisun. That up there is Nacho, basking.

Hello,

That is a great picture of Nacho there! I love his darker colors.
I am happy to hear he is basking then! I think once you switch out his UVB light that he will
do much better, too.

Tracie

I see 2 major issues here that are causing his problems, and they are very serious issues. The main one is he's not getting much UVB or UVA light at all. The Reptisun 10.0 compact UVB bulb is not at all adequate for a Bearded Dragon, as it's only 13 watts, and you also have it on top of a mesh lid, which is blocking 40% of the already far too weak UVb bulb. So he's not getting much if any UVB or UVA light at all. That's the most serious problem you have. You need to get him a long, fluorescent UVB tube and a long tube fixture for it immediately, as he is probably already suffering from a Calcium Deficiency, and I'd hate to see the MBD start developing. Without strong, adequate UVB and UVA light for at least 13-14 hours every single day, he cannot absorb any of the calcium you are giving him at all, nor any other vitamins or minerals, and he's going to start developing a lot of serious healthy issues, such as MBD and Vitamin B1 Deficiency.

If you buy a weaker T8 strength UVb tube and fixture (17 watts), it will have to be mounted to the underside of the mesh lid by poking 4 holes in the mesh and then using long zip ties, wire, twine, etc. to strap the entire tube fixture to the underside of the mesh lid. The weaker T8 tubes must be within at least 6" of the basking spot/platform, must be unobstructed by anything like a mesh lid or plastic cover on the fixture, and must be replaced once every 6 months. The 2 T8 UVB tubes recommended for Beardies (must be at least a 10% UVB tube, or 10.0) are the 18" Reptisun 10.0 T8 UVB tube and the Arcadia 10.0 T8 UVB tube. Stay away from Zilla, All Living Things, and Reptile One T8 UVB tubes, as they all cause serious eye damage, blindness, and neurological issues.... It's better and will save you a lot of money if you instead purchase a much stronger T5 strength UVb tube and fixture, as they only need to be replaced once every 12 months. Also, the T5 UVB tubes are strong enough (24 watts at the weakest) that they can actually sit on top of the mesh lid as long as his basking spot/platform is within at least 11" of the T5 UVB tube. The 22" Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tube ($24 on Amazon.com, and another $28 for a 24" T5 fixture) or the Arcadia 12% T5 UVb tube are the 2 most commonly used UVB lights by experienced Beardie owners.

The other major issue you have is how you have your lights set up on 2 different sides of the tank. You need to put both the UVb light and the bright-white colored Basking Bulb over the Hot Side of the tank, so that they are right alongside each other and sharing the top of the Hot Side of the Tank. Then his main Basking Spot/Platform needs to be positioned within the Hot Side of the tank and directly under both lights, because he needs to be getting both lights at the same time while he's basking. Your main goal with a Bearded Dragon's lighting is to replicate natural sunlight as closely as you possibly can over the Hot Side of the his tank and over his Basking Spot/Platform located within the Hot Side of the tank.

The only light that you may want to have over the Cool Side of the tank is a second, much lower wattage, bright white Basking Bulb if the main Basking Bulb over the Hot Side of the tank does not keep the Cool Side Ambient (air) Temperature between 75-80 degrees. That's it. His UVB light should not be over the Cool Side, nor should it be separate from the main Basking Bulb.

So since he's not been getting much UVb or UVA light at all, he's not properly digesting his food and not absorbing much calcium or other nutrition from his food or supplements at all. The Reptisun 10.0 compact UVB bulb is unfortunately commonly sold to new Bearded Dragon owners, and unfortunately if the owner doesn't find out that ti's a totally inadequate UVb bulb for a Dragon, they end up starting to exhibit the first symptoms of a Calcium Deficiency and MBD. Hopefully this won't progress with him if you get him an adequate UVb tube and fixture ASAP, and I can't stress this change that needs to made enough to you, as having an inadequate UVb light and having the UVB light/tube set up incorrectly or obstructed when it's a weaker T8 tube are the most common causes of health issues in dragons...