Bearded Dragon Dying? 12 yrs old

Hi, my beardie is 12, the past couple of days she has been laying out of the sun in her water dish and food bowl, not moving much and her body looks "deflated" if that makes sense. I keep putting her back in the "sun" and on her log but she keeps moving back to the cold side and feels very cold. How do I know if something is wrong? It's not impaction, she has a tiled cage with no small bits. What should I look for if she might be dying of old age? Thank you!

I definitely would not assume that she is dying of "old age", as they can live to 15 years or older, and often do. My first dragon lived to be 13, and he simply died in his sleep, and was completely healthy. So you shouldn't look at an illness as "He's old and probably dying", but rather look at like you would if he was only a year old, like "He's sick, let's figure out what's going on and try to help him".

Have you checked the temps inside his tank, specifically his Basking Spot Surface Temperature and his Hot Side Ambient (air) Temperature, since he's staying out of the Hot Side of the tank and trying to cool himself off in his water dish? (Obviously you must be using either a Temperature Gun or a Digital Probe Thermometer to measure his Basking Spot Surface Temperature, not a stick-on thermometer) And have you tried giving him hydration several times throughout the day by dripping water or Pedialyte on his snout for him to lick off? Is he eating normally? Has his UVB tube been replaced on-time? There is usually a reason that they suddenly do not want to be inside the Hot Side of the tank, and it's typically related to the temperatures within the Hot Side of the tank, or the lighting over his basking spot..

Nothing has changed in 12 years in regards to her basking temp or the frequency of changing his UV bulb so I don't think that's it. Nothing about her routine or tank has changed. She has been eating fine up until a couple of days ago but even that is hard to gauge because her eating habits have always been all over the place. some weeks she eats a ton, some weeks she doesn't eat much, she's always been like that even since a baby. About a month ago she cut her mouth and was on antibiotics for it just in case, that is done now and since she's been eating fine, it's just been the past couple of days she looks sad and not as perky as normal. I was thinking I should bring her back to the dr. but didn't know how long to wait to see if she is just "relaxing" type of thing.

Poor little sweetie, you've taken very good care of her al this time. How long was she om the antibiotics, what was the name + how much was she given ? Some antibiotix can wipe out the good gut flora and also dehydrate them + affect the kidneys. Can you give her oral hydration and also get some fruit flavored soy [ non dairy ] yogurt ? That might get her appetite + strength back, some probiotics and some hydration.

Hello,

That's great, 12 is a very good age.
How old is her UVB light has it been changed out recently? If the light is too old, it probably
isn't emitting very good quality of UVB.
Do you have any pictures of her & the tank setup we could see?
I agree, if she has been on antibiotics recently some probiotics would probably help out her
little tummy. Hopefully she is just resting. Did she not bromate this year?

Tracie

HerpaBoost might give her the boost she needs , as well as replacing the UVB tune with a new 12% UVB tube and perhaps bumping up her warm and cool zone temperatures by maybe 5 degC.

The extra UVA will help boost the immune system , the Herpaboost will give a boost his metabolism and give her more energy, the increase in general tank temps will help in boosting her metabolic rate and immune system. Still no temperature higher than 40 degC anywhere she has access to.

She could have several more years in her if she's not deceased.

Hello,

How is your girl doing tonight? We are all thinking about her, so let us know how she is
doing.

Tracie

I was wondering about an update on your dragon as well. How is she doing?