Worried about Spikey

Hi there,

I am worried about my sons bearded dragon, and am looking for advice. I have done a lot of research in the last few hours and feel like we might have missed a couple of important things in taking care of him and now he seems sick. I would like to say he is very loved and we don't want anything to happen to him.

In the last couple of days he has been very lethargic, and today he is worse. He is shaking his head periodically and making a weird noise. He's also gaping quite a bit. We gave him a bath and he just laid in it. I also gave him some crickets and he had about 4 but he seems to tired to eat.

What we have missed is the calcium and we have been feeding him every 3 days, but I've read conflicting reports about feeding. Some say every few days others daily.

My questions are, could it be a respiratory infection? Or possibly something we have caused and as our vets are closed, will it be ok to wait until tomorrow to take him in?

Thank you in advance!

Hi Gris can you tell us about your enclosure tank size temperatures warm,cold and basking and how are you monitoring your temps what substrate you have? What UVB type and how far from you Dragon?how old iS Spikey?definitely you need the calcium with D3 and a multivitamin.

He is a 40 gallon tank, the warm temp is around 95, night time temp is around 75. The tank we have has a built in thermometer and we have sand from the pet store in the bottom. We use the Zoo Med 75 w basking lamp and it gets replaced regularly. He has a spot where he can bask and is about 9 or so inches from it. We use a red light for at night, as we are in Canada and temp over night can get chilly. We are in a heat wave right now though. He is 3. He doesn’t like a whole lot of greens so he mainly eats crickets. He seems more alert but is gaping at the night light so I’m not sure if he’s cold? He also very slowly made his way to his feeding bowl and ate a couple more crickets. Thank you!

He also feels cool right now, should I leave his basking light on overnight? Thanks!

Ok can you post pics go to https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ get rid of the sand asap that's no good can cause impaction use newspaper or paper towels for now later you can use tile or vynil tile with no adhesive what kind of thermometer? Only good thermometers are probe ones or infrared the stick on ones are not accurate also basking spot only needs to be around 100 for a baby dragon 105 to 110 zoo med basking lights don't produce ,uvb do you have any like a reptisun 10.0?the basking lights don't have to be replaced unless there burned out.also get rid of the night light 75 is good night time but if you need a night heat source to keep tank at 75 get a ceramic heat emitter with a thermostat lights at night disturbs the reptiles sleep trust me all reptiles can see red they can see more colors than we can.

I uploaded the picture but don’t know how to post it here

Thank you! I will get rid of the sand in the morning and get a new light, heat emitter and the vitamins.

I know is a bit confusing choose ximg

Nice little fella make sure you get a good uvb get a t5 if you can you can place that on top of the screen 9 to 10 inches if it's on top as with a t8 you will need to mount it inside and 7 inches from your from your dragon the zoomed light fixtures are expensive but there great so you pay for it.make sure is a 10.0

Great! Thank you so much for all the information! Do you suggest I take him to the vet or should I monitor him for a couple of days?

I suggest get the uvb calcium and vitamins calcium with D3 5 times a week and vitamins 2 times a week give him a week and see how he does.it could be stress for the lack of uvb.if for some reason you can't get the uvb till later get a MVb like a powersun I recommend the 100 watt they also make 150 you can't dimmer those so you will have to raise it if it's too hot but definitely the reptisun 10.0 is the way to go. [ximg]97755 7335600406[/ximg] here are some pics of my gal she's 8 months now for the past 6 weeks she's been sick with coccidia she is getting better slowly.

Ok! I’ll do that right away! One last question...how often should I be feeding him? Every few days or daily? Thank you again!

She’s beautiful!

Daily as much as you dragon can eat how old is your beardie? Usually baby to juvenile more protein then veggies and fruit adults more vegetables and fruits then protein is normal for a young dragon not wanting to eat fruits and veggies but when they become adults they will need to offer him some.