Newly adopted BD vomited and is very lethargic... HELP

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We just bought a female BD two days ago. She is approximately 3 years old. When she got home she was beautifully colored and ate 10 Dubia Roaches. The following morning she had pooped and seemed alert and healthy. We tried to feed her greens and two roaches dusted in calcium powder. She ate the two roaches then seemed uninterested in any other food. We took her out of the cage and let her sit in our son’s lap for about 20 mins. We put her back and everything seemed fine. When we went back to check on her, her beard was dark black and she had pooped again and vomited. All of the roaches were in the vomit and even a cricket from prior to us getting her. She is completely lethargic with her eyes barely open and seems very weak. We are extremely worried... we have already done the following things:
1. Soaked her in lukewarm water with pedialyte for 20 mins
2. Massaged her belly while she was in the bath in case the cause was impaction
3. Fed her one syringe full of baby food applesauce with lactobacillus probiotic in it
4. Gave her 3 syringes full of water/pedialyte in case she was dehydrated
She was not interested in eating or drinking anything we gave her.

-She is in a 75 gallon tank
-Calcium sand is the substrate
-Her basking temp is 105 degrees
-Her ambient temp is 85
-We are using a repti sun t5 5.0 UVB bulb
-2 daytime heat bulbs: 1 is 100 and 1 is 75 watt
-1 night time 100 watt bulb on the opposite side of the tank
-She has a hide on the cool side of her tank and a basking log on the hot side of her tank
-We have fed her dubia roaches and collard greens
-The calcium dust is Flukers repta calcium
-We had standing water in the tank for a day, but have since removed it

We are extremely concerned and any help would be appreciated!
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Sorry your girl is not feeling well!
Your current tank setup looks good, it's nice & bright. Your UVB lighting is excellent as well.
The T5 tube bulbs are very good.
Since you have only had her for a couple of days, it is probably some residual tummy issues
from previously. I would however, change out the calcium sand because it is notorious for
causing or contributing to impaction problems.
Do you know if she was on sand, previously?
How is she doing this evening?

Tracie
 

jmarie0227

Member
Original Poster
We were reluctant to get the sand, but the shop we got her from said that was what they were using, so we just kept it the same. She is not doing well. I just went downstairs to check on her and she is laying limp in the sand, not moving, but I can see her belly moving in and out so I know she is breathing. I wonder if we should take her to the vet tomorrow?
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
jmarie0227":1zuuhcbm said:
We were reluctant to get the sand, but the shop we got her from said that was what they were using, so we just kept it the same. She is not doing well. I just went downstairs to check on her and she is laying limp in the sand, not moving, but I can see her belly moving in and out so I know she is breathing. I wonder if we should take her to the vet tomorrow?

PLEASE REMOVE THE SAND , calcisand / vitasand is lethal to bearded dragons and they should never be allowed near the stuff.

You was given EXTREMELY BAD ADVISE by the pet shop staff.

I would take her to the vet IMMEDIATELY. Make sure to keep her warm while taking her there (body warmth is likely your best option (ie under your top near your skin).
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
jmarie0227":2tk84bo4 said:
We just bought a female BD two days ago. She is approximately 3 years old. When she got home she was beautifully colored and ate 10 Dubia Roaches.

The following morning she had pooped and seemed alert and healthy. We tried to feed her greens and two roaches dusted in calcium powder. She ate the two roaches then seemed uninterested in any other food. We took her out of the cage and let her sit in our son’s lap for about 20 mins. We put her back and everything seemed fine. When we went back to check on her, her beard was dark black and she had pooped again and vomited. All of the roaches were in the vomit and even a cricket from prior to us getting her. She is completely lethargic with her eyes barely open and seems very weak. We are extremely worried... we have already done the following things:
1. Soaked her in lukewarm water with pedialyte for 20 mins
2. Massaged her belly while she was in the bath in case the cause was impaction
3. Fed her one syringe full of baby food applesauce with lactobacillus probiotic in it
4. Gave her 3 syringes full of water/pedialyte in case she was dehydrated
She was not interested in eating or drinking anything we gave her.

<<< 10 roaches is a big meal if they are large roaches. How big were these roaches ?


-She is in a 75 gallon tank
-Calcium sand is the substrate
-Her basking temp is 105 degrees
-Her ambient temp is 85
-We are using a repti sun t5 5.0 UVB bulb
-2 daytime heat bulbs: 1 is 100 and 1 is 75 watt
-1 night time 100 watt bulb on the opposite side of the tank
-She has a hide on the cool side of her tank and a basking log on the hot side of her tank
-We have fed her dubia roaches and collard greens
-The calcium dust is Flukers repta calcium
-We had standing water in the tank for a day, but have since removed it

We are extremely concerned and any help would be appreciated!
 

jmarie0227

Member
Original Poster
They were a mixture of small and large roaches. We had some bearded dragons a long time ago (about 15 years ago) and we never fed them roaches, but again, the pet store said it was the best nutrition for them and then he proceeded to tell us that because she is large she should be eating 10 roaches or so a day. Do you think she is impacted from too many roaches?
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
Yes, the t5's are great but, the 5.0 at that distance (from tallest point in the bottom to the light) is useless especially with a screen top. You need to get a 10.0 T5.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
jmarie0227":3jixnrgx said:
They were a mixture of small and large roaches. We had some bearded dragons a long time ago (about 15 years ago) and we never fed them roaches, but again, the pet store said it was the best nutrition for them and then he proceeded to tell us that because she is large she should be eating 10 roaches or so a day. Do you think she is impacted from too many roaches?

Hard to say , you REALLY need to get her to a reptile vet as a matter of urgency is she is as sick as you say .

I'm betting if she's impacted it's the calcisand that caused this , it sets like concrete in their gut and can form serious hard to clear blockages in their gut. An Xray will tell the vet immediately the extent of any blockages and how to move forward towards clearing these.

If she is severely impacted this will explain the vomiting , as the roaches she ate will have had no where to go except back out the way they went in with a heap of other rotting food that had been accumulating and rotting in her gut.

No solids food until the vet gives the all clear as these will only add to the problem.

I have a very large 3 year old (25" long and nearly 800g) and she never eats more than 1 or 2 large silkworms + 6 to 8 medium crickets in a sitting. I feed her once daily.
 

MarlowAndMe

Juvie Member
Just dropping my well wishes here
So sorry to read about this
Unfortunately pet stores are nortorious for giving bad and even dangerous information on bearded dragon keeping
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
I'm pretty sure that she ate too much and was left out of the tank + too much excitement going to a new home. Hopefully she was not eating the calci sand but I think she would have been lethargic from the start if that was the problem. How big were the roaches ? Two or 3 large roaches is almost a meal in itself, so that may have been the problem. And although you may have read about soaking her in Pedialyte, that is not going to help and will cause more stress to a sick animal. Oral hydration is what's needed [ dripping water on the snout for a dink ] Hoping everything turns out O.K !
 

Terry15

Sub-Adult Member
Yes it would be good to get the sand out. You can vacuum it out. Get a roll of non adhesive shelf liner for the tank, very cheap, easy to clean & bugs can’t hide under it. Here’s a good list of nutritious veggies for your dragon. At this age they may only need a few live bugs a week.
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Also Repashy grub pie is a good staple. It sets up like jello, I mix mine with some unsweetened applesauce, baby food prunes purée, it’s good if they are impacted. You can also add a few drops of olive oil before you feed her.
 

MarlowAndMe

Juvie Member
Mine uses rapashy grub pie as his staple instead of insects.
It’s fantastic quality , a balanced replacement for insects , it’s made mostly from black soldier fly larvae.
It’s in powder form - you add water and mix it then pour it into a ice cube tray.
I would remove the sand even if it wasn’t the cause this time - as it very well could be next time
I use linoleum. It’s cheap , easy to cut with a craft knife and ruler only. It’s easy to clean as you just wipe it up like you would a spill on the kitchen floor.
Mines kind of a sand colour too.
Just buy the type on a roll as the glue on the self adhesive type is not safe.
Shelf liner also works as said above. So does tile.
Here’s mine with Lino
101427-1216583713.jpg
 
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