Sick Baby Ember

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Hello, everyone! I’m new posting this site, though I’ve been using it for information for the 3 months that I have had my bearded dragon. I obtained him through a pets in the classroom grant from petco (I realize now that’s an awful place to get pets). My setup is as follows: 20 gallon viv, ReptiSun 10 HO UVB tube, a zoomed heat lamp, counter liners as substrate, 110 on hot side, 80 on cool side, 10-20° low humidity but I mist often in attempts to raise humidity(Colorado in winter). I have a digital thermometer and hygrometer inside the Viv.

Over thanksgiving break, a student’s family watched him, and he came back to me with a broken leg and lowered appetite. :( I immediately took him to the vet (a decent vet with reptile specialty) and the vet said he was at risk of developing MBD so prescribed calcium glubionate and meloxacam for pain management with broken leg. 3 weeks went by and the little dude seemed to be perking up and started moving around more vigorously by Christmas.

3 weeks ago, he suddenly lost his appetite then started severely turning to the left. So severely in fact, that it appears his spine is now stuck turned to the left. He will occasionally get head tremors and flip upside down. He wouldn’t eat anything so I started syringe feeding him baby chicken and squash with a little calcium and vitamin powder mixed in.

1 week ago, because of appointment issues, even though I tried to get him in earlier, I brought him to the vet and she said he had an infection, likely inner ear, and prescribed enroflaxacin. I also noticed that he seemed to be developing tail rot. I clean his cage so often, so this was discouraging. The vet thinks the tail rot is because of a stuck shed on the tip of his tail and it makes me feel so bad. He will be having a check-up and partial amputation on Tuesday.

The problem now is his right ear membrane (the part I can see inside) seems inflamed after a week of antibiotics rather than better. He seems like he’s not improving yet. I just don’t know what to do! Is there anything else I can be doing?
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Aw , this is so sad. :( How long was he on Meloxicam ? That can cause neurological damage . It's true that inner ear infection can cause that as well but the Baytril should be clearing it up if that was the case. Can you post pics of the little guy, full body as well as close up of the tail ? Pics of his set up as well, including lights. Here's how to pot pics :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
That's good that Ember is using the leg now. Can you try getting him to eat insects by smashing a bug until the guts come out [ sorry, I know it's gross ] and rubbing it lightly on his snout ? This sometimes works. You might also get some Repashy bug pie, very nutritios and beardie enjoy it.

If your Reptisun t5 is sitting on top of the screen, fasten it under the screen to increase the uvb exposure. You can use wire such as picture hanging wire. Like this :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30028/full
 

DragonNamedEmber

Member
Original Poster
He doesn’t lick things off his nose anymore, but he does take the baby food pretty easily now and even looks like he’s starting to put on some weight. I heard the High Output lights can go over screens because they put out so much (maybe too much in this small cage?) UVB. Is that incorrect?
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
That's good that he's eating the baby food, and he at least is not too thin. :) The Repashy bug pie would be very nutritious if you could get some though or Oxbow critical care [ from the vet ] As for poor Ember's tail, he will need about 2 or more inches cut , the tail rot has eaten up that much.

In general the t5 is fine on top but now that he can't get up to bask it should be closer. And the type of screen makes a difference too. Screen like I have only blocks about 15 % uvb , maybe 20 . See this pic :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30004/full

But screen that is almost like window screen can block 35 or 40 %. Is your screen like what I have in my picture or more like window screen ?
 

HerpGirl

Hatchling Member
Umm, I'm a the only one who thinks that this dragon has tail rot?!?! LOOK AT THE TAIL! That CAN'T be good. :(
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
HerpGirl that is also discussed in this thread. It's easy to miss things when we read through very quickly. If you read back over you'll see where it's mentioned. :)
 

HerpGirl

Hatchling Member
AHBD":19vwrw48 said:
HerpGirl that is also discussed in this thread. It's easy to miss things when we read through very quickly. If you read back over you'll see where it's mentioned. :)
:shock: :oops: :shock: :oops: :shock:
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
We've all done that before. And especially if it's a real health concern because you don't want anyone to miss a serious problem !
 
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