Very Worried Now

ChristGilley · Apr 6, 2019

I've posted a few threads on JoJo so far, but today isn't a good day. The past 2 days he's been keeping his eyes closed and head high. He was still moving around and exploring but was refusing food. He is keeping hydrated, I've been giving him supervised baths every day to every other day. He drinks during every bath including his bath today. But he just won't take food. He just stares at the dubias as they wander around the dish. I tried demobilizing them and offering them with prongs but he wouldn't take them. I got him to take 2 earlier by just pestering them until he bit them. There was this odd popping noise when he chewed. I'm not noticing any struggles to breath but clearly something is wrong. I've been turning off all of his heat sources/lights at night and the temp never drops below 70 but I noticed this morning that the humidity spikes. I'm going to try having a fan on the lowest possible setting angled down the screen of his tank and see if the airflow keeps that humidity low. He gets supplements with his food (even though I've had to make him eat the past couple of times) regular hydration, his UVB is a ReptiSun 10.0 T8 tube and he has a basking bulb as well as a CME to keep his hot side temps around 105-110. He's not completely debilitated but I have a feeling that he's only going to get worse if I can't solve whatever issue he's having. He's in a 40 gallon breeder that I had one half blocked off. I opened it up today thinking he was ready but now I'm thinking he made need to be in an even smaller tank for the time being. Any input is welcome, I've had to make a lot of habitual changes since getting this little guy but I don't think I'm doing anything wrong now that I've fixed a couple of things. Hopefully you guys have some wisdom to help me out :banghead:

toddthedragon · Apr 6, 2019

So sorry about your baby. I’m having very similar issues with my girl (besides the eye closing) I’ve been force feeding her carnivore and critical care formula every day. This is a shot in the dark but you could try blending up greens to make a smoothie to get some calories in your beardie. Sorry I can’t be much more helpful!

ChristGilley · Apr 6, 2019

I'm thinking my problem is the high humidity at night. I don't get to sleep or more than 7 hours but I don't like that I wake up and the humidity is deep into the tropical zone on my humidity gauge. It drops with the CHE and basking light on but I don't want to have to keep those on 24/7. I guess I'll have to get a dehumidifier as well as moving the CHE to the cool side at night so it still saps out some humidity without keeping him hot at night

Drache613 · Apr 6, 2019

Hello,

Sorry you are having some trouble with your dragon!
Have you posted pictures of him, along with the tank setup as well so we can see it all?
What supplementation are you giving him & how often do you get that to him?
If he is losing weight, I would recommend getting him on some powdered food supplement
such as herbivore care or critical care possibly, or you also can use chicken or turkey baby
food mixed with sweet potato or squash baby food, to get nutrition into him.
How long have you had him?

Tracie

ChristGilley · Apr 6, 2019

Drache613":2i4pnajz said:
Hello,

Sorry you are having some trouble with your dragon!
Have you posted pictures of him, along with the tank setup as well so we can see it all?
What supplementation are you giving him & how often do you get that to him?
If he is losing weight, I would recommend getting him on some powdered food supplement
such as herbivore care or critical care possibly, or you also can use chicken or turkey baby
food mixed with sweet potato or squash baby food, to get nutrition into him.
How long have you had him?
I've had him about 2 weeks now. It's a National Geographic branded multivitamin and supplement. I offer him dubias twice a day, the first feeding being dusted every other day. When he was eating on his own, he would lick up a little of the powder as well. I haven't posted a full setup picture because it was constantly changing and I had half of it blocked off with boxes until today. He's still active, he's not lethargic to the point that I'm concerned about him dying on me. It's just more of him laying around a bit more than usual as well as him being even more picky about when he eats than he already was. When I first got him, he would eat on his own every time I offered it to him. Then it changed to me having to put dubias in his tank and he would eat them on his own terms. Now he doesn't seem to have much interest at all. I'm going to shoot AHBD a message as well to see what he thinks. I'll try to get some pictures of his enclosure for you guys in the meantime
Tracie

AHBD · Apr 6, 2019

Hi there, please do post pics of Jojo + his set up. Is he just a baby or larger ?

ChristGilley · Apr 6, 2019

AHBD":nwidj9kz said:
Hi there, please do post pics of Jojo + his set up. Is he just a baby or larger ?

He's just a baby, probably around 5 inches long

Here he is a week ago before I changed out the mats and got the ReptiSun

Here he is today, he just looks so miserable

The substrate is a texture mat, the sock is full of rice to lower the humidity

The UVB is between the 2 sides of the mesh screen so that nothing gets filtered out

I'm just so lost. I don't know if it's something I'm doing or if he was just already sick and didn't start showing symptoms until now. I get more worried and anxious as time goes on because you just can never be sure with these guys. Something small could turn big really fast and I really want to give this guys the best life I can

AHBD · Apr 6, 2019

He is very small but that doesn't automatically mean he won't do well. Still, I agree that something's wrong. Can you post what size the dubias are that you were feeding him ? A pic of them next to a penny or dime. If the bugs were too big they can cause impaction. Has he been pooing ? And did you get him from a store ?

ChristGilley · Apr 6, 2019

AHBD":1mwpc8xx said:
He is very small but that doesn't automatically mean he won't do well. Still, I agree that something's wrong. Can you post what size the dubias are that you were feeding him ? A pic of them next to a penny or dime. If the bugs were too big they can cause impaction. Has he been pooing ? And did you get him from a store ?

They are 1/4 inch dubias. He's definitely been pooping. He went about 2 days without but did last night and sometime today while I was moving some furniture. I make sure to clean it all out but I did notice some undigested chitin today. Everything else has been normal. He wouldn't even chase crickets when I first got him so I ordered the dubias and he loved them until about 4 days ago

AHBD · Apr 6, 2019

Try to get some of the food supplement that another poster mentioned, either Carnivore or Critical Care by Oxbow. You might also try the baby food and or Repashy Grub pie. If he's a pet store baby he may have other issues, hopefully not ADV. It may also be that getting the uvb closer might perk him up. If you have a t8 it's a bit far from him.

ChristGilley · Apr 6, 2019

AHBD":2d16wuz1 said:
Try to get some of the food supplement that another poster mentioned, either Carnivore or Critical Care by Oxbow. You might also try the baby food and or Repashy Grub pie. If he's a pet store baby he may have other issues, hopefully not ADV. It may also be that getting the uvb closer might perk him up. If you have a t8 it's a bit far from him.

I'm not sure how I would mount it inside the tank. Maybe I could improvise something to hang from the mesh? I have some of the omnivore critical care here but I'd probably want the actual carnivore variant right?

KarrieRee · Apr 6, 2019

You can try picture wire -- fishing line stuff that is thin-- or 3M makes some hooks that I have not seen and you can also try plastic zip ties to hang the UVB-- but I would definetely get the UVB inside the tank
Karrie

ChristGilley · Apr 6, 2019

Thanks for the input. I do have some fishing line that would be able to support the weight. I just want him to improve so I'll do whatever it takes. If I have to forgo the money I spent on the fixture and get a smaller one that can be mounted to the back of the viv, so be it

KarrieRee · Apr 6, 2019

6-8 inches I believe they recommend for the T 8--
Karrie

ChristGilley · Apr 6, 2019

KarrieRee":1u4kka00 said:
6-8 inches I believe they recommend for the T 8--
Karrie

WOW! That's half the distance for the T5! I was thinking the UVB was fine where it was because I saw the measurement for the T5 and thought it was the same. I feel so uninformed

Very Worried Now

ChristGilley

Member

toddthedragon

Member

ChristGilley

Member

Drache613

BD.org Sicko

ChristGilley

Member

AHBD

BD.org Sicko

ChristGilley

Member

AHBD

BD.org Sicko

ChristGilley

Member

AHBD

BD.org Sicko

ChristGilley

Member

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko

ChristGilley

Member

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko

ChristGilley

Member

Members online

Still Needs Help

Tiny prolapse?

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

Forum statistics

Share this page