at a loss of what to do, beardie still sick

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Hi my name is bettyann I have a bearded dragon named Saphira, she will be a year old on the 10th of this month...I have only made a few posts but dont know what else to do for Saphira...
I have spent over 2 thousand dollars on her to get her well and I love her to death but I dont know what else to do...I got her last august from a breeder she seemed fine and was doing good and eating great, she was 3 months old when I got her...she is a female citrus tiger...so back in oct she started not to eat to much, and was acting strange to me so I took her to my exotic vet who did a sonagram, blood work, checked her for parasites and a few other things that cost me over 400 dollars, find out she had pinworms so she was treated and retested and fine, she still continued to only eat a few worms a day, not anything like she used to eat, btw i was feeding her dubias, wax worm a few for a treat and giving her salad everyday even though she has never touched salad since I got her, she still continued to not eat but remained her weight as I have a gram scale to weigh her on and i do it weekly.. she was 15 and a half inches long and 380 grams...so vet told me if she wasnt loosing alot of weight not to worry so I didnt but then in dec she started to sleep all the time and not get up and I know about brumation but something was still off so I took her back and this time she tested positive for coccidea, so once again we treated her and she was retested and cleared, in January she stopped eating altogether and was put on omnivore and carnivore critical care and liquid calcium, so I was syringe feeding her everyday so she would get her nutrition, this went on for months and the vet said she should be coming out of brumation if that is what is causing this and well she didnt so I took her back to vet and low and behold he did more extensive tests on her and found out that this time after he got her reports back that she has samanella sorry some of the words i know I am not spelling correct but am in a hurry...so now he had me cut her back on the critical care in hopes that she would start eating on her own well she still isnt...I have tried everything that beardies eat and not a thing, she is presently being treated with anitbiotics that I have to give her by a shot and she only has 2 more shots left...she still will not eat...I bought her some can mealworms, I know worst thing ever but if i pull her lip down on the side and place the worm in her mouth she will eat it but she is only still eating maybe 5 or so a day...this is the only thing I have gotten her to eat, so I am going with that for now and once she is awake she is up and moving around but not like the Sahpira I once knew..I keep her terrarium extremely clean at all times, fresh food and water everyday...the vet said she is well hydrated as I bath her at least 2 times a week and mist her once a day...she has not improved like I thought she was gonna and I am at a loss of what else to do, her temps are all the correct temps as I have a heat gun and I check her temps several times a day...she is in a 40 gallon breeder terrarium and has a t5 ho 10.0 uvb tube bulb that is only a couple of months old and I have now ordered a uvb meter reader to make sure the bulb is giving out the correct amount of uvb even though it is only a couple months old...My vet has told me that he has done everything that he knows to do for her to make her better and said that if she doesnt get better then he can recommend me to go out of state to a specialist to see what could be going on and I have no money left to do so I have already spent about 2 grand on her and tapped out my cards, I cant miss work as I am only part time and have no vacation time to use and to top all of this off my husband was just diagnosed with cancer and we dont even know how that is going to go at this point...I just dont know what else I can do or have missed to try to make her better...she is now 16 and a half inches long and 350 grams...if anyone can offer any advice I would greatly appreciate it...I love saphira to death but I dont know what else I can do...I contacted the breeder I got her from and all he said is that she could have cancer as beardies do get cancer...someone please help, I dont want to loose my saphira but going out of state and to a specialist is out of the question...'thaks for all who read this and may give me some insight, I appreciate it...Saphiras mom
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi Bettyann, first of all I'm very sorry to hear that your hubby was diagnosed with cancer. :( I will say that nowadays they can do a LOT to treat people and I have several friends that are very long time cancer survivors. One with breast cancer, one with leukemia. Hopefully that will be your hubby's experience, a successful outcome. So about Sapphira, I looked through [ and replied on ] your other few posts + Sapphira actually looks great. :) Of course beardies CAN develop cancer + other illnesses like we do but beardies can just be somewhat lazy + unmotivated too and seem as if they are sick. Some of them just are that way. I don't think she has any real health problems but if she had the old compact bulb for the majority of her life with you that could have contributed to the lack of appetite + energy. I think the vet is sapping your $$ with an ultrasound at 6 months old when a VERY , very low percentage of dragons would ever develop eggs at her young age + size. And now antibiotic shots for salmonella ? Most reptiles carry salmonella and you don't need to treat them for it. I don't think your vet has done much good but they sure have taken your hard earned cash.

Another thing, the lack of good uvb could cause loss of appetite but once you start " force " feeding [ or assist feeding ] with a high fat product like Carnivore Care it can keep them very satisfied and again kill their appetite. Can you post pics of her + her set up now ? Her tank was very sparse with not much basking + climbing areas , I know you wanted to keep it easy to clean but don't let a few pinworms keep her from having a nice set up that encourages activity. I think she's probably fine but all these treatments are probably stressing her a bit. Let her just go back to being a normal lizard + see what happens. She should start eating again on her own in a few days , maybe week. Best wishes !
 

IluvBeardedDragons18

Member
Original Poster
Hi Ahbd,
Thank u for ur kinds words about cancer, it is our hopes and prayers that my hubby makes a full recovery...
yes Saphira's terrarium is very limited right now due to the fact that she has had parasites 3 times in a row...I work at a pet retail store and my hours r all over the place, I do not work the same hours any given day which makes it hard for me to make a better terrarium for my Saphira at this time...My goal at this time is to try to get Saphira well and make sure her terrarium is always clean for her...When I 1st got her in august she had more stuff to climb on and a hammock but due to the fact that she had parasites and would poop on them all the time, I had to make the terrarium very limited so i could have the time to clean it and keep it clean at all times...
When she is done with her treatment and starts acting herself again and eating I will add more stuff back to her terrarium as she loved her hammock but it is not feasable at this time...
tomorrow my uvb meter is coming and I cant wait to see if she is getting enough or to much uvb, the uvb bulb is only about 3 months old but as with anything it could be a defect and not putting out the right amount of uvb for her..that is the last option I have in hopes that she will get better as like I said the vet said he can do no more for her as he has done everything he can do for her except for me to take her out of state to a specialist...
I will post pictures of her later, I am not good at that type of thing as I am not tech savy but my son will help me do it like he did last time...
I have visited many breeder sites and of course this site to get info on how to take care of a bearded dragon since this is my 1st one, my vet is a well know well respected exotic vet in va and he also is the vet for the zoo here in va and has lots of expierence, so I do trust his opinion but yes I do think he went over board with the salmonella but he saw lots of beardies years ago in that outbreak where it made so many people sick and some died...I did know that beardies do carry salmonella so I can only guess that she must have had alot she was carring like with the parasites and that is why he wanted her treated...I have always used very high standards of cleaning and protecting me and my family of getting salmonella but he even said that that is probably not the reason she is not eating...He thought maybe the parasites in the begining but when she didnt recover from there he has no idea...my last rabbit in the hat is that maybe her uvb is defective when I got it 3 months ago, so I cant wait till tomorrow when I get my uvb meter to see if that is the problem...If not then I will just keep on taking care of her the best I can and make sure she doesnt loose to much weight...she is still a good weight at 350 grams and will be a year old on the 10th of this month...
well gotta go and I will post pics later...Thanks
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
That would be good to check the uvb output, is the bulb suspended under the screen or is it on top ?
 

Aaradimian

Juvie Member
Hi BettyAnn. Echoing AHBD's thoughts & well wishes! You might want to keep a weight log. My beardie Otto came out of brumation with a completely different appetite. He eats only a little, no crickets like he used to, dubias only occasionally now, but now eats hornworms, which he didn't do before. I give him salads every day, but it's hard to tell how much he is eating because he always scatters it everywhere. I have no idea what's going on, but his weight is generally stable, so I am not terribly worried. Temps and UV definitely help determine appetite, though, so a rundown of those will help.

I'm going to ask the vet next week when I take him in, but I figure as long as he's not losing weight, it's probably ok. If you develop a log and others on the forum weigh in that he looks/sounds okay, this is another way you could track eating habits vs health.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I am so sorry to hear about your husband, that is so rough! Have you considered CBD oil for
him possibly? A low to zero sugar diet is helpful too, for cancers.
I agree, maybe the UVB is not quite enough, but the UVB meter will help out. Which one did
you order? However, I doubt that there is anything going wrong with the T5 you are using, they
are excellent bulbs.
Did you follow the medication rounds with a probiotic, to help with her appetite? Bee pollen is
helpful, too. Is she a fancy morph, like a hypo, trans, leatherback, etc or a normal?
At her age, they often change their eating preferences. Since she isn't losing weight, I wouldn't
necessarily think that she is ill right now, but possibly just needs help boosting her appetite. If
you assist feed too much, she will have more of a tendency to get lazy & hold out to be fed but
her natural appetite might not come back.
Do you have pictures of Saphira, along with your tank setup we could all see?

Tracie
 
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