Baby stopped eating and tail looks blackened

I just adopted a baby beardie from PetSmart the other day. He was settling in very nice and ate just fine. I did notice, however, that his tail was a little misshapen when we first brought him home. Today, he stopped eating. He ate about 6 crickets this morning and wouldn’t accept any more food during his later feedings. He’s been lying down in the same spot all day. He’s about 2 months old, give or take a week. He’s been fed about 30+ crickets a day, with dustings and a variety of veggies (kale, carrots, occasionally cucumber for moisture). I also gutload the insects. He has been shedding, though I’ve given him a bath. He gets his water through mistings or droplets from a dropper. He has a reptisun 10.0 uvb bulb with a 100 w basking light. Reptile carpet for substrate. Humidity and temperature are ideal. His tail is not fully black, just looks like it’s turning. I’ve looked at it in light and its definitely darker. Not that he’s stressed, it’s been like this for a day or two. I wanted to know if it was tail rot because I do not want it to spread to the rest of his body. Also, PetSmart said that if he was got sick or anything within two weeks of adoption, we could take him back and he’d be checked into a vet. Thank you and let me know if you need anymore info

10.0 UVB ? coil or tube?? It is common for them to go thru relocation stress and shedding probably isnt helping either --- so thats gonna slow the eating down---- how ever he should not quit eating all together-- as far as the tail please post pics of it --- https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at top of message box --- here is some info on tail rot
Causes of tail rot are:
1. Injuries/trauma - caused by falls, or by any other bearded dragon.
2. Malnourished - make sure he has a balanced diet and he gets the nourishment he needs
How to identify tail rot:
1. Dried out - Decaying tail won't be able to retain moisture, check if it's dried out completely.
2. Very thin, brittle - Decaying tail won't be able to process nourishment, causing it to become more thin and brittle.
What to do after finding out it has a tail rot:1. Go to a vet - very recommended
Before we jump the gun here let us look to see if it actually tail rot--- most time its the beginnings of shed---
Karrie

KarrieRee":3uh1rlfo said:

10.0 UVB ? coil or tube?? It is common for them to go thru relocation stress and shedding probably isnt helping either --- so thats gonna slow the eating down---- how ever he should not quit eating all together-- as far as the tail please post pics of it --- https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at top of message box --- here is some info on tail rot
Causes of tail rot are:
1. Injuries/trauma - caused by falls, or by any other bearded dragon.
2. Malnourished - make sure he has a balanced diet and he gets the nourishment he needs
How to identify tail rot:
1. Dried out - Decaying tail won't be able to retain moisture, check if it's dried out completely.
2. Very thin, brittle - Decaying tail won't be able to process nourishment, causing it to become more thin and brittle.
What to do after finding out it has a tail rot:1. Go to a vet - very recommended
Before we jump the gun here let us look to see if it actually tail rot--- most time its the beginnings of shed---
Karrie

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The coil. It is the most recommended uvb and it came with my terrarium. It is currently nighttime and my beardie has been sleeping for some time now, so I might have to wait until morning. It’s not fully blackened yet, so it might be difficult to see. The closest exotic animal vet is around 3 hours away and I spent over $400 trying to get him set up, so if he needs to see a vet, I’d have to take him back to PetSmart so he could get their treatment, because i am unable to offer it as of right now and it might be dangerous to his health if I wait. I’ve bought neospirin (not the pain reliever kind) and I’m working on betadine spray so I can see if these baths will help him. I am sure that it is just shedding or stress, though I am unsure why he has stopped eating and moving around. I will monitor him very closely and keep offering food. It is probably just stress, but I will let you know if anything new comes up. Another dragon might have nipped at him during his time at PetSmart. There were quite a few in the cage. I’ve heard that PetSmart dragons aren’t always the healthiest at the time of adoption. Thank you for your help. I will post the picture as soon as I can!

Edit: I did forget to mention that the first couple of days, he did throw up two times and had diarrhea. I did not know if that was stress, but ruled out anything else because he was very active afterwards and had very healthy stools and ate fine. Now I am not so sure, with everything that has been going on. I did talk to PetSmart about their baby beardie diet and they said they feed them a few mealworms (each dragon is less than two months old) everyday and let them snack on veggies, and this is not healthy. I thought maybe that had something to do with it

Sorry to say but you need to replace that coil --- they are bad for dragons--- you need a Reptisun 10.0 bulb T 5 or T 8--- what size tank is he in now?
Karrie

KarrieRee":3vp7qap0 said:

Sorry to say but you need to replace that coil --- they are bad for dragons--- you need a Reptisun 10.0 bulb T 5 or T 8--- what size tank is he in now?
Karrie

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He is in a 40 gallon tank, though I arranged everything to make it seem smaller at this stage as I did not want him to be stressed with how open it was. Where do you buy the tube? The PetSmart I go to only has the coil and I’ve had problems with shipping. Also will you need a different fixture for it? I have a dual lighting fixture at the moment

Yes-- you will need a fixture for a tube- it depends on what you want - T 8 need to go inside tank or T 5 on top of screen-- you will need to order it if your pet store doesn't carry them -- go to www.pangeareptiles.com-- look for UVB fixtures-- you can get different sizes- I would get a 24" w/ a 10.0 bulb T 5 it can sit on top of screen and if you decide to upgrade tank you will UVB already--- please open up your tank--- he will be fine in the 40 gallon--- you can also shop around too but those people at pangea are nice and fast
Karrie

Post pics of tail as soon as you can
Karrie

KarrieRee":10j6bbjr said:

Yes-- you will need a fixture for a tube- it depends on what you want - T 8 need to go inside tank or T 5 on top of screen-- you will need to order it if your pet store doesn't carry them -- go to http://www.pangeareptiles.com-- look for UVB fixtures-- you can get different sizes- I would get a 24" w/ a 10.0 bulb T 5 it can sit on top of screen and if you decide to upgrade tank you will UVB already--- please open up your tank--- he will be fine in the 40 gallon--- you can also shop around too but those people at pangea are nice and fast
Karrie

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I only kept his tank somewhat closed off (only about a quarter was closed off) to help him adjust for a bit. This is what I did with my other reptiles and it seemed to help him as he was unsure and was stressed at how big it was. I read that you had to do this on many websites, though it might just be for some beardies and not all. I have since opened it up to him (about the third day I had him) and he was doing fine. Thank you. I will look at the new fixture, though I live in a small town and our shipping trucks somehow always get in accidents or don’t handle the packages correctly. We’ve ended up with many broken things, so I will try to work something out for him! Again, thank you for your help! I will post pictures as soon as he wakes up in the morning.

Hello,

It would be great if you could also post a few pictures when you get a chance.
As suggested, do consider upgrading & changing out your UVB lighting. Unfortunately, the
compact/coil lights are not reliable & are not strong enough really, to provide the proper UVB
wavelength for them. Your basking light, is that a bright white light also?
His tail tip might be darker than normal either due to stress or from possibly an upcoming shed,
too.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Hi there, please do post pics of the baby ASAP. It may not be tail rot at all [ hopefully ] but just a darker tail end. It's REALLY important that you also post pics of the crickets he had, to show the size. Place a coin in the cricket bin for comparison. If they are slightly too large that can cause impaction and/or vomiting. Also can be caused by mealworms when a small dragon can't digest them. Hope your baby will be O.K., it's good that he had a strong appetite so maybe a few adjustments in light , heat and insect size will help out here.

AHBD":3hnmb3mm said:

Hi there, please do post pics of the baby ASAP. It may not be tail rot at all [ hopefully ] but just a darker tail end. It's REALLY important that you also post pics of the crickets he had, to show the size. Place a coin in the cricket bin for comparison. If they are slightly too large that can cause impaction and/or vomiting. Also can be caused by mealworms when a small dragon can't digest them. Hope your baby will be O.K., it's good that he had a strong appetite so maybe a few adjustments in light , heat and insect size will help out here.

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PetSmart was feeding him mealworms before I purchased him, leading me to believe that was the cause of the vomit. He has since been very healthy and has had normal stools. He started eating a bit more today, which was great. I posted a picture of his tail, though the quality is not the best. You can’t really see the blackened part. It does seem as if it’s getting darker and more brittle though. I hope it’s just shedding. The crickets I feed him now are the smallest available. No more than half the size of the space between his eyes. I will post a picture when I can

Drache613":1xk6yzc3 said:

Hello,

It would be great if you could also post a few pictures when you get a chance.
As suggested, do consider upgrading & changing out your UVB lighting. Unfortunately, the
compact/coil lights are not reliable & are not strong enough really, to provide the proper UVB
wavelength for them. Your basking light, is that a bright white light also?
His tail tip might be darker than normal either due to stress or from possibly an upcoming shed,
too.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Click to expand...

Yes I have a bright white basking ligh

O.K., I misunderstood, thought he had vomited more recently. I didn't see the pics of the tail here.

With what you said its getting more brittle and darker leads me to believe its tail rot- is it drying out? We didnt get any pic of it -- can you try again please https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at top of message box
Karrie

KarrieRee":3sdr5dww said:

With what you said its getting more brittle and darker leads me to believe its tail rot- is it drying out? We didnt get any pic of it -- can you try again please https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at top of message box
Karrie

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Ok I’ve tried again. The images both say that they have been uploaded to this forum. I think it should work now. It does feel as if it is drying out. He has been eating a bit more, still half of what he needs to be but it’s a start. He will only eat around 5 crickets at a time. When he does this, I will usually wait about twenty minutes and give him a few more so that he gets his food in. This works sometimes. I know how important diet is at this age, so I do not want him to starve or become malnourished. He has still been eating veggies, which is good. I am thinking about taking him back to PetSmart when I can so that they can get him looked at, since I cannot take him to the vet or purchase the new uvb bulb at the moment. I have been doing a neospirin treatment, which hopefully helps a little. I just want him to be healthy! Thanks for your help! Let me know what else I can do!