Extremely injured beardie

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Today I brought home a 4inch baby. I already have a 13inch beardie who has never been aggressive. I was holding the baby in my hand bout a foot away from my larger one. He jumped and bit the baby on the left side of his face but I hit him off immediately.

The baby has no open wounds there was no blood. After the bite he started flopping around on his side. His right eye is now swollen. I am not sure if it is swollen from his flopping around or if it is from the bite. He doesn’t stand or walk much, he seems barely alive. He has had his left side of his head towards the ground ever since his has happened. Earlier he was breathing heavy almost like he was gasping for air. He opened his left eye for a little while ( which is the one that isn’t swollen) about a hour after the bite but has had is closed since. When he tries to get up and walk he just ends up kind of rolling around.

I don’t know what to do or how to help him.

I am not sure if he has any broken or fractured bones.
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Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I am sorry that this happened to your hatchling. Unfortunately, this is a fairly common
occurrence. He is most likely in pain, there is no way that he isn't hurting to some extent.
Is his other eye open, or is he very lethargic right now?
For now, you will need to keep him as calm as possible & comfortable in his tank. Overnight,
try to keep him around 80 overnight, to help boost his immune system.
Do you have any raw, unpasteurized or manuka honey that you could put on his eye to help?
If you have any pictures, please post them just so we can see the severity of his injuries.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Thanks for posting the pictures, poor thing.
It is hard to know whether or not he has a skull injury or not. You said he just bit his eye
but didn't clamp down on his head?
Since there is so much swelling there, that may be affecting his balance. I know things are
rough right now, do you have a vet you can get him in to see that is open?
Otherwise, if he has balance issues it could also be neurological too.

Tracie
 

Jennavierenee

Member
Original Poster
I was able to attach pictures of him.
He is very lethargic and he has not opened his eyes for the past few hours. This happened at about 1:30pm and it is now 11pm. About 2 hours after the accident I was looking at him through the glass and he slowly walked towards me. He seems very unbalanced and his head was tilted. He looked at me with his eye on his left side while the right one (the swollen one) was closed. After that he has had his eyes closed the rest of the time. I tired to lift his head up to put a dropper by his mouth to give him some water and he started flopping around extremely fast on his back and sides. I have not tried to touch him since then because I don’t want him to become any more injured. Since he freaked out so much when I tried to move his head, it’s making me think he may have a broken or fractured bone somewhere. He opened his mouth a about a hour after the accident a few times but he hasn’t opened it since. I don’t believe there is any exotic pet vets near me. Only ones for dogs and cats.

Edit: My larger bearded jumped at his head and bit it but I’m not sure exactly how much of his head was in his mouth since it happened so fast. As soon as he jumped and grabbed him I hit my larger dragon to the other side of the tank. I now have him in a separate tank
 

Jennavierenee

Member
Original Poster
I read a lot of things online that said it’s good to keep him as warm as possible so I’ve had his tank at 100 degrees. Should I let it cool down to about 80?
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Yes, you can keep him around 75-80F overnight in his tank, using a ceramic heat emitter,
or a heating pad set on low, to keep him a little warmer.
He is traumatized absolutely & probably in pain, which is why he is closing his eye & not
moving much. I would imagine he has some type of neurological damage but only time will
tell what the extent of injuries are.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Jennavierenee

Member
Original Poster
Nothing has really changed yet. I picked him up and held him in my hand for a little bit and he almost seemed to like that, he is a little more active when I held him. He was rubbing his head against my finger.
 

Jennavierenee

Member
Original Poster
I have been able to get him to eat a little bit. I got his mouth open and then he started licking squash baby food off my finger. I also used a syringe to give him some pedialyte and water. I put him in a small dish of water to keep him hydrated. He opened his left eye for a few minutes. I don’t believe he has any broken bones since he is able to open his mouth and move his head around. He is still very unbalanced and the right eye is still very swollen maybe more swollen then before.
 

Jennavierenee

Member
Original Poster
How do I reduce swelling on baby beardies eye due to injury? Is there anyway I can minimize the pain? Does it sound like he has any broken bones?

I apologize in advance for the long post

Yesterday at I brought home a 4inch baby beardie. This happened at 1:30pm. I was holding him and my 13 inch dragon jumped up and bit him on the left side of his face. I dropped him from a foot high then because I was trying to get my larger beardie into his tank and away from the baby. The baby does not have any open wounds or bleeding. He started spinning and flopping around, I seriously thought he was dying. About 2 hours went by of me just trying to hold him still and calm him down and see if he was going to stay alive. His right eye is extremely swollen shut and I’m assuming it’s from the drop and also flopping around. I didn’t think he was going to stay alive through the night but he did and it’s now 9pm the next day. He has been very lethargic. He’s had his head tilted with the left side lower to the ground and the right (swollen) side in the air. When he tries to stand up and walk he just walks in a 360 circle with the left side of his body. He eventually loses his balance and slowly lays down on his left side. He keeps his non swollen eye shut for the most part but occasionally opens it. Today I have been using a dropper so force feed squash & chicken baby food, along with water. I also soaked him in a bath of half water, half pedialyte. He also pooped earlier today.

I thought he may have had broken bones somewhere in his head but since he is about to move his head all around & also open his mouth all the way, I don’t believe he does.
I also read that he could have internal bleeding but considering it’s been over 30 hours since the fall, I don’t think that is the case either.
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Any suggestions to further help him?

I understand seeing a vet would be the best open for him but the closest reptile vet is 2 hours away, I also can not afford what the bill could end up being, also due to the pandemic currently going on in the country I am not sure if they will even take new patients.

I used a small cushion to prop his head up

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Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I was wondering how your little one was doing after he had been bitten.
I am thinking he probably has some neurological damage from being bitten on the eye.
The swelling may cause the balance issues though, since he can't really see out of that
eye & is overcompensating for it & tilting.
Dropping him may have caused an injury or more trauma, sure. It's hard to determine if
anything is broken. Can or does he open his mouth at all just so you can tell if his jaw is
broken?
It doesn't sound like any arms or legs are broken, or his back. Was there any blood in the
stool that would indicate internal bleeding?
Try getting some chamomile tea bags. Warm one up, moistened, of course, & place it directly
onto the swollen eye carefully. Be sure that it isn't too hot but warm enough to be a nice
compress. You can put a washcloth over it, to help hold in some heat. Have it sit on there
for at least 10 or so minutes at night, when it is bed time for him.
Are you placing him under a basking & UVB light during the day right now also & making
sure he doesn't get overheated since he can't maneuver himself very well?
Continue to assist feed him since he isn't able to eat on his own. Keep him around 75-80
in his tank overnight, too.
For pain, you can consider getting some serrapeptase liquid to help. It is silkworm enzyme &
helps with pain, inflammation & swelling & is natural. I can send you a link on where to purchase
it if you need.
I hope he makes it through.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Jennavierenee

Member
Original Poster
He is the same. I was able to feed him more baby food this morning. He is able to open his mouth all the way I don’t believe his jaw is broken. I have him under the uv and basking light most the day and Ive been trying to not let the tank get over 100 so he doesn’t over heat. He hasn’t had any blood in his stool.
I will try the tea bags for his eye

Could I please have the link to the medicine? Do I put it on his eye or directly in his mouth?
 

Jennavierenee

Member
Original Poster
Please read my other forums along with this one.

I have found two videos on YouTube of an example of what my baby has been doing since the bite & fall

https://youtu.be/jKaXalCR6LY
https://youtu.be/-r_9ARqBp7Y

Many are saying it’s the ADV virus but someone in the comments of the first video said their dragon was on antibiotics for a week and he was fine after that.
The dragon and in the second video just randomly got better.

Could it just be due to the stress of his eye being so swollen?

He wasn’t doing this before. I know Adv contagious so at first I was thinking maybe my older beardie gave it to him but I doubt it considering my older beardie have never done anything like this, or stargazed. Can someone please tell me what this is? Some other form of brain damage. My dragon also only moves to the left like the beardie in the first video.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Those videos are classic behavior for adenovirus, but can also be neurological damage due
to injury or severe infection.
Since your dragon was injured from a bite, as well as a fall, he has likely sustained some type
of brain trauma.
Has he not improved any at all? How is his eye looking? He is not able to walk upright correctly
without tilting to the side?

Tracie
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hi There,

I had been following along with your other threads.

While those videos are showing signs of ADV, that's not what is happening with your dragon.

Your dragon definitely is experiencing symptoms related directly to the trauma. Hopefully the skull wasn't fractured, but it's a definitely possibility at the minimum that it caused some serious swelling (which is obvious by your pictures) and that can very well be putting a lot of pressure on the skull/brain and definitely the eye.

You can imagine how painful this must be, and how you would be reacting too if you were under such distress.

I do implore you though to please keep all updates and questions/comments to one thread that way we can see all the info in one place, and you don't get asked multiple repeat questions.
Another reason for doing that is for the future. If someone ends up in the same boat as you one day with their dragon (God forbid) it will be very helpful for them to be able to see your thread with all the info and advice and the outcome in one place.

That being said, can you post up a recent picture of him to show how the swelling is progressing?
How has he been acting and what all have you been doing lately with him?

We all really want him to pull through this, so please keep us updated.

-Brandon
 
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