Injured baby beardie

Hello,

How is your baby doing this evening? It is a possibility she has a slight head injury or perhaps
she is bruised or sore. Is she moving around very much yet or is she still sluggish?
Yes, that is a great idea to make a hammock out of fleece, it is safer than a lot of the other
materials used.

Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Hello,
My baby hasn’t wanted live bugs or showed interest in much of anything. Has been walking around a bit. Opening eyes a bit (not all of the way). Still seems pretty sluggish, but I feel like it seems better than yesterday. I picked up that beech nut squash baby food and she licked some off the spoon. She took in a decent bit, and some water from my finger. My reptisun bulb came in today, so I hooked that up. Also, yesterday I made the felt blanket hammock. It seems cozier, and safer. I hope that I’m doing everything I should be doing. Do you think I should feed it that baby food a few times a day? What are your thoughts? Also, it keeps bending backwards after it eats a few bites I’ll send a pic. Does this mean it doesn’t want anymore or is it helping it to swallow or something else?

Hello,

That is an odd position for your baby, with the head straight up like that. Did she have that type
of head position prior to the injury or is this something that has happened afterwards?
That's great you have now changed out the UVB lighting, does she seem to like that? The new
felt blankie hammock should be really nice for her, too.
How much food does she take in at a time, just a little bit from the spoon, before she stops?
Keep trying to get food into her, several times a day if possible, to get more nutrition into her.
It is very possible that she is sore & is having trouble eating or swallowing, yes.

Let us know how she is doing!
Tracie

What UVB did you get so we can help you get it placed please-- they require certain distance and placement in the tank

She wasn’t doing this prior, but was eating on it’s own before the accident. Today, so far (we still have one more feeding left to go) but it has ate 13 crickets and some licks of squash. (I had to kill the crickets and give them to her after a few licks of squash, at first I was ripping them in half in case it was hard for it to chew but it took a whole one from me with no problem) I’m attaching pics of the terrarium I have the hood uvb (reptisun 5.0 18 inch) but cannot leave the tip-off of the tank Bc I have cats. I do try to leave it off when I am able to watch things in the room. What is the best way to set this up? I have the uvb hood toward the back of the tank and the basking light to the left and ceramic heating fixture on the right. This is only a ten gallon tank, but I’m buying a new bigger one next week. I’ll attach a pic of the one I’m gonna get and my current set up. Any pointers are appreciated.

The screen can be 3/4 on the tank w/ the remaining open part for UVB width wise across the tank -place it over the basking area w/ 6-8 inches directly above the decor piece - take the clear plastic cover off the fixture if there is one on there --- w/ the way its set up now your dragon is getting little to NO uvb and w/ they injury she needs that UVB -- it is imperative for her to heal ---- the screen and the plastic cover is blocking most of those rays ---- when you upgrade the tank I recommend you get a 24" fixture like a Zoo Med or Sunblaster or Arcadia w/ a Reptisun 10.0 T 5 or a Arcadia 12% Desert bulb-- please get a digital probe thermometer you want to know what that temps is where she sits for basking as of now your getting a ambient temp-- she needs temps to be 105-110 for basking-- its good shes eating but proper placement and distance and correct basking temps are a MUST-- its good your upgrading the tank it is so hard to get temps corrected in small tanks-- w/ that small of a tank you dont need a real high basking bulb -- what are you using for a wattage on the bulb--- please NO kits they are a waste of money here is a topic on just that
viewtopic.php?p=1945606
Please read this and come back and ask questions if you have some

I think it is a 55 watt bulb, and I think it might not be hot enough. Should I get a bigger watt bulb? It’s basking temp is only 97.5

No do not change bulbs yet--- you need that digital probe thermometer first!!!
https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/environmental-control-and-lighting/zoo-med-reptile-terrarium-digital-thermometer-14914.html?cgid=500202
Please get this ASAP

Amberjeanlouk923":2epbyuo3 said:

Hello,
My baby hasn’t wanted live bugs or showed interest in much of anything. Has been walking around a bit. Opening eyes a bit (not all of the way). Still seems pretty sluggish, but I feel like it seems better than yesterday. I picked up that beech nut squash baby food and she licked some off the spoon. She took in a decent bit, and some water from my finger. My reptisun bulb came in today, so I hooked that up. Also, yesterday I made the felt blanket hammock. It seems cozier, and safer. I hope that I’m doing everything I should be doing. Do you think I should feed it that baby food a few times a day? What are your thoughts? Also, it keeps bending backwards after it eats a few bites I’ll send a pic. Does this mean it doesn’t want anymore or is it helping it to swallow or something else?

Click to expand...

Atadenovirus (ADV) ?

Hello,

I am glad to hear your baby did eat some crickets & squash, that's great! How is her
head posture today, any changes?
For now, the Reptisun 5 tube will be fine until you can upgrade. Be sure she can get
within a 6-8 inch distance since it will be going through mesh screen.
You can mount the basking bulb directly beside or in the middle of the area around the
UVB tube.

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

She only does that with her head when I am feeding her, but yeah she is still doing it. She ate a good breakfast (7 crickets and some squash licks off of the spoon). When I turned on the lights this morning she opened her eyes and started moving around, so that is an improvement. Should I get her tested for the atadenovirus?

With lunch she ate 4 crickets and some leafy greens. I dusted the crickets with Repta calcium with vit D3. She wouldn’t eat the greens so I dipped them in the squash baby food then she ate like 4 little bites. She hasn’t pooped yesterday or today yet, so I’m waiting on that. I’m going to try to give her a bath in a little bit to see if that will help her poop.

Okay, with dinner she ate 5 more crickets and some licks of squash. Then, directly after had a poop. I think it can’t see very good, because it is just running anywhere in the tank. It is getting around good, but clumsily.

Hello,

It sounds like she is slowly improving. You can certainly test her for adeno, but if she didn't
have that head position to that point before the accident, then it probably isn't related. If you
would like to get her tested, I can help with that. Just go to my site at:
www.thepats.info

The test is $21 per sample.
You mentioned that she is moving around but not real steady on her feet yet? I hope that she
hasn't sustained a bad head injury. Are her eyes open most of the time now?

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

So my baby is going better. Walking around and doing more things. It does have a weird thing that it’s doing with its head. It sorta leans to the right. It sorta holds it straight then it leans it to the right in a slow manner, then straightens it up and does it again. It doesn’t happen all the time, but a few times a day. Also, I’m wondering if it’s eating enough. I feed it 3X’s a day. It will only eat like 5 doubia roaches and 2 BSF a feeding. It won’t eat greens, maybe like 2 tiny bites. I have to dip everything in baby food squash for it to even want it. It won’t hunt anymore. Is this ok? Also, I have enough money for the bigger cage and am going to go buy it along with the upgraded lights. Should I wait a little bit longer before I move it into the bigger tank to reduce stress or do you think it matters?