Very sick baby berdie

Ok-for the last two weeks there has been a huge change in my beardie. He was very active and eating very well. He is about two months old. I have read all of the care sheets and the only thing I am replacing is my bulb. I was using a reptiglo 5.0, I have ordered a reptisun 10.0 which should be here soon. He was eating small crickets and we were starting to introduce veggies. Which he never took to eating yet. Suddenly he stoped using his back legs and he just sits there. He is able to move around but he will not eat. I have been force feeding him, and I am afraid I am going to eventually hurt his jaw. He wont even open his mouth. He is pooping and I have been giving him daily baths. Now in the last couple of days his tail is starting to turn black and hard. It looks like it could just break off. I did bring him to a vet a week ago and they thought it was due to calcium. We have been giving him calcium so I dont know... Also sometimes he will sit with his mouth open looking up. I really dont know what to do with him anymore. Especially when I have brought him to a vet and didnt really feel like she should of been a herp vet! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear that your 2 mo old isn't doing well. Could you tell us if the Repti-Glo bulb looked like this: http://www.zooplus.pl/bilder/hagen/exo/terra/repti/glo/lampa/tropikalna/1/300/41414_1.jpg or this 2nd picture: http://www.baumanns.ie/images/DSCF2750.jpg It's very important that we know. How close is your beardie to that bulb and I you using a colored basking bulb or a white one?

Also, what size tank is he in & what wattage is your basking bulb? Are you using a stick-on thermometer like a strip or round gauge or a temp gun or digital thermometer with a long wire & probe on the end? What are the basking & cool side temps?

How often are you giving the calcium & vitamins & what is the brand? What has he been eating? What substrate do you have on the bottom of the tank? Could you post a picture of his tail? How long has it been since he shed his tail? Oh & is he housed alone?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to rule things out to try to get him doing better.

Its more like the second one-its a tube. It is a very large home-made enclosure. It is really about 5 by 4 feet-my husband went a little crazy with it. At first it was at the top of the cage and a couple of weeks ago we moved it way down to be closer to him. It is about 18 inches away. He also has a basking area with two bulbs and one red light for night time. We are using a round gage. In the basking area it is aroung 100 and 80 in the cooler area. My husband feeds him crickets every morning and night-using the reptical three times a week. We also were gut loading them. We used to use play sand as the substrate-now we are using some kind of tapr material.
Also I do have pics but I cant figure out how to attach them?? Thanks so much!

Hi again, this link will help you with posting pictures: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=37103&st=0&sk=t&sd=a#p279888

I'm glad you're using a tube bulb rather than a coil or compact but the Repti-Glo 5.0 isn't strong enough and haven't it at a distance of 18" isn't giving any benefit at all. I would move it to about 6 to 8" from your beardie. How long ago did you order the repti-sun 10.0? Also wanted mention that the tube bulbs need to be replaced about every 5 to 6 months as they decline in that timeframe.

Unfortunately, the round gauge thermometers can be as much as 20 degrees off & the only 2 ways to get an accurate reading are with either a temperature gun or a digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end like this:

The reason why you've seen the decline in him in the last 2 wks could be because of the change of season. I always need to adjust bulb wattages during that time. So, I would suggest you go to Walmart to get an accurate thermometer. The one like the picture is the AcuRite brand it only cost $12.00, has a humidity readout as well as giving the basking & cool side temps at the same time. You would find those in the area in the store where the outside plastic thermometers are sold or the garden center.

As far as the supplements go, the most popular brand used here is the Rep-Cal with D3 but phosphorus-free and the Herptivite (vitamins). For a 2 mo old, you should be dusting with calcium 2 days a wk, but only 1 feeding a day & with vitamins the other 2 days a wk, but only 1 feeding a day. If you have any questions, let us know. :wink:

There I figured it out-I think....
We have actually rigged it so he is sitting closer to the light I would say that now he is about 6-inches away. I will go and get a new therm. The pics are kinda hard to see how bad his tail really is but it feels like I could just bend it and it would break. Thanks so much for your reply.

Thanks for putting the pictures up. Yes, you figured it out, good job. :wink: Does the end of the tail feel "stick-like"? Does he move his tail at all? How long has it been since the tail was shed? Frequent bathing and even massaging the tail may help as well as using 100% Aloe Vera gel (make sure it doesn't contain fragrance or alcohol). The gel should be totally clear, no color at all. If you put that on the tail a couple of times a day, it should help but you need to make sure that he doesn't sit under his basking bulb after applying it or it could cause a burn.

That's good that the bulb is closer now. Here's a link to the best UVB fluorescent you can buy. http://www.petmountain.com/product/bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-high-output-uvb-bulb.html This is a great company to deal with but it may be a wk before you get it.

Do you think you could answer the other questions that I posted above, don't want to leave anything out.

He can still move it and it does feel like a stick-hard. He did completly shed a couple of weeks ago and I know his tail did but I guess I dont know for sure if the whole thing did? His tail didnt start looking this way until about a week after he started getting sick. Is it common to have this happen to his tail due to sickness?

I added a little more info to the last post above yours. What were the symptoms of the sickness he had, did he go to the vet & if so, what did they do for him?

Sorry Im trying to figure out what question I missed-I tend to babble sometimes-thanks

Are you using a colored basking bulb or a white one?
Also, what size tank is he in & what wattage is your basking bulb? How often are you giving the calcium & vitamins & what is the brand? How long ago did you order the repti-sun 10.0? Also wanted mention that the tube bulbs need to be replaced about every 5 to 6 months as they decline in that timeframe.
What has he been eating? What substrate do you have on the bottom of the tank? Oh & is he housed alone?

I think that's all the questions I had asked in the posts above. :?

Well it started with him just sitting there staring up at the light not moving his back legs, I was worried that he was impacted due us having sand in there previouslly. I started bathing him a couple times a day and he seemed 'regular' - in the mean time I started feeding him baby food. He still wasnt moving around or using his back legs. I did bring him to a vet and she thought it was due to not enough calcium. We always put his gut-loaded crickets in repti-cal. which he would eat 2x a day. The vet just told me to mix some of the repti-cal with water too make sure he got extra. Now for the last week he wont even eat anything-I have to force feed him baby food and water. When we try to feed him crickets he dosent even notice them-we take him out of his cage and put him in a little tote with the crickets. They even crawl on him and he dosent even move. Yet he does crawl around to move occasionally. I did order the bulb that you posted. It is so frustrating cuz we were told by petco that all of these things would work!! Why are they allowed to sell crappy bulbs? I am also bathing him everyday to keep him hydrated. The heat areas are 100+ and 80's in the lower area. I hope I didnt miss anything.

I you using a colored basking bulb or a white one? White and a red night one
Also, what size tank is he in & what wattage is your basking bulb? The tank is huge! 4 by 5 feet-but we have all of the lights close to him.
How often are you giving the calcium & vitamins & what is the brand? Reptical-we were using 3x a week but now we put it in his baby food everytime.
How long ago did you order the repti-sun 10.0? We should get the bulb this week
Also wanted mention that the tube bulbs need to be replaced about every 5 to 6 months as they decline in that timeframe.
What has he been eating? was eating crickets now he will only eat baby food that I force feed.
What substrate do you have on the bottom of the tank? He used to be on play sand-replaced w/a tarp material.
Oh & is he housed alone? And hes alone

I think that's all the questions I had asked in the posts

Thanks for the answers. It does sound like he is being affected by the Repti-Glo 5.0 and also that the temps aren't accurate. Both of those things will affect their total health. That's good that you ordered the other UVB and will be getting an accurate thermometer, I suggest you get that very soon.

Have you tried just putting the babyfood on his nose to see if he'll lick it off? That is much less stressful for you and for him if he will take it that way. What babyfoods are you feeding him and how many times a day?

Do you happen to know the wattages of the basking bulbs you're using? Do you have a bulb on the cool side of the tank too, if so what wattage is that one. Regarding the red bulb, any bulbs at night can disturb their sleep so if room temp doesn't drop below 65 degrees, you don't need any heat at night. But, if it does you can use a ceramic heat emitter that produces heat but no light.

You should actually be using the calcium 5 days a wk, 1 feeding a day & vitamins the other 2 days a wk, 1 feeding a day.

I had my husband go and get a thermometer and some aloe for his tail. He actually just ate two crickets-but thats all. I have tried putting it on his nose and he wont even lick it. The basking is a 100w-we dont have one on the otherside-he barely goes over there cuz its such a large cage, and we took the red bulb out-also have a ceramic heaters just because it is so large-so we will see how it goes-thank you so much!