Sick bearded dragon (Possible blood in stool).

Hey there! Im glad to hear your willing to make changes to help your beardie. Just a couple things I noticed first off about hat you explained in your last post.

1) Coil lights are not recommended - they can cause eye problems and lethargy - you can read more here http://www.uvguide.co.uk. I realise money is tight, but a good flourescent tube bulb (reptiSUN 10.0 - NOT the reptiGLO) can be bought for around $20 at http://www.petmountain.com - I would say, switch the coil light off until you can get a replacement as it is probably doing her more harm than good.

2) Infrared bulbs are not good anyway so its great that you didnt stick with one - normal white household spotlamps are great as basking bulbs and dont cost the fortune that reptile shops charge for basking bulbs!

3) A great list of veggies is available at http://www.beautifuldragons.com in the nutrition section so check that out for some info on staple greens for her to eat. Waxworms are quite fatty so are best left as an occasional treat.

4) Dont change the Playsand - it is the safest sand option out there. Reptile sand is often dangerous as it is not correctly sifted and can have quartz? in it which may be ingested and cause damage to your beardie. It is also a total con as they charge a fortune because it says 'reptile' on the bag! Stick with playsand or, maybe even switch to tile - although it costs a little to start with, its easy to clean, doesnt harbour bacteria and cuts costs in the long run as it doesnt need to be replaced (just a personal preference for me).

5) If she is still a juvenile, she should get calcium, phosphorus free WITH D3 x5 per week and vitamins x2 per week.

Hopefully I havent missed anything out there!

And I do hope she is feeling much better soon!

T

When we went to reptile shows, there were BIG signs stating that you couldn't take your own reptiles there, so I don't think it would be allowed. It is also true that you wouldn't want your beardie exposed to other reptiles due to the chance of catching diseases.

MissT gave you some great advice and mentioned the changes that need to be made. A 150 watt basking bulb seems like a lot of wattage in a 55 gallon tank. I have a 100 watt mercury vapor bulb in the same sized tank that so you really need to know what the temps are. Your beardie will not do well if you don't get an accurate thermometer and I suspect you're using a type of stick-on thermometer. I can't stress enough how critical good temps are as well as the UVB being a dangerous bulb. Some beardies have died when the coil/compact UVB's were used. He would actually be better off without any UVB for a few days until you get a better one. This site has the best strip fluorescent at a very reasonable price. http://www.petmountain.com/product/bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-high-output-uvb-bulb.html

Suggest you make these very important changes that have been suggested as he's only going to go more downhill until you do something about it.

Great suggestions! When I went to Petco, the lady told me to buy two bulbs, a 200 watt day bulb, and an infrared bulb which I should keep on 24 hours a day. She said even that wasn't enough in a 55 gallon and got mad when we returned the infrared. I WAS using regular household 100 watt bulbs which cost 78 cents for 4 of them! But the lady was flabbergasted when I told her that, then she said they aren't the same as reptile bulbs and talked us into buying the reptile bulbs. I think she just wanted us to buy more. As for the reptile show, I'm pretty sure reptiles are allowed at this one. One breeder told me to bring mine in and get it sexed. Also the vet isn't until Wednesday. I originally said Monday, but it's Wednesday. When I bathed my beardie, she drank a lot of water and I gave her olive oil through a dropper. Maybe she was dehydrated as someone suggested. I hope she gets better soon!

It was me that mentioned the dehydration. I'm glad to hear that she drank a lot of water today.

Unfortunately, petstores give lots of bad advice, we've ALL been there. :roll: Of course they would mention that you needed to buy expensive reptile basking bulbs so they can increase their sales. However, it isn't true, standard household lightbulbs do the same thing for a lot less money. I used the reptile bulbs in the beginning but now use the household bulbs in 3 of my tanks and the beardies are perfectly happy with them. Infrared bulbs are rough on their eyes & they do much better under bright white bulbs, so we disagree on that info too. We have heard of a lot of beardies that were lethargic & had their eyes closed almost constantly under a colored basking bulb & couldn't believe the difference when they changed it.

Could you fill us in on your thermometer? That's another thing that petstore give bad advice about. Any stick-on can be as much as 20 degrees off & if your tank is too hot, it can cause rapid dehydration. Just curious, what substrate are you using on the bottom of the tank?

Yeah... I'm sticking to regular bulbs from now on Pet store make me sick I keep forgetting to tell you guys that I am indeed using a stick-on thermometer. I am going to a reptile show tomorrow, so I'll pick up a good probe thermometer or temp gun there. I am using playsand. Pardon me... but I can't remember who just told me that was okay. They said playsand was better than reptile sand. So I'll stop at Lowe's and get another bag since it's time to change the sand.

I love this site and I thank every one of you for the advice. Keep it coming because I'm learning a lot from you guys who have experience with this. I'm not going to listen to pet store employees anymore. If I have questions, I'm asking them on here

We like helping too.