Help!

Hello

Sorry for bothering everyone, I just seem to run into trouble with my poor beardies!! One of my beardies has lost the scales on her lips. She used to eat 50 cricks a day but now she ignores them, and runs around. If I pick her up she eats them fine out of my hand.

What has caused her to lose the scales on her lips??? Did I do something wrong in my set-up? I was dusting cricks everyday with herpvite and jurassi-cal but then I started doing it every other day. They seem to be 10 inches away from the light. Did her lips burn off? She is no lethagic. I remove all uneaten crickets, but there could be some hiding. Are thy nibbling at her????

Age: 2 months
1 40 galleon tank
1 150 watt exo=terra bulb
1 Repti-Sun 10.0 UVB by Zoomed
Repticarpet
1 basking rock
1 zilla digital thermometer

Basking 98-107

Again sorry for bothering anyone!

Would it be possible to post a picture? I can't quite imagine what you mean by "lost the scales on her lips". Did she shed her mouth? It's normal for them to lose their appetite somewhat when they shed.

You're not bothering anyone! That's what we're here for, is to help.
Can you post a picture of her mouth?
Is she shedding? I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean by her losing her scales? Is it an open wound, red, black, or anything like that? No heat rock, correct? I suppose it maybe possible crickets are doing it, but I don't think that's what's going on from what you've said :? .
Can you describe it more? And pics would really help everyone else (as I'm not an expert & just throwing out some ideas to get more attention to the post).
I hope you figure everything out and she gets better!
Abi

I don't have a camera right now. But I can describe it : it is not black or necrotic, it does not smell.

Basically it looks like she is smiling, it looks like healthy flesh, but no scales on it. Her lips look flesh coloured. Oh andAround her mouth it is dark but not necrotic black, it just looks like she has dirt on her face, or food . I tried wiping it off, and it would not come off. That I know is most likely shed, but the lip thing is not.
Oh and i forgot to mention she is eating a lot of her greens but has decreased her cricket intake. Could it be from too much green or too little crickets? This has only been going on for two days. Her greens are mustard, kale, and romaine, and she eats squash (and a lot of it!) from a spoon.

I am also feeding her unconditioned water straight from the tap, could that be a cause?

I will try to find a camera to post a picture......

Thanks for helping

Well it's good that it's not black or anything like that. It's possible it was a bad shed if she's shedding the sides of her mouth too. I highly doubt it's from the change in diet...except is it babyfood squash? Babyfood can "color" them some...I'm at a loss really. I'm sorry, without pics I can't help at all...even with them I may not be able to. :?
Just keep it as clean as possible right now...don't rub it though.
I can't offer any advice...I don't want to give you the wrong advice.
I'm sorry
Abi

is it possable that she ran into soemthing in the viv and it brused it bad enough to have damaged the area? If it is dark it could be sort brused? Judah brused his nose running into the wall a few weeks ago and it turned dark right away. He also damaged his scales on his arm from his drift wood or something. The scales looked liek they were sotra shrunk and he had a dark area on this spot. In both situations I put some neosporin on it and it went away. On his arm though a few of the scales stayed sorta shunkin and differant looking than the ones around it. It could also be from crickets, if they get food on the face crickets will try and nibble it off. I would put some neosporin on it for a little while and see if it clears up and it will also keep it from getting infected. It could be a mold, but it shouldn't be since your temps seem pretty good, but just in case it is the neosporin will help this in some mild cases as well. Just make sure she doesn't get it in her mouth (the neosporin)

I caught her in the act of rubbing her mouth on the repti-carpet!!!!!! The little vixen has been rubbing her face on the glass too. So I have solved the mystery..thanks to everyone helping. I do not want to put gentamicin or neosporin on it because knowing her she will lick it off of her face (like she does to everything) , and I don't think that would be good. I am taking her to our reptile vet tommorow to get some stuff that will help, and I may get rid of the carpet. My camera is not working right now so I can't take a pic!!!

I really appreciate all of your guys' help.....this is a wonderful site! Thanks you guys

Oh good I am glade you figured out the cause! I hope the vet can help, Good Luck!

well I took her to the vet and her lips are slightly infected so I have to give her vitamin e cream, and some baytril. I gave her some waxworms and mealworms and she gobbled them up. My other guy barley eats crickets and only eats meal and waxworms so now I am worried she will only eat the worms too haha....

anyway thanks for your guys' help

hehehe! Yeah sometimes they can get really picky. Have you tried Pheonix worms? They are very high in calcium and nutrience. http://www.pheonixworms.com <---- direct source and best quility. (P.S. dont use Worm Man They have riped people off by taking there $$ and not sending the product. I just read a thread about it yesterday, but Ihad never heard of them before that.) I bought 800 for Judah and he loved them! Actually lost interest in crickets for a while once he had them. then he eventually started eating them again. I had to stop feedign him the PH Worms though because they always came out whole, so he wasn't gettign any nutrition out of them. :x Such a waste of money for me. But this is not very common for most dragons, he just scarfed them down too fast or something.

i will try the pheonix worms, I am also going to try some butterworms, the problem is that her lips are sore so she has only been eating baby food for the past day, I took her for a recheck at the vet and the vet says she is looking slightley better, I got a new t-rex bulb instead of exo-terra and the basking is 109...are t-rex good bulbs??, a lot of people tell me that they are...

yeah it is understandable about her not wanting to eat much because of her lips. Sorry for some reason I was confussed I thought you were saying that your other guy was only wanting to eat worms and not crickets right now. My Misatake. However, butterworms are high in fat the Phoeonix worms are way better nutrition wise. But variety is good and butter worms here and there are jsut fine. Phoenix can be fed as a staple. But yeah I wouldn't worry about your girl not eating too much other than baby food right now, I am sure as soon as her lip feels better she'll be apt to eatting again..

for some reason the T- rex bulb is just not ringing a bell right now (it's been a long day :mrgreen: ) But I am sure some one can fill ya in on that one. I have an Exo terra Solor glo MVB it's a goon one, but i know there are a few MVB that are a little better.

Hello,

How are things coming along? Are her lips feeling better yet?
I just wanted to comment that butterworms are actually fine as a staple, as are phoenix worms. Here is a feeder comparison chart for you to see.

http://www.feedersinc.com/insect-comparison/

The T-rex active UV heat mercury vapor bulbs are great lights, so no worries there. Did you get the 100watt light?


Tracie

I got the 100 watt crystal basking light to go with her repti-sun 10 uvb. Do they emit uva rays? i have been searching the web for some more info on them but I couldn't find anything...my exo-terra was not doing the job....

I will order some butter worms....her lips are not doing 100 percent, they still look the same but baytril takes more then three days

Hello,

A crystal basking light? Is that the particular brand? As long as it is a bright white basking light then, yes it is fine & emits UVA rays. So did you place it directly beside the UVB tube light that you have?
You are correct. The Baytril doesn't work in just 3 days, that is for sure. Give it some time & continue to help with assisted feeding.
I hope everything is going well for her.

Tracie