PLEASE HELP! my beardie is throwing up!

My 2 year old little guy threw up TWO times in the last 2 hours. He has seemed perfectly fine up until today. Right now he wont open his eyes and is breathing very heavy. He is a really light pale color except his tail which is almost black?? when i pick him up he barely moves and just lays there with his eyes closed. Im not used to this hes always very active and energetic!! :shock:
I did not feed him anything that he doesnt normally eat. I give him his greens every day, some veggies and fruits and occasionally supers or wax worms. He will not eat crickets anymore. I make sure his food is smaller than the space between his eyes and i use calcium supplement/vitamins.
His set up is: 40 gallon tank, papertowels, BRAND NEW reptisun 10.0 uvb, bright white heat bulb with about 108* hot side and 85* cool side. He can about 9 inches away from his lights when he sits on his basking log
I am so nervous right now! The vet he used to go to is no longer working there and the only other reptile vet near me is closed on weekends!! :x i dont know what i can do! any suggestions?? please anything will help thanks guys

Hello,

Are you using a Reptisun 10 flourescent tube light or a compact or coil light?
What are you measuring the temps with, a stick on thermometer, a digital probe or a temp gun?
He could be getting overheated. The adults tend not to like the basking temps as high. Can you lower them just a little to say 105 & then the cool side to around 78-82 or so?
He needs fluid replacement right now since he has been throwing up so he doesn't get dehydrated. Try getting some pedialyte & mix that with some water & get a plastic dropper to get some oral fluids into him.
Can you post a pic of him? How do his eyes look? Are they sunken in or bright?
I would lay off of the waxworms for now, as they are fatty & if too many are ingested can sometimes upset the tummy.

Tracie

Hi! i am using the tube light not the compact, i know those are no good. I use a temp gun for the temps. I can lower the temps, usually they are more around 103/104* and 80* but i thought it would be better to have it hotter for him if he didnt feel good =/ His eyes are not sunken but it looks like hes struggling to keep them open. He is asleep now but still seems to be breathing heavy. I gave him some water a few mins ago before he went to bed. I dont feed him wax worms often- he actually doesnt even like bugs too much anymore, he just likes his fruits and veggies




well thats my little guy as of this afternoon he looks pretty dark and unhappy which is not his usual self =/

Well... I may have an idea but please clear it with someone like Drache313 or Vickson420 :study: before trying it. Maybe you could give
you bearded dragon a small bit of Pepto Bismol if his belly is upset. I would also try sterilizing the cage in case it is a sickness like the
flu. Good luck!

If you can open his mouth and look at his gums what color are they?

His gums are white! if i remember correctly theyre usually pink-ish?? just for an update im taking him to the vet monday but im going to be so worried until then. hes not even moving now, when i pick him up he is limp and he wont open his eyes. is there anything i can do in the meantime to make him feel a little better?? he did not throw up again today which is good.

Well, it's possible that he is dehydrated from the vomiting so giving him a nice warm bath while holding him in your hand, with his vent area (where he poos) right down in the water for about 15 min or so should help. Did you offer him some Pedialyte like Tracie suggested, that would help raise his electrolytes. I wouldn't give him any Pepto Bismol, that could be dangerous. To help calm his stomach, you could pick up a probiotic like Benebac or Acidophilus from a petstore. Or, get some soy yogurt from your grocery store or a Healthfood store, Stoneybrook makes soy yogurt, but make sure you don't get regular yogurt that contains dairy as reptiles can't digest that. Please keep us updated on him.

Hi
I agree the best thing to do is to get a probiotic.Do not use the pepto as it could have a counter productive effect on him.I would also take him of live feeders for a day or two and give him babyfood slurries until your sure he can keep the food down.You can get him some chicken babyfood and mix it with the pedialyte and a pinch of calcium.If he seems to do ok on that then you can reintroduce the feeders.

Oh gee, I haven't a clue what could make him decline so fast. There was one case where drache13 said a organ failure could cause this, but I don't know if that's the case here! I'm so sorry and hope your baby feels better! I hope you can find the problem too! I sure wish I knew more about health issues.

Hello,

Is he still throwing up?
It is possible by chance that he got hold of some bad feeders or the greens? Do you wash off the greens well before feeding them to him? What type of fruit do you give & how often does he get fruit? It is only recommended a couple of times per week.
At his age, he doesn't need that many feeders but mostly greens & veggies. He looks pretty small to be 2 though. How big is he & how much does he weigh?
Is his beard dark today?
The tops of his eye ridge looks a little flat, so I think he can still use some oral fluids. Definitely as suggested do not use pepto bismol. The probiotics are much better or the soy yogurt.
How is he doing today?
If he is not improving, a vet's visit really is needed. A bloodtest would tell you how his organs were doing, his calcium levels, & more.

Tracie

Thanks for everyones suggestions..heres an update as of today
He didnt throw up again. And he ate some veggies this morning- he seemed to be hungry- but he is still mopey and lazy.
I always wash off the greens before putting them in his salad bowl, and i only give him fruit maybe 3 or 4 days out of a week (and not in large amounts, maybe 2 little strawberry pieces or a raspberry)
I know he is pretty small- i got him at petco (UGH) and when i first bought him he was very sick and wasnt growing because of their horrible conditions there. I got him to a vet within the first few weeks of taking him home and hes been fine since (up until now) but i think he missed out on a lot of his growing time when not being properly taken care of in the pet store. (im guessing anyways..) He is almost 15 inches long but im not sure how much he weighs
Anyways his beard is not dark right now- his whole body is a really light tan, the color he is when hes happy but im still bringing him to the vet tomorrow morning so ill let everyone know how that goes!

Hey everyone i just bot back from the vet with my little guy and i am completely enraged right now. She examined him for not even 5 minutes, and said shes not too sure what the problem is. She wanted to take a blood test, but she couldnt get at the veins since you cant see them and he was whipping his tail everywhere. So she ended up charging me $60 to examine him, plus another $50 for *TRYING* to take blood, when in reality she didnt even do that and the test was never done. I walked out with a sick beardie and some random calcium medication that i paid another $40 for. I asked if he was calcium deprived or whatever and she said she wasnt sure but maybe its a good idea to give it to him anyways. Does this make sense?? I just threw like $150 out the window because theres no guarentee that he will even get better now since i still dont even know whats wrong with him. i am SO upset!! :evil: ive been calling everywhere and i dont have any other reptile vets in my area, im not too sure what to do. but he is still laying in the same spot, with his eyes sunken in, and does not want to eat today. Ive been giving him water to prevent dehydration..

Sorry about giving the pepto idea. So PLEASE do not use it. If his eyes are sunken in he could be dehydrated, did you try the
pedialyte as suggested? Be sure he does get Calcium, feed him warm baby food as suggested. Put just a pinch of calcium in it.
Keep us updated.