HELP PLEASE!! VOMIT/SHAKING!!!!!!

Peanut is so sick, please someone help me and help fast! I'm worried she's going to die on me.

I fed her small superworms last night and I'm not sure if she overate or what the problem is. She's been vomitting and now she looks as though she's still trying to vomit and she's trembling and shaking her whole body. I just gave her a bath a few hours ago and she pooped a bit. I'm seeing full worms through her vomit. When I pick her up I can feel her shaking as well. I've never had any problems like this with her before and I'm so scared for her.

What can I do to help her through this??? Someone, anyone, please help! I need advice asap!

Thank you,
Nikki

Hi Nikki~

Sorry your baby is having some problems. Can you run through your set up for us aka: Age, How long have you had Peanut, lighting (UVA UVB, Coil floresent MVB), subrate, tank size, what else you have been feeding (any and all veggies and feeders) and anything else you can think of that will give us info we need to help you.

Thanks
Stac

Hello Nikki,

Please answer the questions, it will help us out alot.
If you have a baby dragon, small superworms are extremely difficult for him or her to digest. That is most likely one reason that he vomited.
What do you measure your temps with, a stick on thermometer, a digital probe or a temp gun? What are the temps in the tank?
How late did you feed him?

Tracie

I have her in a 40 gal breeder with a Powersun MVB, and the temps are correct being measured with a digital probe. Her basking area is right between 103-105*F. She's almost 6 months old and about 13" long. She's on a paper towel substrate and has been for a long while now.
I normally use crickets as her stable feeder, but I'm staying at my boyfriend's parents' for my college break and those were not an option. The small meal worms weren't a choice, and phoenix worms are extremely pricey here, and I still managed to make a poor choice.
Our local reptile store/breeder in my hometown sold us the super worms and said to just pick out the smaller of them and that she should be fine. My guess is that she ate too many and didn't bask enough after doing so since it was later on last night that I was able to offer her the worms.
On a brighter note, right now she seems to not be vomiting anymore and has stopped twitching, so I'm hoping it stays this way. I've never seen a beardie do that before, and it's very disturbing to say the least. I feel terrible for my little girl.

Hello Nikki,

Your setup looks pretty good & your temps should be fine since you are using a digital probe. The Powersun is a decent bulb. Make sure it is 12 inches away from her. You should think about replacing it at around 10 months or so.
That is good she is not vomiting now. My thoughts are the same, that she most likely ate too many & did not digest before bedtime. Try to give at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours prior to bedtime, to properly digest food.
Poor girl. Hopefully she is feeling better. Maybe get some oral fluids into her to ensure she is not dehydrated after vomiting.
The paper towels are fine as a substrate, no impaction risk at all.

Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

Thank you so much!
I gave her another bath and she drank a lot of water on her own in it just a couple hours ago so now I don't feel too worried about her being dehydrated. I was so proud of her, and it also seemed to perk her up a bit. She's not lethargic now and she's holding her body up with her head in the air.
I'll add an update tomorrow as well. Thanks again.

Hello!
We recently rescued one female beardie two days ago from Petco (we don't have any info on her but assuming she is about 10 months old–-9" long) , and she was doing alright until now. She pooped normally yesterday after eating 3 large crickets and half meal warm. This morning when I tried to feed her, she did not want to eat like yesterday. Couple of hours later, she started to open her mouth and i watched her puking everything she ate from yesterday.

I hope this is only because the cricket is too big for her to digest, and maybe i can get smaller crickets to feed her from now. She also doesn't seem to like her mustard greens, should I try to get other veges to see which kind she likes more? we are deeply appreciated if someone can help her out. Thank you!~

Hi Nikki~

Glade to hear it sound like the spell is over! Hopefully she got them all out of her system and she will be fine here forward. You can feed her babyfood while away from crickets and unable to get proper feeders. You woudl just feed it to her in baby med syringe you can find these at any pharmacy. You can use bb chicken or turkey, just make sure you mix it with a BB veggie liek squash, peas, carrots etc. too much of the first is alot of protine and can constipate her. a 1 part chick 2 part veggie is good about 1cc at a time 2-3 times per day, if she will eat more in one setting then that is great! Sometimes they are extra hungery and will eat 2-3 cc's. Be very carefull about putting too much in the mouth at once is could asperate her. just do little dabs on the nose for her to lick off, she may grab the syringe and shake it to get the goods out. In this case you can shoot just lil amounts at a time into the mouth, giving her plenty of time to swallow in between.

Nienien~

Any food that you feed needs to be no larger than the space between the eyes. If it was not thrown up it could have caused impaction and death. Also, it is very difficult to get babies to eat veggies, but you have to keep trying. Beautifuldragons.com has a great list of veggies and fruit to feed and what not to feed. The first 6-7 months they eat prollt around 90% feeders (crickets,etc.) and very little veggies. It is good to offer them and keep pushing them, otherwise it becomes more difficult to get them to eat them as they get older. I use to take a stiff leaf and stick it between judahs lips, he'd spit it out, id try again eventually he'd give up and eat it. Fo rthe first few months he would only eat about 3-4 little leaves a day. Squash was a little easier not much, fruite was way easier, like strawberries and apple but should be fed in limited qty's. You just have to be patient eventually he will start chowin down on the veggies.

dear Judah and his Human,
thanks for the quick reply! i went back to Petsmart to get some small crickets for her and she still refused to eat. (the large cricket is actually about the size between her eyes) and the Petsmart people told me that she is most likely ill and i should take her to the vet. she does look tired...
ps, she just pooped out some white liquid-ish poop. i think she is really sick.

Thanks for the baby food suggestions, that's a good idea, but I just worry that it'll go down the wrong pipe and she'll choke.
I'm off to buy her phoenix worms today since we'll be home by the end of the weekend and I'll be able to get her back on her cricket diet. Right now her appetite seems to be back and she has been eating a bit of greens from her salad. Looks as though she's done with that and is giving me the sad beardie eyes saying, "but mommy, I'd like some more!"

I'm just so glad she's pulled through the traumatic experience she went through. No more super worms for her at all. I'll just stick to giving them all to my larger male who's eating much less of them than her and has no trouble digesting them.

Thanks so much again for all the help! Much appreciated!

Nikki

No problem Nikki~
It is a good thing to get them use to eatting our of a syring when they are young, jsut in case you ever have to give them meds. It is not a common thing for them to choke as long as you are carefull not to put to much in to the mouth at one time. That is why it is best to dab some on the lips for them to lick off, but whatever you feel comforatble with.

Nienien~

Be very carefull about the adive you let sink from a pet store, they are very offten uneducation assumtions rather than good advise. However, it my behove you to have a fecal. You can collect a sample of the poo and take it in to be anylized for parasites and coccida, it is less expensive than taking your dragon in for a exam. The white stuff in the poo is urates this is perfectly normal. They will also poo out any extra liqude that is not turned into urates (the white stuff) so if your dragon is very well hydrated soemtimes excess water will be shead to and can make the poo runny, and is not nessasarily to be consiterd diareha.

If you have not had your dragon for very long he maybe experiancing relocation stress. I also would not want to eat very much the day after I threw up, if soemthing did not agree with her it may take a few days to start eatting normally. You can also try picking up some acidophiliz+ it is good for the immune system and it's only $8 you can find it at Reptilesupply.com and you can mix it in the babyfood and fed as mentioned to nikki.

i agree with you on the pet store advice, and thanks for keeping my mind on the ground instead of flying everywhere. :wink: we only have her for two days so far, and we have no idea on her health because pet store didn't say anything about it. (They only mentioned that she got puffed up when the previous owner tried to handle her, but it doesn't seem that bad when we got her home). I am afraid to pick her up at this point coz i don't want to make her feel worse. i will try to get some baby food and acidophiliz+ within a few days.

thank you so much again for the advice!

ps. i just checked again on the large cricket on the photo, it does seem a little bit bigger than the space b/w her eyes..
nienien

Aww What a cute pic!

They do look sort big, but it is hard to tell from the pic. 1/4"- 3/8" crickets is a good size for that age.
Make sure you dont leave the crickets in there for them to chew on your beardie, they are carniverious and will chew on them if they are hungery. It can also stress them out.

It is best to order your crickets on line because they are much less expensive. And you should be able to feed your baby about 50 crickets a day at that age, when she starts eatting better in a week or so. I use Reptilefood.com they acctualy test there crickets every few months for parasites etc.

It is best to let your new dragon get use to the environment for a few days before you try and handle them to much. Theya re offten squirmy if they have not been handeled too much by the previous owner, this will soon change as they get use to you.

Hello,

How is your baby doing today? That cricket does appear too large for her.
I would try the babyfood for a few days. Just use a plastic dropper or a syringe to drip it onto her nose. She should begin to lick that off. I think that her tummy is still a little upset over the worm incident. Continue to hydrate her as well to help things pass through her better in case she still has any impaction issues.
You could try to keep her a little warmer at night too just to keep her immune system boosted while she is not quite 100% right now.
She is a little cutie pie.


Tracie

my girl is doing a little bit better! i held her on my hand and let her walked around for a few mins and she became more energetic somehow (or it's my own imagination?) we are thinking to get a ceramic heat emitter so she can get warmer at night. she is still not having her appetite yet and she seems to be interested in her light more than anything else in the world.

thanks for everyone's advice and concern, i will keep you updated!
ps, another cute pix to share, she is a cutie pie!