My beardie passed last night

And I can't help but think maybe I did something wrong?

It started Wednesday when she refused to eat. She was still alert and basking and I didn't see one day of no eating as a reason to worry. Thursday I got up and fixed her greens, as usual. I had school all day and work that night so I asked my dad to feed, and she wouldn't eat that night either. I held her a bit when I got home, after lights out (mostly to show my dad that she isn't a scary lizard and I let her sleep with me while I watch Netflix before bed). So since her lights were already out, I didn't think to make a note about any of her movements being slow, if they were. Friday is when I really started getting worried. That night she was hardly moving and was straining her stomach like it was bothering her. So I immediately put her in warm water and started rubbing her belly, incase it was impaction. I did that for about 10 minutes and decided I was going to take her to the vet first thing this morning. I kept her with me until about 3am last night when I went to bed. i woke up at around 8:30 to find that she had passed sometime in the 6 hours I had been sleeping. I am beyond sad.

She ate crickets and I dusted them with calcium a few times a week. And she got a bowl full of greens (which she loved) every day. There were pellets in her cage too, which is what I think impacted her (if that was her cause of death). Her basking temperature was 105 and the uvb light was nearing 6 months old so I was planning to buy a new one this weekend. I also used reptile carpet as her substrate.

I've only had Pascal for nearly 6 months and I loved that little lizard. I just wish I would have noticed that something was extremely wrong sooner so that I could have done something for her..

I'm very sorry for your loss, that's never easy and I've been there, we all have. Please don't beat yourself up over this, if he was only a juvenile and this came on suddenly, it was most likely something like an infection, or an underlying disease that had no outward symptoms. If he was impacted it wasn't due to beardie pellets, unless you fed him the ones that also contain freeze-dried or dead insects, as freeze-dried insects can absolutely cause impactions. Pellets are very digestible, though you want to be very choosey about the quality of pellets you buy, but even cheap pellets themselves won't cause an impaction, only the freeze-dried insects, which they should outlaw. I always keep either Repcal Juvenile beardie pellets or Mazuri beardie pellets in all 3 of my beardie's enclosures, I really don't know why, they do eat them but only if they're dry. And I did much scientific and nutritional research before choosing a commercial beardie food as just a constant "snack" for them, I guess that's why I always make sure they have them, they are not at all necessary. Bottom line is if she was straining she may have been impacted, but not from the pellets, and you had no loose substrate, so could she have eaten anything in her enclosure? Like a piece of fake plant? Any crickets that were too large? She could have even fallen inside her enclosure and internally injured herself.

The only way to know how he died is to have an experienced reptile vet perform a necropsy. They usually cost between $100-$150, and it may bring you peace to know that he had an underlying health issue and it was not your husbandry. It does sometimes provide closure. A lot of beardies now unfortunately are suffering from lethal diseases like Adenovirus, so that's always a possibility as well...But the important thing to know is you loved him and it's not your fault. Beardies, birds, and other pets all possess a natural instinct to hide any outward signs and symptoms of illness and injury. This is a protective mechanism, as if they appear weak or sick, they will be targeted by predators as easy prey. And in the case of birds, who live in flocks, they end up putting their entire flick at risk of predators, and often get ditched by their flocks if they show illness or injury. So as a result beardies and birds are often extremely, very sick by the time they finally show any outward signs or symptoms of being sick or injured, sometimes they are past the point of help and die immediately after first appearing sick. So there's nothing that you could have done in that case, as it seems like his illness first appeared and he was dead a day or two later. There's nothing you could have done.

I'm so sorry, but don't let this prevent you from getting another baby beardie to raise and love.