GonzalezKade
New member
Okay, so I've had my bearded dragon for a while now, this November will mark a year that I've had my lovely girl.
Her name is Yoko.
I recently upgraded her from a 20 gallon to a 40 gallon breeder. I use reptile carpet as her substrate, I own two that way I can switch them out when cleaning the other, so we can rule out her problem as impaction. I use a Zillah desert edition UVB FT light, her basking spot is normally around 102-98 degrees Fahrenheit, her cool side ranges from 80 degrees Fahrenheit to the mid 70s. At night the temp drops to 71 degrees. I give her insects (Both live and sometimes canned), everyday with calcium and every 2-3 days out of the week with repti-vitamins. She usually eats mustard greens, squash, fruits (occasionally) sometimes Kale if we don't have anything else at the moment, cabbage too.
Now for the problem.
I had a large water dish in her tank for her to soak in (Though I give her baths often), shallow enough for her not to drown, I was watching as she was drinking which is sort of odd because she usually doesn't drink when she soaks, and my cat zoomed by her cage, she immediately picked up her head and started making gagging noises and flaring her beard like she was choking or as if it had gone down the wrong pipe, I picked her up and tilted her body up, head down, to try and help, however she didn't like it too much and proceeded to climb up my shirt and even onto my head, still making gagging sounds. Once I got her down, I put her on a towel, in case she vomited, however she stopped. Her beard was black for a bit, but it went back to normal after a few minutes. I took out the dish and put her under her basking spot just to make sure.
Well now I notice whenever I put her in the water she drinks a lot, and after the gagging incident she did it again, but the next time it wasn't as intense as the first one, more so beard flexing and two gag sounds. She hasn't made the noise again, but I notice shes still drinking from her baths and flexes her beard after she does it. I notice she swallows a lot too, not like shes in pain, but as if she has more saliva than she'd like. Her eyes are very bright and shiny, and shes still her sassy self, except her movements are a bit slower and not happening as much as before. Her poop is also very watery, and its starting to not have a shape, more so a gross pile. Twice she's waited a week or so to poop, giving me messy mountains to clean up (Trust me it was a lot grosser in person than what you're reading). She just finished shedding part of her tail, her arm, and now her face is beginning to shed. I don't think its her shed that's making her shed however, she's been doing the swallowing for a while, however when I'd point it out to my family they would tell me I was being paranoid.
I would take her to a vet, however I don't have the finances due to the fact I've just moved from North Carolina to Washington state. She had a clean bill of health before we left, and we've been in WA for about a month or so. (Please don't scold me and tell me I should have thought about finances before getting her, I am young, and moving wasn't exactly my idea, things came up and life happens. You would understand if you were in my situation.)
Any ideas on what it could be?
Could she be dehyrated?
I've switched her food at the moment to these pellet things, which she eats, but she'll only eat them dry, if I soak them she takes no interest in them, shes also not had much in her greens. She also licks her lips a lot, possibly indicating her mouth could be dry?
Sorry for such a long story, I'm very worried and I really just want her to be okay. She's my baby and I spoil her rotten, she's got me through a lot and I just need a general idea of what might be wrong that way I can tell if I should just go through and take her in for a check up.
Her name is Yoko.
I recently upgraded her from a 20 gallon to a 40 gallon breeder. I use reptile carpet as her substrate, I own two that way I can switch them out when cleaning the other, so we can rule out her problem as impaction. I use a Zillah desert edition UVB FT light, her basking spot is normally around 102-98 degrees Fahrenheit, her cool side ranges from 80 degrees Fahrenheit to the mid 70s. At night the temp drops to 71 degrees. I give her insects (Both live and sometimes canned), everyday with calcium and every 2-3 days out of the week with repti-vitamins. She usually eats mustard greens, squash, fruits (occasionally) sometimes Kale if we don't have anything else at the moment, cabbage too.
Now for the problem.
I had a large water dish in her tank for her to soak in (Though I give her baths often), shallow enough for her not to drown, I was watching as she was drinking which is sort of odd because she usually doesn't drink when she soaks, and my cat zoomed by her cage, she immediately picked up her head and started making gagging noises and flaring her beard like she was choking or as if it had gone down the wrong pipe, I picked her up and tilted her body up, head down, to try and help, however she didn't like it too much and proceeded to climb up my shirt and even onto my head, still making gagging sounds. Once I got her down, I put her on a towel, in case she vomited, however she stopped. Her beard was black for a bit, but it went back to normal after a few minutes. I took out the dish and put her under her basking spot just to make sure.
Well now I notice whenever I put her in the water she drinks a lot, and after the gagging incident she did it again, but the next time it wasn't as intense as the first one, more so beard flexing and two gag sounds. She hasn't made the noise again, but I notice shes still drinking from her baths and flexes her beard after she does it. I notice she swallows a lot too, not like shes in pain, but as if she has more saliva than she'd like. Her eyes are very bright and shiny, and shes still her sassy self, except her movements are a bit slower and not happening as much as before. Her poop is also very watery, and its starting to not have a shape, more so a gross pile. Twice she's waited a week or so to poop, giving me messy mountains to clean up (Trust me it was a lot grosser in person than what you're reading). She just finished shedding part of her tail, her arm, and now her face is beginning to shed. I don't think its her shed that's making her shed however, she's been doing the swallowing for a while, however when I'd point it out to my family they would tell me I was being paranoid.
I would take her to a vet, however I don't have the finances due to the fact I've just moved from North Carolina to Washington state. She had a clean bill of health before we left, and we've been in WA for about a month or so. (Please don't scold me and tell me I should have thought about finances before getting her, I am young, and moving wasn't exactly my idea, things came up and life happens. You would understand if you were in my situation.)
Any ideas on what it could be?
Could she be dehyrated?
I've switched her food at the moment to these pellet things, which she eats, but she'll only eat them dry, if I soak them she takes no interest in them, shes also not had much in her greens. She also licks her lips a lot, possibly indicating her mouth could be dry?
Sorry for such a long story, I'm very worried and I really just want her to be okay. She's my baby and I spoil her rotten, she's got me through a lot and I just need a general idea of what might be wrong that way I can tell if I should just go through and take her in for a check up.