Beardie Possibly Ill - Taken to Vet.

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GinjaJones

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Hello all,
So today I received a call from my Girlfriend at home about one of our bearded dragons. She came into the room to put another one of our dragons back in their case and as she was leaving she noticed he had his mouth open like he was cooling off (he was basking in the light we have for them). She was getting ready to leave the room when he just fell over onto his back and laid there for a moment then began thrashing around his head in his case. She quickly got him out of there and let him relax. He is now sitting upright but is shriveling himself up a good bit like as if he is scared of something and breathing really hard with his mouth wide open; but he keeps licking the sides of his mouth as well. My thoughts are that he is severely dehydrated but he won't take any water from her. We've had him for over a year now and he has never done this before and we are both very concerned!
Will update as this progresses.
If you have ANY sort of info or insight please let me know!
>Update: He is now black-bearding severely, mouth is still open as well and looks to be a pale-yellowish color.
 

Reptilelady

Sub-Adult Member
Hi,
Sounds like he is just overheated. You can check to see if beardie is hydrated or not by performing these steps: A good way of checking to see if your beardie is dehydrated is to gently pinch the skin on the side of their back between your fingers. If the skin rolls back into place almost immediately then the beardie is likely well hydrated. If the skin does not come back right away then next thing to do is to give your beardie a bath let him soak for 15 to 20 mins.

Also, is it possible for you take a photo of him and upload on here to see his overall health?
 

GinjaJones

New member
Original Poster
Reptilelady":2h1tqhh2 said:
Hi,
Sounds like he is just overheated. You can check to see if beardie is hydrated or not by performing these steps: A good way of checking to see if your beardie is dehydrated is to gently pinch the skin on the side of their back between your fingers. If the skin rolls back into place almost immediately then the beardie is likely well hydrated. If the skin does not come back right away then next thing to do is to give your beardie a bath let him soak for 15 to 20 mins.

Also, is it possible for you take a photo of him and upload on here to see his overall health?

Thank you for the insight, it is much appreciated. We ended up taking him to the vet nearby and they said he may have suffered a stroke. But he was warm as well so overheating is also a possibility.
 

Reptilelady

Sub-Adult Member
You're welcome. That is good he is able to get to a vet. Usually, when beardies open their mouth which is called "Gaping" they are regulating their temperature but if they cannot get cooler or move to an area that is cooler they can get heat stroke. Do you know what the basking temperatures are? They should have a hot/warm side and as well as a cooler side. Do you have temperatures of these zones?
 
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