When do I need to worry?

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DizzyLizzyNC

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I adopted a 1 year old 19" female bearded dragon a month ago. I offer greens every morning (some combo of collards/dandelion/bok choy + fruit/veg mix ins) but she hasn't eaten them for 4 days and would just pick at them before that. Since Vet 2 days ago, she's just hiding out under her hammock facing the corner. She looks so dejected. Admittedly, she has had a stressful week. She went to vet for wellness visit, got blood drawn, moved from a 40 gallon to a 2x2x4 Zen Habitats, was force fed 3 medications, and is shedding.

The vet reported she looked great and reviewed my husbandry practices. However, blood work/stool sample revealed elevated calcium (maybe gearing up for eggs but vet didnt feel any), elevated urates, and pinworms/parisites. Vet said uric acid levels could be from dehydration and prescribed:

-Daily 5 min warm bath (I use decholrinated tap water)
-0.4cc Rehmannia 6 - 2x daily (for uric acid)
-0.25cc Fenbendazole 50 mg - once ever 14 days for 3 doses
-0.4cc Metronidazole 50 mg - once every 7 days for 3 doses

She still eats insects no problem. I've tried hiding super worms in her greens but she just waits until they crawl out. Her insect feeding schedule is 10 min feeding window 3x week with primarily crickets and 3-5 supers + earthworm in her salad bowl. Twice week calcium dusting and once week multi-vitamins. On her Sunday feeding I fed her a thawed pinky mouse + crickets, which I plan on doing 2x month. She was also getting hornworms and some dubia mixed in. However, now they are pupated/breeding and I don't have any to give her. I plan on switching to dubia once my colony is established.

Poop: About 2 times a week. Last 3 were well formed with pliable white urates but with liquid.

I skipped her Friday insect feeding hoping it would encourage her to eat her greens. I have also been trying to limit handling to bath and medication time so as not to stress her more.

-Should I decrease insect feeders to 2x week until uric acid levels are under control and to encourage her to eat greens?
-How many days without greens before I need to start worrying?

She has a follow-up with vet in 2 weeks to recheck her blood and stool.

Lights: 6am - 9pm Timer
UVB: 18" 15 watt 50 UVB fluorescent located 9" away
Basking: 95-103 (check w/ probe and infrared gun)
Cool end: 80 (digital thermometer)
Humidity: 55%
Substrate: textured linoleum/rock mat
Location: On tank stand in home office where I work daily
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
What kind of UVB are you using and where is it on the tank ? inside or on top of screen?
Karrie
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
DizzyLizzyNC":13n8oqx5 said:
I adopted a 1 year old 19" female bearded dragon a month ago. I offer greens every morning (some combo of collards/dandelion/bok choy + fruit/veg mix ins) but she hasn't eaten them for 4 days and would just pick at them before that. Since Vet 2 days ago, she's just hiding out under her hammock facing the corner. She looks so dejected. Admittedly, she has had a stressful week. She went to vet for wellness visit, got blood drawn, moved from a 40 gallon to a 2x2x4 Zen Habitats, was force fed 3 medications, and is shedding.

The vet reported she looked great and reviewed my husbandry practices. However, blood work/stool sample revealed elevated calcium (maybe gearing up for eggs but vet didnt feel any), elevated urates, and pinworms/parisites. Vet said uric acid levels could be from dehydration and prescribed:

-Daily 5 min warm bath (I use decholrinated tap water)
-0.4cc Rehmannia 6 - 2x daily (for uric acid)
-0.25cc Fenbendazole 50 mg - once ever 14 days for 3 doses
-0.4cc Metronidazole 50 mg - once every 7 days for 3 doses

She still eats insects no problem. I've tried hiding super worms in her greens but she just waits until they crawl out. Her insect feeding schedule is 10 min feeding window 3x week with primarily crickets and 3-5 supers + earthworm in her salad bowl.
>> Make the insects daily , I'd cut the superworms back to very rare treats.

Twice week calcium dusting and once week multi-vitamins.
>> unless the tells you otherwise for medical reasons, dust crickets daily with calcium , and calcium and vitamins on weekends
On her Sunday feeding I fed her a thawed pinky mouse
>> no more pinky mice
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=247919&p=1880367&hilit=mice#p1880367


+ crickets, which I plan on doing 2x month. She was also getting hornworms and some dubia mixed in. However, now they are pupated/breeding and I don't have any to give her. I plan on switching to dubia once my colony is established.

Poop: About 2 times a week. Last 3 were well formed with pliable white urates but with liquid.

I skipped her Friday insect feeding hoping it would encourage her to eat her greens. I have also been trying to limit handling to bath and medication time so as not to stress her more.

-Should I decrease insect feeders to 2x week until uric acid levels are under control and to encourage her to eat greens?
-How many days without greens before I need to start worrying?

She has a follow-up with vet in 2 weeks to recheck her blood and stool.

Lights: 6am - 9pm Timer
UVB: 18" 15 watt 50 UVB fluorescent located 9" away <<< no where near strong enough, I think this is a t8 tube , so very weak , even for a 5% UVB tube. , I recommend upgrading in this case to a T5ho 10% or 12% 24W tube mounted in a reflector hood , 9" is pretty much ideal to the basking spot for a 10%UVB t5ho in a reflector hood. You will do OK with a 12% UVB t5ho tube mounted the same way , just means the dragon wont need to bask as long to get it's needed dosages of UVA and UVB.
Basking: 95-103 (check w/ probe and infrared gun)
Cool end: 80 (digital thermometer)
Humidity: 55%
Substrate: textured linoleum/rock mat
Location: On tank stand in home office where I work daily

Keep offering fresh salad daily, what's not eaten goes to feed the insects (and gut load the insects).
I would be overly worried at this stage if she's not showing any interest in her salad, some are not fans of their salad and take a while to come around.
She still has about 12 months of growth in her .
 

DizzyLizzyNC

New member
Original Poster
Would it be better to get a 36" fixture to extend 2/3 of tank or is the smaller fixture directed at basking area sufficient? I should also mention I have an outdoor enclosure (with shade access) for sun bathing sessions. Vet said 15 min outdoor was worth a day under a UVB bulb. Of course, its is only warm enough for sun bathing for about 6 months here.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
If she spends a lot of time outdoors in the summer that is great - the smaller fixture would be ok - mount it inside the tank approx 8-10 inches for a T 8 and 10-11 inches for a T 5-- that is great that she has that much access ----
Karrie
 
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What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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