Sick or possible brumation?

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thai

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(I apologize in advance for my scatterbrain and long post I just wanted to add as much possible information as I could)

I never really post on forums so I hope I do this right, anyway
I’ve adopted an adult bearded dragon of unknown age from being abandoned literally in the wild. I will admit getting her two weeks ago i had no idea what I was doing but i’ve learned a LOT and spent a lot on supplies; gauges, lights, calcium worms veggies etc.

Also I do know she needs to go to the vet but honestly i can’t afford it for another two weeks so that’s why i’m here to see what i can do or if i’m reading things wrong to begin with.

within a few days of getting her, i observed her not having interest of eating any sort of veggies, would eat a bit of strawberry or banana, ate crickets that walked directly in front of her, and really enjoyed eating superworms, and would eat them until i stopped giving them to her which i would stop around 7 a day.

at this point i was growing worried she’s dehydrated because i don’t see her drink out of her dish ever and won’t accept it from the eye dropper. her skin seems to roll back kind of slow.

anyway maybe a week ago i feed her superworms as normal and everything is good until a day or two later she starts getting really active and poops out a white glob followed by a lot of liquid. through the day i can see her struggling to poop and only liquid is coming out. early in the day when it started i gave her a warm bath and nothing came out.
I leave her for 30 minutes to eat, and when i come back there’s 5 or so fully undigested worms scattered about her terrarium and i feel awful but I imagine the worst is over.

I’m not sure if this is due to her diet in general or the size of her worms? I bought mealworms since the poop thing but she doesn’t seem interested in those or superworms now..
104756-3532370073.jpg
In general she’s just been showing no interest in eating or drinking and i’m getting really worried but I really don’t know what is going on for sure until I can make it to the vet.
She’s been shedding her tail and legs over the past 2 weeks as well

pics of her currently included, she’s probably sleeping on the bottom currently because her new heat lamp i put on today is warmer than she’s used to but i really don’t know ( basking spot now 90-93 degrees)
Any input or advice is greatly appreciated I’m really trying my best for her!!
104756-2039860920.jpg
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
My guess is too many super worms -- cut back on those and I would feed her vegies - the white urate is good and the extra runny is water --- what kind of lighting did you get for her? A good UVB is going to help w/ that digestion and her basking temp is good maybe get it a little higher -- at first I thought she might of been impacted from the supers -- dont feed her any more worms til she can go poop again - here is a website for food http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html--- the lighting in the tank is going to help w/ digestion --- please post pics of your tank and lighting -- go here
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/
Karrie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

She looks really good & doesn't have a black beard in the pictures.
How long have you had her? It does sound like she may be carrying infertile eggs perhaps. Since
she doesn't have much of an appetite if she is carrying eggs, she might be just about ready to lay
them.
What type/brand of UVB light are you using for her?
Superworms are great for feeding, but definitely mix them up with other leaner sources of insects
too such as crickets, dubias, silkworms or hornworms so she doesn't get too much fat.
How often have you been giving her calcium?

Tracie
 

thai

New member
Original Poster
Drache613":3r661etb said:
Hello,

She looks really good & doesn't have a black beard in the pictures.
How long have you had her? It does sound like she may be carrying infertile eggs perhaps. Since
she doesn't have much of an appetite if she is carrying eggs, she might be just about ready to lay
them.
What type/brand of UVB light are you using for her?
Superworms are great for feeding, but definitely mix them up with other leaner sources of insects
too such as crickets, dubias, silkworms or hornworms so she doesn't get too much fat.
How often have you been giving her calcium?

Tracie

sorry for late reply, I got her may 15 so coming up on a month.
i’ve never seen her have a black beard honestly sickness or even aggravation wise!!
When I got her she had only a 100 w exoterra daylight dashing bulb which was who knows how old.
Now I have a 150w ALT basking bulb and a 13W ALT desert UVB bulb which I’m aware isn’t adequate but It’s not in the budget to buy another deep dome dish for a 26w at the moment. mostly everything i have issues with is because of budget currently.

She ate a big hornworm this morning, and I dust everything I give her with exoterra calcium + D3
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Please get rid of blue bulb and get a bright white basking bulb--- can be EXO Terra bulb etc... UVB should be a reptisun 10.0 T 5 or T 8 long tube---
Karrie
 

Juniper

Hatchling Member
Beardie name(s)
Henry
You also just got her two weeks ago, so she could still be having some relocation stress! I know when my beardie is stressed (like if we go to the vet), she moves a lot more and tries to poop constantly, even when she has just pooped and doesn't have any left in her. Back when she wouldn't eat veggies willingly, I would sneak bits of leafy greens into her mouth while she was chewing a bug. Once she wasn't having any other problems and I knew she was stable and healthy, I got her to eat veggies on her own by cutting way back on the bugs and letting her get hungry and just leaving a pile of greens in her tank every morning. It's taken a long time, but she eats them all now (she wasn't a good salad eater until she was about 3.5 years old). She doesn't drink water either, so I keep her hydrated by getting her greens wet and also giving her watered-down baby food a couple times a week. A lot of beardies love baby food (especially squash) and will take it from an eyedropper more readily than water. I use the eye dropper to paint a thin line of baby food onto her lip, and then pull down gently on her lower lip, and then she notices it's there and starts licking, and I gradually squirt more into her mouth. Things to try, not to the exclusion of sussing out any other problems she may be having.

Reptisun makes good UV bulbs that come in lots of different lengths.
 
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