Hey any help would be appreciated. I tired to be as detailed as possible.
My bearded dragon Oscarella is 5 and a half years old.
Sex Female.
She has never layed any eggs.
She has been healthy her entire life with no problems until this year.
In January she had pin worms and was given medicine that cleared it right up.
But now there is some new unknown problem.
The Initial Problem:
Right now she is pooping 1 to 2 times a day for the last 3 weeks. Her poop is somewhat formed but looks more mucusy than before this all started.
Right now almost nothing is coming out because she hasn’t been eating.
She has now shown no interest in food for 7 days and is losing weight.
In July she has unformed poop for a few weeks and then suddenly had diarrhea 2 or 3 days in a row which prompted me to take her to the vet as she normally only poops once a week or once every two weeks.
The vet found flagellate’s in her poop and did a more extensive test fecal float test or something and said there were a lot of bacteria.
The vet prescribed:
Metronidazole .3 cc for 7 days
Ciprofloxacin .1 cc every 2 days for 14 days (7 doses)
And Probiotics.
Oscorella seemed to get better almost immediately with medication. The diarrhea stopping after a few days but she lost her appetite for over a week (maybe 2 weeks).
She began to look much better.
She would come out of her hide and bask. She would refuse her salad but began to vigorously eat super worms after I bought her some.
She seemed happy and back to normal about 3 weeks.
I thought everything was good.
Her appetite was good, she was perky and completely normal. Her poops looked good.
I took a fecal sample in to the vet for a follow up to make sure everything had cleared up.
The fecal sample came back clear.
The new problem
Then suddenly 2 weeks ago she started pooping every day sometimes twice a day. She is pooping in her cage which she never ever does except the 2 times she was sick before.
This time the poop was much more formed compared to when she had the flagellates in July/August but looks slightly more mucusy then before this all started.
Next her appetite began to decrease.
Then 7 days ago she decided to stop eating.
I took her to the vet as soon as we could get an appointment.
3 days ago we are at the vet.
A new fecal test is done and came back clean again.
Did blood work and it came back all normal. No elevated blood glucose.
Oscarella had dropped from 550 g to 490g
Vet gave her a shot of b12 to “boost her appetite.”
Vet gave me a new dose of Metronidazole .3 cc this time for 10 days (based on the fact it stopped her diarrhea before) and told me I should be force feeding her with critical care so she doesn’t lose more weight.
I’ve been force feeding her now for 3 days as well as giving her water and daily baths because all this pooping is dehydrating her a bit.
Once the food is in her mouth she seems to happily eat it.
She is completely alert and awake and running around as if nothing is happening.
She just doesn’t want to eat and keeps pooping even if nothing but a tiny urate comes out.
At this point I’m not sure what to do becuase this behavior is highly unusual.
Hopefully in a few days the medicine will stop her from pooping everyday and her appetite will come back because it worked before.
Right now I’m not really sure what is going on and neither is the vet.
Oscarella’s Setup:
She is in a 75 gallon tank with no sub rate.
Lights are a Repitsun 10.0 and ceramic heater on one side as well as a 100w Mega-ray Mercury Vapour Lamp above her basking spot. I changed all lights last week. All are the right distance away according to the package inserts.
She has a hide and she goes in a lot during the day.
On the cool side ~84 degrees.
Hot area’s she likes to sit are 95-98. She really doesn’t seem to like it if it’s hotter. She seems very happy at 95-98. When I get it over 100 she just goes to her hide after basking for only a short time.
This setup has seemed to work perfectly for the last 4 years. I take her out in the sun a few times a week.
Her diet has been collard greens, butternut squash, Mazuri bearded dragon pellets, super worms and phoenix worms. ( I had cut the bugs out for a few months after the pin worms but reintroduced them recently to spur her to eat.) She typically poops once a week or once every two weeks. I give her calcium, calcium +vitamin d and multivitamin on and off.
My bearded dragon Oscarella is 5 and a half years old.
Sex Female.
She has never layed any eggs.
She has been healthy her entire life with no problems until this year.
In January she had pin worms and was given medicine that cleared it right up.
But now there is some new unknown problem.
The Initial Problem:
Right now she is pooping 1 to 2 times a day for the last 3 weeks. Her poop is somewhat formed but looks more mucusy than before this all started.
Right now almost nothing is coming out because she hasn’t been eating.
She has now shown no interest in food for 7 days and is losing weight.
In July she has unformed poop for a few weeks and then suddenly had diarrhea 2 or 3 days in a row which prompted me to take her to the vet as she normally only poops once a week or once every two weeks.
The vet found flagellate’s in her poop and did a more extensive test fecal float test or something and said there were a lot of bacteria.
The vet prescribed:
Metronidazole .3 cc for 7 days
Ciprofloxacin .1 cc every 2 days for 14 days (7 doses)
And Probiotics.
Oscorella seemed to get better almost immediately with medication. The diarrhea stopping after a few days but she lost her appetite for over a week (maybe 2 weeks).
She began to look much better.
She would come out of her hide and bask. She would refuse her salad but began to vigorously eat super worms after I bought her some.
She seemed happy and back to normal about 3 weeks.
I thought everything was good.
Her appetite was good, she was perky and completely normal. Her poops looked good.
I took a fecal sample in to the vet for a follow up to make sure everything had cleared up.
The fecal sample came back clear.
The new problem
Then suddenly 2 weeks ago she started pooping every day sometimes twice a day. She is pooping in her cage which she never ever does except the 2 times she was sick before.
This time the poop was much more formed compared to when she had the flagellates in July/August but looks slightly more mucusy then before this all started.
Next her appetite began to decrease.
Then 7 days ago she decided to stop eating.
I took her to the vet as soon as we could get an appointment.
3 days ago we are at the vet.
A new fecal test is done and came back clean again.
Did blood work and it came back all normal. No elevated blood glucose.
Oscarella had dropped from 550 g to 490g
Vet gave her a shot of b12 to “boost her appetite.”
Vet gave me a new dose of Metronidazole .3 cc this time for 10 days (based on the fact it stopped her diarrhea before) and told me I should be force feeding her with critical care so she doesn’t lose more weight.
I’ve been force feeding her now for 3 days as well as giving her water and daily baths because all this pooping is dehydrating her a bit.
Once the food is in her mouth she seems to happily eat it.
She is completely alert and awake and running around as if nothing is happening.
She just doesn’t want to eat and keeps pooping even if nothing but a tiny urate comes out.
At this point I’m not sure what to do becuase this behavior is highly unusual.
Hopefully in a few days the medicine will stop her from pooping everyday and her appetite will come back because it worked before.
Right now I’m not really sure what is going on and neither is the vet.
Oscarella’s Setup:
She is in a 75 gallon tank with no sub rate.
Lights are a Repitsun 10.0 and ceramic heater on one side as well as a 100w Mega-ray Mercury Vapour Lamp above her basking spot. I changed all lights last week. All are the right distance away according to the package inserts.
She has a hide and she goes in a lot during the day.
On the cool side ~84 degrees.
Hot area’s she likes to sit are 95-98. She really doesn’t seem to like it if it’s hotter. She seems very happy at 95-98. When I get it over 100 she just goes to her hide after basking for only a short time.
This setup has seemed to work perfectly for the last 4 years. I take her out in the sun a few times a week.
Her diet has been collard greens, butternut squash, Mazuri bearded dragon pellets, super worms and phoenix worms. ( I had cut the bugs out for a few months after the pin worms but reintroduced them recently to spur her to eat.) She typically poops once a week or once every two weeks. I give her calcium, calcium +vitamin d and multivitamin on and off.