Concerned

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My 4 year old bearded dragon, Bear, has been acting kinda strange.
Last Thursday, I gave him some freeze-dried grasshoppers. The next day, when I came home from work, I saw his eyes and fat pads were sunken in and his beard was black. I knew this was because of dehydration so I quickly ran him a bath and put him in it. He drank some of the water and peed. No poop. After a bit, I took him out and dried him off. While drying him off, he had liquid diarrhea all over the bathroom floor. I cleaned him off and put him in his enclosure. That night, his eyes were back to normal but his beard never turned back.
The next morning, Saturday, when I went to check on Bear, his eyes were sunken in again and his beard was pitch black This time, I just misted his body.
I offered him some greens in his bowl but he didn’t eat anything. All day long, he just laid under his basking lamp. He didn’t move except to shift his body or turn another way.
Towards night time, I got him of his enclosure to hold him and check on him. My husband wanted to see him as well. When I went to hand him to my husband, he had diarrhea all over the floor again.
At this point, I knew he was sick and we had to get him to a vet.
Luckily, there was a vet who took exotics open on Sunday so we took him first thing Sunday morning. The vet said he was beautiful and checked him out.
He opened his mouth and saw his mouth was yellow and told us it was probably stomitis. So he gave him some fluids for the dehydration, a shot for the infection, and some appetite booster since he wouldn’t eat. He told us to keep him under the heat to boost his immune system.
We got home with Bear that night and he stayed on his hammock and slept. Still offering him food, he never ate.
The next day, Monday, we noticed him being more active. He ran around the house and explored for about 30 minutes before finding a dark corner to lay down. He still wouldn’t eat any greens.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday he was more active. I left him greens that morning before work and I came home to a couple bites missing. So I’m under the impression he’s eating his greens. My husband mentioned maybe he’s walking through his greens, moving them around a little and it makes it look like he’s eating. I don’t know. Either way, I really hope he’s eating the greens.
When I offer him some bugs, however, he just completely ignores them.
The vet told us that it may take a reptile a bit longer to feel better after getting shots. Is he not eating because it’s taking him a while to feel completely better?
His fat pads and eyes are no longer sunken in; they’re completely normal. His beard is staying slightly black but it’s not pitch black and he is running around. Do I need to have a ceramic bulb on at night to keep him warm all night?
I just want my baby to be okay. Please give me any suggestions or information you may have.

His basking light is 100W bulb and his warm side doesn’t get any hotter than 110°F. I’m not sure the wattage of his UVB bulb.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Do you have any pictures of your dragon & tank setup we could see?
Where did you get the freeze dried grasshoppers from?
What else has he been eating?
Please review your tank setup for us so we can be sure it is all correct.
Did the vet not do a fecal exam to test for worms or parasites since he has had diarrhea?
What shots did the vet give, do you know the name of the substance he received & possibly
the amount given?
That is good he is eating a few greens anyway, hopefully he is getting some nutrition that
way. If he has normal looking fat pads now hopefully he is feeling better.
For now, definitely keep him around 80 overnight right now, to help keep his immune system
boosted & to expedite his metabolism. If you have a ceramic heat emitter, you can use that so
it wont keep him awake.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

celliott303

Member
Original Poster
106541-3579440783.jpg
106541-3107603821.jpg

Thanks, Tracie!
The first image was before he was sick and the second image was this morning. I don’t have a picture of his tank but I will take one and post it tonight if that is okay!
I always give him live bugs. Large roaches (not adult), hornworms, and occasionally superworms. However, he had eaten them all and we had a variety pack of freeze dried bugs. My mom’s baby bearded dragon eats the freeze-dried grasshoppers all the time so I didn’t suspect anything and went ahead with feeding those to my beardy.
I already am aware that this was a no-no and I will never feed him freeze-dried bugs again.

In his 75gallon tank, he has a tree-like thing that he can climb on. It leads him to a hammock under his basking light.
In the middle of this enclosure is his food and water bowl. Then under his UVB light, there is a cave that he climbs on or sometimes sleeps inside. There is another hammock that he climbs up and plays on. His substrate is usually just a brown or green carpet from the brand Zilla. He has had this setup since the beginning. I will show you the visuals tonight if that is alright.

I’m not aware of what the amounts the shots were. He based them off of his weight; he is 1.2lbs or 544grams.
One of the shots was baytril as an antibiotic. The other shot, I am unsure, however, he explained it as fluids for his dehydration. Then lastly, he gave Bear vitamin b12 orally and explained to us it was an appetite booster.

I will be keeping his heat on at night. Thank you so much for your help and let me know if he’s looking okay!
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
No more freeze dried bugs please , tell mom these are completely inadequate nutritionally and will also contribute to impactions.

Your dragon has been visibly sick for two days , likely a lot longer , I suggest getting him to local vet PRONTO as they can go hill very fast and it's very important to get a vet to see him and maybe take some bloodwork to get to the bottom of this before it gets worse.

He's is definitely in distress since his off his food and is blackbearding ( pain , very sick feeling ).
Could be one the hoppers was contaminated with something toxic or full of some kind of nasty pathogen or parasite ( gave him the very loose / wet stool ).
 
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