Codered333
Member
Edit - Sorry in advance for the novel but wanted to give all info i had up front.
Hello everyone. I've been doing a lot of looking up different things for bearded dragons and come across this site a lot so figured I'd see if anyone would have any ideas. Our bearded dragon (Aurora) used to come out of her hide spot not too long after waking up and crawl up the rock on her own to bask and spend a good amount of time under there. She would eat her greens regularly and was fairly active. About 3-4 months or so ago, we noticed she progressively started staying in her hide spot more often to the point where we would feel the need to take her out and set her on her rock to bask and then she would for maybe an hour some days, a few hours some days, but then retreat back to her hide spot. We took her to a vet after a couple of weeks of that and they said she might just be going through puberty and give her a bit and if she doesn't get better take her back. Fast forward to last week, we took her back to a different vet to get a 2nd opinion and because her front right limb looks swollen with a noticeable bump near her (hand?) And another bump near her (elbow?). That vet gave us some injections to give her (im not sure exactly for what they are but what I got from it was to try to help the swelling) which we have been. The vet felt the bump and said it felt fluidy. She also took an xray of her and said she doesn't see signs of MBD. The other thing we noticed prior to taking her to the vet last week was she is constantly opening her mouth and closing it. Not opening it in a way of basking, but more in a way of what looks like would be aggression or fear, however, her beard is never black and when we pet her when she does that, she seems relatively relaxed outside of sometimes closing her eyes which i think from what i read typically is their way of saying "leave me alone please". The vet looked in her mouth and said she doesn't seem to have a respiratory infection, but that she has also never seen a bearded dragon do this before (reassuring). I have done everything I can think of. I tried to find anything in the room that could be scaring her, or tried to pinpoint any reason she would feel afraid. I even went as far as to shave my beard thinking that maybe for some reason she took my beard as a bearded dragon puffing its beard at her, no help. She does the opening the mouth thing in all environments, even on the ride to the vet.
Fast forward to today, we took her back to the vet because this past weekend she has been refusing to eat. Greens lately have been a pain to get her to eat but she loved berries and always ate crickets but the past 3 or 4 days we couldn't get her to eat anything at all. We even tried when she had her mouth open slipping a piece of green in, which she stubbornly spit back out. The vet today took blood work (results should be in monday), injected her with fluids to help with dehydration, and looked her over again. She did notice there was a slight crustyness almost like humans would have dried up saliva on the corners of her mouth (a negligible amount). She didn't seem too concerned by it and got it off, but that didn't stop her from opening her mouth (I was hoping maybe that just was uncomfortable to her and she was opening her mouth due to that). She seems to walk with a slight limp favoring her other limbs. She lost weight from last week to this week (I believe she lost about .100 kg if I remember correctly, which was approximately a quarter of her weight I think from last time. I think she was like .42 and was today .31, which I guess could be from her not eating. Over the past couple months she has had stool that was more runny in nature but oddly enough, the past 2 times she went it was more solid, which im not sure what to attribute that to. I have spent countless hours researching and trying to figure out what to do. I've gotten hygrometers one on either side of her vivarium, a dehumidifier to help maintain humidity in the room, and have made other adjustments in the environment to try to help all seemingly to no avail. Does anyone have any idea what any of this could be? I'm not sure if all the symptoms are related but her not eating and constantly opening her mouth is becoming very concerning. Obviously, her leg is concerning too but im hoping that part of it is nothing serious and is something simple. Im hoping the tests show what could be wrong, but we and seemingly the vet at this point are all baffled.. Any input or help is greatly appreciated.
-A worried dad
Hello everyone. I've been doing a lot of looking up different things for bearded dragons and come across this site a lot so figured I'd see if anyone would have any ideas. Our bearded dragon (Aurora) used to come out of her hide spot not too long after waking up and crawl up the rock on her own to bask and spend a good amount of time under there. She would eat her greens regularly and was fairly active. About 3-4 months or so ago, we noticed she progressively started staying in her hide spot more often to the point where we would feel the need to take her out and set her on her rock to bask and then she would for maybe an hour some days, a few hours some days, but then retreat back to her hide spot. We took her to a vet after a couple of weeks of that and they said she might just be going through puberty and give her a bit and if she doesn't get better take her back. Fast forward to last week, we took her back to a different vet to get a 2nd opinion and because her front right limb looks swollen with a noticeable bump near her (hand?) And another bump near her (elbow?). That vet gave us some injections to give her (im not sure exactly for what they are but what I got from it was to try to help the swelling) which we have been. The vet felt the bump and said it felt fluidy. She also took an xray of her and said she doesn't see signs of MBD. The other thing we noticed prior to taking her to the vet last week was she is constantly opening her mouth and closing it. Not opening it in a way of basking, but more in a way of what looks like would be aggression or fear, however, her beard is never black and when we pet her when she does that, she seems relatively relaxed outside of sometimes closing her eyes which i think from what i read typically is their way of saying "leave me alone please". The vet looked in her mouth and said she doesn't seem to have a respiratory infection, but that she has also never seen a bearded dragon do this before (reassuring). I have done everything I can think of. I tried to find anything in the room that could be scaring her, or tried to pinpoint any reason she would feel afraid. I even went as far as to shave my beard thinking that maybe for some reason she took my beard as a bearded dragon puffing its beard at her, no help. She does the opening the mouth thing in all environments, even on the ride to the vet.
Fast forward to today, we took her back to the vet because this past weekend she has been refusing to eat. Greens lately have been a pain to get her to eat but she loved berries and always ate crickets but the past 3 or 4 days we couldn't get her to eat anything at all. We even tried when she had her mouth open slipping a piece of green in, which she stubbornly spit back out. The vet today took blood work (results should be in monday), injected her with fluids to help with dehydration, and looked her over again. She did notice there was a slight crustyness almost like humans would have dried up saliva on the corners of her mouth (a negligible amount). She didn't seem too concerned by it and got it off, but that didn't stop her from opening her mouth (I was hoping maybe that just was uncomfortable to her and she was opening her mouth due to that). She seems to walk with a slight limp favoring her other limbs. She lost weight from last week to this week (I believe she lost about .100 kg if I remember correctly, which was approximately a quarter of her weight I think from last time. I think she was like .42 and was today .31, which I guess could be from her not eating. Over the past couple months she has had stool that was more runny in nature but oddly enough, the past 2 times she went it was more solid, which im not sure what to attribute that to. I have spent countless hours researching and trying to figure out what to do. I've gotten hygrometers one on either side of her vivarium, a dehumidifier to help maintain humidity in the room, and have made other adjustments in the environment to try to help all seemingly to no avail. Does anyone have any idea what any of this could be? I'm not sure if all the symptoms are related but her not eating and constantly opening her mouth is becoming very concerning. Obviously, her leg is concerning too but im hoping that part of it is nothing serious and is something simple. Im hoping the tests show what could be wrong, but we and seemingly the vet at this point are all baffled.. Any input or help is greatly appreciated.
-A worried dad