Atadenovirus

[Shawna731]

Hello I am new to this group and hoping to get some answers. I purchased a juvenile bearded dragon from petco (before I read of all the dangers). She was approximately 4 months old. Within the first 5 weeks of owning her I got her weight up from 60 grams to 120 grams. I took her to the vet for a wellness exam back on Feb 13th. 2 weeks later on 2/27 they finally gave me her fecal results which showed pinworms and coccidia. She had significantly decreased eating around the 23rd or 24th of Feb and once I got the results of the exam I assumed it was from the parasites. I've been tong feeding her, giving her electrolyte soaks, pippetting water to her, and bought nutribac to help stimulate her appetite but she keeps losing weight. She's 112 grams as of today. The medication ponazuril just arrived sarurday. My bigger concern is that she has been stargazing which I thought was just something cute that she did until I read about atadenovirus. As of today she can hardly lift her belly off the ground and her movements seem off. Also all she does each day is basks, nothing else. I've attached some pictures of her stargazing. I would love any advice.

-Worried beardie mom

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello I am new to this group and hoping to get some answers. I purchased a juvenile bearded dragon from petco (before I read of all the dangers). She was approximately 4 months old. Within the first 5 weeks of owning her I got her weight up from 60 grams to 120 grams. I took her to the vet for a wellness exam back on Feb 13th. 2 weeks later on 2/27 they finally gave me her fecal results which showed pinworms and coccidia. She had significantly decreased eating around the 23rd or 24th of Feb and once I got the results of the exam I assumed it was from the parasites. I've been tong feeding her, giving her electrolyte soaks, pippetting water to her, and bought nutribac to help stimulate her appetite but she keeps losing weight. She's 112 grams as of today. The medication ponazuril just arrived sarurday. My bigger concern is that she has been stargazing which I thought was just something cute that she did until I read about atadenovirus. As of today she can hardly lift her belly off the ground and her movements seem off. Also all she does each day is basks, nothing else. I've attached some pictures of her stargazing. I would love any advice.

-Worried beardie mom

This sounds like a UVB issue-- what are you using for a UVB? coil or a long tube fixture-- ? What is the dosage for the ponazural? The pic you showed is not star gazing -- that is typical position for them --

 

[Shawna731]

This sounds like a UVB issue-- what are you using for a UVB? coil or a long tube fixture-- ? What is the dosage for the ponazural? The pic you showed is not star gazing -- that is typical position for them --

I have a reptisun 10.0 t5ho 22" tube. It is sitting on top of the screen which I know can filter out some of the uvb, but her basking rock is only 6" from the screen. The vet said with it being that close she should still get proper amounts of uvb. She stopped eating almost 10 days prior to the 1st dose of ponazuril. I'm wondering if she developed mbd from lack of calcium due to not eating. The vet waited 2 weeks to give me the results and another week for me to get the med since they didn't have it in stock. The dose is 100mg/ml and I was told to give 0.03 ml wait 48 hrs and give another dose. Wait 2 weeks and repeat for a total of 4 doses. She had her 2nd dose yesterday but still cannot walk well and does nothing except for bask.

 

[KarrieRee]

I have a reptisun 10.0 t5ho 22" tube. It is sitting on top of the screen which I know can filter out some of the uvb, but her basking rock is only 6" from the screen. The vet said with it being that close she should still get proper amounts of uvb. She stopped eating almost 10 days prior to the 1st dose of ponazuril. I'm wondering if she developed mbd from lack of calcium due to not eating. The vet waited 2 weeks to give me the results and another week for me to get the med since they didn't have it in stock. The dose is 100mg/ml and I was told to give 0.03 ml wait 48 hrs and give another dose. Wait 2 weeks and repeat for a total of 4 doses. She had her 2nd dose yesterday but still cannot walk well and does nothing except for bask.

Lack of UVB would be cause for not eating and not moving very well --- please get the UVB unobstructed--- take the screen off or get it in the tank --- w/ a distance of 12-15 inches w/ the basking decor directly underneath watch her behavior after doing this it should change right away - if she is still not eating then you may haft to force feed her w/ the meds shes on but I want to see if the UVB will kick in the appetite it usually does --- I am going to flag the post to Tracie about the meds --
@Drache613

 

[Shawna731]

Lack of UVB would be cause for not eating and not moving very well --- please get the UVB unobstructed--- take the screen off or get it in the tank --- w/ a distance of 12-15 inches w/ the basking decor directly underneath watch her behavior after doing this it should change right away - if she is still not eating then you may haft to force feed her w/ the meds shes on but I want to see if the UVB will kick in the appetite it usually does --- I am going to flag the post to Tracie about the meds --
@Drache613

Thank you I actually reached out to Tracie directly on Saturday and haven't heard back so I decided to post a thread. I've had the lighting like this for the past 6-7 weeks and she was still thriving. Eating great and running around the tank and almost doubled in weight from the time i got her. She didn't stop eating until Feb 23rd which was 10 days after I had her fecal tested. When they finally gave me the results on the 27th they said her viral load of coccidia was very high and apparently had been since the 13th. I have been tong feeding her but she refuses the greens with tongs and she use to love them. I just had to fly home for a funeral which costed me $800 on top of her very high vet bills so I cannot afford her new enclosure as quickly as anticipated. Right now she's in a 50 gallon so I cannot feasibly put the light inside and keep the correct distance for basking. I have no way to put the uvb above the tank without a lid because I already have a stand that holds my CHE and basking bulb so there's no room for the uvb

 

[Shawna731]

Lack of UVB would be cause for not eating and not moving very well --- please get the UVB unobstructed--- take the screen off or get it in the tank --- w/ a distance of 12-15 inches w/ the basking decor directly underneath watch her behavior after doing this it should change right away - if she is still not eating then you may haft to force feed her w/ the meds shes on but I want to see if the UVB will kick in the appetite it usually does --- I am going to flag the post to Tracie about the meds --
@Drache613

This is her old setup but was told the uvb was still way too close to her and could cause more problems. I bought the large basking rock that sits 6" from the screen and moved the uvb to the outside and she never stopped eating. I think the parasitic load was too high which caused the lack of appetite because it wasn't until I moved the uvb to the outside when she went from 80 grams to 120 in 3 weeks.

 

[xp29]

I've got a couple questions, did you take a fecal sample in, did she actually poop while at the vet, or did they do an enema? If they did an enema right there is the cause of ALL your symptoms. They did one on my oldest dragon a ways back and didn't tell me they were going to. He acted the same way for n 2 months or more, he recovered, a lot of them don't. You may want to get some oxbow critical care from Amazon for a babie i would use the carnivore or omnivore formula. Thats what i fed Zen until i could get him better from the vet visit, im my opinion it saved his life.
I agree with Karrieree also, that isn't star gazing, which leads to my 2nd question. Can she put her head back down if she wants to? Star gazing is a neurological condition caused by adv, once their head is in that position they can not put it back down. So if she can put it down she is just setting that way.
Oh and i forgot to mention, when they gave Zen the enema, he lost almost all use of his back legs for weeks. I thought he was impacted, and thats why the leg issue and the not eating, i didn't find out until later they did the enema.

 

[xp29]

Is the uvb on the back wall? It looks like it in the pic, setup like that the reflector is casting the uvb across the habitat and not down on your dragon, she is loosing most of the uvb if that is the way it's set up. Also the light being mounted like that can cause eye issues.

 

[xp29]

Oh and one more thought, Tracie sells a swab kit to test for adv, i think it is around 20-25 bucks and you can mail it in, no vet visit and no being poked with a needle. (If you really think she might have it, but im very skeptical that she does)

 

[Shawna731]

Oh and one more thought, Tracie sells a swab kit to test for adv, i think it is around 20-25 bucks and you can mail it in, no vet visit and no being poked with a needle. (If you really think she might have it, but im very skeptical that she does)

Thank you for all your information. She did not have an enema, she actually pooped and then the tech got rid of it and I think they fished it out if the trash which is also concerning because who is to say that she even had parasites and it wasn't contaminated from the trash. The photos I posted was her old setup from when I first brought her home but was told the same thing you said about the uvb being on the back wall and reflector not being efficient. I was also told that it was much too close to her so I put it on the screen and bought a new basking rock that is only 6" from the screen since some uvb can filter out. I actually ordered a swab kit for $18 from research associate labs and then it's another $20 to run the test. I'm just waiting for it to be delivered and I'm still going to check just to be safe. I'm hoping she doesn't but I've heard horror stories buying from big name pet stores. I wish I would've known that prior to buying her.

 

[KarrieRee]

Thank you for all your information. She did not have an enema, she actually pooped and then the tech got rid of it and I think they fished it out if the trash which is also concerning because who is to say that she even had parasites and it wasn't contaminated from the trash. The photos I posted was her old setup from when I first brought her home but was told the same thing you said about the uvb being on the back wall and reflector not being efficient. I was also told that it was much too close to her so I put it on the screen and bought a new basking rock that is only 6" from the screen since some uvb can filter out. I actually ordered a swab kit for $18 from research associate labs and then it's another $20 to run the test. I'm just waiting for it to be delivered and I'm still going to check just to be safe. I'm hoping she doesn't but I've heard horror stories buying from big name pet stores. I wish I would've known that prior to buying her.

She won't eat w/ out proper uvb-

 

[xp29]

The 40 bucks is cheap piece of mind. I agree with Karrieree she won't eat if the lighting isn't correct, work with Karrieree she can help you get it spot on.

 

[Shawna731]

The 40 bucks is cheap piece of mind. I agree with Karrieree she won't eat if the lighting isn't correct, work with Karrieree she can help you get it spot on.

I do agree that she won't eat without proper uvb, I just don't understand why she was eating perfectly fine and almost doubled in weight with my lighting set up that same way for over a month and then all of a sudden just stopped out of nowhere. I just assumed that if her lighting was off she would've never gained that much weight or would've stopped eating much sooner.

 

[xp29]

Yea.
I went back and reread your thread.
Did she stop eating before the vet visit or after? If it was after i would say it's the meds for parasites, antibiotics can cause loss of appetite in beardies.
My girl Snicker Doodles was a ferocious eater before she was given antibiotics, that was oct-nov ish. I still struggle to get her to eat now. My girl that passed was the same.

 

[KarrieRee]

I do agree that she won't eat without proper uvb, I just don't understand why she was eating perfectly fine and almost doubled in weight with my lighting set up that same way for over a month and then all of a sudden just stopped out of nowhere. I just assumed that if her lighting was off she would've never gained that much weight or would've stopped eating much sooner.

It can take some time before effects of the uvb start w/ negative behavior- like mbd one day the dragon is walking fine the next the dragon is not walking dragging legs etc