10 month old dragon scratching, digging and pacing

[DanielleGia920]

Deka is 10 months old and was diagnosed with gout 3 months ago. She had been doing really well lately and seemed to be a healthy and happy dragon. On Monday I noticed she didn’t eat much, totally refused the crickets and only ate a couple supers. Same thing happened Tuesday and then Wednesday she ate no live feeders and only 3 on Thursday. She is having normal bowel movements once a day, which is her norm. She is shedding the top of her head, her beard, part of her tail, two back legs and one front hand so I thought maybe she was just irritated and didn’t feel like eating. But Wednesday she started acting really nervous, she usually just hangs in one or two spots during the day and is extremely laid back. But the past two days she is running and jumping all over the place. She’s jumping from hammocks that are about 16 inches up. She is digging at the carpet, pushing bowls out of the way, scratching the glass, and has tried to jump out of the cage (the lid is slid over so she can get unfiltered uvb) she grabbed onto the reptisun tube light before falling off. She is acting frantic, like she wants out, but I have no idea why. A couple days ago several birds flew by the window and she spotted them and at that moment her whole body trembled. The way a person would shiver when scared or cold. Do reptiles tremble when scared or should I be worrying about a vitamin deficiency? She gets liquid calcium 5x a week and Rep cal Herptivite with beta carotene 2 x a week. She’s in a 40 gallon breeder with 36 inch and 24 inch reptisun T5hos 10.0 and a mega Ray in her basking area. I just took the mega ray out and put in a solar glo heat lamp, I was thinking maybe something was wrong with the bulb and that’s why shes not in basking area and running around frantically. I don’t know, I’m grasping at straws ?‍ This is my first bearded dragon so I don’t know if somethings wrong with her, or if finally, nothing is wrong with her and she’s just active and wants out which I’m not used to because of the gout. Is this normal behavior for a shedding bearded dragon?
Thanks!
Danielle

https://youtu.be/WYAoG_XGx2I
https://youtu.be/2kFt9VNn74Q

 

[AHBD]

Hi Danielle, very nice set up your girl looks good + healthy. It's possible that Deka is carrying infertile eggs. Some females may get antsy like that even without eggs but since this is typical pre-laying behavior you should set up a lay box ASAP. You can make one that sits right in the cage but you'll need to take out the hammocks to fit it in. Here's one that some of my girls used years ago :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30026/full

I forget the exact measurements but it's about 22" L by 11" W by 7-8" tall. Filld almost to the top with sand, add warmish water , enough to make it damp [ like you would use to make a sand castle ] Then cut a corner from the lid and put the lid on. Introduce her in to it, she may start digging right away, may not. But it will be there if she needs it. Use one rock or hammock as a step leading up to it.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I agree, it does sound like she could be developing eggs & is just restless. They do get like
that digging & pacing, etc. Most at that age don't develop eggs, but there are some that do
for whatever reason.
She looks good & the tank looks nice & bright for her.
How is she doing with the gout now?
Definitely make a laybox for her, just in case.

Tracie

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[DanielleGia920]

Sorry for the delayed response, thank you for your replies. The gout is doing much better. Her limbs and joints look pretty close to normal and she is moving around and jumping like a bearded dragon that never had gout!

I was thinking it might be eggs so I went out last week and bought a giant tub and a 50 lb bag of sand from Lowe’s. but as soon as I put her in it, she stops digging and most of the time jumps out. ?I put warm water on the sand and a basking light,I was thinking maybe it was to cold for her, but now she’s just laying under the basking lamp.

Ironically, the only time she settles down and stops digging is when I put her in the lay box. She is constantly licking the sand as well, which is making me nervous.

The most she’ll eat now is one superworm a day and this has been going on for about a week. Her stomach looks rather big especially considering she’s not eating but I can’t feel anything lumpy or unusual.

I put her back in the lay box with the lid covering a majority of the top. She’s not trying to climb out. I noticed your lay box AHBD had the sand all the way to the top. Maybe I need more sand. Maybe all the open space around her is freaking her out. ?‍

I’ll keep at it, hopefully something improves soon.

Thanks AHBD and Tracie for all your support and helpful advice. ??

Danielle

 

[AHBD]

Being put in a large laybox like that is completely foreign to them , sometimes they will dig right away, other times they just seem confused. A bright light can be a distraction too. What you can do is pile more of it higher on one side, then get a large shoebox [ or similar sized box ], cut one end off and put it over top of the mounded sand. This becomes the actual cave. Be sure the sand is damp.

 

[DanielleGia920]

I made a cave. She just keeps climbing out of the box. She made her way to the living room and seems to be exploring a bit. In her travels she decided to relieve herself on the floor ? she is still going to the bathroom once a day which seems a little odd since she’s not really eating. My concern is her urate. Her urates always look like this, they are never well formed. They are more jelly like than chalk like. I make sure she gets fluids through dropper everyday so I figured it was because she was very well hydrated. But the past week she hasn’t been eating and its very difficult to get her to drink water, yet her urate and bowel movement are very watery. She takes allopurinol everyday. Could the lose urate be a renal problem?

 

[AHBD]

The poo looks O.K
Sorry that she keeps climbing out of the box, did you add a cardboard shoe box over a pile of sand ?

 

[DanielleGia920]

Does this look ok? She doesn’t like being in the bin and scratches to get out or just completely jumps out. She won’t dig in there. ?

Wish I had an ultrasound machine right about now lmao

Thanks for all your help!

Danielle

 

[AHBD]

That's a good box, cut the sides down so the box is lower , pack the sand in + start a tunnel with your hand. Keep in mind that she may not have eggs, but even when the ARE carrying eggs they can act picky like this before they actually get down to business.

But that huge belly looks like she's carrying eggs.

 

[DanielleGia920]

Thanks AHBD. Box is smaller and lower to the sand. Filled the inside with sand so it’s a nice snug space. If she has eggs hopefully something happens soon.

I was inspecting her from head to toe... mouth looks fine, eyes seem a little droopy, may be nothing. Then I got to her belly...is this an odd shed or could this be yellow fungus? ?

I really hope not. Just gave her a diluted betadine bath just in case.

 

[AHBD]

You're welcome. And no, definitely not fungus, just very common little scales taking their time to shed. Sometimes some will just be off-color whether shedding or not. No betadine needed.

 

[DanielleGia920]

I’m paranoid lol. Oh thank god, was just looking at pictures of bearded dragons with some severe cases of yellow fungus ? Those pictures are horrifying! Thanks again!

Have a great night!

Danielle

 

[AHBD]

Just a concerned mom is what you are. You also have a great night.

 

[DanielleGia920]

She still isn’t eating much, maybe a couple supers a day and some greens. She goes into a panick when I put her in cricket feeding bin. She wants no part of it. She is still pooping everyday, obviously her bowel movements are extremely tiny since she’s not eating much. She still glass surfs but not as bad as she was, she’s not trying to jump out of the tank anymore. When She glass surfs I let her out of the viv for a bit. she explores, hangs out in the living and then she Seems much more relaxed when she’s put back in.

Here’s my next concern lol. I’m noticing the tip of her nose seems to be turning darker almost black and there’s a couple spots along her mouth (the outside) that has these little tiny tiny black dots. It’s really hard to see them in the pictures but here’s some pics anyway.

My iPhone isn’t great at close ups and catching the tiny black dots ?. I’m curious to know what mouth rot looks like in the very early stages, at the very beginning. I’ve looked at pictures online, the mouth looks eaten away at and there’s open wounds with puss blood etc. but I’m assuming it gets bad like that if youve had it for weeks, if not months. What would it look like at the very beginning. How Can I tell if she has something wrong with her mouth and that’s why she’s not eating much? If she does have mouth rot, how is it treated?

Thanks! ?