2 beautiful beardies... One is sick, I think...?? PLZ HELP!!

[LisaJ]

My new beardies are wonderful. A friend gave these 2 females 2 me. We named them Puff and Cosmo.
She didn't know how to care for them and not sure on their age.. They are about 10 in. long..
Cosmo seems to be great no problems. However, Puff won't open her eyes and seems to be very
dehydrated.. I've been hand feeding her and watering her.
From my understanding she's been like this for awhile. I took these girls into my home, simply because I love animals.. I need info. on what to do, what type of vet... Veggies etc.... How much does it normally run to take them to a vet???
I want to nurse my girl to health.. Just need some pointers on how to do it....

 

[LJean]

Hmm.. If you could give us more information (by answering as many of the questions below as possible) it may help us.

As for vets in your area, there is a link here somewhere (I will try to find it for you) on reptile vets. I am not sure, because it would differ from place to place, what the cost would be.

How old is your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?

 

[LJean]

Here is a list of reptile vets. Hope you can find one close to you. A good reptile vet is a must.

http://www.herpvetconnection.com/

 

[Grommet]

Hi! Did you get the info you needed by searching the site? You are a kind and wonderful person to have adopted those beardies.

Good that you are feeding by hand, it sounds like your dragon is in bad shape. Baths help very much with hydration.... just make sure the water temperature isn't too hot (temp as you would baby formula). Is she able to eat a protein source? As far as greens go, collards are Grommet's staple... along with mustard greens, escarole, winter squash (grated small), and occasional fruit.

Eye trouble can be caused by dehydration or bad lighting sources. What kind of UVB are you using?

Beautiful Dragons (link through "Bearded Dragon Care" at top of site) has a great care sheet with food info on it. Please update us on your search for a vet!

Kailin

 

[Elora]

Were they housed together? This sounds like what happend to me when I had 2 beardies housed together. One of them started getting lazy and stopped eating and drirnking. It eventually ended up that the smaller one almost died. I never saw them fight but one day one of them was missing a toe and tip of his tail. Thankfully I found this website and learned that I needed to separate them and now they are both healthier than ever!

 

[LisaJ]

Hmm.. If you could give us more information (by answering as many of the questions below as possible) it may help us.

As for vets in your area, there is a link here somewhere (I will try to find it for you) on reptile vets. I am not sure, because it would differ from place to place, what the cost would be.

How old is your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?

 

[Pleaides]

by any chance could you post a picture?[/color]

They have been house together since babies.
Their home is too small I believe. It a 44 gallon tank.
i would definitely recommend in seperating them immediately, especially as one is sick, the other could be dominating the runt.

I don't think they have ever ate greenery, only crickets.
i would offer them greens daily and one day they will start to eat them

I have placed 1/2 wood on one side and sand on the other side.
i would not recommend sand for babies or juvies, id use repticarpet, tile or paper towels

One side is about 85 to 90 degress. (hot side)
your hot side isnt hot enough it should be between 90-95f and the basking area needs to be between 100-110f

Other side about 65 to 70 degress.
the cool side needs to be between 80-85f

I have UVB light (florecent tube) , a sun lamp for day and a red light @ night.
id recommend getting a reptisun 10.0 flourescent tube uvb, also they cannot have lights on at night no matter what colour as it disturbs their sleep, as long as the temps are not dropping below 65f then i wouldnt worry if they are id get a ceramic heat emitter thay give off heat but no light

The temp. gages I have in cage is stick on. Ones humdity, the other temp.
how are you measuring the temps? is it with a round stick on one or a digital one with a probe? the stick on ones can be up to 20 degrees off, id recommend a digital one


I feed them lrg. crickets every other day. 1 doz. each. (Puff just started eatting a doz. 2 days ago.)
sorry i may have missed it but how old are they and how big? you rule of the thumb is the crickets can be no bigger than the space between their eyes.
I have the crickets dusted w/ calcium. I don't know how to feed them worms. Especially Puff.
worms dont necessarily need to be smaller than the space between their eyes, thats good your dusting the crickets, daily yeah? with calcium. are you using a multi-vitamin too? the calcium dust 5-6 days a week and the multi-vits 2-3 times perweek.

I've started bathing them every other day for about 10 minutes each, in luke warm water.
Puff actually will crawl in her bathing pond by herself. But, Cosmo never gets in the water in their cage.
id only have a little bit of water in their home as the humidity cannot be too high, they do not need a bathing dish, try bathing them in a tupperware container with baby-warm water up to their arm pits and never leave unsupervised.



hope ive helped a bit
anny

 

[Grommet]

Hi there! Thanks for the update! I think it's wonderful that you have adopted these beardies and have come here for help with their care. They have a way of nestling right into your heart, don't they? It's great that you are handling them every day.... try wrapping Puff in a towel or a piece of fleece and holding her against your chest up by your shoulder. That's a gentle way to introduce her to your smell and handling. It sounds like she is having a very difficult time - the black beard and chest means she's very stressed out, which you want to avoid as much as possible.

Anny's information is awesome. I want to second that you need to get Puff to a vet as soon as possible. It sounds like she has a serious infection in her eyes and it is probably very painful for her. Until you can get her to the vet, separating Puff and Cosmo would be a really good idea. Check on Craigslist for free tanks, or post a message here with your location and perhaps someone in your area has an extra you could use.

If you can, order a new REPTISUN 10 UVB TUBE online. They start to loose their UVB strength after only 4months, so Puff and Cosmo are probably having a difficult time absorbing calcium - they need the UVB or natural sunlight to absorb their vitamins! And you do need to dust the crickets with calcium powder (with D3) and a vitamin supplement. Gut loading your crickets with food is also important.

Also, you may need to give them longer baths to get them fully hydrated. I try for 20min every other day with my beardie, but when she came to me as a rescue, I spent extra time finding inventive ways to get water into her - soaking pear pieces in some water then dripping it slowly on her nose was the most successful. She also wouldn't eat greens, so I hand fed her each small piece and made sure they were wet with water. It took some patience, but eventually she caught on after I slipped a few collard green pieces between her lips. Now I order BUTTERWORMS through Mulberry farms online. Grommet could eat them like candy and they have really helped with her hydration.

Also, it sounds like your dragons would be better off on paper towels at the moment. They are very cheap and easy to replace as needed. Since your dragons are having a difficult time going to the bathroom, it would be a good idea to remove all the extra substrate to keep them from eating any which would make them sicker.

I hope you find the information you need at the beautiful dragons site I mentioned before. I think Puff is going to need some extra special care, but it sounds like you are up for the job. Keep us update!

Kailin

 

[LisaJ]

Thanks! I'm sooo glad for all this!
Yeah, I'll try to get a pic. up ASAP. I just took some lastnight of them both.
See, that's what I think. Cuz Cosmo keeps walking on Puff. Sometimes I even find Cosmo laying on Puff. I move her of course..
How should I introduce the veggies? What should I start w/, I mean what plant first?
I was told Puff is 2yrs. and Cosmo 1yr. Does this mean they are still babies?
Okay, so do I leave the red and wht. light on, plus the uvb tube during the day? Turning them out @ night, all of them? So, it will get hot enough for them?
I'll work on getting the digital temp. gages this wk. The ones I have are round stick on and they have a hand on it, like a wall clock.
They're both about 16-18 in. long - head to tail tip.
How do I get them to eat worms? I have to force Puff's mouth open to feed her and water her. That's why she puffed up lastnight. I positive it makes her angry and may hurt her mouth.. So, what should I do? I can't just let her starve....
What type of multi-vit. do I need to get. How do I get them to eat it?
There is only one bowl in the tank. I never see them drink so I thought it was a bathing pool.

I hate that I stress Puff out to the point that she swell up.. But, I don't know what else to do?? She won't drink by me dripping water on her nose or eat. So, I force it. Yesterday was the first time she has swelled since I have had her.. I think she's tired if me messing w/ her....

I'll try to get the photo up ASAP so everyone can see.. Thanks again..

 

[Grommet]

Hi again! Yes, it definitely sounds like Puff is being dominated by Cosmo. Poor baby! She will probably regain her will to live as soon as you get her into her own space with a new light and good temperatures.

Glad you are getting new thermometers - their bodies are super sensitive to the temperatures needed for digesting food. You could buy one "temp gun" to take temperatures (find those online using a google search) or Wal-mart has inexpensive temp takers with digital probes - you'll need at least one of those per tank, 'cause the stationary ones take about an hour to accurately show the temp.

I'm so sorry Puff is having such a hard time eating! I think I also was too rough with Grommet when I got her the first couple of times I tried to feed her. It takes a lot of patience and getting used to handling a sick dragon, but don't worry! You'll get the hang of it! I started with collard greens (they're really good for beardies) because they are a a little thicker and stiffer and were easier to gently slip between between her lips. She would shake her head a bit, but eventually she would start chewing and I could use the opportunity to put another piece in. Mustard greens are good to.

Some folks here have had luck with baby food. Chicken baby food and/or apple sauce (with NO sugar added). squash baby food would be good too, or some canned pumpkin if you have it on hand. Try offering it to her when she's out of the tank in your lap on a nice soft towel. Spoon works if you can get her to lick it off. Or put some on a piece of collard greens before you slip it into her mouth. If you can get ahold of a plastic syringe or plastic eye dropper, those would be much easier to gently ease into her mouth.... carefully though! Her lips can bruise easily. oh, and a good rule of thumb is only feed her bits that are smaller than the space between her eyes. Hard vegetables should be grated (like with a cheese grater) to keep them easily digestible and safe to swallow.

Normally you want to dust your insect feeder (cricket or worm) with a calcium and vitamin supplement. I suggest REP-CAL Calcium w/D3 (should say phosphorous free too) and REP-CAL Herptivite multivitamins. I buy one container calcium and one container vitamins so that I can dust the feeders with calcium every time and vitamins only 3 times a week. Puff, 'cause she's sick, probably needs a special calcium in liquid form. Vets have it, although I think I remember reading here recently about someone who bought it online. You could try mixing the powder calcium in with a soft food or dust the salad greens with it. Remember though, they need a good UVB source to absorb the calcium so the new bulb is really important.

Sounds like your babies are just out of baby-dom! 2 years is considered an adult and a year is sort of like a teenager. If they appear small, it's probably because their enclosure is too small and they are malnutritioned. Don't worry though, they will put on weight as soon as you get them into their own enclosures and get Puff eating again.

Swap out the red light for a bright, normal light bulb. Beardies like bright, white light and store bought light bulbs are the cheapest way to supply it! I've used a 60watt in the past but since my house is cold during winter, I replaced it with a 75watt bulb along with a ceramic heat lamp.

Hope this isn't too much information at once..... It gets much easier, trust me! You'll get the hang of it soon, and your bearded dragons will soon be the most pampered members of your family. They have a way of winning us over humans over completely!

Kailin

 

[Krisymof2]

Hi I was just wondering how you know they are girls, because it almost sounds like you might have a boy and girl. There are some pics in the following links that can help you figure it out. Let us know. IF YOU DO have a boy & girl seperate them ASAP even if you have to put one of them in a rubbermaid container for a couple days until you can get another tank. Let us know.

http://www.kingsnake.com/gladescs/bearded/

http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/sexing/

 

[LisaJ]

WOW! That's lots of info.! Thanks! I'll try the collard greens, but I know Puff is going to be very mad when I start. Cosmo.... What can I say... Cosmo posses a lot and flares her color yellow a lot.. I just hope they will take to their new diets. I turned all light out last night. They seemed so peaceful.. Made me feel good to see them rest. Although I can't tell to much about Puff unless she becomes restless..
You are all wonderful. I appreciate all the help. Now, I'm about to go check the sex of my babies... Just to make sure they are both girls..
Thanks for the sites!!!

 

[Krisymof2]

OK well let us know when you figure it out.