Haxaurous
Member
Hello, so my 3 year old male beardie was acting strange the days leading up to his death (Tuesday, 6-16-2015). The Friday before, I had given him a bath and cleaned everything in his tank. I used mainly water to clean everything, but used a non-toxic cleaner to clean his tiles. After washing and drying everything (but leaving his log out overnight to dry), I put him back in his tank for the night as it was past his bedtime. The next day, his beard was black, so I thought something had bothered him. Later, I gave him a pretty standard mix (collard greens, turnip leaves, mustard greens, and butternut squash). He barely touched it, and wasn't as active as he usually is. Plus, his beard was still black. The next day, still a black beard, still not much eating. On Monday, his beard was still black. He seemed to like when I misted him, though. He didn't really drink, but seemed to enjoy the feeling. He pooped once, but it was very watery, so I laid off on the misting. My mom gave him around 10 or so live crickets (usually he gets more, but she was just trying to get him to eat), and they're usually devoured in ~45 seconds-1 minute, but he barely took notice of them. Later, I noticed he had eaten maybe 5 or 6 of them, but was still not super alert. Also, he had pooped again, and it was solid and a good color. I picked him up, thinking he only needed attention, and sat down with him for about an hour and a half, as he kept falling asleep on me. His beard was still black, and I eventually put him to bed, since he seemed drowsy.
The next morning, he was still on his log, beard still dark. I called my mom and asked if she could set up a vet appointment soon because he was acting weird, but around 11:30 am I went back to check on him and he had moved from his log to sit in his dish in an awkward position, his head was up, eyes half-open and his mouth slightly ajar. I thought I saw him move, so I misted him with some water, but he didn't even blink. He wasn't breathing, and I realized he had died. He was buried later that day, although I now regret not taking his body in for necropsy, but I was too upset to think about this at the time.
Is there any clue here as to how he could have died?
Tank Information:
-36lx13wx12h (a bit too small, I know; he was going to be switched into a bigger tank this week)
-Tile substrate
-about 84 F on cool side, usually around 98 F on hot side
-ate a mix of collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, and butternut squash, but also had endive, bok choy, kale, some dried grasshoppers/mealworms (never ate live mealworms/superworms for some reason?), live crickets (calcium dusted), and LOVED raspberries but he only had them about once a month as a treat; he had just turned 3 so he had some the week before. also ate strawberries, the occasional basil leaf, sometimes a mint leaf, sometimes a rose petal, some parsley, some prickly pear, etc., also gave him some of the Zilla Bearded Dragon Fortified Food, but only ever with his usual veggies, never alone.
-had a heat bulb and a coil UVB bulb (dunno the brand, probably the Zilla one; I think it was last changed in August 2014) in the tank he was in, but his new tank has a UVB rod in it (Zoo Med 10.0)
Thank you!
The next morning, he was still on his log, beard still dark. I called my mom and asked if she could set up a vet appointment soon because he was acting weird, but around 11:30 am I went back to check on him and he had moved from his log to sit in his dish in an awkward position, his head was up, eyes half-open and his mouth slightly ajar. I thought I saw him move, so I misted him with some water, but he didn't even blink. He wasn't breathing, and I realized he had died. He was buried later that day, although I now regret not taking his body in for necropsy, but I was too upset to think about this at the time.
Is there any clue here as to how he could have died?
Tank Information:
-36lx13wx12h (a bit too small, I know; he was going to be switched into a bigger tank this week)
-Tile substrate
-about 84 F on cool side, usually around 98 F on hot side
-ate a mix of collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, and butternut squash, but also had endive, bok choy, kale, some dried grasshoppers/mealworms (never ate live mealworms/superworms for some reason?), live crickets (calcium dusted), and LOVED raspberries but he only had them about once a month as a treat; he had just turned 3 so he had some the week before. also ate strawberries, the occasional basil leaf, sometimes a mint leaf, sometimes a rose petal, some parsley, some prickly pear, etc., also gave him some of the Zilla Bearded Dragon Fortified Food, but only ever with his usual veggies, never alone.
-had a heat bulb and a coil UVB bulb (dunno the brand, probably the Zilla one; I think it was last changed in August 2014) in the tank he was in, but his new tank has a UVB rod in it (Zoo Med 10.0)
Thank you!
