3mth old beardie seems very ill - diarrhea??

[animalobsessions]

Hi everyone!

I stumbled across this forum looking for information and I'm quite excited - seems like a great community!

My beardie (Napolean ) is ~3mths old, I've had him for ~1.5mths now.

He's been fairly healthy until a week ago, when he woke up REALLY pale and flat out on the ground of the enclosure (I honestly thought he was dead!)

He picked up a bit after some water and food but has seemed a bit more frail than usual ever since.

Today while cleaning the cage (of course he would leave me this present after I take out the newspaper :lol: ) he had a really runny bowel movement:

It even had a some pink in it.

I'm getting concerned that he has been run down all week, behaving funny & now is getting worse!

Does anyone have any advice?

 

[puffsmama]

I'm pretty new to beardies too, but just from all the reading I've done here, I would guess you may want to take a stool sample to the vet and have it checked for parasites. He may have an overgrowth of something. I hope someone more experienced will come along with some ideas.
Puffsmama

 

[animalobsessions]

In my haste I have left out all sorts of useful information..!

CAGE

• Keep newspaper on the floor
• Black heat lamp controlled by thermostat keeps one side of enclosure to ~38degrees
• Small windows cool down the other side to between 21 and 26 degrees
• UVB reptile lamp is used every day during daylight hours

DIET

• Started off with pinhead crickets and wet tin dog food
• Has always been fed twice a day
• Went off crickets in July when shedding for a few weeks (still ate dog food)
• Even after shedding wouldn't chase down crickets
• Since getting really pale a week ago - fearing a digestion problem with the dog food - started hand feeding crickets which he'll happily eat 6 or so twice a day

He still won't chase down the crickets for some reason (maybe eaten two in the past few weeks that he's caught himself).

WATER

• Increased his water intake with misting & dropper when shedding
• Still dropping water on his nose for him to lick off as much as he wants

Anything else I've left out feel free to ask and I'll give as much detail as I can!!

Thank you so much for any help - I'm only beginning with reptiles and am quite concerned for my beardie!

 

[animalobsessions]

I'm pretty new to beardies too, but just from all the reading I've done here, I would guess you may want to take a stool sample to the vet and have it checked for parasites. He may have an overgrowth of something. I hope someone more experienced will come along with some ideas.
Puffsmama

Thank you for the quick reply!

Would I be best taking a more regular stool sample from yesterday / before or something from the loose stool today?

And would any vet be able to conduct that check or do you need to find one that is specialised in reptiles? (just thinking that could be difficult?)

Thanks again!

 

[puffsmama]

You would want to take the freshest sample you can get. I would call various vet clinics near you and ask them if they can do a fecal check on a bearded dragon for you. Also...you don't want to use the black heatlamp...a regular bright white household bulb will do. They need the bright light to help block the UVB rays from their eyes, and at night they don't need heat as long as there cage is warmer than 65 degrees F...not sure what that is Celcius. They need their bodies to cool down at night to regulate their metabolism. And at night, even the black bulbs disturb their sleep so that they won't get proper rest.
What type of UVB bulb are you using...there are alot out there that are actually harmful to reptiles...especially the coil and compact bulbs. The best one to use is a reptisun 10.0 here in the states...where are you from?
I keep hoping someone else with more experience will come along here to help out too.
Puffsmama

 

[Naomi]

I don't think that dog food would be the best choice for your beardie's diet. It can be very high in fat, and, if I'm not mistaken, may induce fatty liver disease. Feeder insects, such as gutloaded crickets, silkworms, mealworms, superworms, Phoenix worms, or some kinds of cockroaches should be your dragon's source of protein. Bear in mind, when I say "feeder insects," I do not mean insects that were caught around your house, as these may be contaminated with various pesticides that could harm your beardie.

Also, you definitely need to include some sort of vegetable matter in there as well. Dark, leafy greens are generally a good start. I buy a mix of collard, turnip, and mustard greens called "Country Greens" that I believe is sold at all Albertson's stores. The brand is "Cut & Clean Greens," and it can be found bagged up in the produce aisle.

I agree with puffsmama in that you need to get a fecal done and change your lighting setup. Fresh samples are definitely best. Just collect a sample, put it in a plastic bag, and stick the bag in the freezer until you can get it to a vet. If you can find a vet in your area that specializes in herps, that would be awesome, but I believe most regular vets can do something as simple as a fecal test. Just tell them that you want to test it for a variety of parasites including coccidia and pinworms. If the test comes back positive, there are a few medicines that can be prescribed, such as Albon and Panacur. I believe there are a few people on this site that can help you with dosage information.

What type of thermometer are you using? Digital thermometers (with probes on the end where the temperature is taken) are the most accurate. If you have one of these, you may want to bump up the temps just a little. Young beardies like yours will need higher temperatures than their adult counterparts. Perhaps raising them to about 40.5 degrees Celsius will be helpful. I would definitely focus more on altering his diet than his temperatures, though.

Finally, if you're feeling a little lost with all of this, I would suggest reading through this website: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com. It's got a lot of really good information, including a general care sheet and a nutrition chart that might help you figure out what would be best to feed your little guy.

I apologize for the extreme length of this post, but I hope some of the information I've given you will help you out. If you have any more questions, feel free to post them.


- Naomi

 

[animalobsessions]

Thank you very much Puffsmama and Naomi for your help!

I have followed your advice and found a local vet who will do a fecal check so hopefully I will find out soon if/what is wrong..!

Aside from the vet advice, let me see if I've understood here:

1) Best is a UVB light like reptisun 10.0 (I'll see if I can get these in Australia ) and a white bulb for heating.
I think I would still need to heat during the night though as it is winter here and gets ~40fahrenheit? So a black bulb would be best for this? This is what I'm using:

2) I do have a digital thermometer with probe - so I'll turn the heat up a little higher (during the day at least) to ~40.5 and see how that goes - thank you!

3) Food: I'll keep the dogfood away and stick to the crickets for protein. I had been told no greens until 6mths? But I've done a bit of reading and it seems others suggest earlier to I'll do more research and introduce some greens into the feeds as well - the website you recommended looks like a great start!

Thanks again for your help - I love this forum already

 

[Buggsy]

Please turn off the UVB immediatly!! The coil bulb, and the reptiglo brand are not good and have been proven to cause problems in beardies, including lethargy and loss of appitite. If he isnt getting the righ UVBs he wont be able to digest food, and his immune system will become compromised (and pick up infections). The ReptiSUN TUBE is the best, but i think in Az you can get an arcadia bulb (12%) tube which is slightly better.

Also the bulb you are using is a ceramic heat emmiter, which produces no light but heat correct? If so this is brilliant for winter, and to keep temps in the 65-70 range at night if your house gets very cold, but is no good for the day time im afraid.

As some one posted before, the need bright white light to protect from the UVB, which can cause damage to eyes otherwise. The UVB bulb you have been using does not give out a consistant ammount of UVB and his eyes could be sore, hence not eating too much.

Also, the food you have been offering may have contributed. Someone has already covered this, but i thought i would post a link to an excellent reference that we all use, it shows all the foods you are supposed to feed, and the ones you shouldnt, with all the nutritional values, and its colour coded as to how many times a week you can offer it.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

Im sure when you have made these changes you will see an imporvement, but i would also get a feacal test done as he may have picked something up.

 

[zebraflavencs]

I wanted to add, here is a wonderful UVB that is available in Aus! One of our other members who is Australian gave me this info !
It is the NEC T-10 Blacklight UVB. Second from the bottom !
http://www.herpshop.com.au/
Try that !
Janie.