A bunch of random symptoms, the vet is lost

Lainezor

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Darius
Just a quick comment after seeing the video. If this happens mostly after he eats he may have developed a little more trouble swallowing . Just like humans, also other animals, as they get older certain things can begin to happen and all our body parts may not function as when we were young. Try offering smaller pieces of greens as well as insects to try to make it easier for him to swallow. It may or may not help but it's worth a try.
This morning he did not do it until about 2 hours after eating when he was standing in the basking spot.It could be him trying to move things further down his GI tract? He is doing it now, I checked the temp where he is standing and its between 96 and 102F, maybe part of it is overheating or trying to cool down? Also he is randomly head bobbing which isnt something I normally see from him.

Today when I watched him do the breathing thing I noticed the side of his belly and his arm were twitching a lot.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Yes it might be too hot for him, but I'm not sure whether that's causing the little choking/gasping episodes. The hottest area of the tank for an average older beardie should be around 100-105, ambient in the high 80's, cool from 75-80.
 

Lainezor

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Darius
Yes it might be too hot for him, but I'm not sure whether that's causing the little choking/gasping episodes. The hottest area of the tank for an average older beardie should be around 100-105, ambient in the high 80's, cool from 75-80.
I will adjust the temperatures to be about 5 degrees lower. The odd part is he did the breathing / gaping for about an hour and then stopped doing it and rested in the same spot. If he was too hot I would expect him to keep gaping and / or move to a cooler spot. While he was doing it today his side of his belly was twitching a lot (down low near the hips) and the back of his left arm was also twitching. Kinda like a muscle spasm, sometimes the back would also twitch with the side and it would be a big twitch like something was moving inside of him, he did not poop today but its pretty normal for him.

Hes laying against the cork tube with his eyes closed and no longer doing the weird breathing thing. I havent seen him do the head tremor at all today.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I hope the temperature difference helps him out. That's good news though, that he stopped having the
breathing issues so maybe it will continue to improve for him.
It is hard when they get older to pinpoint issues when there are several things going on. He is doing great,
being 11 years old!
Did he just get one calcium injection? It wouldn't hurt to try the liquid calcium, it does absorb easier than
the powdered calcium.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

Lainezor

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Darius
Hello,

I hope the temperature difference helps him out. That's good news though, that he stopped having the
breathing issues so maybe it will continue to improve for him.
It is hard when they get older to pinpoint issues when there are several things going on. He is doing great,
being 11 years old!
Did he just get one calcium injection? It wouldn't hurt to try the liquid calcium, it does absorb easier than
the powdered calcium.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

Yesterday I lower his tank temps by 7 degrees and he moved from his basking spot down to the floor below and laid there with his eye closed (bulging out at times) and stayed there for the entire day. I noticed he had some really big muscle twitches at the base of his tail a few cm down from the hips. His colours are a bit darker now. He is staying in the middle of the floor with his eyes closed. He did move slightly toward the light today and eating normally still. He did not do the breathing thing very much or as dramatically but i also made sure to feed him small pieces and less food than before.

Since calcium was technically in the normal range the vet did not do a second calcium injection this time. I am uncomfortable with administering liquid calcium but I am not opposed to having him get another calcium shot from the vet if it would be helpful.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Is his beard normal color or has it been darker in color?
It's good that his appetite is still pretty good. If he is bulging his eyes, could he be getting ready to shed on his face area that you can tell? I am glad to hear his breathing has improved some.
As far as calcium intake, the calcium injections are far more risky than taking oral liquid calcium.
Keep monitoring his weight, to be sure he isn't losing too much weight.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

Lainezor

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Darius
Hello,

Is his beard normal color or has it been darker in color?
It's good that his appetite is still pretty good. If he is bulging his eyes, could he be getting ready to shed on his face area that you can tell? I am glad to hear his breathing has improved some.
As far as calcium intake, the calcium injections are far more risky than taking oral liquid calcium.
Keep monitoring his weight, to be sure he isn't losing too much weight.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
His beard is normal colour, hes been spending the last couple days resting in the hot end. He eats well and hasnt been doing the breathing thing much the last couple days. Do I have to get the oral calcium from the vet or is there a safe OTC brand?
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That's great his beard is normal color. I'm glad
he is eating well right now. Hopefully he continues
to improve on the breathing issue.
I actually have an online reptile supply company & have a really good oral liquid calcium. I can get you a link to it, if you would like.


Tracie
 

Lainezor

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Darius
Hello,

That's great his beard is normal color. I'm glad
he is eating well right now. Hopefully he continues
to improve on the breathing issue.
I actually have an online reptile supply company & have a really good oral liquid calcium. I can get you a link to it, if you would like.


Tracie
yes I would like that, do you ship to canada by any chance?

He is still showing good colours but he is resting for most of the day in the middle of the cage. Still has the head tremors but the breathing seems to be more normal, still does it subtly from time to time though.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Great. It sounds like he has improved on his breathing which is good news. Hopefully these symptoms
will eventually go away.
We do ship to Canada pretty regularly. However, the Postal Strike affects that, using the Mail system but
we can use UPS also. The shipping program will let us know whether or not it can be shipped through the mail system yet.

Tracie
 

Lainezor

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Darius
This morning before breakfast, Darius pooped and it was pretty gross and I had to take him out to bathe him. He weighed 482grams which is down from the 493grams two weeks ago. Not sure if I should be concerned, I did cut back the amount of crickets I fed by about half. I can see his hips and shoulder blades in certain positions.

Overall he looks and is acting better though. He still has the head tremors a bit and some twitches. He is basking more since I lowered the temps overall by a couple degrees F. He has not done the breathing thing in the last few days as far as I have seen (I was not home on Wednesday for most of the day / night).

He is eating well and today he spent most of the day on the branch in the hot side, this is the first time ive seen him climb up there in awhile and i was excited to see it. I took a photo of him chilling on a branch in the hot side this afternoon. Does he look okay? his beard seems to look slightly black?
 

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AHBD

BD.org Sicko
That's a pretty good report ! It's O.K if he lost a little weight because it happened due to your reduction in the number of insects. The black beard may just because he's been not feeling well for a while and when they're older things affect them more.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I hope his beard wont stay black too long. Hopefully he is feeling better soon. Just keep an eye on his
weight to be sure he doesn't lose too much.
Keep him basking, so he stays at optimal temperature & can digest well! Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Lainezor

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Darius
Hello,

I hope his beard wont stay black too long. Hopefully he is feeling better soon. Just keep an eye on his
weight to be sure he doesn't lose too much.
Keep him basking, so he stays at optimal temperature & can digest well! Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
At what point should I be concerned? He is down to 472grams when I weighed him today (I tried multiple scales and they ranged from 472-477g so i took the smaller number), This is down from 482g two weeks ago. He was weighed at 500grams in the end of September and went on metronidazole despite clean fecal and has been bouncing back and fourth between 470g and 500g depending on the medication.

He has been getting less crickets and more greens and bugs like silkworms and hornworms this week but I am concerned he is losing more weight again. I did try to cut back the insects as I realized I was overfeeding him them.

He is still eating normally and alert, posture is a bit better, head tremors are there from time to time but not as bad, still some muscle twitches. Still has a bit of the strange breathing sometimes but he hasnt been gaping his mouth or breathing with his full body anymore which is good.

His poop today was completely squished under his tail so I couldnt see how well formed it was but the urate was white. After the bath he had another urate which was mostly water and the urate had a tiny bit of orange and pink in it.

I dont want to stress him out to bring him to the vet again because its a long drive and the weather is very cold here. The vet would likely try to prescribe metronidazole for the weight loss but I dont want to keep giving him that without any clear reason to; he has been cleared for parasites many times now. Seems like the metronidazole keeps weight on him but im wondering if its swelling or something?

He is still acting and eating normally and does not have a black beard. I included photos from today for reference, the scales all show different numbers which doesnt help *sigh*

Does he look too skinny?


I realized the bulb for his light was 14 months old, somehow my phone reminder got missed. I got him a fresh Arcadia Dragon 14% t5 ho 22" tube and used my solar meter to set it up. I am concerned that he wasnt getting enough heat and UVB lately, so hopefully this helps.
 

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