A couple things

[JailBirdStripes]

I got a few things that I gotta ask about. In reading all these posts, it seems everyone's beardies have some interesting behaviors that mine seems to not do.

First- Black beards? Yah, Stripes doesn't blacken much. Every once in a while if I missed a cricket before bed, and it keeps her up she'll be a little gray when I get up, but she really doesn't get black. Not that i WANT her to get black (cus that apparently means stress), but it would be nice to see her do what beardies do.

I've seen her flare the beard in the morning for morning stretches, and glass-dance too, but she doesn't head bob, only hissed twice during her first two trips outside, but otherwise she's not intimidated by anything (not complaining) but lately she's been kinda... blah.

She used to run around when I took her out, and play chase games for a little while... but lately, she's taken a few steps from my shoulder to the top of the couch to under the light on the end table and then just sits.

And then came the red (urates) poop... Kinda grainy red, not like bloody, but she doesn't eat much red stuff (maybe the occasional pinky) but I don't understand the Red poop? anybody else ever seen this?

Her feeding has also slowed dramatically. What was formerly 30-45 crickets in a night has slowed to less than 15. She does eat more veggies now, naturally due to age, I would assume, but she's less than a year old. I've been thinking its Brumation, but she's not really sleeping a lot, and doesn't want anything to do with her hide except bask on top.

Shes in a 40gal, with a Repti-Sun 10.0, 2 75W Zoo-Med "Daytime Blue" bulbs, 75W close-beam spot for basking, and an infared (red) bulb for nighttime heat (on occasion). Also have an undertank heater. Her temps are between 98 and 110 (basking) and around 77-85 on the cooler side. She's got enough to climb on to get within 6 of the UV and Spot (which she does) but she's just been lethargic lately.

I thought it was her water intake- I had taught her to drink from a water dish, changed it every day, but then I noticed she wasn't pooping, so I started giving her water by hand again. She perked up after a few days, but is still kinda slow and, i guess depressed?

We've got a routine- wake up, I'll take my shower, come back down, take her out and give her some water and some chin-rubs, then back into her home for a little while i get my breakfast and lunch together...she's up for about an hour before i drop some crickets in or a small plate of veggies and fruit... Then it's off to work for the day, and when I get back, she's either propped herself in the corner in some wacky position (Egyptian Dance, anyone?) or is basking from on top of her hide or on her branch, or just laying on the magna-rock ledges on the glass.

Ok... sorry about the long post but i figured someone with a little energy might read this whole thing and have an answer to anything I said...Any ideas? (A trip to the vet is in the works...)

 

[EclpsPrinc]

That's funny... I noticed some red grainy particles in one of my young beardies poops just today. Not a whole lot, just some flecks. Wondering what it could be. I guess it's time for a fecal. Hopefully, someone will be able to share some thoughts on it.

 

[EclpsPrinc]

How is your dragon doing now? I went ahead and had fecals done on all three of mine. Two are parasite-free. However, we found that the one that was showing the little red flecks (later showed obvious bloody stool) ended up having both pinworms & coccidia. I have to go to the vet's office today to pick up the panacur & albon and begin treatments. If yours is still showing bloody stool, you may want to get a fecal done.

 

[JailBirdStripes]

A trip to the vet and a blood test later... Actually, I haven't gotten the results from the blood test done yet, but the vet gave me some food, and the red poop is gone...

I gave her a bath the night before the vet, and she pooped (finally)... but i wasn't able to save it for a fecal... surpisingly enough, the vet didn't even mention a fecal test until I told him I tried to get a sample...

The vet visit was thursday night, and here it is sunday... Stripes pooped a little poop yesterday, and again today. Both were clean and healthy compared to prior poops, though they were both small. Today's poop had a piece of undigested leaf, either turnip green or lettuce, which could be from the past week(s) of veggies. Her temps are good, but she hadn't been basking prior to the vet visit, so I'm assuming the undigested leaf is from her not regulating properly.

The vet mentioned the Blood test would check white and red blood cells, calcium and a couple other things I can't remember, but I'm not sure about any of it. Let's just say I wanted to take the "better safe than sorry" course and get her to a vet but after meeting and seeing the guy handle stripes I don't think I'll be seeing him again.

Anyway. Stripes eats the food he gave me- 1 heaping Tbsp to 2 Tbsp of water and a bit of baby food... mixed and fed through a feeding syringe... She'll eat two syringes full and then try to run away. It's refrigerated, so I think she eats so fast and gives herself a brain-freeze, but, it's helped her poop, and she's had a little more energy- she's glass dancing again, climbing her tree and rocks, and basking and pooping. Aside from my nerves about the vet, I think she might be getting better, especially by the looks of her poop.

I'll find out the test results tomorrow- i'll keep you posted.

 

[EclpsPrinc]

Oh good I'm glad she seems to be feeling better. I hope her blood work comes back ok. Too bad about the vet. This was our first time with this vet. He seems pretty knowledgeable and has a beardie of his own. I'm questioning the dosage on the Ponazuril for the coccidia a bit though. It's a pretty new alternative (USA) to Albon and it seems from what I've read there are two ways of dosing it. Larger 1-2 doses for a coccidiocidal effect (killing the coccidia at all stages) or dosing over a period of time for a coccidostatic effect (like Albon, simply impedes them). He's dosing over 4 weeks but my mind tends to think this increases the chance for reinfestation. I would almost rather dose larger and kill the nasties right off the bat. We'll see how it goes... Are you still going to ask your vet for a fecal check?

 

[JailBirdStripes]

Vet hasn't called me back. When he does, I'll ask him about the fecal...and cost and time...

Can a beardie have a period? Like, I have read that females will "store" eggs is that true? To think of what the "blobs" she passed looked like, they might just have been her first egg-impaction? They are gone, but in hindsight they could've potentially been... dead eggs... And she's been a B!%*h lately, so- maybe female beardeds are a lot like us humans??? Lol (while stripes looks at me in a sort of........way)

just a thought.

 

[laboyett]

my beardie doesn't puff his beard or turn it black. Every now and then, i will see the black stripes, but i've never seen the whole thing turn black. I've never seen him head bob either. Maybe it just varies with each one. It's not something i would worry about though.

 

[JailBirdStripes]

How fresh should a fecal sample be for a test? Should I schedule the test or just show up with a bag of poo and tell the vet to check it out? The vet I went to by-passed the fecal- didn't even mention it when I saw him, but stripes also hadn't pooped (or eaten) in many days, so a sample was going to be hard to come by. Now that she's (sort of) eating the stuff the vet gave me, she's pooped, but not as large as they used to be.

Can a vet do a fecal on a sample retrieved immediately from a bath poo? Lately I'm not really home when stripes poos, and if I am, she does it quickly when I'm out of the room, and it's not large?

I love that there are more people on this site with helpful ideas and suggestions than, well, anywhere else.

 

[JailBirdStripes]

How fresh should a fecal sample be for a test? Should I schedule the test or just show up with a bag of poo and tell the vet to check it out? The vet I went to by-passed the fecal- didn't even mention it when I saw him, but stripes also hadn't pooped (or eaten) in many days, so a sample was going to be hard to come by. Now that she's (sort of) eating the stuff the vet gave me, she's pooped, but not as large as they used to be.

Can a vet do a fecal on a sample retrieved immediately from a bath poo? Lately I'm not really home when stripes poos, and if I am, she does it quickly when I'm out of the room, and it's not large?

I love that there are more people on this site with helpful ideas and suggestions than, well, anywhere else.

 

[EclpsPrinc]

I've always read that the poop needs to be no older than 24 hrs prior to the fecal. After you gather it, you can store it in a mini ziplock baggie and place in the fridge until it's time to take it to the vet. I contacted my vet's office in advance and made arrangements to simply bring it in without an appt/exam. Perhaps your vet would allow that if you explained the difficulty of getting a sample.

 

[JailBirdStripes]

I was able to get one to the vet yesterday within 12 hours of it being pooed... got the results back this morning, and the poop tested negative for coccidia, parasites, worms or anything...but what explains the red in the poop? Like, poop looks like, white urates, (clean white...) then this pinkish-redish grainy mucus-y stuff, then a good snail/log of doodoo...

No definitive answers and continuing symptoms...just makes me nuts.

 

[beardie parents]

I noticed in your original post you mentioned you use 2 "blue day bulbs" All you need for light is a bright white bulb in a wattage that gets the temps correct, which is between 95 and 110. The 110 is better for babies. Most adults I've had prefer the temps closer to 100. What do you take your temps with? Is your Reptisun 10 a long tube uvb? or is it a coil/compact? The reptisun fluorescent long tubes are good uvbs. If you have a reptisun that is a coil or compact, they are not.

If you take your temps with a stick on, the temps are inacurate and could be as much as 20 degrees off.

 

[JailBirdStripes]

I noticed in your original post you mentioned you use 2 "blue day bulbs" All you need for light is a bright white bulb in a wattage that gets the temps correct, which is between 95 and 110. The 110 is better for babies. Most adults I've had prefer the temps closer to 100. What do you take your temps with? Is your Reptisun 10 a long tube uvb? or is it a coil/compact? The reptisun fluorescent long tubes are good uvbs. If you have a reptisun that is a coil or compact, they are not.

If you take your temps with a stick on, the temps are inacurate and could be as much as 20 degrees off.

I take my temps with a digital thermometer with the wire and probe for as long as I've had Stripes. The house I live in runs cool, and has drafty windows, so I tend to need a little more to keep ambient/surface temps where they need to be. Temps in her basking spot are 104.1, hot side hangs around 98.7 all day, cool side in the low to mid 80s (that's the side closer to the drafty windows). The dual day bulbs provides the extra heat on the hot side to compensate for the draft... but I think I'm going to try a white bulb if it will give off enough heat.

UV is a long tube, reptisun 10- 36 inches across the top. Look for my enclosure pics this weekend, when I clean it I'll be sure to turn the top up so you can see what the lights look like,

 

[beardie parents]

I'm glad you have the correct uvb lights. You could get a hallogen flood light. I have a 45 watt hallogen flood bulb that gets hotter than a regular 100 watt house hold bulb. You could try one of those. From what I've read, you shouldn't use the red bulbs because they need the white light. I have never used the red bulbs. I used to use a blue night bulb in a 75 watt for the really cold winter nights we have, but that was when the beardies I had used a hide. The two I have now don't use a hide. We've tried to get Speedy to use a hide and a soft rag for her to sleep on but she refuses to use it. She would rather sleep directly on the rock. We put this rag on top of one of the rocks we have in her tank, she moved to a place that was not as soft. Silly girl! Zoom seems to prefer to sleep on the top of the stick she basks on.

 

[JailBirdStripes]

I use the red light on occasion at night, never during the day. If her tank gets cold i'll put it on for a while until I go to bed. If she's laying on the floor or her rock, i'll cover her with her little blankie so the little bit of light doesn't keep her up when she's trying to go to sleep. Do you use the halogen flood in a dome fixture or in tandem with the other regular lights?