Advice on my bearded dragons health

[Bestxbox]

Hi Everyone,
I haven't posted on this forum for a while but love it here. I need some advice about my bearded dragon and went to the vet today about his lethargy. He is a completely healthy looking dragon but has slowed down eating and sleeps more especially in the past two weeks. I know this sounds like a standard case about brumation and I have read the article posted on it. The vet said that he might not be going into brumation but could be calcium or vitamin A deficient. Stool sample showed that there are no parasites, and I am avoiding more tests if I can because of money. The vet gave me a mix of baytril and calcium, and I have acidophilus +.
My dragon is about 3 years old and I have had him about that long
My dragon is a male
The enclosure's floor space is about 3 to 4 square feet
Substrate is Shelf liner
I use two Exo Terra 10.0 compact bulbs about a month old
He is about 6 inches away from the bulb
I use a Zoo Med 75 Watt basking bulb
90 Degrees on basking side, 75 degrees roughly on cooler side
Stick on thermometer
I don't use heat rocks or pads
Feed about midday: anything he will eat; he has been getting pickier, he likes mealworms, he sometimes likes crickets, he will eat his leafy greens but every few days, he is even refusing to eat silkworms which use to be his favorite.
I'm trying to gutload my crickets more with the leafy greens (what I was told by vet) compared to before I would get products from the pet store
I use vitamin supplement reptolife, and Rep-Cal Calcium no phosphorus and no vitamin D3
I do this about 3 times a week
He gets a bath once every couple days, no other water source other than that
No other dragons in the enclosure

If someone could give their opinion, It would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jscott]

im no expert, but ill reply just to get the ball rolling for you :wink: .


LIGHTING
those compact lights are no good, as bad as it sounds you should take them out and try to return them. i just talked to a new user that was having similar problems, he removed the coil lights and things took a turn for the better. heres a link to that page:

http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=91873&hilit=


THERMOMETER
another thing; the thermometer is no good either. ive seen those stick on thermometers in petstores and each one reads a different temp even though their on the same hook :roll: . without a reliable thermometer its not possible to get correct temperature reading. with out a correct temp reading its hard to say whether or not low temps are playing a part in this behavior.

normally you want your temps higher; 100-110 on the basking spot and room temp on the cool side(75-80).

FEEDERS
as far as a balanced nutrition goes, mealworms dont really supply much protien or calcium. their mostly fat and shells. if availible, try feeding him more soft-bodies feeders; crickets, roaches, silkies, phoenix worms... all of those hold the calcium powder while the mealworms do not(too smooth).

SUPPLEMENTS
which brings me to calcium powder; it is recomended that you use the rep-cal calcium without phosphrous but with D3(unless your using a MVB). the fluorescent coils your using are unsafe and should be taken out but even very good UVB tubes(reptiSUN 10.0, arcadia 12.0) require D3 supplimentation.

VEGGIES/FRUITS
if the vet says he might be having a calcium/nutrient deficiency it is extra important to be carefull which veggies/fruits you feed him. some veggies contain high levels of oxilates, Vit. A and phosphorus; all of which stop calcium from being absorbed.

go off of this list:

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

watch out for oxilates, phosphorus and high levels of Vit A. all of these can be dangerous for an animal suffering from calcium deficiency.


thats about all i can say for now.

{} id really try to remove those coil lights and replace them with a ReptiSun 10.0 or a Murcury Vapor Bulb(use the MVB only if you have a large cage and can keep the cool side cool).

{} try to get a digital probe thermometer, their about $10 at petstores or walmart.

{} feed him more crickets and less mealies.

{} when using fluorescents, use calcium with D3.

{} make sure to offer lots of veggies that are low in(or free of) oxilates, phosphorus or high levels of Vit A.


wow, that went on alot longer than i meant :roll: . i hope i was more helpfull than confusing :mrgreen: .

 

[Bestxbox]

Hi,
Thank you for the response. I will try these things, and I am going to get a new thermometer and UVB bulbs as soon as I can. I already changed his diet a bit and upped the temp and I am already seeing improvements with his lethargy. I don't feed him a lot of mealworms but he definitely prefers them over crickets. I was thinking about ordering some wax worms, would they be any good? Today he ate most of his greens and quite a few crickets I am happy about this and am hope to continue to see improvements with these other changes!

Thanks,
Mark

 

[jscott]

hello, im glad things are looking alittle better.

waxworms are lower in phosphorus than crickets(good) but much higher in fat(not so good). contrary to their names they arent good for meals just for occasional snacks.

heres that site again, look at the calciumhosphorus ratio of the insects on the list:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

crickets: 1:12
meal worms: 1:25 high fat
wax worms: 1:7
phoenix worms: 1.5:1 these actually have more calcium than phosphorus :shock: . lots of calcium too. if your going to buy any kind of worm over the net buy phoenix worms.