Affraid Hatchling may be dying. Please help..

[usafvet98]

As many of you know, I rescued a female (Sunny) a few months back and the ***** who had her before me tried to breed her at 8 months old and unfortunately it took. So, I took all of your advice on the board and she layed a clutch of half fertile and half infertile eggs. Incubated them and everything. Out of the 7 fertile eggs, 6 made it to term and about a month or so ago 6 cute babies hatched. We lost one last week and I realized there were two runts who werent getting food. The second runt I removed and put into its own enclosure with an 18" reptisun 10.0 uvb. His eyes are always closed and opens them at times. He seems very week and doesnt want to eat. I gently wet his lips with drops of clean water and he will lick them. If he lays in the same position for a while, I get worried and check and as I touch him, he moves. He holds his head up nicely and keeps close to the uvb. I tried chopping up some leafy greens and no luck. I also finely chopped a couple small meal worms and even small crickets and he still wont eat. Im affraid hes not going to make it. However, he is holding on and seems very brave to be holding on like this. Please give me some ideas on what to do to nurse him back to good health. I have been giving them calcium w/ D3 as well.

Thanks in Advance
Brian & "Lucky"

 

[ShannyBeard]

I am sorry you are having these troubles. It is possible that the babies are just not healthy because of weak genetics, or bad husbandry while the female was gravid and they may just be genetically weak and may die for that reason. It is part of nature, and it can be sad to deal with for sure.

Please, never ever every feed baby bearded dragons mealworms. That could very well be contributing to your problem, as it is just not good for them. The chitin shell is very hard to digest and that could really be doing a number on the baby's digestive system. It could also impact them or cause severe constipation. Has this baby made any poops? Babies will often poop 2-3 times a day when healthy. It is also not advised to feed mealworms to adult dragons, so just remove them from their diets all together.

Make sure the baby has correct temps taken with an accurate thermometer. Babies really need precise temps to digest properly and if you have been feeding something that is difficult to digest, this becomes even more important. Don't let the basking spot temp get below 105*F for a baby.

Do you have any squash or chicken or turkey baby food on hand? If not, please get some and mix in some of the calcium powder and dab it on the baby's nose to lick off or better yet have him lick it from a needless syringe. If the baby will not lick this you may need to gently open the baby's mouth and force feed it. It is very hard to do that gently, so take your time and be patient. The soft baby food will help to hydrate the baby and also help pass those mealworm pieces.

How have you been giving hydration? Babies get dehydrated very easily and require at least daily soaks/baths. Are you familiar with how to bath a dragon? Luke warm shallow water, let them sit in the water for 15-20 minutes. You can do a half water and half pedialyte or lemonlime gatorade soak to help add electrolytes. and you can even put a small amount of pedialyte in the baby food mixture if you feed the baby needs more hydration. Never leave a baby in the bath unattended. A dehydrated or sick baby will respond better to several baths a day initially.

I hope this helps and good luck!! Realize we cannot always save them all, especially if they are an unplanned breeding and the female is not cared for properly, and since she was a rescue that would certainly be the case.