Any advice wouldbe appreciated.

[CDUB]

This is a long story but please bare with me.

My son received his gift card from PetSmart for his bearded dragon he had been wanting for Christmas. We went into the store a few days after the holiday & let him pick out 'Spike' along with everything the salesman said we would need. He seemed very informative & I knew very little about these reptiles. As mom, I knew I would be responsible for taking care of our new family member also, so I paid close attention to our saleman who bragged about his degree in Herpetology. We got Spike home & set his up his new accommodations & everything was going great. He was eating, drinking & doing just fine.....although I did notice he wasn't growing.
Last week I noticed that he was hiding underneath his cave rock & not eating anything. I picked him up & I thought he was dead. He has lost a lot of weight & was barely moving. I have been trying to hand feed him & give him water. I realized I needed help so l called a local reputable reptile shop. The salesman proceeded to ask many questions to try to figure out what was wrong. He asked what his diet consisted of, his bedding, temperture & humidity of tank & what kind of lighting we had for him. It seemed I was doing everything or correctly until I told him about the lighting. Apparently I was missing the critical UVB light that is detrimental to Spike's health. The Herpetology major from PetSmart didn't mention ANYTHING about this light!!!!! I ran out to buy one & it has been 24 hrs since it has been installed (I turned it off over night). I can already see improvement in Spike's demeanor although he is moving more, he still will not venture from his rock. I am still hand feeding & watering him & pray he can pull through. I spoke with PetSmart's manager this morning & he was very apologetic about us being misinformed about the necessary accommodations to keep our new pet alive. He offered to give us a new dragon but I declined as I'm attached to Spike.
If anyone has any advice on anything else I can be doing to help Spike I would be greatly appreciative. Please, please do your research before buying a new pet. I know I will from now on.

 

[Evergreen]

I'm really sorry he's taken this turn. It must be so difficult for your son and yourself. Many have fallen victim to pet store's misinformation and I really hope he pulls though, you're doing great by reaching out and trying to help the little guy. There are a lot of very experienced people here that can help but they'll need to know the same things the person on the phone did. As much info as you can provide on his setup would be very helpful. Like:

1) What brand of UVB light to you have and where is it located?
2) What are you measuring your temps with and what are they both on the cool side and the basking spot?
3) What does he usually eat, how often and do you dust his food with vitamins and calcium? Is he eating live foods and greens right now or are you giving him baby food?

This is the highly recommended UVB bulb for bearded dragons. Although the other brands will work for other species this one and Arcadia are the two that won't cause more problems: http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiSun%C2%AE-Fluorescent-24-Inch/dp/B0009YHSWK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335909130&sr=8-1

You'll want a thermometer with probe if you dont have one already. The ones with the little dials like a clock don't do much if any good: http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Digital-Terrarium-Thermometer/dp/B000MD3MFA/ref=pd_sim_petsupplies_30

I'm thinking you might also need some liquid calcium to help get him back on track if he's showing symptoms of MBD. I wouldn't order it though until someone with more experience chimes in. A warm bath with water to his elbows will help keep him hydrated. I really hope he can pull through and I'm sure someone will be along soon with more solid advice.

 

[EccentricME]

Sorry you guys have to go through all this.
I wouldn't trust a pet shop workers advice. There are s few good ones I sure but over all they give advice!!!

Are you guys using calcium & Multivitimins?
What type of UVB bulb do you have now?
What is your basking tempature?

Liquid calcium is good for beardies with signs of metonolic bone disorder (MBD). It gets in to their system raiser than the powered kind. He still needs to bask when my dragons try to hid all day I stuff a towel in the hid and set them on their basking rock. :mrgreen:

Hope you figure out what's wrong.

 

[CDUB]

Thank you for your responses.

Here is some extra info that you asked about:
UVB light - Zilla Slimline Desert Fixture 50UVB
I just installed the probe thermometer last night. It is reading 91.6 degrees F this morning on the rock that he lays on. I would like it to be a little warmer but I am using the correct size dome light for the size of tank we are using (40 gal) because I had to buy a bigger one a couple of months back. I will move the tree under the light so he will be closer to the heat once he is strong enough to climb again.
I'm not sure what the cool side of the tank is.
I am now consistently using the calcium dusting powder but my son was not using like he should have been. I have expressed to him how important this is so it will be utilized on a daily basis from here on out.
He is eating sm crickets. Before he got sick my son was feeding him before school & after school. 5-6 crickets each time. Since he has been sick I have been hand feeding him every 2 hours, 1 cricket at a time. This morning he ate 4 crickets on his own (YAY)!!!!!!
I am curious what his daily cricket intake should be. He is very small (approx 5-6 inches). He has lost weight & is much skinnier now. I got him to eat spinach one time but now he will not touch any veggies I put in. I have not tried any baby food but I think I will try that today.
I do not have any liquid calcium......to be honest I can't find it at the pet shop & the local reptile shop is 45mins away so I haven't had a chance to go there yet. Also, I have no multi vitamins for him. I almost bought some last night but the salesman said I needed to know the exact weight of my lizard & I had to mix it absolutely right. I didn't want to screw anything up so I didn't get it.

I do have a question though. Now that he is eating again will he be ok for me to leave over the weekend if I have someone come in to feed him? I'm so worried to leave for long periods of time but I have to go out of town.

Thanks again for your help. I'm thrilled he is doing better.

 

[munchkins9802]

Please get a brand new light., the desert 50's aren't any good --including the tube ones. We had issues with our first one under that light, with the reptisun10.0 the lizard became a different little one

 

[CDUB]

This is a brand new light. It's all they had on hand. What should I buy?? I don't know how lights can vary so much in quality so please explain. He is doing much,much better. Heading down now to see if he will eat some baby food. He has ate 6 crickets for me so far today. This is such an improvement from 2 days ago when he was on his death bed.

 

[Evergreen]

Thats so great he's doing better! Before you leave for the weekend I would purchase the Reptisun 10.0. There are so many UV lights on the market and they all claim to be safe so it's very misleading and confusing. I only found out on here that I needed this reptisun bulb but I promise you it will be work the $30. Without it I really don't think he'll continue to improve. My pet store doesn't carry these either so I just bought it online. Took about 5 days to get here but you can get 2 day or overnight shipping if necessary. http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiSun%C2%AE-Fluorescent-24-Inch/dp/B0009YHSWK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335981916&sr=8-1

I think it's chicken or turkey baby food that you want. Not sure if there's anything wrong with the hundreds of other flavors but I think these two are recommended because of the protein.

Here is everything you need to know on what veges and greens to feed. Spinach is one of the few things he shouldn't have but he's so young that he might not even be interested in salads yet anyways. Go ahead and offer it to him every day but don't be worried if he doesn't eat it. If he was eating on his own you'd want to offer as many crickets as he'll eat in 10-15 minutes twice a day. If you dont like crickets or they're too hard to feed then you can look into reptiworms which are really easy because you dont need to dust them, feed them or worry about them biting your beardie! http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

If you need the liquid calcium you can get it online too. I've bought medication from this site and everything went great. http://www.beardeddragons.co/beardeddragon/index.php?route=product/category&path=61

This is the kind of vitamins many people use. You dust it on the crickets twice a week. To make it easy to remember I do the calcium power every day of the week and this vitamin powder on the weekends. http://www.amazon.com/HERPTIVITE-Multivitamin-reptiles-amphibians-Bottle/dp/B00076HT3S/ref=pd_sim_petsupplies_19

I imagine this must be very frustration for you but hang in there. A week or two and you'll have everything down, it seems complicated at first especially if you've never dealt with a reptile but It'll get so much easier once he's healthy and growing!

 

[Evergreen]

Knew I forgot something! As for his basking temperature (the rock he lays on) you'll want that spot about 105F but not over 110. You shouldn't need to get a bigger dome, just a light-bulb with a higher wattage. It can be a regular house light-bulb, doesn't need to be the really expensive basking ones form the pet store. Just look for the light-bulbs with the yellow hue to them, those are the best for the lizard.

 

[CDUB]

Thank you so much!! I will get a uvb light ASAP. Learning something new everyday. I really appreciate everyone's help. I'll keep you posted.

 

[EccentricME]

The Zilla fixture also has a cover over that light that can block out the UVB. The best place fore the UVB light is inside the tank. The Zilla light I had could not hang inside without mangling the screen lid so I bought a fixture from home depot for 10 dollars that works perfectly ripped the cover off that one too. To attach it I use command hooks that have the sticky that not suppose to wreck walls.
If you are going to syringe feed him you can get squash, apple sauce, chicken with broth ect. You can also make a slurry with crickets/roaches/worms ect just blend with some baby food. Check out http://www.beardeddragon.co they have helped me alot with my rescue and have all the supplements/supplies you need.

 

[lynchy217]

I know regular calcium with D3 is a no-no for beardies in general, but since the UVB is what they need to create D3, which allows them to absorb calcium, a dusting or 2 might not hurt, especially if hes been going without D3 for a while.

 

[munchkins9802]

if it isnt the MVB bulbs, they actually need the calcium with D3-but get the phosphorous free one. You can get the reptisun really cheap at petmountain.com for shipping and great customer service