baby beardie breathing/hiccuping a lot

[adhdreptilenerd]

This is now my third post about my bearded dragon but I really need the help and I don’t have a vet to go to and my mom doesn’t even want to take him since it would be too much money.
I have a baby beardie who I think is about 3-4 months old, I got him 3 months ago from a chain pet store (which I deeply regret now).
I had him with improper lighting for that whole time since I got the ZooMed tank kit that came with the coil UVB bulb which didn’t give him the right about of UVB and UVA. I know that’s a problem, I got him the new light as soon as I figured out I had a bad one and he’s had that for about 6 days now. I’ve already seen some improvement in him but a i’ve also seen some new issues, one of them being this weird swallowing thing.
My mom first noticed it, he used to do it infrequently but now he does it almost all the time. It looks like he’s swallowing something or hiccuping almost, he doesn’t make any sound though.
Maybe I’m just overthinking this and it’s completely normal but better safe than sorry.
He eats calcium dubia roaches most days, he stopped eating for a few days but is starting to eat again. I feed him bok choi, collard and turnip greens, arugula, pear, brocolli, mushroom, peas, corn, sweet potato, watermelon, apple, carrots, and bell peppers for his salad. I rotate all of those things besides the bok choi every time I feed him so he doesn’t get bored and I put calcium on those too. He doesn’t love to eat his salad but most days I can get him to eat a little bit, though that only started recently.
He has a heat lamp but I currently only have a stick on thermometer but I know his basking temp ranges from about 100-115 depending on how accurate my thermometer is- I move it and place it on his basking spot to see the temp since I don’t have any other methods and my mom thinks it’s fine so she won’t let me get digital one (please someone convince my mom to get one).
Since his lighting was bad I think he has early signs of MBD like walking funny, shaking his head, and now a sagging eye and this weird swallowing thing. I have other posts for those problems, this one is just for the swallowing/weird breathing thing. Please let me know if you have any ideas as to what this is or what I could do to help him.

 

[KarrieRee]

Please post a video of him doing this - you can record on youtube and copy the link to the message box here ---- you defiantly need a digital probe thermometer -- they are like $5 at petco or petsmart -- please stop feeding him broccoli pear mushroom, peas, corn here is a website for nutrition
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html---- focus on the greens on from this site --- NO Citrus!! Accurate basking temps are a must ---- please get a digital probe ----
Karrie

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

The link to the nutrition site didn’t work, I will cut the foods you said out of his diet. Here’s a video of him, he was basking so that’s why his mouth was open at the beginning. I was out a lot all day so it was hard to get a video of him doing it. I swear he’s camera shy.
http://aminoapps.com/p/7oxblq
I couldn’t post it on youtube so the only other idea I had was to put it on amino

 

[KarrieRee]

One he looks bloated and almost like he has an air pocket--- how big of insects are you feeding him? He should not have insects bigger than the size between his eyes-- http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
try again sorry---- is he still doing the mouth/hiccup thing -- some others on here need to give insight as to what they think it could be --- those basking temps are one of the most crucial thing in that tank besides the UVB ----- what brand and bulb did you get for a UVB ?
Karrie

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

I’m feeding him dubia roaches that are a lot smaller than I would like but it’s better than bigger, they’re about the size of his eye, a little bigger probably. I got the ReptiSun 10.0 UVB light, not the coil. It’s the T8 since I couldn’t find the T5.

 

[KarrieRee]

And where is the UVB mounted? I was hoping someone else would of responded by now-- is he still doing it? So the insects are not too big then as well--
Karrie

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, sorry the little guy is having some trouble. Good to hear that you got the better uvb bulb, he would have declined much more without it. He is already showing some possible MBD symptoms, the back may be starting to arch from his bones developing improperly [ hopefully that's not why and it's just part of the bloating ] How many watts is the heat bulb ? Post a few pics of how you have him set up, including lights. I agree with Karrie that he looks bloated. That could be a digestion problem or the beginning of an R.I Did you say the roaches are very small ? Be 100 % positive, he can't handle ones bigger than the distance between his eyes.

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

He has a 150 watt heat lamp now because his 100 watt one wasn’t getting his basking spot hot enough since he’s just a baby. His enclosure is pretty simplified right now since he has a hard time getting around. I used to have sticks he could climb on but he can’t grip them anymore so he would just fall off and get stuck upside down sometimes. I am 100% sure the dubais are small enough, I think they’re newborns. The UVB bulb is mounted on top of his enclosure since I heard it was fine above mesh, I’m not really sure how I would go about mounting the light inside anyway- it’s a 24 inch 17 watt Reptisun 10.0 light. Also, I did run out of small roaches so for a while he was eating some that were probably too big and when I had had crickets they grew to be too big but I didn’t notice him doing the swallowing thing then, maybe that’s the reason though, that happened at least 2 weeks ago, it might have been a month since he had the bigger dubai’s.
Here’s his setup and him next to one of the bigger dubia roaches I have.

 

[KarrieRee]

The 10.0 bulb is it a T 5 or a T 8? And those dubias should be just fine for him to eat --- is he eating salads and is he eating at all now?
Karrie

 

[AHBD]

Thanks for the pics ! Set up is O.K, hammock might be hard for a sickly baby to navigate, just watch + see. Now that you have a t8 bulb you can mount it under the screen for better uvb better exposure, use some picture hanging wire or something similar, even fishing line. Here's how I have one mounted, the wire needs to be secured in 2 places near each end of the uvb fixture.

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30028/full

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

He is eating now, I have to hand feed him his salad but he seems more compliant about eating it than some other baby beardies I’ve heard of. Thanks for the info on how to mount it inside the tank, I was talking to my dad for help and we were both completely lost so this was a huge help! I’ll update with pictures when we get it all sorted.

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

Also, I forgot to add that I always watch him pretty closely when he’s on his hammock. He seems to navigate it fine but I do have to help him get up and down but I need it to be there so he has the proper basking temps.

 

[AHBD]

O.K. , if you need to you can always put him in a really simple set up to get him even closer to the light. Just in case, here's a set up I used to use when raising babies :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/29889/full

It's a small/medium plastic tote with cardboard egg crating + a stick for climbing.

One more thing, try offering him water from a dropper or syringe to be sure he's hydrated. You can mix a tiny pinch of calcium in it as well and even try a very small amount of baby food squash or green beans. .

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

I think I’ll try the water thing, I was recommended liquid calcium by some other beardie owners which can be added to water.
I just installed the light, I had to rearrange some things so his basking temps were good.

 

[AHBD]

Yes, liquid calcium would be even better. Good job getting the light mounted inside ! Be sure that his main basking area is under that light with the heat lamp overlapping. You'll need a basking log or something to get him closer or get a short plastic tote like I showed. Is it by chance warm outside where you live ?