Baby lethargic with black beard

[jthmdepp]

Please help! I just relocated my baby bearded dragon last night (had to switch apartments) and this morning he (not really sure on the sex) woke up with a black beard. He also threw up his mealworms from last night. (Yes, I know mealworms are bad, I prefer to feed him phoenix worms but I cant order any due to cold weather) He's always refused to eat crickets since I first got him, hence why I stick with worms.

He was eating fine up until the move. His viv setup is set up with a reptisun 10.0 and a heat lamp at 107. He's been very lethargic all day as well and I'm worried.

I read somewhere that when babies get black beards that's a serious sign of illness, is this true? And does anyone have any suggestions for me? I gave him a bath and he drank the water, which he does just about every day so I don't think he's dehydrated.

He's also about 5 months old

 

[Jiffy]

What kind of substrate do you have him on? Has he pooped lately?

 

[jthmdepp]

i have him on repti-carpet. He pooped yesterday, but has not today yet. His color is getting better and his beard isn't as black anymore. He's been moving around a little bit, but not eating anything yet. I'll keep an eye on him

 

[beardie parents]

It could be that he just got a little bit of an upset tummy. That happend to Goldie a couple of months ago when she was really, really hungry and ate 11 superworms, whole. She threw all of them up the next morning. She didn't want to eat much that day but she made up for it the next day.

 

[diamc]

Their tastes can change daily so if you haven't tried crickets lately, I suggest you try them again. Also, mealworms have a hard chitin shell so they are hard for them to digest and can also cause an impaction. They can still be impacted even though they poop a little so during his next bath, it would be a good idea to massage his right side very gently from his armpit to vent area. Does he spend quite a bit of time in his basking area or does he tend to not stay there long at all?

Since he drank some bath water, it's very possible that he aspirated on some water. Is his breathing ok? It would be a good idea to make sure he is kept a little warmer at night for the next couple of nights to try to prevent any upper respiratory issues.

What size tank is he in and what wattage basking bulb are you using? Is the UVB a strip fluorescent bulb, if so, what is the distance of it? What type of thermometer are you using?

 

[jthmdepp]

He is breathing fine. I have him in a 40 gal and my bulb wattage is 150. He doesn't spend all that much time in the basking spot so I think I'm gonna try switching up either the wattage or the placement of the light. The UVB is a strib, and it's about 8 inches from the basking spot. I take my temp with an accurite digital thermometer with a probe.

 

[diamc]

That's good that he is breathing fine. Is the 150 watt bulb also 8" from him as well as the UVB? That seems like an awful lot of wattage for a 40 gallon tank. One of my tanks is a 40 breeder and I use about 1/2 the wattage that you have, that's why I'm concerned. Good that you're using the Acurite probe, when you take the temps are you placing the probe so that it is resting on (actually touching) the basking log then waiting about 45 min for the temp to stop rising before getting the final reading? If you're doing it that way, you might want to try replacing the battery in your thermometer and getting another reading. Since he doesn't spend much time in the basking spot, it could very well be too hot there. You might want to consider using a 75 watt household bulb instead and see if he acts and eats better. Is the 150 watt bulb a white or colored bulb? What is the temp of the cool side?