BD having trouble walking/lifting head

[stephski]

4 year old beardie recently having difficulty lifting her head. She tends to push her head when walking forward in her tank. When giving her her bath this afternoon, she would drop her head, submerging her nostrils and eyes underwater. When I lifted her up out of the water, she was very weak and again, unable to keep her head up on her own. I noticed a few days ago, she would crawl upwards on the glass of her tank, and she would fall backwards onto her back, having difficulty to right herself. Being pretty lethargic over the last couple of days, and having a disinterest in eating.

As for her tank conditions, she has a 50 gallon tank, crushed walnut substrate (which I know isn't ideal, so I'm hoping it isn't a compaction issue), 85-90 degrees F on her basking side with a shelter as well, her water and food dishes on the opposite side. UVB light was just recently changed. I'm hoping for any suggestions as to what it could be. Thanks in advance.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

That is not a good thing to see at all, poor girl.

Specifically what uvb bulb do you have?
Crushed walnut shell is very bad, and especially with a sick beardie, you will want to switch that out right now. Just dump it and place down papertowels or newspaper for now.

How long has this behavior been going on? Not just the unable to hold head up but the not eating.

What are you measuring your temps with?
Is 85-90 the basking SURFACE temperature? or the hot side?
What are the temps of your basking SURFACE, your hot side, and your cool side?

What are you feeding her/were feeding her before she stopped eating?

How often do you dust with calcium/multivitamin?

-Brandon

 

[stephski]

I'm not exactly sure, but I think the UVB is a Repti-Sun 10.0 bulb.
She's been having trouble keeping her head up just since this morning. We had her out last night, and she seemed perfectly fine. However, she only ate 3 very small pieces of romaine lettuce. About twenty minutes ago, I got her to eat three small pieces of broccoli, which is her favorite veggie. Other than that though, she closes her eyes and ignores the food when it's presented to her.
I have an Exo-Terra brand thermometer. The hot side is 85, the basking temp is 100, and the cool side is 75.
She had around 20 crickets about a week or two ago, but like I mentioned, she's ignoring her veggies almost entirely.
And as for the calcium powder, I dust her veggies every other day.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

Romaine isn't a very good/healthy green to feed.

Here is a website that will help you loads:
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Do you offer any feeder insects?
To find out if the bulb is in fact a reptisun, you only need to turn it off then examine the bulb. It should have the name of the bulb stamped somewhere on it.

Your thermometer, is it a dial stick on thermometer, digital with probe, or temp gun?

-Brandon

 

[stephski]

She loves her crickets. I had offered superworms, however she throws them back up so I haven't given her any since then. And I've been told that mealworms have very low nutritional value, so I've just stuck to crickets.
The bulb is in fact a ReptiSun.
And the thermometers are currently dial stick-on thermometers.

 

[Claudiusx]

Ok you will need to get a more accurate way of measuring your temperatures.

Dial stick on thermometers can only read the air around the glass, and even then they have been known to be off by as much as 20 degrees.

You will need to pick up a digital thermometer with a probe or a temp gun. Will you be able to do that soon?

Im glad that its a reptisun 10.0
How close can she get to the reptisun at her basking spot and how old is the bulb?

-Brandon

 

[stephski]

Thanks for the advice, I will do that right away.
I believe we bought two weeks ago, three weeks at the most.
The UVB is about 8 inches from her basking spot.