Beardie Needs Help!

[Luthien]

Ok guys so here's the deal, I came home from work today and my beardie is acting very strange, his symptoms are:

Lethargic
Very Black in color
Breathing through his mouth with the tip of his tongue sticking out
Drinking like crazy (Yes he does drink from a water dish)


He's almost acting like he's impacted but I can't see how as he's been going to the washroom up till now. I gave him a bath and he tried to go and just a little came out. He's breathing heavy and is always dark in color.

The statistics of his life are:

He's 2 years old
Gets a bath once a week and misting in between as well as drinking every second day
Cool side of the cage is 70F, hot side is 105F
Eats mealworms every second to third day
Greens and veggies daily

If you have any ideas please post!

 

[Kalyn876]

Substrate?
If he's over 16 inches you should consider feeding superworms rather than mealworms. Mealworms have a high amount of chitin which makes them hard to digest also they aren't very nutritious. Superworms are easier to digest and are much more nutritious. Mealworms can cause impaction I'm not sure if this is the case with your beardie but it's something to consider.

And UVB?

Kalyn

 

[Luthien]

Substrate is calcium sand which he has never tried to even taste because I've watched him.

Yes he has a basking UVB light and a cooler UVA light

 

[Kalyn876]

So your using a mercury vapor bulb? They are the only bulb that gives off UVB and heat. All bulbs give off UVA as far as I've read.

Most beardies tend to eat the sand when no ones looking, it turns to a cement like substance in the digestive tract causing irreversible damage.

It does sound like impaction, but I'm not sure. Either way I really hope hr turns around for you, if not a vet trip may be in order.

Kalyn

 

[Luthien]

Yes I'm using a mercury vapour bulb it's the best kind of basking light for Beardies.

I'm thinking it's impaction as well, just wanted a second opinion.

Thanks!

 

[SoleSky]

You should get him off of sand. Calci Sand, among others, is the worst sand to have for beardies- or any reptile. As Kalyn said, it turns to cement in their digestive tract and can be fatal. There are many different kinds of substrates to use that are appealing like tile, non adhesive shelfiner and even reptile carpet. If you feel the need to use sand sifted washed childrens play sand is a better choice however I wouldn't recommend that either. I will also disagree with you about the mercury vapor bulbs. Although some are okay A LOT of them tend to cause severe eye issues. The best UVB bulb out there right now is the Repti-Sun 10.0 Tube Bulb by Zoo-med or the Arcadia 12, depending on where you live.

 

[Luthien]

Most of his sand is sifted children's play sand with a half a bag of sifted calcium sand.

As for the lights, I don't have the set up for a tube light, his vivarium was home made and can only have bulb lights but they are reptile lights. His basking light is repti-glo 100 watts and his UVA is a reptile 50 watt.

Update on him:

I gave him another bath today and he went to the bathroom just a tiny bit more, after the bath I put him back in his vivarium and next thing I new he was on his rocks with his mouth wide open basking. His colouring is a little lighter on his head and back but his beard is still black. There are also a few scales on his beard that look like they want to shed.

Could this just be the start of a shedding time for him? He has never done this before when shedding.