beardie rescue

[nathaniel]

Hi, I'm new to the forum. We have a bearded dragon (Liz) that showed up in my neighbor's yard two years ago. She is an adult female. When we found her, she had a damaged nostril on the left side that was missing scutes and you could see the bone. Other than that she was fine. She refuses to eat anything but mealworms though, or to drink unless I put her in the sink. Now she is having bloody discharge from her previously injured nostril, and her eye on the same side has some irritation and appears to have some growths from the inside of the lid which she keeps rubbing off. I just found this site and saw the info on Vitamin A. I wonder if this is the problem, or if she could maybe have a fungal infection in both the nostril and eye socket? I have heat and UVB which I place together and which used to keep the temp at 101-102 in the hot zone but my thermometer isn't working at the moment. She isn't seeking heat on her own, but I place her near the light (elevated on a sloped branch within 2-3 inches) and she backs up a few inches. I have sand substrate, which I see here also may be a problem, especially since she is rubbing that side of her face in it. She was drinking and pooping fine until this started over a week ago, but she had refused food for a couple weeks (she didn't go into brumation this winter, and I thought maybe she was just doing that a bit late.) Should I give her Vitamin A injections?

 

[nathaniel]

Hi, me again - I just found all the posts about not using ReptiGlos. That's what I have, so I guess I'll switch to ReptiSun. Hopefully that will help. Thanks for all the useful info on this site.

 

[Israel]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear your beardie is not feeling well. With all that's going on, I'd highly suggest having her examined by a qualified veterinarian for proper treatment.

Yes, the Repti-Glo bulbs are not recommended. Repti-Sun 10.0 tube bulbs are one of the best to use for Bearded Dragons.