Beardie shaking his head?

[EsmeraldasMother]

Hi all,

A friend of mine recently acquired a three legged dragon and was concerned. He was eating crickets this morning and suddenly started shaking his head. The only way to describe it is he was bobble heading on fast forward. I've never seen a beardie do that and am very concerned. Is it normal for dragons to do this? Is there anything I should be giving him to help this problem?

Tank: Exo terra 36x18x18
Basking light: 100watt
UVB: Reptisun 10.0 18'
Diet: crickets while waiting for dubia roaches to arrive

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is not normal behavior. How large were the crickets?
Do you know what the temperatures are & how are they measured, with a digital probe or temp gun?
Is there anything else that he could have ingested which may have caused impaction or an upset tummy?
How is he doing today?
I would be sure the crickets are smaller than the space between the eyes, to avoid impaction & or throwing up.

Tracie

 

[EsmeraldasMother]

Hi Tracie,

The crickets were small as he is also small. They were definitely smaller than the space between his eyes.

Temperatures on his basking side when he was eating was in the 90s and 80s on the cool side. They were measured with probe thermometers.

I don't believe there was anything else he could have ingested except possibly a small, microscopic piece of the bark from his log. (I don't know if that's possible. It's brand new).
He is doing quite well today, although he hasn't eaten as many as he did when we first got him. With my experience, baby beardie's usually eat a great deal of food but Tripod only consumes 4-5 crickets during meal time. He has pooped two times since we got him and it looks normal in both size, color and consistency.

With him missing a leg and possibly a small case of tail rot still occurring, would it be normal for him to not be crazy hungry? Also, I know what most tail rot looks like. I'm concerned because most of his tail is a very dark brown, almost black color. You can still see his pattern but not quite as well. Is that tail rot or am I just being over concerned?
(The last two I've worked with have been ill and the latest one died from complications due to foot and tail rot).

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Great I am glad to hear the crickets were appropriately sized then. Has he shaken his head any today?
Maybe one just went down the wrong way.
Do you have picture of his tail?
Are you using a UVB light for him? If so, what type & brand is it?
For babies, you might want to keep the basking temperatures between 95-110 range to help with digestion & the cooler end around 78-82.
It isn't likely he ingested a piece of bark then, but if it was just a tiny piece it shouldn't have caused an incident like that.
Some youngsters eat more than others do. He may pick up on his eating soon though, when he goes through a growth spurt.

Let us know how he is doing!

Tracie