Beardie Without Nostrils?

[Tails77]

Thank you for you reply. It does look like scales, I will buy a soft toothbrush tomorrow and try brushing it softly while bathing he/she (too early to tell) I'm not sure if it is shedding as we have only had it just over a week and we are very new to all this. Thank you for the photo advice. I will post a picture tomorrow and you might be able to tell me if it is shedding or not. Still not got a name for it yet. It's my daughters and she is waiting for it to grow some sex organs before she decides.

 

[Tails77]

He does gape quite a lot but I was told that this is how they cool down when they get hot. Maybe he is doing it because one nostril is blocked. He eats well but not managed to get him to eat any greens yet. Just read that lettuce is useless so I scrapped that. Tried him on cabbage and leek today with no joy. Are there any greens out there that they do enjoy eating?

 

[HylianHealeys]

Quick note about the gaping - if it (not trying to be impersonal) gapes while in its basking spot, it is trying to cool down. This is normal and not to worry about unless it gapes frequently. The best way to tell if the temperatures are too high (too low, or whatever) is to buy a temperature gun. These use infrared to measure temperature and are GREAT - they even work on measuring water temp for bathing! I bought mine on Amazon for $18. In case you're interested, here's the link: http://smile.amazon.com/Nubee-Tempe...id=1423613056&sr=8-1&keywords=temperature+gun

Don't worry too much about getting it to eat greens - at this age it should be eating a lot of bugs anyway. Gut loaded crickets are fine, Dubia roach nymphs are better, phoenix worms (aka black soldier fly larvae) are best due to high calcium content. Make sure to dust the first two with a good calcium powder. Rep-Cal's calcium with D3 is generally considered to be the best. Whatever you choose, you should be offering them daily, as many as your baby can eat.

You should have dark, leafy greens available for your beardie every day, regardless of whether it eats them. The important thing here is that you offer high quality greens like:
- collard greens
- mustard greens
- turnip greens
- dandelion greens
- alfalfa
- cactus pad
Cut them in really small pieces for your baby to eat easily. You can coat them with baby food to make them more palatable - this has worked for many people. There's a list of beardie-friendly fruits and veggies at http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutritionframeset.html. It's kinda the beardie feeding bible. Another good resource is http://pogopogona.com/feeding-bearded-dragons/what-do-bearded-dragons-eat.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this helps!

 

[Tails77]

Sorry it took so long. Hope this photo works.
[http://s304.photobucket.com/user/tails1977/media/Beardy_zps759c2f28.jpg.html]

 

[Tails77]

 

[Tails77]

Can't seem to get my photo to appear, not sure what I'm doing wrong. Thank you for all your help. I was only dusting his greens with Calcium but as he was not eating it, I have started dusting his crickets and brown crickets with it now instead. He his having baths now too. He seems to be fine and eating well. hopefully his nose and lip is due to shedding. I have struggled to find Mustard Greens. I have been using spring cabbage which is really dark green and small pieces of peeled apple. I put some in fresh everyday hoping that he will try it one day.

 

[Tails77]

 

[HylianHealeys]

Don't worry about the photo posting thing - links work in a pinch. There's a little bit of glare in the photo, so I can't see too clearly, but it definitely looks like it could be either shed or mucus, rather than a genetic defect.

My beardies won't eat their greens when I dust them with multivitamin powder unless I mix it up really well (put it in a bag and shake it). Something about the taste or smell, I guess. But quality greens tend to be on the seasonal side of availability, so you might have to take a list of appropriate foods with you to the store to find what you need. Right now in Utah I've only been able to find collard greens and cactus pads.

 

[ahayes]

My first clutch of bearded dragons hatched on November 26. I have two babies out of this clutch. I noticed today during bath time that one of them appears to have been born without nostrils! I'm waiting to hear feedback from a breeder I know online. My baby is always opening up her or his mouth gasping for breath. This discovery during bath time it is probably the reason why. Other than that, the baby seems to be good and healthy, eats and drinks. I will see if I can figure out how to post pictures so, you all can see.

 

[ahayes]

 

[kingofnobbys]

I think you'll find they simply have blocked noses , when they shed on the nose, normally the scale surrounding the nostril is scratched off the beardie with it's front claws or by rubbing on something hard and rough.

If that scale is loose , it is possible to very gently lift with the fingernail , and you'll find some soft skin like material (a little short tube will be attached to it that extends into the nose), not recommended to force the nostril scale to come off if it's bad shed and definitely don't go probing with anything sharp to remove the blockage).

The lizard will get rid of the blockage to the nostril of it's own accord with the current shed or at the next shed.

I often saw this on both Rex and Puff , and it had no effect on them and I opted to leave the blockage alone unless the nostril scale was obviously loose and I could get it off without forcing it.