Beardie Won't Eat Feeders

[DemangelDog]

Hi, my bearded dragon won't eat feeders and he'll barely eat the baby food I've gotten for him.

I took him to the vet on Tuesday the 17th of January for the same reason and we found out that he had an infected gland at the back of his throat and it was bothering him. The vet gave me a bottle of Tribrissen antibiotics to counter the infection. It's nearly two weeks later (will be Tuesday the 31st of January) and he's still refusing to eat.

I've had to feed him baby food in the time before due to the gland, but now, he'll barely eat that. I've tried to get him to eat crickets, but he just ignores him. I've also tried mealworms (not the best with an infected gland, I know, but it's all the pet store currently had) and I've tried silk worms. Nothing I give him seems to be working.

What should I do? I'm really worried about him.

 

[CooperDragon]

It's possible the antibiotics have upset his stomach and made him lose his appetite. Were they given orally or via injection? You may want to try some probiotics mixed with a little water every day for a couple of weeks to see if that helps bring his appetite back. How is his weight holding up?

Tracie has some probiotics available on her site here http://www.bug-de-lite.com/store/index.php?app=ecom&ns=prodshow&ref=Acidophiliz

 

[DemangelDog]

The antibiotics are given orally. He's lost a little weight since I took him to the vet, or at least, it looks like he has. He's never been that heavy, always on the skinny side, but it's starting to show more than it used to.

Before the infected gland, he weighed a little over 340 ounces (least, I think that's what it was.)

Could there be a problem with his tank too? I had to get a new one a few months ago because he was jumping out of the previous 30 gallon one. His new one is still 30 gallons, but it's a taller one.

 

[CooperDragon]

The taller tank may require some lighting adjustments. What are the temps reading on the basking surface and over on the cool side? Which type of UVB light are you using and how far is it above the basking area?

 

[JessPets]

Can you post a pic of him? Maybe a before and after? What doe he weigh?

Here's how to post a picture: https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to attach pics to your post.

 

[DemangelDog]

I'm unsure on temps because I accidentally broke the temp gage and haven't had the time to replace it. The UVB bulb is 75 watts and he has one of those ceramic heat bulbs, both are nearly two feet above him.

On the 16th of January, he weighed 327 grams. As for now, I'm not sure. I don't think my scale is working (I bought one of those kitchen scales for food. I used that and he weighed 9.0? Doesn't make sense to me.) He's considerably lighter than he was before (I can feel the weight difference).

And now, he's hardly moving. I'm getting worried. He's taking his medicine but now he's refusing to eat even the baby food. I did manage to get him to eat 0.4 in the syringe (about the length of the first section of finger, like, the finger tip part before the knuckle?)

Before Pic:

Now Pic:

 

[CooperDragon]

I don't like the looks of that black beard. It could be the meds but he looks lethargic and unahppy. I would try dripping water on his nose and see if he licks it up. Keeping him hydrated will be critical.

As for the lighting, it's important to keep a close eye on the temps so I'd get the thermometer replaced as soon as you can. Something like this should work well to spot check everything https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Temperature-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B00CVHIJDK You'll want to ensure he has about 100-105 in the basking area and a gradient down to 75-80 or so on the cool side.

Is the 75w a basking light or a UVB light? I'm not familiar with any UVB lights that are that wattage. 2ft is quite a large distance for a UVB light anyway and most of them would be ineffective. With that kind of space, I'd install a T5 tube over the basking area and it should sit at around 12-14'' for optimal output.

If your scale is set to ounces, 9oz is about 255 grams so weight has gone down quite a lot if the readings are accurate.

 

[DemangelDog]

The black beard is a new thing just today for him. I've been keeping him hydrated as much as possible (when he's actually taking the water).

I'm going to clean up his old tank and put him in it. Okay, I'll look into the temp gun thing.

Pretty sure it's a UVB light. The only kind the store had were in the shape of actual light bulbs. The ceramic one is a basking bulb.

I'm thinking of calling the vet tomorrow and setting up an appointment to see if there's anything they can do.

 

[DemangelDog]

The black beard is gone and he's been moved into his old 30 gallon tank (the long one). I took him to the vet this morning and this is what we found out:

Things we learned:

He's lost some weight. On the 16th of January (when I found he had an inflamed gland in his throat), he was 327 grams. He's now currently 298 grams (29 grams difference).

The inflamed gland is healed so that's not a problem. Anything that may be the cause is on the inside of his body (and not the throat).

Appointment:

So, the doctor weighed him, looked him over, felt him up, and decided to take a blood test. They take the blood from a vein on the underside of the tail. The blood test will be sent to a lab outside of the Vet Clinic. We won't be hearing anything back until about Friday. Hopefully we find out what's wrong.

At Home:

Got Moxley home not too long ago (he rode around wrapped up in his baby blanket in my shirt). I mixed some Gerber chicken & chicken gravy baby food with some water and he drank that up (he drank about 0.9 - full syringe). I'll be feeding him again here pretty soon, maybe in another hour or so.

 

[CooperDragon]

That sounds like a pretty good exam. Hopefully the blood test will help shed some light on what's going on (and I hope it's nothing serious).

 

[DemangelDog]

Hopefully it does. When the doctor came back in after taking some blood (he did it in another room), he said that Moxley's blood was a little pale and that he may be anemic. He didn't say much more about it, but is it really possible for lizards to be anemic?

My little guy's feeling a lot better. He's eating (well, drinking) the baby food / water mixture and drinking plenty of water. He ate about 4 full small syringes of the mixture today (they're small, slim, and go up to about 0.9 ml(?)).

This afternoon / tonight, he even got a little testy with me (swelled himself up a bit, flashed his teeth, and wriggled around). Probably made him mad, but at least he's doing more than just laying there staring off into space and barely moving.

Hey, thanks for all your help with this I appreciate it.