beardy is suddenly very bloated looking

[humboldtglass]

not sure this is an e.r. issue but i just noticed that all the sudden our beardy is very bloated looking and when i pick her up she literally feels like shes full of air...shes about 4 yrs old and has never looked like this before

 

[brittani299]

Was this in the morning? Daisy does this right as she wakes up in the morning. It usually means that she has to go to the bathroom. I know it's kinda weird because they do feel like they are full of a bunch of air.

 

[humboldtglass]

it was last night...she had done her daily poo bath already...hoping shes just getting ready to shed??

 

[carlisv]

If she's getting ready to shed AND had a bath, maybe she did the weird inflate/floaty thing that my Richard and other beardies do. When Richard needs to crack the skin on his tummy or back so he can shed it, when he's in his bath he sucks in a lot of air to the point where he floats like a spiky hot water bottle. The inflation stretches the skin and water gets under it, so I try to leave him in the tub as long as I can for maximum benefit. Then when he gets out of the tub, while we're chilling in the reclines, he "deflates" with weird hissing and squeaking noises that can take up to an hour. Until he's all deflated he feels like a baggie full of air.

Perfectly normal and quite a hoot to watch, because he sometimes barrel-rolls in the tub cos he's inflated lop-sided and has a hard time maintaining his balance. He flails his little legs all over the place and whips his tail to keep his balance, all the time keeping his head up as high as he can.

 

[humboldtglass]

so its still going on...in the daytime shes her normal shape but a lil lazier than normal...at night she blows up like a balloon and black beards.....also at night when shes all expanded every few minutes she opens her mouth and gasps and makes a wierd squeaking noise...its going on a week now...not sure what to do....we have had her for 4 yrs now and shes never done this

 

[brittani299]

Can u post your tank setup. Temps, UVB brand, substrate, and food

 

[AHBD]

Yes, can you list your tank set up ? It sounds almost definitey like a respiratory infection.

 

[humboldtglass]

her tank is a 77 gallon...we use tile instead of substrate...we use a 250 watt zoo med and a reptisun 10.0..her basking spot is about 100 degrees right now...usually a lil warmer but her 250 burned out so theres a 125 right now till the shop gets the light i ordered this week....im gonna make her an appointment at the vet but we only have one in the area that does reptiles and she kinda sucks as ive taken beardie and my snake to her and she generally never tells me anything or comes up with any answers...is there something i can treat her with without taking her to vet? i feel like everytime i go there i pay an arm and a leg for no answers

 

[humboldtglass]

oh...for food she mainly eats crickets and beardie bites.....shes a very picky eater...always has been...every now and then she east squash and greens

 

[Zach7]

Do you use any sort of shallow water dish or anything that could evaporate and cause the tank to become humid, you said you normally have a 225W which is probably what caused the respiratory infection if you have a water dish. It just depends on moisture in the tank. It should maintain a relatively dry/low humidity.

 

[humboldtglass]

there is a water dish but its not under the light...humidity is at 10%....i live up in humboldt county ca and run a dehume in the house so thats about as low as it can get....it seems like she started doing the bloating after the 250 burned out so im wondering if the 8 degree temp difference is bugging her....shes not weazing or anything...the sqeak is a quick sqeak like a dog toy ...she looks like shes gaping when she does it

 

[humboldtglass]

so her 250 watt light came in and i went to pick that up and saw a uva/uvb/heat powersun mercury vapor bulb...wanted to grab that instead but wanted to see what you guys think about them before spending the 60 bucks

 

[sweetpea1981]

That is an mvb and they can be used, not sure how far it needs to be away from the basking spot though, I'm sure someone will come along to tell you that stuff if need be.

 

[humboldtglass]

so she isnt inflating herself anymore at night but still making a lil noise when she gapes....if this is in fact a resp infection how can i treat it?? our herpetologist doesnt really know whats going on ever so id really like to avoid taking her there...the owner of the store where we get her food and supplies says he can give us some erythomycin but not sure if i should give it to her even though he says hes treated his own snakes beardies with it

 

[AHBD]

Most people use Baytril for an R.I., Cheryl from beardeddragon.co sells generic Baytril [ she wrote the sticky at the top of this forum on dosing medicine ] she can also help with dosing , or you could p.m. Tracie [ Drache613 ]