quigleysmom
Juvie Member
Let me start by saying this is just an fyi kind of deal. I don't want to offend anyone or make anyone mad, but I just want to inform you so maybe it might help someone in the future. This is a herp vet observed situation that I thought I would share with you.
After a very horrible start with our new beardie I learned from our vet that bearded dragons can and will play dead and can hold their breath for a very long time. They can hold it so long that when the vet has to do surgery on a lizzard they can't wait for it to take a breath of the anesthesia they intubate instead. I thought my new baby was dead after choking on medicine I had given him with a syringe. I sat there and just bawled thinking that I had killed him. His whole abdomin was completely caved in, but I decided not to give up and started tapping him on his back and I even flipped him over for just a second to see if I would get a response and I got only the barest of movement. I kept stimulating him until he took a huge breath. He then went limp a couple of more times, but eventually he started breathing on his own. He seems to be doing good now. He is shedding so not eating really well, but overall we made it through.
The point of this is to say don't bury them right away. Wait several hours or even overnight. I was very convenced that mine was dead and if I had dug a hole and put him in it right then it would have really been a horrible death. Stimulate them, rub them, tap them, or try fipping them on their back for just a second or two to see if you get a response. Don't leave them on their back because if they are still alive and cant move or wont move yet you could suffocate them.
On a side note, when Skittles sees me coming with a syringe now he goes limp and plays dead. I guess thinking if I think he is dead that I wont give him the medicine.
After a very horrible start with our new beardie I learned from our vet that bearded dragons can and will play dead and can hold their breath for a very long time. They can hold it so long that when the vet has to do surgery on a lizzard they can't wait for it to take a breath of the anesthesia they intubate instead. I thought my new baby was dead after choking on medicine I had given him with a syringe. I sat there and just bawled thinking that I had killed him. His whole abdomin was completely caved in, but I decided not to give up and started tapping him on his back and I even flipped him over for just a second to see if I would get a response and I got only the barest of movement. I kept stimulating him until he took a huge breath. He then went limp a couple of more times, but eventually he started breathing on his own. He seems to be doing good now. He is shedding so not eating really well, but overall we made it through.
The point of this is to say don't bury them right away. Wait several hours or even overnight. I was very convenced that mine was dead and if I had dug a hole and put him in it right then it would have really been a horrible death. Stimulate them, rub them, tap them, or try fipping them on their back for just a second or two to see if you get a response. Don't leave them on their back because if they are still alive and cant move or wont move yet you could suffocate them.
On a side note, when Skittles sees me coming with a syringe now he goes limp and plays dead. I guess thinking if I think he is dead that I wont give him the medicine.
