Blood red patches on skin

[mido]

Hi, my bearded dragon (Spike) 7 years old has in the past week started to get blood red patches over his body (mainly his tail).
He also is extremely skinny as he refuses to eat anything at all, his current weight is only 310 grams.

I have taken Spike to the vet yesterday but the vet was unsure what the exact problem was, he got an x-ray to check for injuries but no injuries were found. So the vet thought it may be an infection and gave me Baytril injections (use every second day) and vitamin b/c (use every day)

Would just like to see others opinion of the problem or if anyone has seen this before.

*edit - he still runs around like he is ok but has some twitchy movement in the neck.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tq6kfc1fjine35f/IMG_1322.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g4m05egodtfo3rv/IMG_1323.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b857hs19cwjy0w1/IMG_1324.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cyl173uneto3r5e/IMG_1325.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nt5lko1tlaf4ke4/IMG_1326.JPG

 

[kFitz]

He really is skinny! Is he eating anything? Worms, crickets, veggies? Also, what kind of substrate is he on? If it's colored sand, that could do it. Also, what are his temps at? He seems really dark, which could be stress or low temps. Hope he's doing better!

 

[TASTIGER]

He really is skinny! Is he eating anything? Worms, crickets, veggies? Also, what kind of substrate is he on? If it's colored sand, that could do it. Also, what are his temps at? He seems really dark, which could be stress or low temps. Hope he's doing better!

Also what UVB bulb do you use? how old is it?

if hes not eatting you could try syringe feeding him some squash and turkey baby food, just drip some on his nose and hopfully he will lick it up.

 

[Irwinshealth]

You could pm Tracie, she may know what this is. Her user name is Drache613. Please keep us posted on how he is. He sure don't look good. Maybe if you go over his set up people can chime in and make some suggestions.

 

[mido]

He really is skinny! Is he eating anything? Worms, crickets, veggies? Also, what kind of substrate is he on? If it's colored sand, that could do it. Also, what are his temps at? He seems really dark, which could be stress or low temps. Hope he's doing better!

Also what UVB bulb do you use? how old is it?

if hes not eatting you could try syringe feeding him some squash and turkey baby food, just drip some on his nose and hopfully he will lick it up.

He was most likely quite stressed as i went on holiday for a month and relocated his enclosure to my parents house. I got him back 2 nights ago but apparently the problem has been present for about a week.

His enclosure set-up has been the same for his entire life (7 years), a florescent tube 6 months old, 2x black heating lamps connected to a thermostat (27c) and a basking lamp i think 80w im not sure ill have to check later. His substrate is cat liter *recycled newspaper.

Spike also refuses to eat his favorite foods roaches and king worms, i will have to try squash and turkey baby food i never thought of that

here are some pics of his enclosure.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5lclykd3j5uchzx/IMG_1327.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r3rgm07904kqikr/IMG_1328.JPG

 

[TASTIGER]

so you dont have a UVB light? the twitching makes me think that its the start of MBD but its strange that its just starting now if hes never had a UVB.
Is it possible that he ate some of the litter?

 

[mido]

so you dont have a UVB light? the twitching makes me think that its the start of MBD but its strange that its just starting now if hes never had a UVB.
Is it possible that he ate some of the litter?

the tube and basking lamp are both UVB as far as i am aware

 

[Irwinshealth]

I agree it sounds like MBD. I would highly suggest you change his lighting. A reptisun 10.0 tubular isn't real expensive. The fixtures to hold them can be purchased a the local walmart for very cheap. Many people on here recommend a tile, or carpet for substrate.

Did you PM Tracie? Did she have any idea what the blood patches were?

 

[kFitz]

I second getting a reptisun 10.0. They come in all different lengths, so you can get one to fit the fixture you have. You might try feeding him some babyfood by putting it on his nose. sometimes they'll lick it off. Also, make sure you're giving him good long soaks in the bath, making sure the water doesn't get cold. You can put some unflavored pedialyte (sp?) in the bath water too. That way he'll be getting needed electrolytes on top of hydration.

 

[mido]

I second getting a reptisun 10.0. They come in all different lengths, so you can get one to fit the fixture you have. You might try feeding him some babyfood by putting it on his nose. sometimes they'll lick it off. Also, make sure you're giving him good long soaks in the bath, making sure the water doesn't get cold. You can put some unflavored pedialyte (sp?) in the bath water too. That way he'll be getting needed electrolytes on top of hydration.

just got him a reptisun 10.0 and a new basking lamp. ive also managed to get him to eat some mashed squash and trunip via syringe feeding, he has a nice full belly now hope it all helps.

also have been giving him 1-2 baths a day for 10-20 mins each time, and of course making sure the water is not too cold

 

[Lauram63110]

Has he fallen or had some other injury? Last summer my Lizzy was in his bath, I walked out of the room to throw laundry in the dryer in the next room. When I came back, he was on his back, head down in the water. I grabbed him by the tail and pulled him up by it and toweled him off. About a week later, his tail had somewhat similar red marks that looked sort of like bruises. At first I thought they were burns from being too close to his light, but they got darker. I took him to our vet and he said that when I grabbed him by the tail, it broke a blood vessel in the tail (hence the bruising). He ended up loosing the tail. Your red marks look sort of like the bruising I saw. He didnt have a bad encounter with a cat or dog, or get out and have something fall on him?