Bought Anorexic baby from petco

[seanu13]

Hi! I already have an adult male beardie so I have some prior experience in general. I saw this ~4.5 inch baby at petco that was being housed with 2 larger fatter ones. I decided to try to rescue him. He/She is super anorexic and barely moves. For the most part he (we'll go with "he") rarely moves and most times keeps his eyes closed and head down. He doesn't seem to have the energy to keep his head up. Also he won't even really look at crickets. I've been doing my best with squash baby food and just got jump start (which isn't going so well... he hates it) but he barely tries to lick it off his snout, if at all, and I can't get in his mouth to try to somewhat force feed.

I've had him for a week so far. I've got a 20 gallon long tank with a reptisun 10.0 florescent bulb (not a compact) and spot basking light. Keeping the temp on the basking side around 105-110 degrees. Paper towels for substrate. I've been attempting to feed appropriately sized crickets and using a medicine dropper with squash baby food. I also soak him for about 20 minutes a day in warm water under his lights. He seems to perk up a little after that. greens are also finely chopped with tiny bits of squash blended up with them. He hasn't touched that either.

As far as feces, he's had a couple spots of tiny diarrhea (expected with the squash I guess right?) but that's it.

His eyes/nose are both clear looking, nothing runny or draining.

I'm afraid to leave him alone to deal with the relocation stress because he looks like he's on his last leg. Worried if he doesn't get some nutrition now he'll die. He's really bad off. Any suggestions for anything else I can be doing? I already have a reptile vet for my other beardie/greek tortoise so I'll take him there next time I get paid.

Thanks, sorry if the post is a little scatterbrained.
Sean

 

[Esther19]

What type of thermometer are you using?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor thing, I hope that he gets to feeling better soon.
The setup looks good. If you are using a digital probe or temp gun then the temperatures should be fine also.
How close is the Reptisun 10 tube bulb to him?

The baby food is a great start, but hopefully he will start eating his greens, too. The squash could give a runnier stool since he likely isn't used to that food type. Are the crickets too fast for him?
You can get some bee pollen to help with his appetite & boost his immune system also. For now, I would keep his tank around 80 overnight to help with his system, too.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[seanu13]

I'm using both a probe thermometer and a ryobi infrared temp gun.
The crickets would definitely be too fast, but they've even stood within striking distance from his face on the side so he can see them, and he might just kind of barely tilt his head to look but won't try. I remember when my adult was a baby, I initially got him started by holding them up for him, and this little guy won't even look at it if I hold one up for him, with fingers or tongs.
The UVB bulb is the distance from resting on the screen on top to the floor of the cage. I don't have a measuring tape or ruler here but online it says the height of a 20 gallon long is 13". He's too weak to climb so he doesn't get on top of his little cave thing I got him.

I'll try the food suggestions and raising the temp . I'll grab a ceramic heat bulb to keep the night time temp up.

 

[seanu13]

Update: still not eating, seems to be getting weaker. The main update to report is that he is trying to avoid being on the warm side lately. This morning I turned on the lights and he move as far to the cool side as possible up against the glass. The temps are around 105-110 degrees, but the lights had only been on for maybe 5-10 minutes. There's now way it had even gotten to 100 yet. Yesterday he spent the whole day around the middle of the tank. After I saw him move over I placed him back until the warm side thinking maybe the heat would give him a pick-me-up, but he moved himself around the back of his little cave that's under it to get away, and now he's inside it asleep. His skin is also staying consistently dark now.

 

[lauraj1055]

I rescued one too from Petco that was in bad shape. I named her Faith. She would not eat and sounds a lot like the one you have now. I'm sorry to say that Faith passed away 1 day before the 2 week period that they give you for a refund. I took her back to the store, and they didn't care that she died. I did my best to help her.

I'm sorry to say this, but I don't believe your baby is going to make it. They just get sick beardies, it's nothing you've done, and there is nothing you can do. Just keep him comfortable the best you can.

 

[seanu13]

(Attached is a photo from today)

I don't think so either anymore. Today I took him out for a soak and he was completely limp. Normally he'll perk up a little when placed in water but today he just stayed limp like he was already dead, and his stomach is completely caving in. He woke up finally and was snapping at the air (the later did a gape for a second as if he was hot but the water was cool by then) and then fell over limp sideways and I thought he had died right then.
He snapped out of it and tried moving but was then acting like one of his front legs was broken??? He's next to me right now in the water, actually sitting up with his head up. I'm going to do like you said and just keep him comfortable. I wish there was more I could do.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am sorry he is not improving.
As Laura said, sometimes they are ill to the point you can't save them. I always say though, don't give up as it is comforting to know you you did everything you could, plus, he will have love around him, too.

Keep him warm overnight to help.
Did you try getting baby food into him, to see if that helps with getting any nutrition into him.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[seanu13]

Yeah I was giving him squash baby food and tried jumpstart. Even with that he was still getting weaker and now can't move his front legs.He'll lay with them flat at his sides and if I sit up back upright (trying to position him comfortably) and he'll try to move but just slumps forward and wriggles his head (snake-like movement) while barely pushing with back legs to move forward until his arms are back at his sides and just stays there. I'm keeping him comfortable and this may sound horrible but I wish he'd go ahead and pass so that his suffering will end. ((

Hello,

I am sorry he is not improving.
As Laura said, sometimes they are ill to the point you can't save them. I always say though, don't give up as it is comforting to know you you did everything you could, plus, he will have love around him, too.

Keep him warm overnight to help.
Did you try getting baby food into him, to see if that helps with getting any nutrition into him.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[shara]

I am so sorry he's not doing well.

Napoleon really liked Fluker's brand Repta Aid Critical Care. She was in really bad shape and I had to syringe it into the side of her mouth 3x a day for about 2-3 days until she was able to hold her head up and lick the syringe on her own. It helped... a lot. She was just a tiny bit larger than him then.

I really hope he improves and soon.

Shara

 

[seanu13]

I went ahead and took her to the vet today to be put to sleep The vet said she may have already been dead by the time I got there, that it was hard to tell because of how the nerves could make her still appear to be breathing or moving. He said he would make sure she was gone

at least she isn't suffering anymore. Thank you for the advise and good thoughts everyone.

 

[shara]

I'm so sorry she didnt make it. She's lucky she had you, even for a short time.

Regards,
Shara

 

[TheAnimalLover]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm sure you did everything possible. Same as you, I had bought a baby from PerSmart. I usually don't do this, but he had a little patch resembling a mustache. Weeks later, I lost Flynn(That was his name) to mouth rot.

It's good to hear that you care and she was truly lucky to have you.

 

[Esther19]

I am very sorry for your loss. As hard as it has been for you,I am grateful that you took her home and loved her, and that she didn't die in that cage with the others. Thank you.

 

[lauraj1055]

Sorry I know how it feels. It was a failure to thrive baby. I've seen them before and tried to save them like you did. But it almost never works, but it's still just heart breaking.