Brand New Bearded Dragon Suddenly Stopped Eating and Walking

[mattkim13]

Hi, so I have never done this before, but I am so concerned for my bearded dragon, I feel helpless! I have been to the pet store that he was purchased at NUMEROUS times asking for advice, but nothing seems to be working, so I am going to try this! Here's the situation.....

On 3/20/2012 we purchased him from a pet store, so we have no idea how old he is or was at the time, but he was definitely very small. We purchased the basic 10gallon zilla bearded dragon start-up kit just to get us going. We had a heat lamp on the left during the day, then switched to the infared lamp on the right at night. The temp would max out around 90 degrees F, but the Humidity we could never really get any lower than 40%. So For the first week things seemed to be going ok. He would eat his crickets, an occasional wax worm, (both dusted in flukers calcium) and we were working with him on eating some fruits/veggies.

So after week one we returned to the pet store with our only issue being with the crickets (constantly dying!!!!) and we also purchased a UVB light to be kept on during the daytime with the heat lamp. We set it up, and a few days went by without issue. Suddenly, which really seemed like out of nowhere, he stopped eating (about 4-5 days after buying the uvb light...so almost 2 weeks after we initially purchased him). No crickets, no wax worms, no fruits or veggies. He would ONLY open his mouth when he got his daily water misting. So water was basically the only thing I saw him consuming....

And this last week has been a complete rapid decline and it is so sad! He NEVER opens his eyes unless you really force him to. He is so tiny and frail that he can not even attempt to hunt crickets. Literally the crickets are eating HIM at this point. He just lets them sit on him, and last time we picked him up we noticed he was bleeding a little. The SADDEST part though is occassionally you will watch him try to catch one. He can barely walk, and just trips forward and completely misses. The few steps that he trys to take look like he has some kind of neurological issue....he is completely uncoordinated and weak.

He's hanging on by a thread. Everytime I look at him I think he is dead and have to check for ANY reaction. I really need help/advice, because he looks miserable and I want to help him!! Thanks everyone!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE7JbU8FNLk&feature=youtu.be

 

[Esther19]

Wow, poor baby! Until someone more experienced comes on, here's what you can do:

`Keep him hydrated. It's great that you are giving him oral fluids. Keep it up, and bathe him every day in shallow, baby-warm water. Please stay with him. He will absorb some water through his vent.

~Feed him baby food turkey mixed with baby food squash (both stage 1) with a syringe. Mix in some repti-boost by Fluker's that is available at the pet store. Start with the baby food ASAP, even without the Repti-boost.
If you have none on hand, hold a cricket by the back legs and hand feed it to him. You could also make a slurry of crickets and greens and water and give it to him through a syringe.

~Turn off the night light. Unless his viv temp falls below 65 at night, he will be okay. If you have a ceramic heat emitter, use it. A higher temp will boost his immune system. The light you have is disrupting his sleep.

~Please do not offer him any more crickets. You are right-they are eating him. Seriously.

~Do not use the UVB until we know what it is. There are many bulbs that will cause eye problems and lethargy.
We will need to know the brand of bulb, and whether it is a coil or a tube. We will also need to know how close your little guy can get to the bulb.

~Please also let us know how you are measuring temps. A dial thermometer, one with a probe (digital) or a temp gun.

Best of luck with your little guy!
Esther

 

[Esther19]

How is he doing this morning?

 

[Nibbles]

Maybe part of the problem is being too cold? His (EDIT) basking area needs to be about 105-110 degrees during the day. The cool side around 80 degrees.

 

[mattkim13]

Thanks for responding guys, I really appreciate it!! Sooo....

Right before I posted last night I had just got back from the pet store where I purchased a different lamp to try to get it hotter and less humid...So far today the temp has peaked right below 100F and the humidity has gone down right below 20%...so the lamp is working! But he has shown no improvement :-( He has changed positions only once today (that i know of), and is basically still unresponsive to anything..

I am running out right now for the baby food and a syringe and will attempt to feed and bathe him as soon as I get home! I will let you know how that goes! Thanks again for all the advice!

 

[edwardj07]

If you are using a dial thermometer for the hot side and don't have a digital probe to measure the basking temp there is a good chance that directly under your basking light is way too hot and that could be a problem.

 

[Esther19]

Please let us know what you are using to measure temps. Also, we need the info requested on your UVB bulb.

 

[mattkim13]

I have a ZILLA Humidity and Temperature Gauge suctioned halfway down the back wall of his tank.

And for the UVB lamp, I have a ZILLA hood with a ReptiSun 5.0 UVB bulb. It is just a long tube, and when he would climb on his foliage he was about 3 inches away from it. But now he doesnt climb or anything so from sitting on the bottom of the tank hes probably about 12inches away!

I think his bath probably was good for him....even though he didnt move or open his eyes. And I fed him just the plain baby food through a syringe, which he was BARELY taking. I know he got SOMETHING but i have no idea how much. Im keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow when I wak up he will be jumping around!!

 

[Mustashio]

Nearly exact situation as we had bringing our little guy home. We struggled with lighting and temps a little bit, but what it ended up being was a huge parasite load in his poop (from the pet store) and calcium deficiency even though we dusted daily with calcium. I would take your baby to a herp vet right away and have a fecal done. Mustashio (Tashi) had an enormous fecal parasite load and worms in his poop. We got him a better UVB light, some meds from the vet and an obnoxious $150 vet bill later we had a healthy baby. (Pet store ended up reimbursing us for the entire vet bill by the way since he likely got the parasites from unhealthy cage conditions and they did not have him under uvb lighting so he wasn't metabolizing the calcium at all!) I had to syringe feed Tashi for about a week before he finally started eating and acting better. The meds can also do a number on their little systems so it takes awhile before they eat better. I had to syring feed Tashi some "Critical Care" food during his medication treatment. I really do credit the moderators and other folks here on this board with saving Tashi's little life. Their advice made a world of difference.

You can follow our adventure of posts and advice complete with videos of Tashi's "wobble walk" and falling over, on the Beardie ER thread titled "Baby Beardie Walking Funny". I would definitely take him to the vet and get a fecal done asap!

Good luck!
~Jill

 

[Kalyn876]

Hello, it sounds like your beardie is suffering from calcium deficiency which could soon turn into MBD. Its not beacuse hes not receiving enough calcium supplement.

The reptisun 5.0 is not sufficient for bearded dragons, without proper UVB exposure calcium is not absorbed and used within the body. You need to purchase an Reptisun 10.0 and mount it inside the tank, your bd needs to be able to get within 6-8 inches of the 10.0 with nothing in between.

I would also look into liquid calcium as it is much more readily absorbed by the body and you know exactly how much hes getting. I purchase mine from here: www.bug-de-lite.com

I don't think you will be able to get a proper temperature gradient in a ten Gallon.... there just isn't enough space for a hot and cool side. Either your bd will be too cold or cookin.

Basking spot needs to be within 103-108F for babies, cool side ambient temp should be 78-83F this way they can choose their temperature. temps need to be Taken with a probe or temp gun.

Hope this helps!

Kalyn

 

[mattkim13]

He died about an hour ago :-( Poor little guy.... I don't know what went wrong!!

 

[Evergreen]

I'm very sorry, he was so little but at least he's not hurting anymore

2 weeks seems pretty fast for him to go downhill like that. It's possible he had some preexisting condition from the pet store but you'll defiantly want a different UV tube for future reference.

Again I'm sorry for you loss, you did great taking all the quick measures to try and help him. There are a lot of people that can help you with a new setup if you think of getting another in the future.