MissCutiePatootie
Hatchling Member
I'm not sure where to start... I have a lot of questions.
I guess I'll start with describing my setup.
I have a 40 gallon breeder w/non adhesive shelf liner as substrate.
A fluorescent UVB arcadia 12% bulb, two old 100 watt powersun MVBs for basking heat only (one is turned off due to summer heat) and a CHE for night time use only.
Two hides on both ends of tank.
My dragons name is Malachi, he is 9 months old, spoiled with a varied diet consisting mostly of dubia, superworms, crickets, BSFL, hornworms, silkworms and wax worms... collard/mustard/turnip greens, kale, spinach, arugula, squashes, carrots, and sometimes a little fruit like apple, grape, blueberry or strawberry and pieces of watermelon for hydration on really hot days. For supplements, I have spirulina, serrapeptase, electrolytes, probiotics, liquid calcium, calcium powder w/d3, multivitamins. I typically dust with calcium 3-4x weekly and multivitamin 2x weekly. I dust with probiotics regularly twice a week just because I can. I sprinkle spirulina on every other salad about. On super hot days I give him some water with some electrolytes. Once in a while I'll give him some liquid calcium and serrapeptase.
OK so, first question I will start with... a few weeks ago, up to a month and a half ago even, I noticed his urates looking partially normal and partially like applesauce? I asked my mentor about it and was told it was probably a mild bladder infection due to him reaching sexual maturity and that it wasn't uncommon in male beardies when hitting that stage in their life. I was told to supplement with a few drops of unsweetened cranberry juice mixed with water and to cut back on calcium with light dusting and it should do the trick. And it did! Malachi is 20 inches long and about 470 grams and 9 months old. Has anyone else dealt with UTIs in beardies? It was the first I've ever heard about it. I figure it may be a combination of UTI and maybe just too much calcium too. Either way, that issue has been fixed judging by his urates.
About a month ago during on and off heatwaves I turned off one basking bulb and the nighttime CHE because it was too hot for them. His basking spot remained at about 100-113F. Growing up he always liked the higher end of temperatures for basking and I wonder if he still prefers it? It's difficult to keep temperatures constant right now because I don't have air conditioning to keep a constant ambient temperature. I provided a shallow pool of water on the cool end to provide a means of cooling off during the hottest parts of the day on days I was unable to be around to monitor the temperatures closely. The humidity never went above 35-40%. Which was great! Lol. The night time temperatures have dropped to the low 60s so I've turned his CHE back on yesterday.
Now, more recently, say... a week maybe? My days blur together recently so I'm not exact on my time line. His coloration is more dull. He's not black bearding but, sometimes I walk in the room and he's his nice beautiful super citrus self hanging out on the cool end of his home or sometimes on his basking hide and other times he will be hiding under his rock on the hot end looking apathetic and dull with some light yellow stress marks that only go away when I hold him or occasionally when he is chilling on his cool end. He seems to nap under his hides on and off throughout the day.
He hasn't been enthusiastic over his roaches or crickets which he used to love. All I have right now beside those two are superworms and waxworms. Those he will eat but not nearly as much as I know he can... he had a ferocious apatite his first 6 months and then started slowing down and showing more preference to his veggies. I'm assuming because he was 18 inches long by then and his growth was slowing down.
About a week and a half ago, I was feeding off my excess male dubia from my colony to him and a couple days later I noticed undigested parts of dubia in his feces so I cut back on that and just fed him crickets which then I noticed were only partially digested as well. And now, because I can only get him to eat superworms, of course I see their tough broken up chitin shells in his feces when I break it apart too. His feces is well formed though wrapped in mucus with excess fluids excreted with it. I'm wondering parasites? I don't have money for a vet trip right now. But I do have reptaid on hand. Which leads me to my next question..
Do you think reptaid could help what's going on right now? What are your thoughts on the situation? Prognosis? I've already started him on the reptaid about 3 days ago. I've also been pairing it up with manuka honey mixed with water, probiotics and spirulina to keep him hydrated during the course of reptaid in hopes to help sooth his tummy and increase apatite. I'm lucky he laps everything up from a needless syringe. Haven't had to pry his mouth open for any of it. He's a good boy. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can for him right now.
Now, apart from all of the above, I have one more question in mind...
The first day I got Malachi, shipped from a breeder in Florida, at 6 weeks old 6.5 inches, he's had droopy eyelids. The "blood hound eyes" thing. I did some looking into it in the past and seen that in most cases of baby dragons with droopy eyes it's more than likely cosmetic than any serious health issue and to only be real concerned if it's a new occurrence in an adult. Anyone care to shed some light on this for me? I feel like even if it's most likely cosmetic that I should have tests ran on him to check his organ function. I feel paranoid having that in the back of my mind every time I notice it. I don't know if his genes could have anything to do with it but just in case I'll throw it out there and say he's a super citrus partial translucent 66% het hypo. Which also reminds me, is it normal for dragons to develop bright colors on individual scales? Almost like getting a freckle? My boy has a couple bright neon orange scales and then he has a couple black scales and they never change.
Sorry for it being so long! I really hope I still get the answers to my questions. Thank you for reading!
I guess I'll start with describing my setup.
I have a 40 gallon breeder w/non adhesive shelf liner as substrate.
A fluorescent UVB arcadia 12% bulb, two old 100 watt powersun MVBs for basking heat only (one is turned off due to summer heat) and a CHE for night time use only.
Two hides on both ends of tank.
My dragons name is Malachi, he is 9 months old, spoiled with a varied diet consisting mostly of dubia, superworms, crickets, BSFL, hornworms, silkworms and wax worms... collard/mustard/turnip greens, kale, spinach, arugula, squashes, carrots, and sometimes a little fruit like apple, grape, blueberry or strawberry and pieces of watermelon for hydration on really hot days. For supplements, I have spirulina, serrapeptase, electrolytes, probiotics, liquid calcium, calcium powder w/d3, multivitamins. I typically dust with calcium 3-4x weekly and multivitamin 2x weekly. I dust with probiotics regularly twice a week just because I can. I sprinkle spirulina on every other salad about. On super hot days I give him some water with some electrolytes. Once in a while I'll give him some liquid calcium and serrapeptase.
OK so, first question I will start with... a few weeks ago, up to a month and a half ago even, I noticed his urates looking partially normal and partially like applesauce? I asked my mentor about it and was told it was probably a mild bladder infection due to him reaching sexual maturity and that it wasn't uncommon in male beardies when hitting that stage in their life. I was told to supplement with a few drops of unsweetened cranberry juice mixed with water and to cut back on calcium with light dusting and it should do the trick. And it did! Malachi is 20 inches long and about 470 grams and 9 months old. Has anyone else dealt with UTIs in beardies? It was the first I've ever heard about it. I figure it may be a combination of UTI and maybe just too much calcium too. Either way, that issue has been fixed judging by his urates.
About a month ago during on and off heatwaves I turned off one basking bulb and the nighttime CHE because it was too hot for them. His basking spot remained at about 100-113F. Growing up he always liked the higher end of temperatures for basking and I wonder if he still prefers it? It's difficult to keep temperatures constant right now because I don't have air conditioning to keep a constant ambient temperature. I provided a shallow pool of water on the cool end to provide a means of cooling off during the hottest parts of the day on days I was unable to be around to monitor the temperatures closely. The humidity never went above 35-40%. Which was great! Lol. The night time temperatures have dropped to the low 60s so I've turned his CHE back on yesterday.
Now, more recently, say... a week maybe? My days blur together recently so I'm not exact on my time line. His coloration is more dull. He's not black bearding but, sometimes I walk in the room and he's his nice beautiful super citrus self hanging out on the cool end of his home or sometimes on his basking hide and other times he will be hiding under his rock on the hot end looking apathetic and dull with some light yellow stress marks that only go away when I hold him or occasionally when he is chilling on his cool end. He seems to nap under his hides on and off throughout the day.
He hasn't been enthusiastic over his roaches or crickets which he used to love. All I have right now beside those two are superworms and waxworms. Those he will eat but not nearly as much as I know he can... he had a ferocious apatite his first 6 months and then started slowing down and showing more preference to his veggies. I'm assuming because he was 18 inches long by then and his growth was slowing down.
About a week and a half ago, I was feeding off my excess male dubia from my colony to him and a couple days later I noticed undigested parts of dubia in his feces so I cut back on that and just fed him crickets which then I noticed were only partially digested as well. And now, because I can only get him to eat superworms, of course I see their tough broken up chitin shells in his feces when I break it apart too. His feces is well formed though wrapped in mucus with excess fluids excreted with it. I'm wondering parasites? I don't have money for a vet trip right now. But I do have reptaid on hand. Which leads me to my next question..
Do you think reptaid could help what's going on right now? What are your thoughts on the situation? Prognosis? I've already started him on the reptaid about 3 days ago. I've also been pairing it up with manuka honey mixed with water, probiotics and spirulina to keep him hydrated during the course of reptaid in hopes to help sooth his tummy and increase apatite. I'm lucky he laps everything up from a needless syringe. Haven't had to pry his mouth open for any of it. He's a good boy. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can for him right now.
Now, apart from all of the above, I have one more question in mind...
The first day I got Malachi, shipped from a breeder in Florida, at 6 weeks old 6.5 inches, he's had droopy eyelids. The "blood hound eyes" thing. I did some looking into it in the past and seen that in most cases of baby dragons with droopy eyes it's more than likely cosmetic than any serious health issue and to only be real concerned if it's a new occurrence in an adult. Anyone care to shed some light on this for me? I feel like even if it's most likely cosmetic that I should have tests ran on him to check his organ function. I feel paranoid having that in the back of my mind every time I notice it. I don't know if his genes could have anything to do with it but just in case I'll throw it out there and say he's a super citrus partial translucent 66% het hypo. Which also reminds me, is it normal for dragons to develop bright colors on individual scales? Almost like getting a freckle? My boy has a couple bright neon orange scales and then he has a couple black scales and they never change.
Sorry for it being so long! I really hope I still get the answers to my questions. Thank you for reading!
