Disturbing last few days

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To0Slow

New member
Good day,

We have a 40 gal aquarium with calci-sand
We have wood that goes up that we took from a tree and used bleach and baked to clean.
We have a the zoo kit aquarium with the 2 lamps UVA UVB.



Our bearded dragon had a rough few last days. He had a day that he pooped many times that day and he also vomited water. He didn't eat that day. Some of his poops were very little and had a bit of yellow. We saw that he was shedding his back so we were worried but we waited.

In the last three days he has been shedding most of his back skin he's been eating very little but everyday a little something(wax worms 1 to 3 a day). But the problem is that he hasn't pooped in those last 3 days.

We have been giving him a bath a day for him to shed and to digest. Should we be worried?

Should we wait or do something else?
 

destiny1998

Extreme Poster
Photo Comp Winner
Hi. Sorry he's having issues. First get rid of that calcium sand. Very bad. Will cause impaction. Also what are your temps and how do you take them? If you bought the kit more than likely the uvb is a coil/compact. Those are not good. You want a reptisun 10.0 T5 long tube.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Sorry your dragon isn't doing well. How long have you had your dragon?
I agree, as suggested, it would be a good idea to remove the calcium sand in case he could
be impacted from it already.
Can you review the temperatures & supplementation for us so we can be sure they are all
correct? The Zoo kit includes a compact/coil light correct? If so, upgrading to the Reptisun
10 T5 as suggested would be helpful.
Has he had a black beard at all?
Since he has vomited some, try to get some oral fluids into him so he doesn't get dehydrated.
You can use pedialyte, diluted to help with dehydration. What has he been eating?

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
I can't stress strongly enough - the calci-sand MUST BE REMOVED IMMEDIATELY - it WILL kill your dragon and more than likely is already causing health problems for your dragon.

Calci-sand, calcium sand, vita-sand are all the same stuff and it's lethal to lizards and should never be used a substrate for any lizard. It clumps and reacts in the gut and literally forms concrete in the lizard's gut and if the lizard can't clear the concrete blockages it is doomed to a horrible death.

Can you feel any hard lumps in the dragon's tummy and towards the vent , if you can this is disturbing , but if small giving extra water and some olive oil each day may help you dragon clear them.
If extensive , the dragon is unlikely to be able to clear them with surgical intervention by a very experienced reptile vet surgeon.

I also strongly recommend that you involve a reptile vet and tell them you dragon has been on calcisand . Xrays of the GIT will be necessary to assess the extent of any impaction due GIT blockage and the position of these and how best to treat these.
 

To0Slow

New member
Original Poster
Our bearded dragon is 5 months old we had him for almost 2 months now. he eats greens, wax worms and crickets. When shedding he doesn't want to move much and only eats wax worms. We are starting to think he had diarrhea because of the greens and water he had possibly to try to clear sand.

We are using the coil but he never had any problems before he usually doesn't go up all the way they appear to be of a correct strength.

He finally pooped yesterday and he's still eating a few worms a day. He is still shedding but he's almost done.

We are looking into argyle to replace the sand we will probably do it shortly on the week-end.

Thank you for the feedback.
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
Hi, I'll try to be as direct as possible with you in a constructive way here, as I think your issues are very easily fixed, but you must fix them ASAP, because at your Dragon's age he needs to be getting 13-14 hours every single day of strong, adequate UVB light and eating a ton of live, healthy, appropriate staple insects, as Dragons do most of their growth and development during their first year of life, and when they suffer from a Calcium Deficiency and the start of MBD during their first year of life, or they don't eat enough live insect protein during their first year of life, they typically end up stunted in size and with permanent physical disabilities.

I would first advise you to dump out all of the Calcium sand immediately, please do not wait until this weekend, you don't need to worry about whatever permanent, solid substrate that you plan on using, you just need to get that sand out of his tank immediately. His GI Tract and bowel movement issues are almost certainly due directly to the Calcium Sand. Dragons lick everything, it's a type of "sixth sense" to them, for touch and exploration, and unfortunately Calcium Carbonate sand turns into hard, cement-like rocks inside their stomachs/GI Tracts. This is exactly the reason he vomited, and when Dragons vomit due to a bowel impaction/obstruction it is a very, very serious issue that can end-up being life threatening. The other issue with any type of loose substrate and Dragons is that they all harbor/breed tons of harmful microbes, including bacteria, fungi, parasites, etc., and since Dragons are very prone to Upper Respiratory Infections, GI Infections, Skin/Scale Infections, and Eye issues, when you put any loose substrate in the bottom of their tank, they are at a very high risk constantly for these infections. But right now the main issue with your Dragon is that his GI Tract is full of very hard, cement-like little blockages that are backing up inside his intestines and into his stomach, which is very dangerous.

Please dump the Calcium Sand out ASAP, disinfect the inside of the tank, and then just put down disposable paper towels that you can throw out and replace as they become soiled. You can worry about getting him a permanent, solid substrate, like textured tile, non-adhesive shelf liner, carpeting, etc. whenever is convenient for you, but for right now he cannot take ingesting anymore of that Calcium Sand at all.

The other major issue that you need to remedy ASAP is getting rid of the Coil UVB bulb. Not only are they in-general far too weak in their UVB output for a Bearded Dragon (most Coil UVB bulbs are only 13 watts at the most), but ALL Coil/Spiral UVB bulbs seem to cause horrible neurological damage, eye damage, blindness, seizures, etc. Plus, if you have the already too-weak Coil UVB bulb on top of a mesh lid to the tank, the mesh is blocking about 40% of the already too-weak UVB light emitted, so essentially your Dragon is getting very little to no adequate UVB light. Dragons are desert reptiles that are "built" to bask under bright, natural sunlight all day long, every single day. Without him getting 13-14 hours every single day of strong, adequate UVB light and bright-white colored Basking Light (these 2 lights over the Hot Side of his tank and directly over his basking spot/platform replicate natural sunlight), he is not absorbing any of the Calcium that he is ingesting in his food or from the Calcium powder you feed him, nor any other necessary nutrition in-general that he's eating, he's simply excreting it. This causes his body to leech all of the Calcium from his bones. This is a very, very common issue for pretty much ALL owners who use Coil and/or Compact UVB bulbs for a Bearded Dragon, and is the #1 cause by-far of young Dragons who lose their appetites and become lethargic.

So while the Calcium Sand is no doubt causing a serious bowel obstruction, their is most likely another cause to why he has no appetite and is lethargic, not moving, not basking, etc., and that's a lack of UVB light. We see this quite literally every single day, multiple times a day on this forum, and is typically turned-around and there is visible improvement seen within 24 hours of the owner turning off the Coil UVB light, and then putting them under a long (18" or longer) UVB tube inside a long tube fixture that has a metal reflector inside it, that sits behind the UVB tube. This ensures that the Dragon gets strong, direct UVB light directly underneath the long UVB tube while sitting on his basking spot/platform that is directly underneath the UVB tube and the bright white colored Basking Bulb, but also throughout his entire tank.

To emphasize the difference, a T5 strength UVB that has a minimum UVB output of 10% (or a 10.0 UVB tube, no lower) has a wattage of 24 watts or higher, while most Coil and Compact UVB bulbs are a max of 13 watts, and they have no reflector behind them. I don' know which Coil UVB bulb you have, but in-general, you have to have Coil UVB bulbs totally unobstructed by anything, like a mesh tank lid, and then within at leas 3-4" of your Dragon's basking spot/platform at all times for them to get any adequate UVB light, which you cannot safely do with a Coil UVB bulb, putting them that close to your Dragon will cause eye damage, no doubt.

In contrast, you can spend about $60 shipped on Amazon.com for both a T5 UVB tube and fixture with a refletor (the cheapest place to order both a T5 strength 10.0 or higher UVB tube and a T5-rated fixture with a reflector included)...Either of the brands Arcadia or Reptisun 10.0 are the absolute best in UVB output, quality, strength, and safeness for your Dragon, and are the 2 brands that pretty much all experienced Dragon owners and breeders solely use...You can order a 22" Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tube for about $25 shipped, and then also they have one particular 24", T5-rated tube fixture for it that includes a reflector with it (crucial) for about $28 shipped.

You can have a T5 strength UVB tube sitting on top of the mesh lid, they are strong enough (a much weaker T8 strength UVB tube must be strapped to the underside of the mesh lid). The T5 UVB tubes must only be within abou 10" of your Dragon's basking spot/platform (weaker T8 tubes must be within at leas 6"). And T5 tubes only need to be replaced once every 12 months, while the weaker T8 tubes and all Coil/Compact UVB lights absolutely must be replaced once every 3 months or every 6 months, depending on which they are (T8 tubes and all coil/compact UVB lights have very fast UVB light decay-rates, so at 3 to 6 months old they no longer emit any UVB light, they will turn on and light up, but only emit UVA light)....
 

QuinnF

Hatchling Member
Not pooping in 3 days is normal I wouldn’t worry about that. The other things sound like possible parisites I would take him/her to a vet.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

How is your dragon doing this evening?
I concur, I would really like to see you upgrade your UVB lighting, when you can. It would
greatly improve his overall health. The coil lights really don't emit all that great of UVB
emissions & are limited in the scope of how far they do emit.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
Any update on how your Dragon is doing?

I forgot to add something about the Coil UVB light that I think is important to note, because unless you're an avid poster on a forum like this and you see this all the time, you'd have no idea that the issue exists until your own Dragon starts exhibiting the issues...

Let's say for a second that the Coil UVB that you've been using does somehow provide your Dragon with enough UVB light for him to adequately absorb Calcium and all other nutrition from his food and supplements, assuming you have been replacing it every 3 to 6 months...(I totally disagree with this statement, as others have also commented, only because I've yet to see a single Dragon that was living under a Coil UVB light who didn't eventually develop a Calcium Deficiency and MBD, especially if the Coil UVB bulb is also being blocked by a mesh lid)....

Even if that's true, regardless of the brand, wattage, color of light emitted, etc., any and all Coil/Spiral UVB and Basking bulbs, for whatever the reason, eventually do cause serious eye damage, blindness, and neurological damage and symptoms thereof, including seizures, tremors, twitching, sudden flipping-over onto their backs, sudden trouble with depth-perception (i.e. they suddenly cannot judge where their food is) etc. I personally do not know why the Coil/Spiral bulbs always seem to cause this in Bearded Dragons, I'm sure someone else here can explain why they all seem to do this, but the bottom-line is that they all do eventually do this, and you can search "coil uvb" in the search bar of this forum and read the hundreds of posts with examples of both this and the calcium deficiencies and MBD. So even if you're fine with the amount of UVB light that your Dragon is getting, I'd hate to see him suddenly start to exhibit all of the commonly seen vision and neurological issues that are very often caused by Coil/Spiral UVB and Basking bulbs. It's very much worth getting rid of the Coil UVB bulb if for no other reason than to just eliminate even the possibility of this happening to your little guy...

I just wanted to make that clear to you, that these are 2 separate issues that commonly occur with coil/spiral UVB bulbs, and that it's not just about the lack of UVB light they provide...
 
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