Esmeralda dehydrated, HELP!

[EsmeraldasMother]

I got my bearded dragon, Esmeralda, about 3 months ago. She stopped getting in the bath about a month ago and stopped eating about two weeks ago. She's dropped 18 grams in the past month and has become lethargic. I've taken her to the vet to ensure she's just dehydrated because she has a past of pin worms. I've given her baths, force fed her (vet's orders), gave her fruit flavored water, and am now giving her pedialyte baths and using Repta+Boost. Is there anything else I can do to get her to eat? She's super skinny.

Age: unknown
Size: 15 3/4 inches (nose to tail)
Temperatures: 97.5 (warm) and 82.1 (cool)
Substrate: sand
Diet: collard/mustard greens, superworms, large crickets
Tank size: 36"x18"x36"
Lighting: 100 watt basking, strip UVB, two heat emitters

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Sorry she's not well. How are you taking the tems? Round gauge, temp gun or digital with a probe? What is the name of the uvb and how long have you had it? Is there anything between her and the bulb? What was her diet before she quit eating? How are her poops? Did you start giving baths again? Her basking temp needs to be 100 for her body to digest her food properly. Do you give her calcium and vitamins?

 

[EsmeraldasMother]

Hi. I'm taking the temps by a digital thermometer with a probe. The name of her UVB is the Zilla Slimline desert And I've had it about three months. There's a mesh screen between her and the light but she's less than 6 inches away from it. Her diet before she stopped eating were mostly greens and a few (1-3) superworms and an occasional cricket. She mostly refused to eat crickets or worms, no matter what I tried. Her poops, when she eventually poops, are watery and white. When she pooped yesterday, it was the same color as a spider's web but with very little urate. I started baths again yesterday with pedialyte after reading boards on here. Also, I've tried dusting her food with calcium and vitamins but when they're dusted, she refuses to eat it. I've tried getting her temps to 100 but I can't ever seem to make it work. She has two heat emitters just to get it to 97.

 

[destiny1998]

The uvb that you have does not give off the proper amount of uvb. She needs a reptisun 10.0 Tube mounted in the tank. If there is plastic or screen between her and the uvb she won't be receiving the proper amount of uvb and can lead to metabolic bone disease. That is also why you must dust her salad or feeders with calcium. If she is not eating right now I would give her stage one baby food like sweet potatoes, squash, turkey or chicken mix together with her calcium and vitamins. Also I would get rid of the sand as beardies lick everything and they can get impacted and it harbors bacteria. Do you use a basking light? Cremic heat emitters are really more for night time if you temps get below 65. Really all I use is a uvb and a 75 watt halogen flood light bulb.

 

[EsmeraldasMother]

I probably sound like an ***** but what do you use for the holder? I haven't seen a base for the Reptisun tube. Also, I gave her baby food last night after her bath and reptiboost treatment and she seemed to enjoy it. How often should I be giving her baby food? What do you put instead of the sand? I was told there is nothing else to use since the vet said her reptile carpet encouraged the pin worms. (does that sound right?) I use a 100 watt basking light. Does the halogen flood light get your beardies temps where they need to be and act as a basking light too? The 'reptile specialist' at Petco said that the halogen lights are a waste of money and useless.... I only want the best for Esmeralda.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Pet stores are notorious for giving the wrong information. Most of us on here use a Walmart under the cabinet light fixture and command hooks or velcro to mount it in the tank. As for sand most of use avoid loose subtrate as your beardie can get impacted from swallowing to much of it. I use ceramic tile I got on clearence @ Home Depot for 6.00. Other subtrate you can use paper towels, newspapers, non adhesive shelf liner , slate tile or reptile carpet( never used it but some say it's harder to clean others like it). The halogen flood lights I use get the basking spot to 105. I have 3 and use those in all 3 of mine. Never had a problem and the bulbs were 3.00 each @ target. Pet store just want your money and it really upsets me and others because the don't care about giving the wrong information and they don't train their employees on fish, reptile care and probably other areas. I would feed her the mixture couple times a day.

 

[EsmeraldasMother]

Do you just sit the halogen lights on top? When you say you use 3, do you use 3 on one tank or 1 per dragon and you have 3 dragons? I'm going to completely revamp her entire tank after talking with you because she's had such difficulty getting healthy and staying healthy. I'm worried about using the Repti-boost now. It was recommended by the manager of Petco who's supposedly going to vet school. I'm not sure if it's working as I've given her pedialyte baths, repti-boost and baby food. On another note, Esmeralda had enough energy to climb into her bath and she pooped! The color was odd but it was finally solid! With a dehydrated beardie, is it normal for them to go a couple of days without pooping?

Sorry for the blurriness... My phone's camera sucks.

 

[destiny1998]

Sorry I should have clarified I have 3 separate enclosures. I've never had used the repti boost, but others on here have it it's fine to give her. Yes it's normal for her not to poop when dehydrated as there isn't to much in the stomach. Overall she looks healthy and happy Glad her energy is coming back

 

[EsmeraldasMother]

Thank you! How long should I feed Esmeralda baby food? Also, do you know any way to make her gain weight? It doesn't look like it but her stomach is concave and only 140 grams. I think 140 grams when she's 15 3/4 inches long makes her underweight... Or am I just worrying too much?

 

[destiny1998]

She looks a little skinny, but not bad. Have you tried some Phoenix worms? Those are soft bodied and they have a good calcium ratio so you don't need to give her a calcium supplement just the vitamins 2x a week. I would put the worms in my beardies salads just to get them to eat salad and they loved it. They are pretty small, but they are one of the best feeders. I would order the large. Some other really good feeders are silk worms, horn worms, butter worms and dubia roaches(depending on where you are). As for feeding her baby food you can do that until she seems interested in live feeders and salad. Maybe feed live feeders and salad first thing in the morning and if she eats fine then stop the baby food for a few days and see how she does.

 

[EsmeraldasMother]

I've tried Phoenix worms before but it was while she was being extremely picky about what she wanted to eat. I might try putting the Phoenix worms in her salad as it was the only thing she would religiously eat. Where do you find silk worms and butter worms? I've looked online but I haven't been able to find anything. Should I provide a small bowl of baby food in her tank?

I don't think I've said so but thank you so much for your help!!

 

[destiny1998]

You can order worms from muberry farms, lindasgonebuggie. The for sale section has more places listed. You welcome

 

[Soulwind]

Once you fix your lighting, UV, heat, and substrate issues; you should
look at her calcium intake.

You say she is a very light live food eater (not unusual with adults)
and that she won't eat her salads/veggies when they are dusted?

In that case you might have to look at using a liquid calcium supplement
and just getting her to drink a small dosage of it (read the label because
that stuff can be really concentrated) instead of dusting.

I, personally, would be cautious about "force feeding" as it really should be
a last resort type measure and not something done just because she's not eating
well for awhile.

Yes, repti-carpet is a bit harder to keep clean and can harbor bacteria and parasites.
So can sand. Sand can actually be even worse because it both soaks up the fluids but also hides the fact and can lead to "lazy cleaning" letting waste accumulate in her enclosure. Injesting infected material (beardies lick everything remember) is the main cause of self-re-infection with parasites.

I'm curious about your statement: She stopped getting in the bath about a month ago.
Beardies won't typically bath themselves (or drink from standing water). We have to put them into a warm bath regularly so that they can absorb moisture through their vents. In the wild they lick rain and dew from leaves, but that's harder to maintain correctly in captivity.

 

[EsmeraldasMother]

How do I look at her calcium intake? Yes, she refuses to eat anything that is dusted, even if it's lightly dusted. I've found the only way to get her to eat is avoid dusting which runs into the problem of her not getting calcium or vitamins. Where would I find a liquid calcium supplement? I'm cautious of force feeding and I really hate to do it but I've tried everything to get her to eat anything. I've found the only way to get any kind of substance in her is to force feed. I've heard beardies hate their nose being dirty.... She would rather have her nose dirty than eat anything. Could I be getting the dehydrated part wrong? The vet ran several fecal tests as she has a history of pin worms but didn't find anything.

Also, I've decided I'm putting tile in her tank. As for right now, I'm moving her to paper towels until I can afford to get the tile.

Also, when I first got Esmeralda, she spent all day every day in the bath. After her pin worms ordeal, she would still spend about an hour in the bath a week. I continued to give her baths when she was spending an hour a week in the bath as her skin was still wrinkly (a sign of dehydration, according to most places). She wouldn't fight me at all until about a month ago. She began actively avoiding her water bowl and wouldn't get anywhere near it. In fact, any time I reached in to see if she would go in the bath, she ran away as fast as she could. She also stopped eating at about that same time. After taking her to the vet (who just told me she was dehydrated), I began giving her daily baths. She would fight, beard out and try to bite me whenever I put her in water. She is still fighting me to take a bath.

 

[Soulwind]

Honestly, I'm not really certain on where to get the liquid calcium;
I'm not even 100% certain if that's what you should do.

I know it's used with rescues suffering from lack of calcium and lack of UV
to aid in MBD recovery. I would think it might be a way to get her some
calcium if she won't eat "dusted", but again I'm nowhere near an expert
on it.

Hopefully some folks with more experience with the liquid stuff can chime in.

As for baths, I use a baby bath (one of those pink tub things). Put in enough
warm water (human baby-safe warm) to reach the armpits and cover over the
vent. Then I put the dragon into the tub and let it soak for about 15 minutes.
My dragons get a 15 minute bath, 3 times a week.

They don't like it (well Mellow actually seems to enjoy it), but they settle down and tolerate it after a minute or so of "LET ME OUT!".

If Esmeralda is especially dehydrated you can even go for a short bath daily.