first timer, real problems

[larry1]

new baby dragon, 6.5 inches from nose to tail tip, tail 4 inches body including head 2.5 inches (just to give you an idea of baby's size)
it wont eat (3# crickets or veg)and wont poop,the viv is 17.5 ins wide,24ins long and 18ins high. i have a heat mat in floor of viv on the left side and the lighting i was told i needed was 1 light only which is a exoterra repti glo 10.0 uvb, do i have everything right or is my set up wrong,
all faith in pet shops is gone,baby beardy not well and im stressed, what can i try, living in co.cork Ireland so unless you have a dog or cat the vets are not much help,

 

[chancellor91]

hi, since a bunch of people have looked at ur post but havnt responded i will, so here is the basic husbandry that you should have but do not, and im not blaming you, almost 100% of the time it is the vet store who sold her to you.
-your tank is a little small, but considering how small your beardie is i wouldnt worry about it right now
-you need a reptisun 10.0 fluresent tube which will provide the much need UVB light that your beardie needs
-you also need a heat lamp of some sorts, i personally just use a halogen flood light that i got from the hardware store, works perfectly and is cheap
-you need a substrate, like repti-carpet, this stuff is great, unlike sand which may cause impaction. and you said your beardie wont poop so it sounds like
she may have been on sand or calcium sand, which is terrible stuff, trust me from experience, all you get is horror stories with calcium and normal sand
-next you need some sort of basking platform, such as a rock, tree branch, or a log, which i recomend
-you need a digital thermometer, they are the best and provide most accurate reading, you can pick one up at walmart for 5 or 10 bucks so no big deal
-next you need your temperatures in the tank to be right, her basking platform needs to be at 100-105 degrees farhinite(sp) and there also needs to be a
cool side in the tank where the temps are no higher than 80 degrees farhinite(sp)


and as for the the not pooping part start giving your dragon baths daily, luke warm water is great, fill up the water untill it reachs her front arm pits, and keep constant supervison of your dragon in the bath, because if they are weak, drowning is a possibiliy you can also massage her from her right arm pit down to her vent while she is in the bath and this should help with her making a poopy

i reallly hope this helps, let me know if there is anything else i can do to help you, maybe some other people could chime in on anything i forgot

best of wishes

Chancellor Hinz

 

[ajkry2]

Reptisun may not be an option since you're in the UK. Arcadia bulb is good, although not sure of the details, you can run a search on here for Arcadia and find some info...

Repticarpet is a good substrate however, there are other options: :study:
-Paper Towels (I use these and they're a great, quick, cheap fix to the sand issue)
-Textured tile
-nonadhesive shelf liner
Definately get rid of the sand though. Better safe than sorry

If there IS an impaction you'll want to give your BD a bath in luke warm water, only up to its armpits. You don't want it dunking its head (although drinking from the bath is okay). Once your pooper's in the bath give it gentle massages in circles from the armpit down to the vent (where it goes poopie). If you feel a lump, concentrate on that (it's the impaction).

Besides that, I'm with the chancellor

Hope this helps :wink:

 

[SARBEAR]

Definitely get rid of the heat mat!
Beardies can't feel heat from underneath, which means they won't notice if they're getting burned or not.
I'm surprised I'm the only one that said something about the heat mat..
Maybe it's because they don't have another source of heat?? I don't know.

I think you meant the digital probe thermo
The ones you just hang on the wall is no good.
They don't give accurate readings.

 

[ajkry2]

nice catch about the heat mat. definately need a heat source from above

 

[crickest]

With a baby that small you might want to try feeding some squash baby food - easy to find - use a eye dropper and dribble some squash on the end of their nose, just above where their mouth opens. Wait. Be patient. When he/she starts to lick it off, then you can dribble some more. My baby, which is just a little bigger than yours (8" tip to tip) will eat one or two droppers full two or three times a day. You can also add a little chicken baby food to the squash, with a little water to thin it down a little. We went three weeks feeding the baby food slurry and my baby gained weight and strength and is now eating crickets with a good appetite. Feeding the baby food slurry can help with them eating while dealing with relocation stress.

The bulb you are looking for is an Arcadia D3 12% bulb. The basking spot should be situated under the basking light (bright white light) and about 6 - 8" from the Arcadia bulb. The temps under the basking light should be 100 - 110 F and cool side should be 80 - 85 F. There is a great list of foods to offer your baby found at http://www.beautifuldragons.com. If your viv is cooler than 65 F you will want to add a ceramic heat emitter (does heat but no light) for the night. Don't want to heat the viv warmer than 75 F or so at night, unless the baby is sick. Take the heat mat out and take it back.

 

[gini]

Might also have relocation stress...

 

[larry1]

Thanks to all who posted replies to help me out, took all advice on board, left baby d soak in warm water and felt belly for blockages but there was no hard lumps, made baby squash and it eat a little, took out heat mat and fitted a make shift heat lamp i had for puppys but put a 100 watt normal bulb in till i get a proper one tomorrow,pleased to say baby beardy is alot more alert now and climbing up to get heat and looking around the viv but still didnt poop, thanks again to everyone and il keep ye posted.

 

[SARBEAR]

Good to hear
Keep trying the baths daily, it helped mine a lot.
And also make sure you keep an eye on the temps
But I'm happy to say I think you've got yourself a happy dragon

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Great help everyone, we appreciate it.
If you are going to leave the Reptiglo 10 on her right now, make sure it is 10 inches away from her & that your bright white basking light is directly beside it to protect her eyes.
That is correct regarding the undertank heating. They can get burned with heat mats, but, they just do much better with overhead heating. Keep us posted on her.
The soft foods are important if she is impacted. To be on the safe side, until she goes potty, increase oral fluids, along with daily baths & give soft foods just in case she is impacted.

Tracie

 

[larry1]

baby beardy doing great, alot more energy, pooed and eating pinheads,
THANKS TO YOU ALL,

 

[ajkry2]

Hapy to help you raise a happy, healthy, friendly beardie

 

[crickest]

*dusts hands*

Our work here is done.

*Grin* good to hear your baby is doing better! Give the little one kisses for us!