Goodbye Sammy

[Sammysmom]

I posted this in another part of the forum but no one is answering. Sammy shed yesterday. All he ate yesterday was 1 cricket. He has not eaten anything so far today and he is very skinny and lethargic. He acts like he can't keep his eyes open.

About Sammy:
I've had him for 3 weeks
He's 6" long

His tank:
10 Gallon
Reptisun 10.0 tube
Basking side 107 degrees
Cool side 80-85 degrees

Here's pictures. I'm getting really worried!

He's had 2 poops this morning that look like this. In fact he had a teeny tiny poo in his blanky this morning, a small normal poo and these 2 weird poos. He usually only goes once a day!

This was him yesterday after he shed his head, back, belly and legs. He seemed normal except that he wasn't eating.

 

[Gail]

No, that poo isn't normal. It looks good except there isn't any urate which means he is really dehydrated. He needs to drink water, try to get at least 2 cc's into him today(not all a once) and give him multiple baths through out the day. If he will lick baby food, try some squash

 

[Sammysmom]

I've been giving him 2 baths a day since he started shedding. He drinks a little when he takes a bath. What's the best way to try to get water into him?

What about the not eating thing?

 

[Sammysmom]

Should I just take him to the vet? I'm freaking out here!!!

 

[Sammysmom]

I got him to eat a little bit of chicken baby food. I don't know what else to do. The nearest vet is 30 minutes away. I don't want to stress him out if I'm just being a freaked out new reptile owner. I guess I just have to wait and see what happens.

 

[Gail]

If he is dehydrated, he probably won't have much of a appetite. Also, bathing really doesn't help once they get dehydrated but its good he drinks some on his own. You can offer water from a eye dropper or needless syringe, most babies will take it pretty good.

I wouldn't panic about him not eating yet, keeping him hydrated today is the most important thing. If he will take baby food, then keep thta up too. Can you get any feeders besides crickets? Something soft like reptiworms, waxworms or silkworms might get him interested in eating.

 

[Sammysmom]

He has a bowl of reptiworms. He won't eat them. I'll try to get him to drink more.

 

[Gail]

If he doesn't improve within a day or two or gets worse, try and get him to the vet. Make sure you take a fresh poo sample so they can check for parasites.

 

[Sammysmom]

I just don't understand how he went from completely healthy one day to looking like he's on his death bed the next.

 

[Irwinshealth]

Sorry to hear your little one is not well. I would definitely take the advice of trying to get some water in him. If you don't want to stress him the vet may take a sample and run it for you without seeing him?! It's worth a try anyway :?

 

[Sammysmom]

Sammy ate a little more baby food and I got a little bit of water into him too. He bearded at me when I was forcing him to eat. He's also still very lethargic. At this point I don't think he'd have anything to poop out tomorrow...he hasn't eaten.

I keep reading that refusing to eat and being very tired was just a normal part of shedding. I don't know. And of course I won't be home hardly at all tomorrow to keep an eye on him.

 

[Gail]

Some dragons do go off food when shedding but I've never had one get sleepy or look thin/wrinkly like yours does. Babies can go down hill really fast, especially the small ones. Go ahead and add a tiny bit of calcium and vitamin powder to the baby food, you could even water down some gatorade to mix in.

 

[Sammysmom]

He's going downhill fast. I don't think he's going to make it.

 

[Sammysmom]

OMG!!! This little guy is going to be the death of me. Turns out he wasn't half dead an hour ago...he was in such a deep sleep it took me 10 minutes to wake him up. There's not much else I can do for now except tuck him into his blanky and hope he's better in the morning.

 

[bdalton]

It shouldn't take 10 minutes to wake a beardie up. Even in a deep sleep mine will wake up from me walking up to their cage. I would get some kids pedialyte, dilute it with 3 parts water and try to get him to drink some. You can get flavored for him to drink because he might take it easier, but you can add the unflavored to his bath. Mine will not, I repeat not, drink the unflavored but will willingly take fruit flavors.

Good luck, he is soo cute and teeny tiny! Poor baby