gulping and terribly tired

[brianjames601]

Hey everyone--my lovely 91 year old Grandmother has a beardie about 3 years old. Within the last few months, this lizard starts this "gulping" or "swallowing" or almost "hiccup" type action a lot. It's almost like a miniature spasm of her throat lasting a couple of seconds. Happens when I pick her up. No relation to feeding times or anything--just seems strange to me so I thought I'd ask if anyone has seen this before. Also, this lizard looks great and super healthy in day when we have her out in sunshine, however, my grandmother puts her in bed at night from 4-midnight maybe and on a heating pad, and I telll you, this lizard acts like it is just dead to the world. My grandma jokes that she is just so tired she can't keeep her eyes open, but I just want to make sure she is ok. I think she is and she is just so trusting of us that once she gets in bed, all her cares go away and she is basically a limp, eyes closed, leave me alone I'm meditating, type of thing. Thanks everyone--I always get awesome help here!

 

[techdave]

First thing, the heating pad needs to go. Beardies can't sense heat from the bottom, so it can burn their insides. What kind of uvb light does she have? How long has she had it? Basking temps? Cool side temps? How did you take the temps? What and how much does she feed her? Is calcium given? If so, how often?
What kind of substrate is used? Do you have any pics?

Sorry, lots of questions. I'm sure there will be a bunch more. Just want to narrow down what could be going on.

 

[brianjames601]

Ok thanks for responding. She has a zooomed 75 watt heat light and a zilla 15 watt desert flourscent and both are new within a couple of months. She gets florida sunshine at least 5 hours per day. Basking temp at 110 and cooler temp at 90 taken with regular themometer. She feeds her supermealworms---I know---but that is all she will eat. Calcium with vit D and hertpavite mixed with every daily feeding. Substrate is towel only. No pics sorry-thanks again.

 

[techdave]

How often does she give him a bath? Beardies will absorb water thru their vent. Maybe he's dehydrated. What does his poo look like? Is there alot of white stuff? For the uvb bulb, is it a 10.0? Reptisun 10.0 is usually recommended instead of the others, until you get into MVB's, that's another realm. What kind of veggies does he get?

 

[tonid]

My beardie is sick at the moment with a respiratory infection and does exactly the same - like a hiccup in the throat or a gulp. Does the beardies have excess saliva in the mouth or from nostrils, are its eyes weepy at all? Does it sit looking straight up a lot of the time (star gazing)? Your beardie sounds pretty healthy if it is eating and active, but it might be worth keeping a close eye on him for a while to make sure there are not other signs of Repiratory Infection. As for the sleeping, beardies do tend to sleep like the dead

 

[brianjames601]

ok thanks--no excessive saliva or anything. No weeping eyes or star gazing. Not many baths but she does go swimming in pool often. She likes to sit on raft and then dive into water, swim to edge, get on concrete, then dive back into water and get back on raft. Gets lots of pure Fl sunshine! I will change out light for her. No veggies but poo looks fine, not too much white stuff. Who knows? I guess I'll just continue to monitor. Any advice on how to get her eating veggies? She just won't do it!

 

[Jiffy]

Just wanted to say, WOW, your 91 year old grandma has a beardie? That is awesome!!

 

[techdave]

Beardies older than a year and a half or so should be eating about 80% veggies and 20% bugs. Veggies are a requirement for their diet. Check out http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html it's a great site to get on idea of what they should as a staple food, to things they should never eat. To get to eat them, try different kinds. A lot of people on here feed butternut squash, which is very nutritious. Tiamat won't touch it, but will devour mustard greens. Try putting the superworms in a dish along with the veggies and he may"accidentally" eat the veggies. Also, try feeding him dubia roaches..... Do you have pics of him in the pool? That would soooo cute!!

 

[TheWaveCarver]

I'm just wondering does your Grandmother's pool have chlorine in it, and if it does isn't that harmful to most reptiles?

 

[techdave]

?

I'm just wondering does your Grandmother's pool have chlorine in it, and if it does isn't that harmful to most reptiles?

Good question.

 

[brianjames601]

Ok I'll try and get some pics and work on the veggies. I am aware of this veggie requirement, but we have just had a really hard time every time we have tried to implement this. Just flat out refuses, but we willl try again and be more persistent. I have asked vets and researched a little and found no ill effects from chlorine. Probably not really great for her though either--just from a common sense perspective. However, the benefits from her getting a little exercise swimming must help out too.

 

[TheWaveCarver]

Thats good to know. (About the chlorine)

 

[Buggsy]

well the zilla series of UVB have been linked to a loss of appitie, lethargy etc, so i would look into a reptiSUN 10.

As for the super meal worms, i would try superworms, they look similar but are far more nutritious fro them!

Again heat mat is a no-no, is your thermometer a digital one with a long probe? If not its more than likely not acurite. Adults need a basking spot of 100-105 so it is a little high any way, and the cool end def needs to be lower, 75-80 max, they need somewhere to cool down!

I have an adult who flat out refuses veggies, so you need to make sure all the feeders have been really well gutloaded, literally throw veggies at the, that way at least he'll get some!

We would love to see a pic of the little one!

Btw, cholrine is acidic so if ingested in hu,ans you are advised to seek medical attention, depends on the concentration in the pool but just remember his insides are not as resistant as yours!