Help! 9yr old sons beardie is sick! dont want him to die!

[Jlynn5974]

Thank you to everyone who has been commenting. It has really help us. He seems to be doing a little worse again. Wondering if it because we changed his tank set up too. We are hearing so many different things. We've heard no crushed walnuts in his tank so we took that out. We heard that he needed a branch to climb on to get closer to the lights. So we switched his rock out to a climbing branch with slate so he can bask there but all he's doing is laying in a corner up under this branch. I'm afraid now we have added stress on him by changing up his whole tank.

 

[PogoLover]

I've been trying to feed him baby food with an eye dropper but he won't open his mouth. Is there a special way to get them to open his mouth? Going on 5 days of not eating.

I used the tip of the eyedropper to push her bottom lip down right in front. Usually a gentle push on the bottom lip was enough to get her to open her mouth and start licking the food off of her nose. I did not force her mouth open (well, I tried once and she blackened up and squeaked at me - so I decided that was more stressful than not eating). The only thing I forced her mouth open for was the actual antibiotics. I just used my finger nail to gentle push down on her bottom lip and she opened up so we could get the syringe in there with medicine. Harder than feeding medicine to a dog, but probably not as hard as feeding it to a cat!

I have been told that sometimes they start eating on their own again, but Pogo was going to die if I didn't get her to eat - she was emaciated.

I went through the same thing - I kept on changing my tank, wondering if something in there was causing it. My husband told me that I was probably stressing the poor thing out by changing everything, so I stopped.

How long have you had your dragon? Do you know how much it weighs? How many more days of meds do you have to give?

 

[Jlynn5974]

That's how we feel about Raider. If he doesn't eat soon he is going to die. He's getting thinner and thinner. We've had him since the end of August. He was not very big when when got him and he has not grown hardly (has only shed once). The vet thinks he's had this bacteria infection all along and that's why he hasn't grown more.

Ugh! We just tried to feed him some baby food and we can't get him to eat. He refuses to open his mouth even by us pulling his lip down. It's almost like he pinching his mouth shut and he's so little we dont want to hurt him. We don't know what to do.

 

[PogoLover]

That stinks - all I have for you is keep trying. Maybe get some Bene Bac gel to help soothe his stomach. For the first few weeks with Pogo, this is how I felt: It did eventually work, though.

I like showing the pictures of before and after:
BEFORE:

AFTER:

Good luck. It is very hard when they are sick. Don't give up.

 

[diamc]

Here's a video that looks VERY helpful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpN18L3aZvU Good luck

And another, this is done by a vet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BbTokTwjI

It's important to rub his throat to make sure he is swallowing it.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You can try using a swab to gently get him to open his mouth to help in getting some food into him.
He should like the baby food if he would just try it out!
The Powersun mercury vapor bulb is great, as long as your tank is large enough to support it. You need a 40 gallon minimum, just to be sure it doesn't overheat a smaller tank. A 100 watt will need to be 12 inches away from him & a 160 watt will need to be 16 or so inches from him, for safety.
Otherwise, the Reptisun 10 tube bulb, will be just fine, being sure it takes up 3/4th or so of the length of the tank.
How is he doing today?

Tracie

 

[diamc]

How is Raider doing? Hope you were able to get some food into him & that he is acting better.

 

[Jlynn5974]

Thank you to everyone who has helped out. Took Raider back to the vet today. They gave him a shot and some carnivore care. I got him to eat twice today but I think just all the stress was to much for him and he passed away tonight. Super upset. Didn't realize I was so attached to him.

 

[diamc]

Oh, I am SO sorry. You tried so hard to help him out. Your whole family must be devastated. We sure can get attached to them so quickly, makes it so hard when something goes wrong.

Did the vet have any idea what was wrong? Did he say what the shot was for?

RIP Raider

 

[PogoLover]

That is so sad. It is amazing how quickly you can become attached to these little guys. I had no idea that it was possible to become attached to a reptile until recently. Sorry for your loss.