Help! Baby Clayton

[adkpugmom]

Clayton is my first bearded dragon . Today he seems very lethargic and is not eating and what I think is a cough... he is sleeping on my chest with eyes closed , he has his eyes closed allot and then like a choke startle movement and then he holds his head up and makes like a cough or clearing your throat sound ... lay his head back down and it happens again ... I called my vet but they are not in today and the emergency is very expensive. Anyone have advice, ideas or information . I would so greatly welcome any. Thank You !! :?: :?: :?: :| :|

 

[Esther19]

I'm sorry your dragon is not well. It sounds like a respiratory infection. If you have a water dish in his cage, please remove it, as the water will cause the humidity in the cage to rise. Do not bathe him. Try to keep the temps in the viv at 80 degrees overnight with a ceramic heat emitter. I would make a vet appt. for tomorrow.

 

[adkpugmom]

no vets in my area will take him but petco said they would take him back and i could rebuy him again but that scares me and i dont want him to go through any stress. his temp is 110 in basking area and at night our house is at 70 , no lights he is in a box with a flan. blanket. I just was giving him a warm bath as to help him poop or get water but he would not even hold his head up!!! I held it up for him , if i didnt he would just put his head under water and not lift it up !!!!! Im so scared and worried , I do not have cal. sand in his viv , I took it out now petco tells me he needs that sand in there for calcium ??????????? I dont know if I should put it back in his viv or not !! ?????

 

[ShannyBeard]

I don't know what is wrong with him but please do not put the sand back. The sand is not good for him, I promise you it will not do anything good to put the sand back in there. He will be fine on reptile carpet or papertowels.

It does sound like a respiratory infection to me also. This would require veterinary care and medication. Is your vet a reptile vet and are they in the office tomorrow? I would use a PetSmart vet as a last resort.

 

[adkpugmom]

ok i didnt want cal sand back in there . no vets in my area so far take beardies. i put his calcium powder in water and am trying to feed it with a dropper but i cant get his mouth open

 

[ShannyBeard]

ok i didnt want cal sand back in there . no vets in my area so far take beardies. i put his calcium powder in water and am trying to feed it with a dropper but i cant get his mouth open

Have you been dusting his feeders with calcium? I'm not sure giving him calcium water is going to help you.

 

[adkpugmom]

yes he ate a dusted cricket last night but nothing today... and he looks darker to me both on top and underneath

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sorry Clayton is not doing well.
What UVB are you using, a fluorescent tube bulb or a compact/coil light? What type of basking light are you using?
Do you have a digital probe or a temp gun to measure the temperatures? What sized tank are you using?
The calcium sand does not need to be in her tank, it will impact her. For calcium supplementation, you can use calcium powder mixed in with some baby food daily, if you can get her to lick food off of her nose. Mixing a small amount up with water is fine, also.
Is she eating anything at all?
As suggested, keep his tank around 80 overnight to help with her immune system. It sounds like a respiratory infection based on her symptoms. Try to keep her humidity to less than 30% right now, to help.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[adkpugmom]

Clayton is doing well and eating small crickets, small super worms and some greens. He used to lay on me and cuddle now that he has been feeling better he walks on me and off me onto the bed, he went fast and fell of my bed. I was worried but he walked ok after his fall. I'm sad. He wont cuddle with me now

 

[ShannyBeard]

Clayton is doing well and eating small crickets, small super worms and some greens. He used to lay on me and cuddle now that he has been feeling better he walks on me and off me onto the bed, he went fast and fell of my bed. I was worried but he walked ok after his fall. I'm sad. He wont cuddle with me now

Sometimes a sign that an animal is sick is that it is just too easy to handle and lays with you too much. When we were researching Savannah Monitors, before we got one, we saw warnings not to buy the ones that seem too tame. So to me, it would make sense that Clayton must be feeling better if he has more energy.

Do you feel confident in his set up, lights and temps? Tracie had asked some questions and gave some advice about the sand - they are really good places to start checking if you have a dragon that hasn't been feeling 100%. If you can answer her questions she can rule out things that could have caused him to not feel good.

 

[adkpugmom]

Clayton has been hunting baby crickets..eating super worms and on rare veggies....not much a cuddled now and gets up and walks off me! Glad he is feeling better though

 

[adkpugmom]

I use a 10.0 reptisun coil Uv light