help! beardie got sick over the weekend : (

[dissonance]

I acquired Mushu about 2 weeks ago, and I believe he is 1-2 months of age. Before leaving for Las Vegas this past Friday, he was perfectly normal, extremely active, and eating well. Since I'd only be gone from Friday afternoon thru Sunday night, I figured I'd feed him crickets before right before leaving for Las Vegas and left dry pellet food to carry him over until I come back. Darwin, a smaller younger beardie that lives with Mushu was perfectly fine (I know they're solitary but they seem to get along fine). Mushu on the other hand seemed very ill. He was extremely pale and did not react to my handling of him which is unusual since he usually makes me chase him around a bit first. I'm not sure if lethargic is the right word. If you saw him, you'd think he was dying (eyes hardly kept open, immobile). I did find stools around the enclosure which seemed pretty normal save for one blob of gelatinous stool which was presumably produced by Mushu. I attempted to give Mushu a warm bath and abdomen rub down but Mushu wouldn't support his head over the water so I gave up on that rather quickly. I put Mushu on his favorite basking spot which he barely latched on to. A couple of minutes later, he made a sudden movement looking quite alive, straightened out his tail, and produced another wet stool. I was unable to take a picture during, but got pictures of the aftermath:

His... uhm... exit port? still looked a little stressed:

Aside from a vet visitation, any theory as to what's wrong with Mushu? I'm thinking its impaction, but the crickets and worms I've been feeding them are small and Darwin, the smaller beardie, is perfectly fine. The only theory I have is that Mushu could have ingested a piece of bark from one of the enclosure decorations. Otherwise, the substrate is just reptile carpet and the food has been kept smaller than the width of their eyes.

Any help resolving Mushu's ailment would be much appreciated. Here he is 5 days ago, perfectly normal:

 

[AMHaak]

I really do not know what to tell you. It could be a number of different things that could be wrong with your beardie. If you could please answer these question, and maybe someone with a little more experience could help you out. Also, I would strongly suggest that you separate your beardies. They could turn on each other at any time. I read some post on this website where people have had two beardie living together and they were fine for a very long time, and then one day they would just attack each other.



How old is your dragon?
How long have you had your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What is the sex of your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?

 

[keschete]

I would suggest you take him to a vet. You can try to see if he will eat baby chicken and baby squash gerbers baby food with a small dropper or syringe. A young bearded dragon needs to eat 2 to 3 times a day and many will not eat the pellet food. He also might be dehydrated, because pellet food has very little moisture and if he doesn't drink water....well, it doesn't take long as a tiny little baby to dehydrate.

 

[dissonance]

Thanks for the replies. I was going to take Mushu to the vet today, but unfortunately, he didn't make it. : (

It was pretty painful to watch him die. There were no external indication of trauma so I doubt Darwin had anything to do with it. The only thing I can think of is that Darwin was purchased from a breeder while Mushu was bought at a pet store and apparently pet store beardies are more prone to parasites. By the time Mushu died, he was quite scrawny as if all the stools leading to his death just made him worse. I can't say for sure if it was impaction or gastroinstestinal infection / parasites, but hours before he died, he did suddenly squirm from time to time as if there was some internal discomfort. He was not taking an drops of water and seemed too weak to want to do anything save for the sudden squirming.

As aforementioned, Darwin was the younger and smaller of the two, and Mushu ate a healthy amount of crickets before I left for the weekend. I fed them twice a day, so at worst he missed 4 feedings (Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening, Sunday morning). It may still seem like a lot of meals to miss, but the fact that Darwin was fine leads me to believe that the outcome wouldn't have been much different except that I may have been able to take Mushu to the vet at the earliest sign of illness.

 

[zebraflavencs]

I may have missed this, but were they housed separately? If not, then Darwin needs to have a fecal exam done, just in case. Also that sounds as if Mushu had a form of MBD. All that twitching...
Janie.

 

[dissonance]

I may have missed this, but were they housed separately? If not, then Darwin needs to have a fecal exam done, just in case. Also that sounds as if Mushu had a form of MBD. All that twitching...
Janie.

Yes, they were housed together, and yes, I plan to get a fecal exam done for Darwin.

The twitching only occured in the final hours leading up to his death and it looked like he was trying to poop something out. It looked more like writhing than twitching. At any rate, having a vet check stool samples early on is a great tip regardless if the beardie looks healthy or not. Would you happen to know how much stool sample tests typically cost?

 

[zebraflavencs]

Depending on the vet, anywhere from $20-50 from what I understand. Mine normally charges for an unseen animal $32. For reg patients is less.
Janie.

 

[AMHaak]

I am very sorry to hear about your loss. I hope Darwin is ok. Keep us posted.