HELP beardie not eating

[MichaelandAlison]

please help we got 2 beardies 5 weeks ago both aged less than 1 week old from a pet shop/breader (very good reputation). however 1 beardie who we named toffee started to look unwell and sleeping nearly all day we tryed to get fluids in her we also gave plenty of warm baths she then went of her food then saturday morning we call the vet as she had a sezuire he advised to bring her to the surgery at 9am however at 8.15am she passed away. however fudge the 2nd dragon started to look sick and sleeping alot also we have been given antibiotics by the vet which we have managed to get into him he is alot better and is becoming more active and not sleeping as much however he is still not eating hour ever been getting a lot of fluids ( diluted apple jucie with antibotic AS INSTRUCTED BY THE VET) we have tryed greens, locusts, crickeds and wax worms he looks at them but not intrested please help. he did eat loved his crickets

as he is small we are not sure if he is male or female.
day temp is 30 basking spot 32
night temp is 27-28
we have a reptiglow 10.0 uv light on 12 hours a day
cermic heater
main diet was crickets (small)few wax worms
green cabbage (cut very small), grated apple grated carrot
3ft by 2ft viv
was on beech chipping now on paper
has pleanty of hides and rocks to climb

please help us can't lose fudge IS THERE ANY THING WE CAN DO TO TRY AND GET HIM TO EAT SOMETHING
michael and alison

 

[B3ardi3Lov3r]

Sorry for your loss,

Does he show stress marks on the under side of his belly? Maybe he needs a good luke warm water soak to help ease his stress. I am not too sure, but cabbage is not much of an everyday feeder. I use http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutritionframeset.html as a guide to what can be eaten everyday and what not. Hope your baby feels better and gets his appetite back.

 

[MichaelandAlison]

not sure on the stress marks little fella a sleep at the min but due for his antibotic soon will chek when i give it to him. thankyou for taking time to reply
alison and michael

 

[Rachella]

Hello!

I'm sorry to hear about the baby beardie. I hope a solution can be found for your second one and I really hope he/she can get better soon!

I wanted to ask about the temperatures. First thing is are those Celsius degrees? If so, according to this nifty conversion I found online, his basking temperature is only 86-89 degrees. If that's the case it is extremely low for a beardie! Even an adult one! Babies need a basking temperature 100-110 degrees F to properly digest their food. Without that heat they can and will become impacted and his/her decreased appetite can definitely be a sign of this. Pick them up and gently feel his/her tummy for anything large or noticeable. Try giving him a warm bath with a gentle tummy massage and definitely increase those basking temperatures! The cool side of the tank would be alright at 80-90, but that basking temp needs raised ASAP if I read those temps right.

How's his bowel movements? Is he pooping regularly? What about his hydration?

What are you using to take the temperatures? Stick-on therms can be off by as much as 20 degrees. You're most accurate and reliable reading would be done with a digital thermometer, picked up for about 10-12 bucks at Wal-Mart.

While I don't think the cabbage is a cause of the problem I thought I'd also mention that it isn't entirely reliable as a staple vegetable. Try switching over to collard or dandelion greens, they're healthier for a staple green veggie. The apple and carrots doesn't raise any alarms.

I hope we can get this guy eating again!

Also, you -might- try phoenix worms. They're small, high in calcium and -extremely- wiggly. If he's not impacted they might have a chance to jump-start his appetite.

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Hello Alison and Michael and Welcome!

I am so sorry to hear that you lost your beardie, Toffee. Hopefully we can help you so that Fudge will live a long and healthy life.

You have received alot of great info ...I'm just going to add a bit more. Let's see if we can get your set up straightened out. Heating and uvb are very important to the health and well being of your beardie. With that being said...let's start with the uvb. Unfortunately, the ReptiGlo 10 is not a very good bulb and is linked to a number of health issues among beardies.
The best fluorescent tube uvb's on the market are the ReptiSun 10.0 or the Arcadia 12%(in the UK). You need to get one of these two bulbs as soon as possible.

I did not notice anything about a basking bulb. Do you have a bright white basking bulb or are you using the ceramic heat emitter as your heat/basking source?
Along with the UVB, you must have a bright white light for basking. You can use a household halogen flood light.

As Rachella mentioned...your temps need to be taken with either a digital thermometer w/long wire and probe or a temp gun. You will not get accurate temps with any other type of thermometer.

With a young beardie your basking temps need to be 40*C-43*C and your coolside temps need to be 26*C-29*C.
You mentioned night time temps of 27*C-28*C. Beardies need a cooler temp at night to sleep. You do not need any heat in the enclosure at night unless the temps drop below 18*C...if they drop below the 18*C, then you can use the ceramic heat emitter.


As for feeding...the phoenix worms that Rachella suggested are great for babies and are loaded with calcium. Always keep in mind that a beardie should not eat anything bigger than the space between it's eyes. The crickets are a great staple, but the waxworms should only be given as an occassional treat.

Definitely give Fudge warm water soaks, checking for any lumps in his belly. He could also be dehydrated if the temps are too high. This is why it is extremely important you use the correct type of thermometer, so that you may be able to get accurate temps.

I am going to pm a moderator to help you further with the symptoms that Fudge is showing and get their input.

 

[diamc]

Hi, sorry to hear about Fudge, that is SO sad. Those beardies were way to small to be sold at such a very small size. The smaller the beardie, the more particular they are about their setup and care & it doesn't take much to throw their whole system off.

You have been given some great info already, Dawn asked me to take a look at your thread, so here I am. Regarding the Repti-Glo bulb, is it a coil/compact or fluorescent bulb? How far away do you have it from your beardie? You need to improve the basking temp as was suggested because otherwise your baby won't be able to digest anything at all and will have all sorts of problems. Without the proper temps, the food can literally rot in his stomach so it is a necessity that you get a good thermometer and get those temps fixed asap.

Do you know the name of the antibiotic that you're giving? Did the vet have you start a probiotic to help restore the good gut flora? That is also a necessity. Some probiotics are Benebac, Acidophilus, soy yogurt (non-dairy) to name a few. You can mix any of those with a little chicken or turkey baby food & also some baby food squash. Use a plastic medicine dropper or needleless syringe to put drops on his nose for him to lick off. Babies can't go very long without protein, so using that mixture will help give him a boost.

What type of substrate are you using on the bottom of the tank? If any type of loose substrate, it is a huge impaction risk for a baby as they lick everything & are clumsy eaters, so we suggest non-adhesive shelf liner, slate tiles, reptile carpet or even paper towels.

It's also important to use a bright white basking bulb as Dawn also mentioned, so please fill us in on the size of the tank and that will help us judge what wattage bulb should be used until you get the digital with probe or temperature gun.

I would also go easy on the cabbage & carrots, dark greens are best, please refer to this list for the best to feed which are listed in green ink. http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

The sooner you get back to us, the quicker we can help this little baby.

 

[MichaelandAlison]

Thank you all for your help
we have raise the temp in the viv also the name of the antibiotic is baytril 2.5% we have been mixing it with 50ml pure apple juice and 50ml water and 0.1 ml of baytril as per vets instruction which seems to be doing the trick he much more lively taking plenty of fluids and also today he seems to be taking a interest in the crickets almost ate one until it got a way we are also using newspaper at moment as substrate he also having plenty of warm baths and there are no stress marks hopefully he will pull round thanks you again everyone for your kind support

Thanks Alison & Michael

 

[dna14]

How is Fudge doing today? So sorry to hear about your loss. You are obviously doing the right thing trying to make a good home and came to the right place for advice. Newspaper is good but our beardie didn't like the noise of it and the ink. When we put it in she would not come down from her basking spot... Just an idea- ours love the non-adhesive shelf liner, I've also heard paper towels is a good alternative, we use it in the baths and works great! We have not tried repti-carpet.