help us!

[sharon1304]

we have bought some baby bearded dragons, we have had 4 over the last month. one died from impaction caused by food eaten in the shop? another died from a injury to its neck, now another one that seemed fine has gone down hill, for the last 2 weeks it has been running round its viv, eating anything up to 10 crickets a feed, all dusted wiv calcium powder. and the occasional salad. now it has just been sleepy all day. to start with it was hard to pick up, now you canpick it up no worry, dont seem interested in its surroundings, what are we doing wrong? we seem to have them 2 weeks then they go down hill. please help us, it is upsetting our children keep losing our babies.
sharon and neil owners to 2 baby beardies.

 

[Elora]

Are they housed together?
Bearded dragons should not be housed together. This sounds like exactly what happend to me. I had 2 babies housed together and one became dominant over the other. The smaller one stopped growing, stopped eating and moving and I almost lost her. Luckily I came here and was told to separate them. I separated them and helped the little one get her appetite back by feeding her baby food with a plastic syringe. Finally she started eating on her own again. She is still small but I know that she would have died if i hadn't of separated them.

Also if you could go over your tank set up that would help too. Bearded dragons need a source of UVB light for vitamin D which helps them absorb calcium. What brand and type of UVB light do you have? Babies also need a nice warm environment. What are the temps in your tank? The basking side should be around 110 and the cool side around 80. It is also important that you take the temps with a temp gun or a digital probe thermometer. Other thermometer can be way off and you cant move them easily to get the temps in different parts of the tank.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Yes, if you would run over your tank setup up with us, we can direct you better.
What type & brand of UVB are you using, is it a flourescent tube bulb or a compact or coil light? The brand should be stamped on the base of the bulb.
What type of substrate are you using, sand, tiles, paper towels, carpet?
What type of thermometer are you using to measure the temps, a stick on type of thermometer, a digital probe or a temp gun?
What sized crickets are you feeding?

Tracie

 

[sharon1304]

sadly, we found it dead this morning. we have one remaining now. it was in a 4ft tank, with a uv strip bulb, 100wt bulb, no substrate at all, just paper, and feeding it on small crickets and cress, all with calcium supplements, have since been advised to transfer remaining baby in a smaller viv, so it is now in a 3ft viv, with a 60 watt heat bulb, reptisun uv b bulb, and paper on the floor. we read temps with a digital reader at the hot spot it is , 107 f and cool spot is 86.f. really dont know what else to do now, it does seem happier at the moment in the smaller tank, it has been coming to the front and having a look at us, but then we have only had it since friday, like i said before we have them for 2 weeks then they go down hill. please help us as i cant bear to find another one dead.
sharon and neil
owner to one baby beardie called jinx!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello Sharon,

I am sorry for the loss of another one, geez!
We need to figure out what is going on.
The Reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb is fine. How close is it to him?

Where did you get them? Was the entire clutch sick? I would contact the store & start asking questions.
Your setup sounds ok. The cool area could be decreased just a tad, but that isn't enough to kill them however.
Do you notice anything strange, like any stool changes in color, consistency? Any seizures or convulsions?


Tracie

 

[LJean]

That is sad. I hope this little one does well for you.
I too was wondering if they were from the same clutch or come from the same place.

 

[sharon1304]

our last remaining one went back to the shop, they went through how we are running the viv, we had been leaving the heat lamp on all the time, they said this could be the cause of our beardies getting sick??? they took the little one back and cut us a deal on two older ones, and advised us to turn of both the uv and heat for 12hrs at night. they are both very active and of good weight so lets hope we have better luck with these!. is there anyone who can help us go through everything to make sure we doing all we can for our beardies please as we feel very jinxed with them!
sharon and neil now owners to 2 sub adults!

 

[Drache613]

Hello Sharon,

Well, it definitely is not good to leave the heat lamp & the UVB light on all night long. However, I don't think that would be the reason for them both passing away like that.
They do however, need a 10-12 hour night time cycle & a 10-12 hour day time cycle.
So they took the other little one back to try & get him back to health then? Are they going to keep him?
How are the other two juvies doing now?
I would be happy to run over your tank setup with you to make sure it is all correct, no problem.
If you want to answer all of these questions, we can run over everything for you:

********
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?
********

Tracie

 

[sharon1304]

hi tracey, yes the baby went back to the shop and they are keeping him, they advised us that we would be better off with a older beardie.
one is a really good eater, he comes to the front of the viv to watch whats going on around him, the other isnt such a good eater, and seems to prefer to bask! still looks at us when we hold her and interacts well when out of the viv.
in reply to your questions!
1 beardie is 6months old and male, the other is 4 months old and allegedly a female, although someone has told us its another male.
they are in a 4ft, by 2ft ,by 2ft viv.
they are kept on calcium sand.
uvb light is a flourescent tube, reptiglo 40 watt, 42 inch long.
its a month old.
6 inches from beardie at the highest climbing point, 16 inches from the floor.
basking bulb- 100 watt r80 reflector bulb.
basking temp 110f cool temp 86.5f
temps taken with infra red digital reader.
no heat pad or rock
size 4 (4th shed) crickets, and have been giving them curly kale as they seem to like this.
feed in the morning about a hour after the lights have come on, then in the evening a couple of hours before lights out.
yes i feed the crickets on various veg pieces.
i use nutrobal calcium supplements, got told to use this twice a week on the bugs.
the both seem to be pooing ok.
havent bathed them, didnt realise i had too!!
they have a bowl of water in the viv, that i have never seen either of them use as of yet.
both in the same viv as they were together in the shop.
no vet check as of yet.
hope that answers everything. i am really worrying as i dont want to see any more die on us!.
thank you for your support
sharon and neil worried and panacking owner of 2 sub adult beardies

 

[Elora]

Im glad you havent given up!!! Bearded dragons are just so awesome and fun to have!

Housing
So you have 2 beardies now? Please dont have them together in the same tank. If you want to make sure that there are no more accidents or dead beardies you will PLEASE for their sake and your separate them. If they are both males they will fight. Bearded dragons are territorial. A lot of the time when people have 2 young beardies together is one seems to become dominant and the other dosnt have any where else to go so he will become so stressed out that he will stop eating. This happend to me and I almost lost one. But then I came here and learned that they should not be housed together so i separated them before it was too late.

substrate
It would be a VERY good idea to remove the calci sand. I know that it says that its edible but no, it is not. Calci sand and get all mushy and thick inside a beardies stomach and plug up their digestion (impaction) This is bad news for a young beardie. Also with that kindof sand its hard keep clean. bacteria can grow in the sand even though it appears clean on top. Take that out and use paper towels for now until you get something else. You can use slate tile, nonstick shelf liner (the kind without holes) or reptile carpet (i dont prefer the carpet because their poo can sometimes be runny and it will sink down into the carpet which is hard to clean unless you take it out and wash the whole thing. Tiles are so very easy because the tile that has the poo on it can be taken out and rinsed off. Over all the calci sand is just a mess and hardens onto your beardies skin if it gets wet.

veggies
Refer to http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutritionframeset.html for the nutritional information about different veggies for your beardies. Collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens and dandelion greens are all very good for your beardies and can be found at any large grocery store. Mustard greens are kindof like kale but are better for your beardie. Kale should be fed occasionall but not for a staple. you can also try some chopped/shredded butternut squash. Beardies love this!

Lighting
I know that there is one version of the reptiGLO that is harnful to beardies eyes. Can you take a look at your bulb and tell us the verson (reptiGLO 8 or ReptiGLO 10 for example) i think the 10 is the one that is bad but im not sure on that. The reptiSUN 10 is the best tube uv light that you can get in america from what i have heard.

anyways looks like you have things under controll, just get those 2 separated, take out the calci sand, different veggies and check on the bulb for us and you should be good to go!

now we must see some pics of your new guys!!

edit: oh here is a pic of what the tile looks like

 

[sharon1304]

i would post some pics if i knew how lol!!
sharon and neil.

 

[Elora]

Have you thought about separating them yet?

 

[sharon1304]

we are hoping to get another vivarium very soon. they seem ok together at the moment, its only a short term thing, aim to have them separated very soon!!. how do i post pics of my babies on here?
sharon

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How are things going with them today? Good that you are getting another tank soon so you can get them separated. I think that they will do much better alone.
Also, the nutrabol is ok to use 2 times per week, but it will not supply enough calcium for them. Nutrabol is mostly a vitamin with calcium added. So, I recommend that you use calypso calcium or komodo calcium to ensure that they get enough calcium. The calcium needs to be given 4-5 times per week.

Tracie

 

[Drache613]

Hello Sharon,
I forgot to include how to post pictures for you. Here is a link explaining how to do that for you:

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=37103

Tracie