How concerned should I be?

[OztheDragon]

Hi All. I tried to post this on a thread I already started but for some reason I was unable too. Our little Oz still isn't eating and his poop seems to be getting weirder. Today is day 4 (I believe) of him not eating. My whole family has been sick so all my days are running together. Im worried but since this is my first beardie I'm not sure how concerned I should be. He seems less energetic and might even be sleeping some of the day which in the short time we've had him seems different. He was very alert and would move around much more than he has been. I spoke to a vets office this morning and might take him in tomorrow unless I'm overreacting? First pic is poo from a couple days ago and second pic is from today.

 

[KarrieRee]

Hi All. I tried to post this on a thread I already started but for some reason I was unable too. Our little Oz still isn't eating and his poop seems to be getting weirder. Today is day 4 (I believe) of him not eating. My whole family has been sick so all my days are running together. Im worried but since this is my first beardie I'm not sure how concerned I should be. He seems less energetic and might even be sleeping some of the day which in the short time we've had him seems different. He was very alert and would move around much more than he has been. I spoke to a vets office this morning and might take him in tomorrow unless I'm overreacting? First pic is poo from a couple days ago and second pic is from today.

Is he basking? And did you get some digital probe thermometers to get actual basking temps? Not sure about the color of the urate but the poop looks good --- concerned about the less movement tho - I am going to have AHBD take a look at your post - please post a pic of the dragon

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, like Karrie said the first thing is to list your lights + temps.. Show a pic of the entire enclosure and a pic of the dragon. How many crickets has he been eating ? Lights are one of the most important aspects of care so that's why wer'e asking so much specifically about it.
Hopefully Oz will be just fine. If everything is good with lights + temps. you might opt for a fecal test but be sure to only go to e vet that has plenty of experience with little dragons.

 

[OztheDragon]

Is he basking? And did you get some digital probe thermometers to get actual basking temps? Not sure about the color of the urate but the poop looks good --- concerned about the less movement tho - I am going to have AHBD take a look at your post - please post a pic of the dragon

He is basking. That is how he spends all his time. It seems like he is falling asleep a lot during the day instead of being more alert. I do have probes for temps and I ended up moving the UVB inside his enclosure. His basking spot is about 13 inches from the light. I did have his basking spot directly under the heat lamp but moved in yesterday to be more under his UVB and now it's cooler. 95-100. I'll try to move it partly under basking and UVB. Right now he is basking on the floor of enclosure at about 100 degrees. I will post a picture of his enclosure and him as soon as I can.

 

[OztheDragon]

Hi there, like Karrie said the first thing is to list your lights + temps.. Show a pic of the entire enclosure and a pic of the dragon. How many crickets has he been eating ? Lights are one of the most important aspects of care so that's why wer'e asking so much specifically about it.
Hopefully Oz will be just fine. If everything is good with lights + temps. you might opt for a fecal test but be sure to only go to e vet that has plenty of experience with little dragons.

He was eating 4 to 5 crickets a feeding. We offer him bugs three times a day. He has eaten a couple bsfl and the last day he ate he had 5 or 6 small dubia roaches. But like I said he hasn't eaten for 4 days and doesn't even seem interested. Pictures soon.

 

[OztheDragon]

Ok so I have pictures and I am sorry I didn't get back to you both yesterday. I was super concerned and ended up taking Oz to the vet. They did an x-ray and that was good (no impaction) and I dropped off a fecal sample today. Hopefully will get the results for that tomorrow. The vet said overall he looked good. He has a T5 10.0 inside his enclosure and his basking spot is about 13 inches from the light. His heat lamp is 75 watts and according to the probe its around 100 to 107. I've moved it into slightly different spots on the basking spot to get an accurate picture. The laser gun though says that one spot was 112. Which thermometer is more accurate? He's moving around a little more today but still seems to be mostly napping.

 

[AHBD]

He looks good as far as body weight but you can see that he doesn't feel well. If he does have parasites the vet can help with meds. Since he had been pooping the xray was not necessary, it just pumped up your bill. Now about the lights, do you have a cool side around 80 ? Sorry if I missed it. The tank is nicely decorated, good job on that so hopefully we can figure out what the problem is. Is he a pet store baby or from a breeder ?

 

[OztheDragon]

He looks good as far as body weight but you can see that he doesn't feel well. If he does have parasites the vet can help with meds. Since he had been pooping the xray was not necessary, it just pumped up your bill. Now about the lights, do you have a cool side around 80 ? Sorry if I missed it. The tank is nicely decorated, good job on that so hopefully we can figure out what the problem is. Is he a pet store baby or from a breeder ?

It's about 83 degrees on the cool side. He is a pet store baby. This may be a stupid question but how can you tell he doesn't feel well? Just posture and eyes closed?

 

[AHBD]

O.K., cool side is fine. And yes, sitting for long periods with eyes closed during the day is not normal for babies. If he has parasites the meds. should help . What is his name ? Can you go back to the store to see if the other babies still look good , that is f the same group is there ?

 

[OztheDragon]

O.K., cool side is fine. And yes, sitting for long periods with eyes closed during the day is not normal for babies. If he has parasites the meds. should help . What is his name ? Can you go back to the store to see if the other babies still look good , that is f the same group is there ?

His name is Oz or Ozzie and I was at the pet store today. Where he was when we bought him was empty but there was poop everywhere. It clearly hadn't been cleaned out for several days. It didn't look like that when we bought him but there was two other dragons with him at the time.

 

[AHBD]

Hmm, hopefully it's just parasites and nothing more serious. And sorry I forgot his name, duh, I had even used it in a previous post ! I get mixed up with the other threads I answer at times.

 

[OztheDragon]

No problem. I swear we did tons of research but what would be a more serious problem? MBD? Or another virus I can't remember the name of?

 

[AHBD]

You may be thinking of Atadenovirus. It can cause lethargy and then lots of weight loss, possible seizures and sometimes " stargazingg ", where their head + neck arch way up in the air , so much that you can't usually miss it.

 

[OztheDragon]

You may be thinking of Atadenovirus. It can cause lethargy and then lots of weight loss, possible seizures and sometimes " stargazingg ", where their head + neck arch way up in the air , so much that you can't usually miss it.

That's the one. Would it be obvious right now or symptoms kind of show up over time?

 

[AHBD]

It is also a possibility of calcium deficiency since the pet stores don't usually have adequate uvb and your bulb is a good one but was a bit out of range until you attached it under the screen. Lack of uvb will make it so the beardie can't absorb calcium. But that's still an unknown. You can get some Fluker's Repta boost as a supplement just in case.
Adenovirus symptoms can vary but can come on suddenly.