On Wednesday I came home from work at around 2-3PM to find my 10 year old dragon limp and lifeless in the corner of the tank with his mouth hanging open.
I immediately tried giving him a warm bath to try to revive him, but there was no response, lightly applying the daily eye drops the vet had given me did not elicit any response at all either.
I double checked his temperatures, checked the tank for any sign of a bug or anything harmful getting in during the 3 hours I was gone and found nothing so I gently placed him back in the tank near his basking area in hopes of him waking up but he just remained lifeless for hours.
Every few hours I tried to drip warm water on him to help him hydrate and maybe wake him but no response. I picked him up a few times that day, as well as yesterday and I'm positive I felt movement or vibration but I think I'm just feeling my own pulse through his body. Wednesday evening he became very bloated in the midsection, while before he was quite underweight due to poor care he had been receiving prior to coming to live with me in February (he had been on a hand fed diet of syringe fed powder supplement 2x daily +liquid calcium 1 x daily and recovering quite well, gaining 40 grams in the two weeks after beginning the diet. The vet had recommended a goal weight gain of another 110gr, and his blood test showed an improvement as well). I was going to start trying to transition slowly into some pureed vegetables to get his taste for veggies back and wean off the powder mix.
He hasn't been as stiff as I would expect from a dead animal, and hasn't shown any of the other signs I've read like sunken eyes(his eyes have not been open more than a few seconds in months so that may not mean anything), but I'm starting to think that the puffiness in his abdomen is the blood starting to pool. He has had no smell, his tail is limp and no discharge from his nose until a few minutes ago, and his previously slightly open mouth is now fully closed and won't open.
I've spent the better part of the past day and a half sitting by his tank watching him either directly or the corner of my eye and keep convincing myself that I see faint movement but I'm fairly sure I was just getting a little hysterical.
About an hour ago I picked him up for one last time in hopes that he would finally come back and I think I felt movement inside of his stomach. After no response again, I tried to slowly turn him over to see if there was any reaction and his beard made a gulping movement and it felt like he took a deep breath at around the half way point so I turned him back to normal he made last gasping noise and a greyish green fluid with a very, very awful smell starting pouring out of his nose.
At this point I'm almost certain he is dead, but I just want to confirm before I freeze him and make his pain worse before he finally goes. I want to get a memorial plaque made of him which is why I'm freezing his body.
I immediately tried giving him a warm bath to try to revive him, but there was no response, lightly applying the daily eye drops the vet had given me did not elicit any response at all either.
I double checked his temperatures, checked the tank for any sign of a bug or anything harmful getting in during the 3 hours I was gone and found nothing so I gently placed him back in the tank near his basking area in hopes of him waking up but he just remained lifeless for hours.
Every few hours I tried to drip warm water on him to help him hydrate and maybe wake him but no response. I picked him up a few times that day, as well as yesterday and I'm positive I felt movement or vibration but I think I'm just feeling my own pulse through his body. Wednesday evening he became very bloated in the midsection, while before he was quite underweight due to poor care he had been receiving prior to coming to live with me in February (he had been on a hand fed diet of syringe fed powder supplement 2x daily +liquid calcium 1 x daily and recovering quite well, gaining 40 grams in the two weeks after beginning the diet. The vet had recommended a goal weight gain of another 110gr, and his blood test showed an improvement as well). I was going to start trying to transition slowly into some pureed vegetables to get his taste for veggies back and wean off the powder mix.
He hasn't been as stiff as I would expect from a dead animal, and hasn't shown any of the other signs I've read like sunken eyes(his eyes have not been open more than a few seconds in months so that may not mean anything), but I'm starting to think that the puffiness in his abdomen is the blood starting to pool. He has had no smell, his tail is limp and no discharge from his nose until a few minutes ago, and his previously slightly open mouth is now fully closed and won't open.
I've spent the better part of the past day and a half sitting by his tank watching him either directly or the corner of my eye and keep convincing myself that I see faint movement but I'm fairly sure I was just getting a little hysterical.
About an hour ago I picked him up for one last time in hopes that he would finally come back and I think I felt movement inside of his stomach. After no response again, I tried to slowly turn him over to see if there was any reaction and his beard made a gulping movement and it felt like he took a deep breath at around the half way point so I turned him back to normal he made last gasping noise and a greyish green fluid with a very, very awful smell starting pouring out of his nose.
At this point I'm almost certain he is dead, but I just want to confirm before I freeze him and make his pain worse before he finally goes. I want to get a memorial plaque made of him which is why I'm freezing his body.