i think my daughters beardie is sick.

[littleunicorn2]

my daughter just got her beardies and everything has been going fine. feeding, bathroom, activity great. then today one of her beardies has not eaten all day. they are babies and we are not sure what to do. does anyone have some advice for us to try before we take pax to the vet. is it normal sometimes for the beardie to be home sick? my daughter had a backing in her cage that the beardie would climb on but she took that out cause crickets where getting behind there. could it be that the beardie is upset about that? any thoughts would be appreciated. thank you

 

[Goonie]

[Moved from Website Comments to Health]

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It is common for beardies to exhibit relocation stress days after arrival.

Had Pax been moving or basking at all? Or had he been hiding in a dark/cold corner with his eyes closed?
When was the ladt time he had a bowel movement? What was the texture of the poop? Was it overly stinky?

 

[Esther19]

Are the babies housed together?

 

[littleunicorn2]

they are housed together and when pax first got here he was outgoing and alert. he was also basking as much as her other beardie (czarcadius). pax's bowel movements are small with a real milky brown color, but odorless. not runny but squishy. and he has been pooping regularly. when pax is in the cage he doesnt move much but when he is outside of the cage he moves fine.

 

[craniomom1]

It sounds like your female is dominating Pax..I would suggest that they be seperated..Beardies are loners,they only get together for breeding and then go about their business..I hope Pax starts getting back to his little active self soon..

 

[littleunicorn2]

but czarcadius isnt doing anything to show dominance. neither one of them are showing signs of domination. and i havent found out yet weather they are boys or girls yet. pax is the same today but he is only eating one cricket now at every meal time. but iv noticed pax is also changing colors. pax will go from a light gray to a dark gray and back again. iv gotten him to drink some water but that doesnt seem to be the problem. i dont want to seperate the babies because i only have one tank for one and i was told that if you raise them together as babies they should be fine together. the last thing i want to do is seperate them.

 

[patrickmb21]

So what are the temps and what kind of uvb source are you using and how big is their enclosure?

Eventually you will have to seperate them in the future, its not a good idea to keep them together because as they grow they become more dominant and will start to fight over everything and possibly losing a limb or two

 

[beatleschic87]

Pet stores give a lot of wrong information unfortunately. My first dragon died because I did "what the pet store said."
Trust the people on here more than the petstore. Baby beardies are not supposed to be housed together, unless they're breeding. It creates stress for them and they are constantly going to try and dominate the other. Maybe you just haven't seen the domination but I assure you, your beardie is stressed and dominated. I know you may think it's cruel to separate them, but trust me. It's cruel to keep them in a stressful situation. You can get really reasonably priced terrariums from www.petmountain.com. Move him to his new home with his new set up and see if his behavior changes.

 

[daner923]

A lot of people miss the signs of domination. The biggest one is stacking - if one is sitting on the other, that is domination. If one is basking and the other is sitting inactive on the floor, the one on the basking spot is dominating the others. I was at PetSmart the other day, and was watching the beardies. One baby was sickly, unable to lift its head. I pointed it out to the store manager, and she took him back to get treated. Of the other three, two were stacking, and one was running all over the place. Then, suddenly, the one that was running all over the place took his nose and knocked the other two off the basking spot to the floor! :shock: Even as babies they can wreak havok on each other. I am pretty sure that's what's going on for you, too.

 

[jacody]

I agree w/ daner.. no one wants to hear criticism, but for the safety and health of your pets you should get another set-up to separate them before anything happens that could be prevented.. thin of how you'd feel if it did and you didn't separate them in time..

 

[littleunicorn2]

here is an update on pax and said to say the condition isnt better. he has been in a tank on his own, he is only eating a couple of crickets a day, but is being feed repti-boost. has proper lighting. we ended up bringing him back to petsmart and their vet looked at him and started an antiboitic . we have went to see him, he is starting to gain a little weight, but seems to not move much at all and hardly opens his eyes. the vet doesnt know whats wrong with him. we were told that after the meds if we wanted to adopt him back we could, but it doesnt seem like a bright future for pax. needless to say my daughter and i feel like we just abandoned him. when this friday comes i want to adopt him back. is there anything else that someone could think of to do? should i take him to a private vet. could it be that he is going through brumation? my daughter did get another beardie in place of pax. but we still feel the same about pax. we miss him alot even though we had him only 1 1/2 weeks. they grow on you...
how long can it take to bounce back if its stress?

 

[daner923]

It isn't just stress if he is on antibiotics, I hope. Medicine is very hard on their systems. Please do not adopt him back and put him in a tank with another beardie.

 

[patrickmb21]

I dont think its stress because the symptoms dont match and he his to young for brumation, they usually dont brumate until they are at least 1 years old, hope you guys the best of luck

 

[ohmybandit]

Hey there, I'm sorry your little guy is sick! I know when bandit had parasites she was so lethargic it made me sad to see her like that. I refused to do the return thing for vet care because I was convinced someone was going to buy her before I had the chance to return lol. I do still use the banfield vet for my little girl because the vet LOVES her and babies her lol.
I see no one posted the link about cohabitation, it's really worth reading to know what you're getting into, http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=154908

 

[littleunicorn2]

the doctor put him on antibiotics just in case of infection, and parasites, the only other thing i have heard is that he was dehydrated, even though we were spraying him and bathing and feeding him water