I'd like to know what went wrong... because I have no clue.

[DragonFire12000]

My beardie, Mushu, died late at night on Thursday February 4th 2009. He was only here for such a short, short time. I have no idea what went wrong! Before one night, I noticed nothing was wrong. He always ate right, and got active, I gave him calcium on his crix every other day, I bathed him, cleaned his cage practically daily. But on Thursday at about 6:30, I went to go feed him again after my dinner. And he was fine after the 1st cricket, but then once he chomped the second one down, he started to shake all his feet, then his body, then his head and tail started thrashing around, then he opened his mouth, and every stopped. Even his breathing... So my dad got him breathing again and everything. All was fine, except his back feet. It was like they were paralyzed. Then came round two. Me and my dad kept him going till the end of round 6...

If anyone knows what went wrong... PLEASE TELL ME! ITS DRIVING ME INSANE! I wish he were still her...

RIP Mushu.

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Hello,

I am so sorry you lost your Mushu. I'm sure you will miss him dearly. I can't really give you any answers as to why your beardie passed away. I could try but I would only be guessing. I am going to pm Tracie(drache613) for you, maybe she can offer some answers. I'm sure it is troubling you as to why he didn't make it. It sounds as if you loved Mushu alot, please don't be to hard on yourself sweetie, these things happen. Just remember the good times you had with your little bearded friend. He is in a much better place now and I'm sure he knew how much you loved him.

Take care,

Dawn

 

[Ethelia]

Hello there,

Im so sorry for your loss. What a scary experience for you aswell.
By the sounds of it your dragon may have choked. I have read on these forums a few previous occations when dragons have been eating fine and all of a sudden started to thrash and spasm as your baby did.
In both instances the dragons were eating the same sized food they have always had, they just got excited by their food and got very very unlucky.
In the last instance I read about the owner too was able to revive his dragon but only to have him pass away later that night on his lap.

This is, of course, just my guess.
Im very sorry for your loss, Im sure little Mushu is in a very happy place now hunting down all the crix he could ever want.

Holly

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am sorry that you lost your dragon in that manner, that is very devastating for you.
If you would like to go over your tank setup, we can help determine what the problem could have been. It sounds like either an impaction or metabolic bone disease due to lack of UVB exposure.


Tracie

 

[DragonFire12000]

Hello there,

Im so sorry for your loss. What a scary experience for you aswell.
By the sounds of it your dragon may have choked. I have read on these forums a few previous occations when dragons have been eating fine and all of a sudden started to thrash and spasm as your baby did.
In both instances the dragons were eating the same sized food they have always had, they just got excited by their food and got very very unlucky.
In the last instance I read about the owner too was able to revive his dragon but only to have him pass away later that night on his lap.

This is, of course, just my guess.
Im very sorry for your loss, Im sure little Mushu is in a very happy place now hunting down all the crix he could ever want.

Holly

Yes. My dad and I were able to revive him till round 6. It was the most scary thing I have probably been through. She just started to SHAKE in my HAND. *shivers* My dad thought he choked as well.

Yes. Very scary
~Kendyl~

 

[DragonFire12000]

Hello,

I am sorry that you lost your dragon in that manner, that is very devastating for you.
If you would like to go over your tank setup, we can help determine what the problem could have been. It sounds like either an impaction or metabolic bone disease due to lack of UVB exposure.


Tracie

Well. He had a log. Just like anyone else. And a rock. Not a heat rock. And paper towels for the bottom of the cage. He was just a baby still. Mama worried he might eat sand . And a 40 watt ZOO MED red bulb. My friend lost her beardie to an infection quite awhile ago. He too, died right after a worm. We get our worms from the same pet shop. Could this be the problem?

 

[DragonFire12000]

Hello,

I am so sorry you lost your Mushu. I'm sure you will miss him dearly. I can't really give you any answers as to why your beardie passed away. I could try but I would only be guessing. I am going to pm Tracie(drache613) for you, maybe she can offer some answers. I'm sure it is troubling you as to why he didn't make it. It sounds as if you loved Mushu alot, please don't be to hard on yourself sweetie, these things happen. Just remember the good times you had with your little bearded friend. He is in a much better place now and I'm sure he knew how much you loved him.

Take care,

Dawn

Thanks. I do miss him. A lot. I don't think it was my fault for his death. I was doing everything right. As said in the first post. Nothing different. Maybe a worm had a disease or something. Thats how my friends beardie died (he too, was VERY young.) And we get our worms from the same place. Her's died EXACTLY the same way as well.

 

[LJean]

Well. He had a log. Just like anyone else. And a rock. Not a heat rock. And paper towels for the bottom of the cage. He was just a baby still. Mama worried he might eat sand . And a 40 watt ZOO MED red bulb. My friend lost her beardie to an infection quite awhile ago. He too, died right after a worm. We get our worms from the same pet shop. Could this be the problem?

Sorry for you loss.
Do you know what the basking temps were?
Was there also a bright white light in there?
Were you using a UVB light?

 

[DragonFire12000]

Well. He had a log. Just like anyone else. And a rock. Not a heat rock. And paper towels for the bottom of the cage. He was just a baby still. Mama worried he might eat sand . And a 40 watt ZOO MED red bulb. My friend lost her beardie to an infection quite awhile ago. He too, died right after a worm. We get our worms from the same pet shop. Could this be the problem?

Sorry for you loss.
Do you know what the basking temps were?
Was there also a bright white light in there?
Were you using a UVB light?

Yes. Basking temps were 90-110 while the light is on and got no lower than 65 when off.
No white light.
Yes it was UVB.

 

[DragonFire12000]

Maybe this will help you guys out...

How old is your dragon? 6 months old
How long have you had your dragon? about 5 months
How long is your dragon? was almost 7 inches long before he died
What is the sex of your dragon? Male I believe.
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 10 g
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? paper towels
Do you use UVB lights? yes
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? fluorescent tube
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? ZOOMED 40 wat
How old is your UVB bulb? New
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? about 5 inches, but never goes that close.
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? no
What are the basking temps? 90 - 110
What is the cool side temp? 75-85, mostly stays in the 70's
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? stick on...
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? I have two. One in the cool side and one in the basking side.
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? no. just a normal rock
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. meal worms, small crix, and mustard greens. He will except no other than those 3 things...
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? some in the morning. Most int the afternoon and night.
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? yes
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? Yes. I use calcium on his crickets, it is T-Rex dragon dust. I use it every other day on her crickets.
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? I did notice that he wasn't pooping as much. He usually pooped everyday. But lately it was like... once ever 3 days...........
Do you bath your dragon? How often? Yes. I bathe him everyday for 5-10 minutes.
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? Yes. I mist 2-4 times a day, and offer it fresh water daily
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? no. he was my first and only baby
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? no. i was intending to soon, right before he died... i didnt even get the chance

 

[LJean]

Will bump this up for those who know more how to help find out what happened.
My condolences to you on your loss.

 

[DragonFire12000]

Will bump this up for those who know more how to help find out what happened.
My condolences to you on your loss.

Thanks. Means a lot to me. It's literally driving me out of my own mind. Doing whatever I can to figure this out, hopefully learning from my mistakes... But mistakes hurt

 

[AndyAMP88]

I am very sorry for your loss. He is loving his new home though with all the fellow beardies.
You mentioned your friend's beardie died the same way from worms from the same shop, correct? What "worms" are you referring to? And how big/long were they?

 

[DragonFire12000]

I am very sorry for your loss. He is loving his new home though with all the fellow beardies.
You mentioned your friend's beardie died the same way from worms from the same shop, correct? What "worms" are you referring to? And how big/long were they?

Hope he's having a good time up there, and not missing me as much as I miss him
And yes. My friends beardie, Squish (LOL), died from a virus caused by worms. We got our worms from the same pet shop too.
The worms im talking about are meal worms. Most of them weren't even 1 inch long. The were safe for my little baby to gobble down (length wise. they weren't to big for him. he never had any trouble with it till the night).

Missing Mushu,
~Kendyl

 

[protiemama]

Awww, Kendyl. I'm so sorry about Mushu. Also sorry to hear your friends little one died as well.
Yes, mistakes do hurt a lot. That's why we are going to try to fix this- before you get another one. so you don't have to go through this again. Hopefully Tracie will have an idea or two and this will help too.

Now let's get started. You never said- Is your uvb Repti-SUN or Repti-GLO. It makes a big difference. You will want Repti-SUN 10.0 for your dragon's best health. Also 10 gal is way too small. Get on Craig's list or go to some yard sales and you can often find cheap ones that way.
Your temps may not have been as spot on as it looked. Stick on thermometers can be off by 10-20 degrees. Get yourself a digital. As I said they are only $12-$14 at WalMart. It makes a big difference.

The main culprit in dear Mushu's passing was probably the meal worms. Even small ones are mostly shell and will bind a dragon up inside. Young dragons have a couple of kinks in their intestons and things get caught up in there and won't pass on through. Crickets are fine and Phoenix worms are great. PWs are small and all soft AND they are loaded with calcium naturally. You can order them and your crix online and they come right to your door! They are really cheaper that way even with shipping. And feeders bought online are less prone to disease than those from the pet shop.

Tracie can you add to this? I'm sure I'm missing something. :dontknow:

Sandy H