Immediate advice needed - beardie dying

[newbeardiegma]

My daughter (16) was given a bearded dragon for her birthday by her grandma, and the poor beardie is obviously dying. I need immediate assistance in knowing what to do FIRST to try to save her.

She is emaciated and gray, shriveled up -- so much so that I won't post a picture because it is heartbreaking! -- but she is still moving and breathing. Her eyes are open some of the time. She is lethargic and staying on the cool side of her cage. When I picked her up last night, she felt cool to the touch.

Here is what I know:
Purchased at a pet store on Sunday, Oct 8th
Looked fine, alert but small
Do not know the age
Size is maybe 8-10 inches from snout to tail
Her original tank (when purchased) was small, maybe 10 gallon and she was housed alone, though that was not always the case. The salesperson told my mom she was "the runt" and that her brothers got most of the live food. She had apparently been eating kale? And the salesperson fed her 2 superworms before she left the store.

She came home in a Zoo Med 20 gallon tank setup. Here are the specs:
20 Gallon Terrarium (30″ x 12″ x 12″) with sliding screen top.
Vita-Sand Outback Orange (10 lb)
Combo Repti Rock Water and Food Dishes (med.)
High Range Reptile Thermometer
ReptiSun® 5.0 Compact Florescent
Naturalistic Terrarium Hood (12″)
Repti Basking Spot Lamp (100 w)
Nocturnal Infrared Heat Lamp (100 w)
Mini Combo Deep Dome™ Lamp Fixture
Bearded Dragon Care Booklet
Bearded Dragon Food (sample)
Repti Calcium without D3 (sample)

So ... having spent hours researching, I now know this is ALL wrong!

Problems that I am sure of:
She has eaten ONLY 4-6 superworms since Sunday and has pooped 2x
She has been given a variety of other food -- spinach, orange bell pepper, soaked pellets (came with cage), apple, not sure what else? We have not seen her eat anything other than the worms.
She has been misted 2 or 3 times, and has standing water in her cage.

I know she is starving, dehydrated, cold, most assuredly impacted, and has eaten the vita-sand

I have removed the sand and cleaned out the tank, replaced the sand with some sort of Eco Carpet / Terrarium Carpet. I will put paper towels over this later this morning if she survives.

As it is early morning here, I am going to turn on her two "daytime" lights to warm up her cage put her up on her basking rock for 1 hr. Note that she has a basking rock close to the light, but I don't think she's strong enough to climb up to it! I'm going to set her up there and watch that she doesn't fall off! After an hour to warm up, I'm planning to give her a warm bath/soak and try rubbing her tummy. Hoping that I can get her to drink!! Note that I've tried rubbing her snout with water and beading it on her nose and she hasn't reacted/licked. I'm even wondering if her mouth might be stuck shut because of the sand?

There are NO crickets or live food at either of our local pet stores, and they won't have stock until Friday or Saturday. We live in a small tourist town -- Destin, FL -- with not a lot of options, I'm afraid. If she survives the morning, I am planning to get her some baby food and make a mix that I read about on here -- prunes, plain canned pumpkin, pedialyte. If she doesn't open her mouth or lick, is it OK to pry it open?

And I'm going to put her tank outside, uncovered, in the sun. Since her lighting is inadequate and I cannot fix that immediately, I am hoping some natural sunlight will benefit her.

SO ... what else can I do? What should I do first? Your gentle advice would be appreciated. Please don't beat me up for her current condition and know that I am doing what I can to help her survive. Thanks for your input! (And sorry this post was so long!)

 

[Terry15]

Don't put her outside in the tank. It will get so hot in a glass tank she will die for sure.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, I'm so sorry you've been given all the wrong advice + equipment for this poor dragon. First off she will benefit from the sun but not in a glass tank, it will cook her ! Since she's weak, just set with her in the grass. Your temps. in the high 80's can be lethal if she's on concrete or a glasstank. So, only put her in the grass + set with her.

How big were the superworms ? That, along with the sand has probably created an impaction but hopefully she'll pass it. She will probably lick up the mixture but if not you can get a small plastic syringe and gently wedge it in her mouth, pulling her lip down very gently. Sometimes it works better from the back + then slid toward the front. Be VERY gentle as you depress the plunger.

You should take back all of the lights and the book to see about a refund, pet stores are money makers now and sell a lot of jnk. You only ned one heat lamp + dome [ NO colored lights, esp. red ] Get a white basking light [ even from a Home Depot or Walmart you can get a halogen par 38 bulb ] and get a GOOD long tube uvb like Reptisun 10. t5 or Arcadia 12% D3. You may have to order online but until they come in get her in the sun for 35-45 minutes a day .

 

[Terry15]

Do you have a digital probe thermometer ? What is the temperature on her basking log ? The calci sand is deadly. I hope she will survive.

 

[kingofnobbys]

My daughter (16) was given a bearded dragon for her birthday by her grandma, and the poor beardie is obviously dying. I need immediate assistance in knowing what to do FIRST to try to save her.

She is emaciated and gray, shriveled up -- so much so that I won't post a picture because it is heartbreaking! -- but she is still moving and breathing. Her eyes are open some of the time. She is lethargic and staying on the cool side of her cage. When I picked her up last night, she felt cool to the touch.

Here is what I know:
Purchased at a pet store on Sunday, Oct 8th
Looked fine, alert but small
Do not know the age
Size is maybe 8-10 inches from snout to tail
Her original tank (when purchased) was small, maybe 10 gallon and she was housed alone, though that was not always the case. The salesperson told my mom she was "the runt" and that her brothers got most of the live food. She had apparently been eating kale? And the salesperson fed her 2 superworms before she left the store.

She came home in a Zoo Med 20 gallon tank setup.
>>> these kits are a rip off and contain a lot of stuff that should never be used with a hatchling bearded dragon.

Here are the specs:
20 Gallon Terrarium (30″ x 12″ x 12″) with sliding screen top.
<<< Is very small, I recommend returning the kit to the pet shop and exchanging for a T5HO reflector hood, an Arcadia T5HO 12% tube and some calcium powder and reptile vitamin powder and a medium sized HubbaHut.
House he in a 100 L to 150 L tote set us as shown here : viewtopic.php?f=34&t=233480


Vita-Sand Outback Orange (10 lb)
<<< NEVER USE VITA SAND aka CALCI-SAND - its lethal to bearded dragon , no particle type beddings PLEASE , they are all impaction risks and are impossible to keep clean.


Combo Repti Rock Water and Food Dishes (med.) <<< OK

High Range Reptile Thermometer .
<<<< these analogue dial style thermometers are so inaccurate they are useless - you have no idea what the tank temperature actually is , refer to my cheatsheet for more information : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=234738&p=1806050#p1806050

ReptiSun® 5.0 Compact Florescent
<<< is too weak, the dragon will need to be able to get inside 4 inches from this compact 5%UVB globe , see this for comparison viewtopic.php?f=34&t=235611
and my cheatsheet for best way to establish the thermal gradient and the UVB gradient.

Naturalistic Terrarium Hood (12″)
<<< mesh lids are hopeless , and the flyscreen mesh in the lid you have will block about 40% of the UV if the UV globe / tube and reflector (dome / hood) is placed on top the mesh lid


Repti Basking Spot Lamp (100 w)
<<<< I am not a fan of Neodymium coated (UVA) basking globes, it will need to be replaced in 6 months as the UVA output decays over time.
A good quality MVB is better (UVA + UVB + heat + light) , par38 colorless incandescent or halogen domestic spot globes are quite OK (heat and light and long lives).

Nocturnal Infrared Heat Lamp (100 w)
<<<< NOT APPROPRIATE , will keep her awake , and if used during the day will make her think it's bed time and make it hard for her to recognize food.
Recommend a Ceramic Heat Emitter is it gets cold in the room she is kept in at night , she needs to be kept warmer than 24 degC overnight IMO.
Mini Combo Deep Dome™ Lamp Fixture <<< is fine for the basking globe & a ceramic heat emitter.

Bearded Dragon Care Booklet <<< probably full of bad advise
Bearded Dragon Food (sample) <<< feed it to the crickets or dubias
Repti Calcium without D3 (sample) OK

So ... having spent hours researching, I now know this is ALL wrong!

Problems that I am sure of:
She has eaten ONLY 4-6 superworms since Sunday and has pooped 2x
<<<< superworms are not appropriate for her until she's older than 12 months
see this my cheatsheet for feeding schedule and feeder insects that are suitable, and this for a comparison of feeder insects : viewtopic.php?f=76&t=234999&p=1807834#p1807834
She has been given a variety of other food -- spinach, orange bell pepper, soaked pellets (came with cage), apple, not sure what else? We have not seen her eat anything other than the worms.
She has been misted 2 or 3 times, and has standing water in her cage. <<< unless she actually drinks from the water dish, it's not needed.


I know she is starving, dehydrated, cold, most assuredly impacted, and has eaten the vita-sand

I have removed the sand and cleaned out the tank, replaced the sand with some sort of Eco Carpet / Terrarium Carpet. I will put paper towels over this later this morning if she survives. <<< good !

As it is early morning here, I am going to turn on her two "daytime" lights to warm up her cage put her up on her basking rock for 1 hr.
<<< a very good way of managing lighting is to have the lights on a powerboard connected to a domestic plugin timer , I have my lights set for come on at 6am , and turn off at 10pm, when my beardies were hatchlings their first mean each day was at about 10am, and the last meal about diner time (6pm)
If you believe she has ingested some vita sand and is impacted, it's best to feed only soft foods and smoothies and slurries ( silkworms are good, BSF lavae are good , and a wet mix of Repashi BugPie is a good option , these will help hydrate her, and are naturally rich in calcium and are highly nuitritious.
Hold off on solids until the vet tells you she is fine to go back into solids (greens, veg , hard exoskeleton insects ( crickets , roaches ) because if she is impacted , these will make her impaction worse .

Note that she has a basking rock close to the light, but I don't think she's strong enough to climb up to it! I'm going to set her up there and watch that she doesn't fall off! After an hour to warm up, I'm planning to give her a warm bath/soak and try rubbing her tummy. Hoping that I can get her to drink!! Note that I've tried rubbing her snout with water and beading it on her nose and she hasn't reacted/licked. I'm even wondering if her mouth might be stuck shut because of the sand?


There are NO crickets or live food at either of our local pet stores, and they won't have stock until Friday or Saturday. We live in a small tourist town -- Destin, FL -- with not a lot of options, I'm afraid. If she survives the morning, I am planning to get her some baby food and make a mix that I read about on here -- prunes, plain canned pumpkin, pedialyte. If she doesn't open her mouth or lick, is it OK to pry it open?

<<<< She's probably being stubborn (clamp jawing )
Be careful - this might help you with assist feeding, if you decide to use a syringe to get liquid food and water into her mouth , go in from the side of the mouth and only small volumes per squirt to avoid flooding her mouth and cause her to accidentially aspirate some (very bad !) , see this for how to assist feed her : viewtopic.php?f=18&t=235583
this will show you how to feed her using a feeding syringe and feeding/crop needle and note the recommendations on stomach volumes therein : viewtopic.php?f=45&t=232687

And I'm going to put her tank outside, uncovered, in the sun. Since her lighting is inadequate and I cannot fix that immediately, I am hoping some natural sunlight will benefit her.

<<< DO NOT PLACE HER IN HER GLASS TANK IN THE DIRECT SUN - greenhouse effect will cook and quickly kill her through over heating.
Use a plastic tote or tub or a rabbit style wire hutch or a cardboard box but never leave her and supervise her very closely.
Or simply sit with her on your lap or tummy or chest to get natural sunlight (and UV).

SO ... what else can I do? What should I do first? Your gentle advice would be appreciated. Please don't beat me up for her current condition and know that I am doing what I can to help her survive. Thanks for your input! (And sorry this post was so long!)

You are trying to help her, and realise you was given bad advise resulting in her health deterioration, and are taking steps to rectify and fix this , so no one is going to beat you up.
We only want to help you and for her to recover and grow and have a long a happy and healthy life.

Often people think their dragon is in a terrible state , but have no base line or experience and when we see photos the dragon looks much better than we expected based on the OP's concerns. This is natural when the new keeper is worried and thinks they've essentially condemned the dragon to a nasty death.
So please don't be too scared to show her to condition to us , it will help us help you.

 

[newbeardiegma]

Thank you for the advice -- especially about not putting her outside in her tank. I'm wondering if this may be some of the cause of the issues as well, since she rode here in her glass tank from Central, FL. The car was air conditioned and she had no lamps/lighting during the 8ish hour trip ... so maybe all the temp and lighting fluctuation has caused her problems as well. Most certainly she is stressed to the max. I will sit with her outside this afternoon.

As an update, she had a warm bath this morning. Did not drink. Did not poop. But did lick my daughter's fingernail and ate one small bit of parsley. Not the best food, I know, but so happy that she at least ate something!

I am going to try to syringe feed her later this morning. And take her outside this afternoon. If she survives, I will order new lighting and digital thermometers tomorrow. And I'm going to call around and see if any of the bait shops carry small, live crickets or any of the smaller worms.

Also, she did some arm waving -- both arms, one at a time -- when I put her up on her basking rock. I'm guessing she saw her reflection in the glass of the tank? Is this common? I need to do some reading on this subject. It almost looked like she was trying to get her body up off the heat of the rock ... so I'm not sure what this behavior was for if not because of discomfort.

We don't have any substance on the sides of the tank to stop reflection -- and that is probably a concern for much later -- but I wondering what is advised?

 

[newbeardiegma]

She came home in a Zoo Med 20 gallon tank setup.
>>> these kits are a rip off and contain a lot of stuff that should never be used with a hatchling bearded dragon.


Yes, I have learned that. Unfortunately, I cannot return the tank/setup because it was purchased at a store in Winter Haven, FL and I live over 400 miles away! My mom bought everything as a gift for my daughter ... so we will just write off the lost money as a learning experience. Hopefully we can save the beardie's life, as that is what matters to us. By the way, her name is Aztec.

High Range Reptile Thermometer .
<<<< these analogue dial style thermometers are so inaccurate they are useless - you have no idea what the tank temperature actually is , refer to my cheatsheet for more information : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=234738&p=1806050#p1806050

If she makes it through the day, I will order new equipment -- enclosure, lighting and thermometers -- tomorrow.

Nocturnal Infrared Heat Lamp (100 w)
<<<< NOT APPROPRIATE , will keep her awake , and if used during the day will make her think it's bed time and make it hard for her to recognize food.
Recommend a Ceramic Heat Emitter is it gets cold in the room she is kept in at night , she needs to be kept warmer than 24 degC overnight IMO.


We have been using the red lamp for the last 3 days (since we brought her home). We left it on last night, thinking that having her warmer was best. But our house temp right now (summer-ish) ranges from 76-81 degrees. I don't like the AC, so we don't run it much. So if I'm understanding correctly, it would be fine to just turn off all lights at 10pm with no extra heat source?

<<<< She's probably being stubborn (clamp jawing )
Be careful - this might help you with assist feeding, if you decide to use a syringe to get liquid food and water into her mouth , go in from the side of the mouth and only small volumes per squirt to avoid flooding her mouth and cause her to accidentially aspirate some (very bad !) , see this for how to assist feed her : viewtopic.php?f=18&t=235583
this will show you how to feed her using a feeding syringe and feeding/crop needle and note the recommendations on stomach volumes therein : viewtopic.php?f=45&t=232687

I'm going to try the assist feeding, and maybe see if one of the local bait shops has silkworms or maggots. The pet stores don't have anything in stock other than mealworms and superworms.

<<< DO NOT PLACE HER IN HER GLASS TANK IN THE DIRECT SUN - greenhouse effect will cook and quickly kill her through over heating.
Use a plastic tote or tub or a rabbit style wire hutch or a cardboard box but never leave her and supervise her very closely.
Or simply sit with her on your lap or tummy or chest to get natural sunlight (and UV).

I will sit with her outside this afternoon! And will also take some pictures to give you a better idea of her size, condition and cage setup. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[AHBD]

Oh no, please DON'T put her out in a plastic tote or cardboard box,those are only good only if it's below 75 F outside. Anything over 75 and it gets too hot, same with a cardboard box and probably your body. Setting in the grass is the safest since your temps. get close to 90F. That's why I specifically stated in the grass, your high temps. must be taken in to account. And no extra heat source is needed at night, only if it gets below 65 at night, then you can get a CHE [ ceramic heater ] that produces heat but no light.

 

[newbeardiegma]

Oh no, please DON'T put her out in a plastic tote or cardboard box,those are only good only if it's below 75 F outside. Anything over 75 and it gets too hot, same with a cardboard box and probably your body. Setting in the grass is the safest since your temps. get close to 90F. That's why I specifically stated in the grass, your high temps. must be taken in to account. And no extra heat source is needed at night, only if it gets below 65 at night, then you can get a CHE [ ceramic heater ] that produces heat but no light.

OK, got it! Thank you.
And as an update, she climbed up on to her basking rock and pooped!!

 

[AHBD]

That's good to hear ! Poo is always a heavily discussed + sometime celebrated topic here ! And yes, if you have times in the year when it's in the low 70's + sunny, then you can put her out in the plastic storage tote or cardboard box.

 

[EllenD]

Right now your main goal is getting her to pass the impaction, she is not going to willingly eat or get better unless she passes the impaction. Calcium sand, which apparently you know she has eaten, turn into literally cement rocks when it gets wet. So combine that with the superworms and there's your problem. I don't think it's the heat from the ride or anything else right now, she's only been under the inadequate lights for 3 days. Yes, an hour a day of natural, unobstructed sunlight in FL is great, but just hold her...

I wouldn't wait to see if "she survives", as if you get the impaction to pass she will likely perk right up and start eating on her own!!!! If you haven't yet done this, you need to go to Walmart or the grocery store and get a couple of jars of prune baby food, a can of raw, plain pumpkin that you'll find in the canned veggie aisle, and a bottle of unflavored pedialyte. Also, very important due to the calcium sand (I had to deal with a rescue bound up with 3 months worth of bark and mealworm shells, no reason not to do this, trust me it will speed up the process immensely and save you a day at least), if you go to Walmart or a drug store and you go to the medical section, in the aisle that has the laxatives, the stool softeners, etc. you will find a row of white bottles with orange lids, the Walmart brand (Equate) is called "Daily Fiber", and it's simply Psyllium Husk in caplets. Just buy the smallest bottle of the Walmart brand called "Daily Fiber", I think it's a bottle of 100 capsules and cost like $3.99, it's the cheapest and smallest bottle. This will help her pass this nasty impaction and will speed up the process, it's all natural and can actually assist her and make it less painful for her to pass.

Empty a jar of the prune baby food into a microwave safe container, and then add 3 tablespoons of the plain, canned pumpkin, a pinch of her calcium powder, and then open up one of the Psyllium Husk capsules and dump it out onto a paper towel, and then add just a pinch of it. Mix this all up very, very well, then add enough of the unflavored Pedialyte to thin it out so it can be used in an oral syringe. You can either buy an oral syringe at Walmart, in the same section where they sell Pill Containers and Pill Crushers, or you can go to Tractor Supply if you have one close, and buy a box of disposable, plastic syringes without needles, you want the Leur-Slip type, NOT the Leur-Lock type, and I buy the 3ml ones. You can get a box of 6 3ml Leur-Slip plastic syringes for $1.

Microwave it for a minute and then mix really, really well. Make sure it's warm all the way through, no hot pockets, then put about 1ml in the syringe, and test it on your wrist like you would a baby bottle. Then the way you feed it to her is #1) Try dripping it on her snout so it drips over her lips to see if she'll lick it off, they usually like it, but if she's feeling that poorly she may not lick any of it, or not near enough. You want her to eat at least 1ml-2ml. Drip it until she stops licking it off, and if she doesn't eat enough of it, which she probably won't, then you can force feed, BUT NEVER PRY HER MOUTH OPEN!!! TOO STRESSFUL AND NOT NECESSARY! All you have to do, and this is why I suggest the Leur-Slip or the Oral syringes because they have a long tip on them, is use the tip of the filled syringe to lift up her upper lip on the SIDE of her mouth, back towards her ear on the side of her head. Once you gently get the tip of the syringe under her upper lip, gently just slide the tip of the syringe slowly up towards the tip of her snout, keeping the tip of the syringe under her upper lip the entire time. Be sure to have your thumb on the plunger of the syringe. Once the tip of the syringe gets to the tip of her snout right in the middle of her mouth, she will automatically open her mouth. When she opens her mouth, SLOWLY PUSH A DROP OF THE LAXATIVE SLURRY INTO HER MOUTH. DO NOT PUSH A LOT OF IT IN HER MOUTH, YOU DON'T WANT HER TO CHOKE. After you do this a couple of times it will become extremely easy, and you'll get used to pushing in the small amount that she can swallow. Let her swallow the drop you put in her mouth, then repeat by inserting the tip of the syringe again under her upper lip and back on the side of her head towards her ear. Keep repeating this until you get at least 1ml-2ml in her. 2ml is better since she's not eating, she needs the hydration. It's tedious but shouldn't take longer than 15-20 minutes to finish 2ml of slurry.

After she eats the laxative slurry, put her on her basking spot under her bright white light. You do need to buy a $10 digital thermometer with a probe on it ASAP because you have absolutely no idea what her temperatures are with one of those stick-on thermometers, they are usually tested to be off by close to 20 degrees. This is dangerous and you have absolutely no way to measure the basking spot surface temperature, which if incorrect means she cannot properly digest her food, causing both impactions and nutritional deficiencies. But like I said, right now you need you get the impaction passed before anything else. Let her bask for at least an hour or two after eating the slurry, then put her in a warmer than average bath up to her shoulders. WATCH HER EVERY SECOND SHE'S IN THE BATH, SHE'S WEAK AND NOT FEELING WELL, SHE MAY VERY WELL FALL ASLEEP IN THE WARM WATER. Starting under her right armpit, use your index finger to very gently massage her tummy in circles, going down the right side of her stomach and then in towards her vent, while she's in the warm water. Do this a few times, them try to encourage her to swim a bit, because she's much more likely to poop in the bath if she moves her back legs a big. If she doesn't poop within 5-10 minutes at the most then put her back in her tank to bask a bit longer. I'd give her 3 slurry feedings a day, followed by a warm bath with tummy rubs. If you use the Psyllium Husk in the slurries she should pass the impaction by tomorrow, but keep in mind it may take more than one bowel movement to pass it, so when she does first poop if you see large amounts of sand and/or undigested superworm shells then you need to keep feeding her the slurries and the baths until she goes again, do this until her poop looks clear of the sand and undigested shells.

She should start eating on her own and perk up quite a bit after it's passed, but she will be quite dehydrated at that point, so lots of water and/or unflavored Pedialyte dripped on her nose several times a day, and get a good 18" Reptisun or Arcadia 10.0 UVB Tube immediately, because that 5.0 on top of a mesh lid is worthless, and you don't want her starting off with MBD.

 

[AHBD]

She did just poo Ellen. BTW, how much was it ? If you haven't cleaned it up can you get a picture ? Was it properly formed and was there any sand or undigested food in it ?

 

[EllenD]

She did just poo Ellen. BTW, how much was it ? If you haven't cleaned it up can you get a picture ? Was it properly formed and was there any sand or undigested food in it ?

Sorry, LOL, she pooped faster than I can type!!!

 

[newbeardiegma]

She did just poo Ellen. BTW, how much was it ? If you haven't cleaned it up can you get a picture ? Was it properly formed and was there any sand or undigested food in it ?

I appreciate you guys so much! Really, thanks for all the help and advice. She is doing much better than when I found her this morning. She is holding her head up, and is alert.

The poop -- much celebrated -- was about 1/2 a dime size maybe? I don't know what normal poop looks like, so I have nothing to judge it against! It was black, and had a white, chalky chunk in it. (It looked similar to my bird's poop.) I cleaned it up and didn't think to take a picture or really inspect it closely.

And I went to the store before I received the post with all the good info about the capsules and syringes! We mixed prune, pumpkin, water and a little bit of olive oil. I couldn't get unflavored Pedialyte. And I tried to give this to her with the same smallish syringe that I have for administering kiddo medicine. It was a pretty fruitless experience. Dripping didn't work. And when I got it up under her lip (sort of), she laid her head on my hand and closed her eyes, clamping her jaw shut. We did get a lot of the mixture on the rest of her body, and mine as well! We gave her another warm bath to clean her off. She licked my daughter's thumb a few times and we managed to get 1 small kale leaf in her mouth.

And we took her outside, which she seemed to really enjoy. Not too hot today, so my daughter just held her on her lap. We didn't want to put her in the grass because we have so many red ants. She was inquisitive and somewhat active. Now she is back in her tank and standing on top of her basking rock. We left a new bowl of organic kale, dandelion leaves and orange pepper in her tank ... which she is ignoring.

I have called the 2 pet stores and all the "live bait" stores in my immediate area (we basically live on an island) and nobody has any suitable live food. So tonight after my son finishes homework we are making a 2-hour trek to go get small crickets, a probe thermometer, and new lighting if we can find it at Petland.

Question -- we probably won't get home until about 8pm. Can I feed her then, and put her to bed at 10pm after some basking time?

Also, I have some photos but I'm not sure how to upload to this post. Can someone advise?

Thanks again!!

 

[AHBD]

Wow, she looks like she's holding her own ! Great job getting the mixture all over her + yourself, it's actually one of the initiations in to beardie ownership. And it sounds like her outside time was a hit, so that's great. Just be careful she can't dart off, she looks surprisingly spry already and has a mischievious glint in her eye.


Don't worry about getting the mixture in, she poo'd so she'll likely going to be fine. You can try raw honey in the future too, mos beardies like it, but again, she seems fine.

If you get live food tonight give her no more than 2-3 bugs, and be sure they are no longer than the space between her eyes. You can even post a picture of them to show the size so someone can advise. Buy 1/4" crickets.....you can actually order 500-1,000 1/4 " crix to be delivered overnight from Millbrook cricket farm If you order them tonight or tomorrow they will come on Friday. Don't order on Friday though, you won't get them until Monday. But I'm happy to tell you that she really looks quite good, not at all near death's door. Don't let the pet store talk you into larger crickets than that, larger crix can cause impaction in a small beardie. If the only thing they had was mini mealworms you could get a tub of those and just feed a couple of them, if they have only medium ones you can get them but just feed her the fresh shed [ white + soft ] ones. But never give more than a few, and only get them if there's no other choice. No waxworms either, but if they have no crickets you might get some, those would only be good 1 at a time for this emergency.