Is my baby bearded dragon having RI or relocation stress?

[Kamewu]

Hello Beardie Fam!

After a year since my 8-year-old bearded dragon passed away, I decided it was time to welcome a new baby bearded dragon into my life. I got this little guy at a reptile expo in NY last week. The breeder mentioned he’s about 2 months old. Last week, he ate around 8 crickets and 5 Dubia roaches, which feels a bit low for a hatchling bearded dragon. About three days ago, I noticed he occasionally seems to choke or make a sound while basking—2-3 times a day. (Please see the video for references, I do not know how to describe this, choking/wheezing/clicking?) At first, I thought it might be relocation stress since he’s been active and exploring his tank. He doesn’t have bubbles from his mouth or nose or show open-mouthed breathing. However, his appetite is low, he keeps closing his eyes in the basking area, and he’s not eating any veggies at all. He also hasn’t pooped in the last two days, which has me worried.

And here are some info for my tank:

Heat lamp: Zoo Med Repti Basking Spot Lamp 100W--------(NY is cold right now, the basking area is showing 95 ° F to 100 ° F, Humidity: 30%)
UVB: Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB T5 HO Reptile Terrarium Lamp, 24-watt (Its brand new, never been used but I brought it one year ago, should I get another one?)
Tank size: 40 gallon
Food in tank: Veggies-----Collab green, yellow squash and carrot (He doesn't want to eat at all)
Insects------Crickets and Dubia roaches


I’m unsure if I should risk traveling to the vet in this cold weather or if this might just be stress, shedding issues? I'm worrying if this is possibly an early sign of a respiratory infection. I’ve reached out to the breeder, but it’s the holiday season, and they’re currently on vacation. I’d really appreciate any advice or suggestions from the fam before scheduling a vet appointment!

Please let me know if you need any additional information from me! Thank you so much!

 

[Kamewu]

Hello,

How is your baby doing, hopefully improving more each day? As Karrie suggested, the fleece type of
hammocks are terrific & decrease the incidences of them catching or tearing the nails on the fabric.
Maybe try lowering the temperatures to under 80F. What are you using for the nighttime heating?

Tracie

Hello Traice,

Thanks for checking in and sharing your suggestions! We decided to take him to the vet on Wednesday as we didn’t want to delay his treatment. The vet noted that he weighs only 20g, which is too small for x-rays or blood work. After reviewing the videos of his coughing, she determined it’s most likely a respiratory infection. She also noticed he was dehydrated and administered fluids. The vet provided a powdered food supplement to help since he isn’t eating on his own and prescribed antibiotics for the next 28 days. I’ve attached the prescription and the result of fecal analysis for your reference.

I’ve been following the vet’s instructions over the past three days. While he’s still coughing, it’s not as serious as before. However, I’m concerned because he often keeps his eyes closed while basking......even after I clean the discharge, and he still has no appetite, which really worries me.

To answer your question about nighttime heating, we’re using a ceramic lamp and monitoring him with an infrared thermometer to make sure he is having at least 75-80F. We’ve also ordered fleece hammocks from Etsy, and they should arrive soon!

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to check out this post. I'm truly grateful!

 

[Kamewu]

Is that a hammock hes on? I would change that out to a fleece one or cloth -- you can find them on Etsy - the green and grass hammocks are notorious for nail and feet injuries --

Hello Karrie,

Thanks for reminding me, and we ordered on Etsy! They're on the way and hopefully arrive soon!

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello Traice,

Thanks for checking in and sharing your suggestions! We decided to take him to the vet on Wednesday as we didn’t want to delay his treatment. The vet noted that he weighs only 20g, which is too small for x-rays or blood work. After reviewing the videos of his coughing, she determined it’s most likely a respiratory infection. She also noticed he was dehydrated and administered fluids. The vet provided a powdered food supplement to help since he isn’t eating on his own and prescribed antibiotics for the next 28 days. I’ve attached the prescription and the result of fecal analysis for your reference.

I’ve been following the vet’s instructions over the past three days. While he’s still coughing, it’s not as serious as before. However, I’m concerned because he often keeps his eyes closed while basking......even after I clean the discharge, and he still has no appetite, which really worries me.

To answer your question about nighttime heating, we’re using a ceramic lamp and monitoring him with an infrared thermometer to make sure he is having at least 75-80F. We’ve also ordered fleece hammocks from Etsy, and they should arrive soon!

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to check out this post. I'm truly grateful!

@Drache613

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Thanks for posting the vet records of your visit. The counts for the fecal exam are not bad. The only
one would be for the coccidia, which is at 3+. They didn't give any treatment or meds for the coccidia,
right, just the Baytril for the respiratory infection?
I agree, if he is less than 100 grams, then it is not recommended to draw blood from them.
A 28 day regime is pretty long for him to be on the antibiotics. I would keep a close eye on him to be
sure he doesn't have any negative side effects from it. Be sure he gets some type of probiotic also, to
help keep his system restored.
The powdered food should help him out since he isn't eating much on his own.
Let us know how he is doing. I hope he will like his new fleece hammock!

Tracie

 

[Kamewu]

Hello,

Thanks for posting the vet records of your visit. The counts for the fecal exam are not bad. The only
one would be for the coccidia, which is at 3+. They didn't give any treatment or meds for the coccidia,
right, just the Baytril for the respiratory infection?
I agree, if he is less than 100 grams, then it is not recommended to draw blood from them.
A 28 day regime is pretty long for him to be on the antibiotics. I would keep a close eye on him to be
sure he doesn't have any negative side effects from it. Be sure he gets some type of probiotic also, to
help keep his system restored.
The powdered food should help him out since he isn't eating much on his own.
Let us know how he is doing. I hope he will like his new fleece hammock!

Tracie

Hello Traice,

I ordered both the Gargeer probiotic and the Bene-Bac probiotic right after seeing your reply—thanks for the recommendation! As for the coccidia treatment, we got the results last Saturday, and the vet mentioned they would ship the medication today since we live quite far from them. Hopefully, it will arrive by the middle of this week.

I agree that 28 days of antibiotics seems like a long course for him. I think the vet made this decision because he's so small and might not tolerate higher doses each day. We'll revisit the vet in two weeks to check on his progress and make sure he's doing well.

He's been doing better these past two days, with less coughing than last week, which is great news for us! However, there are still few concerns we're worried about:

• He's losing weight because he won't eat Dubia roaches or mealworms and is only taking the powdered food. The areas of his crown near his eyes are sunken, possibly due to dehydration. We're doing our best to feed him both the powdered food and water, but it's upsetting to see his crown looking like this.

Is there another way to hydrate him besides bathing? I've heard that bathing might not be recommended if he has a respiratory infection (RI). Is that true?

• He still tends to close his eyes while basking—is this normal? I’ve read through some older posts on this forum, and a few mentioned that it can be normal for baby bearded dragons. Whenever we take him out of the tank, he opens his eyes but sometimes closes them again.

My husband and I are doing our best to take care of him every day, and we’re hopeful he’ll keep improving. Our goal for this week is to get him to eat some roaches or worms. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for your time to read and reply to my post, always grateful!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That's great you got some probiotics ordered. Did your medication arrive also?
I wouldn't bathe often especially if he has a respiratory infection because he could
get chilled or aspirate fluids perhaps. Try getting oral fluids into him using a plastic
syringe or dropper dripped onto the end of his nose, instead.
They can close their eyes while basking, yes but they can close their eyes if the light
is hurting their eyes also.
Is his basking light a bright white light?
I hope his appetite improves & that he starts to feel better also.
Keep us posted on his progress.

Tracie

 

[KarrieRee]

Drop water on his nose see if he will lick also make the powdered food runny w/ extra water he will get it that way as well -- please no mealworms - the exoskeleton on them is too harsh for babies stomachs-

 

[Kamewu]

Hello,

That's great you got some probiotics ordered. Did your medication arrive also?
I wouldn't bathe often especially if he has a respiratory infection because he could
get chilled or aspirate fluids perhaps. Try getting oral fluids into him using a plastic
syringe or dropper dripped onto the end of his nose, instead.
They can close their eyes while basking, yes but they can close their eyes if the light
is hurting their eyes also.
Is his basking light a bright white light?
I hope his appetite improves & that he starts to feel better also.
Keep us posted on his progress.

Tracie

Hello Tracie,

Thanks for following up! Yes, the medication for Coccidia arrived on Wednesday, and I gave him the first dose that day. Today (Friday) is the second treatment (out of a total of four doses, administered every other day).

We're using a Zoo Med Repti Basking Spot Lamp 125W for the basking light. It seems that because he was unwell, he just didn't want to open his eyes.

He seems to be looking a little better now and is opening his eyes more often! Since he doesn’t like veggies at all, I blend water, collard greens and carrots into a juice, then mix it with probiotics to feed him. And he likes it, drinks a lot!

I have a question about Baytril for treating the respiratory infection. As we discussed earlier, a 28-day treatment seems quite long for this little guy. He’s currently on his 9th day, and he has already stopped coughing. However, he’s been looking bloated recently, and I came across some older posts suggesting that Baytril might cause gas issues. Should I stop giving it to him? Additionally, he’s also taking Ponazuril for Coccidia, and I’m really worried that all these medications might be causing the bloating.

He’s still not eating on his own, but I’m feeling hopeful after seeing him open his eyes recently. I’m hoping he continues to improve each day.

 

[Kamewu]

Drop water on his nose see if he will lick also make the powdered food runny w/ extra water he will get it that way as well -- please no mealworms - the exoskeleton on them is too harsh for babies stomachs-

Hello KarrieRee, thank you for the suggestions! Yes, I won’t feed him mealworms until he’s older. I was just trying to figure out why he wasn’t eating. I thought maybe he didn’t like Dubia roaches, so I got some mealworms to test it out. But he didn’t eat even one! He’s just sick and has no appetite at all.

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello KarrieRee, thank you for the suggestions! Yes, I won’t feed him mealworms until he’s older. I was just trying to figure out why he wasn’t eating. I thought maybe he didn’t like Dubia roaches, so I got some mealworms to test it out. But he didn’t eat even one! He’s just sick and has no appetite at all.

Did you get your uvb correctly set up for your tank w/ proper distance - the screen will determine placement and distance

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor thing, he doesn't have much of an appetite? Keep giving the probiotics right now, that will hopefully
help out his appetite & bloating. The greens slurry mixed up for him should give him some nutrition. At
least he likes it!
I'm glad to hear his coughing has improved so far. The Baytril is effective but will dehydrate them so
do keep up with his slurries for hydration right now.
It is very rough on them to be on more than one medication at a time. How many more doses of the
coccidia medication does he have, is it Toltrazuril, Ponazuril or something else?

Keep us posted on him!

Tracie

 

[Kamewu]

Hello,

Poor thing, he doesn't have much of an appetite? Keep giving the probiotics right now, that will hopefully
help out his appetite & bloating. The greens slurry mixed up for him should give him some nutrition. At
least he likes it!
I'm glad to hear his coughing has improved so far. The Baytril is effective but will dehydrate them so
do keep up with his slurries for hydration right now.
It is very rough on them to be on more than one medication at a time. How many more doses of the
coccidia medication does he have, is it Toltrazuril, Ponazuril or something else?

Keep us posted on him!

Tracie

Hello Tracie,

The coccidia medication is Ponazuril, and he has one dose remaining for tomorrow, which will be the final dose of the treatment. I spoke with my vet today for 30 minutes about this issue. He still recommended completing the full 28-day Baytril treatment. I mentioned that his weight remains at 20g and hasn’t increased, which is concerning. The vet suggested that the coccidia might be causing this problem. After reading through some older posts here, I personally feel NO to continue with Baytril, but I’m also worried about the risk of respiratory infections returning. I'm in a dilemma ;(

 

[Kamewu]

Did you get your uvb correctly set up for your tank w/ proper distance - the screen will determine placement and distance

Hello KarrieRee, I believe we’ve set up the UVB correctly. We’re using the Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB T5 HO Reptile Terrarium Lamp, 24-watt, which is positioned in the center of the tank.

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello KarrieRee, I believe we’ve set up the UVB correctly. We’re using the Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB T5 HO Reptile Terrarium Lamp, 24-watt, which is positioned in the center of the tank.

And is it over the basking decor piece 12-15 inches?

 

[Kamewu]

And is it over the basking decor piece 12-15 inches?

Yes! Both the heat lamp and UVB are positioned about 15 inches above the decor and around 12 inches above the little guy when he’s sitting upright. I measured it with a tape measure yesterday, and he gave me the funniest look while I was doing it—like, “What are you up to?” lmao.