Hello,
So I've had my bearded dragon Erin for a good year now, my brother couldn't take care of her anymore so I decided to take care of her instead of giving her away. For the first 6 months everything was fine but after that the issues started surfacing.
At the start she didn't want to poop for a good 2+ weeks, I assumed it might've been an impaction so I did everything I could to relieve her of the impaction myself, none of that worked (trying natural laxative foods, warm baths, belly rubbing, etc..) and I had no money for the vet so all I could do was wait. Once she finally went to the bathroom it was really massive and disgusting, and sadly that seemed to become a routine. I'm unsure if impactions work in a way where it stops them from going to the bathroom for the rest of their life so I assumed it wasn't an impaction. To this day she still doesn't poop until about 2-3 weeks later, while my other dragon goes just fine every day or so.
Now the most unusual issue I've been having is putting her in the bathtub, she really liked it before but suddenly started closing her eyes completely and letting her head lay down, her head was covered in water so I held it up with my finger so she wouldn't drown, and I can't tell if she's trying to play dead, or just falling asleep/relaxing but it really scared me so I try to only bathe her when she's shedding. My other bearded dragon does sometimes fall asleep in the bathtub but he doesn't put his head under the water, and I don't think she's drinking the water either because she's completely still like she's trying to play dead.
At this point I'm unsure of what to do, I unfortunately cannot afford vet bills as we're getting a new house right now and the pandemic going on so money is insanely tight. I feed her twice everyday, about 80% veggies and the rest gut-loaded insects, sometimes fruits every once a week (like blueberries or strawberries), along with misting the veggies with water every now-and-then. My other bearded dragon that I raised myself is in the same feeding habit and everything and he's perfectly healthy (apart from being an insanely picky eater with his veggies) so I'm not sure what's wrong with Erin.
I should also mention that for the past week we haven't had a UV light for Erin because it burned out, money tight, etc.. So we've been giving her window time by putting her terrarium at the window were the sun shines, I'm unsure if that's good enough but I can't really get another UV light until the end of this month unfortunately.
If anyone has any insight on what the problems may be I'm all ears, although my brother will be taking her back when he's able to I still want to hopefully try to solve these issues before he gets her back.
So I've had my bearded dragon Erin for a good year now, my brother couldn't take care of her anymore so I decided to take care of her instead of giving her away. For the first 6 months everything was fine but after that the issues started surfacing.
At the start she didn't want to poop for a good 2+ weeks, I assumed it might've been an impaction so I did everything I could to relieve her of the impaction myself, none of that worked (trying natural laxative foods, warm baths, belly rubbing, etc..) and I had no money for the vet so all I could do was wait. Once she finally went to the bathroom it was really massive and disgusting, and sadly that seemed to become a routine. I'm unsure if impactions work in a way where it stops them from going to the bathroom for the rest of their life so I assumed it wasn't an impaction. To this day she still doesn't poop until about 2-3 weeks later, while my other dragon goes just fine every day or so.
Now the most unusual issue I've been having is putting her in the bathtub, she really liked it before but suddenly started closing her eyes completely and letting her head lay down, her head was covered in water so I held it up with my finger so she wouldn't drown, and I can't tell if she's trying to play dead, or just falling asleep/relaxing but it really scared me so I try to only bathe her when she's shedding. My other bearded dragon does sometimes fall asleep in the bathtub but he doesn't put his head under the water, and I don't think she's drinking the water either because she's completely still like she's trying to play dead.
At this point I'm unsure of what to do, I unfortunately cannot afford vet bills as we're getting a new house right now and the pandemic going on so money is insanely tight. I feed her twice everyday, about 80% veggies and the rest gut-loaded insects, sometimes fruits every once a week (like blueberries or strawberries), along with misting the veggies with water every now-and-then. My other bearded dragon that I raised myself is in the same feeding habit and everything and he's perfectly healthy (apart from being an insanely picky eater with his veggies) so I'm not sure what's wrong with Erin.
I should also mention that for the past week we haven't had a UV light for Erin because it burned out, money tight, etc.. So we've been giving her window time by putting her terrarium at the window were the sun shines, I'm unsure if that's good enough but I can't really get another UV light until the end of this month unfortunately.
If anyone has any insight on what the problems may be I'm all ears, although my brother will be taking her back when he's able to I still want to hopefully try to solve these issues before he gets her back.
