Jeuvinile bearded dragon sick, or brumating?

[Diamondc12]

Hello all sorry for creating this post however I am a new bearded dragon owner and probably just over reacting.

I bought my girl Scylla from a breeder back in July, as a baby and things have been fine besides one parasite scare and a vet trip. Now for the last couple weeks she is interested in nothing but sleep(yes sounds like brumation) however her beard has taken on a black hue and gotten swollen and puffy. Ontop of it the other day after a bath she pooped and what came out was about a two inch long very hard yellow urate.

Here's what I've been doing:

Every other day I have been waking her up to give her a bath, I then put her under her basking light and will feed her about ten minutes later, and then she will promptly go back to bed. She will eat, however does not chase crickets like she used to but rather waits for them to come to her. As well as she was shedding...constantly...up until a month ago, and that has also stopped

Here's my tank set up:

She is in a 20gallon long, with a 100watt mercury vapor bulb, and more recently a 100watt ceramic for the night time (I live in upstate new York and it gets COLD), her light is on a timer, and the ceramic is on a thermometer, her basking temperature sits around 100-110(I have a probe) I make fresh water and greens available for her everyday. Her crickets I will dust with vitamins once a week and calcium 3-4times a week

Again I am most likely overreacting and half expect you to say she is just brumating, and to leave her alone.

Thanks!

 

[CooperDragon]

You don't need to apologize for creating a post. Please feel free to ask any questions you'd like or even share stories. In this case I think she may be too young for brumation. The black beard is an indicator of stress or sickness. Your setup sounds good although a 20g long won't be big enough for much longer. How far away from the basking spot is your PowerSun? The hard urate tells me she may be dehydrated. Have you tried dropping water on her nose to see if she'll lick it up? You may also want to try dropper feeding a bit of watered down baby food (squash, green beans, chicken, turkey tend to work well) to help hydrate her. If you have an experienced reptile vet nearby you may want to bring her in for a checkup as well. Can you post some photos of her? That will help to determine her overall condition. You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and then post using the XIMG button.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there...I was typing the same info as Cooperdragon.....just one more thing to ask...

Are you positive that Scylla is female ? If you can put her flat on a table + left her tail up high to take a few pics of her vent [ rear end ] I can tell you in case the breeder was mistaken when you got Scylla as a baby.

Hopefully it's just minor distress + Scylla will be fine , but you did the right thing looking for help.

 

[Diamondc12]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. And its funny that you mentioned it as I just got back from the store, bought her squash baby food. She ate the first syringe full like it was heaven on earth, however at least for now won't go near any more. as far as drinking droplets from her nose, she refuses to. I have tried many times in the past, and she will just close her eyes and let it roll off her nose. I am 90% sure that Scylla is a female, as I have never seen glands on her and that is the best picture i could take, she wanted NOTHING to do with being on her back.

Her beard is normally the color of the rest of her body, and these pictures do not do justice to the discoloration. However the puffy-ness of her beard is lower today than it has been in the past.

To give perspective of scale, the basking light is about 7 inches away from the basking rock, and when she was active in the past, her favorite place to be was on the branch closer to the light.Last she was at the vet was about-2 months ago when she had a parasite, luckily i live an hour away from Cornell university so i couldnt ask for a better vet!

 

[Diamondc12]

Not even five minutes after taking that first batch of pictures, she is already in the corner ready to go back to bed

 

[AHBD]

You misunderstood, I meant place her on a flat table, on her four legs , not on her back . Then arch her tail in the air....see the sexing info here.
https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/sexing/
She surely wouldn't like being on her back !

And like Cooper said, she is somewhat dehydrated if she passed a long, hard urate. The baby food will help with that, add extra water and give her some as often as she'll take it, hopefully once a day. You can add a wee bit of applejuice once in a while to make the " drink" [ water + applejuice but mostly water ] taste better.

 

[Diamondc12]

I'm sorry i feel silly now.

Okay on the dehydration i will keep trying to give her watered down baby food through a syringe when she will take it....what do you think about all her wanting to do is sleep all day. I have read different forums on different things you can do, such as switching her hot side with the cool side, and have yet to have success

 

[AHBD]

That's O.K, we are all silly sometimes. Looks female there but the pic is a bit blurry and the lighting is not too good , also the tail should be arched just a tiny bit more. It's always good to get a few shots.

But as for her sleepiness, it's really hard to say what it is but it may b related to the dehydration....once she gets more hydrated she may feel more like her old self. If you can get some medium sized hornworms she might enjoy those. They add a good bit of hydration and most beardies love them.

She looks very pretty by the way,is she a hypo- a trans. ? And nice job on the set up, I like the rocky cliffs.

 

[Diamondc12]

I hope so. i am not sure anywhere around where i live that has horned worms however i will keep an eye out. any other food suggestions? I was thinking possibly cucumber? since it is mostly just water.

And yes she is a hypo trans , here is the picture the breeder took of her (i do not have any myself that show just how striking her colors are), the picture, believe it or not is only slightly filtered, after a shed she is just this bright!

 

[AHBD]

I love her colors + pattern. And cucumbers aren't too good, can cause diarrhea . The squash baby food will be fine and whatever she'll eat in her normal diet.

 

[Diamondc12]

Alright Thank you for the help! I'll update this later in the week...if she doesn't get more active i will probably take her to the vet this coming thursday-friday

 

[Diamondc12]

Update from yesterday: Thank you guys! after giving her the squash baby food yesterday, and water through a syringe this morning she was actually awake and basking when i woke up! so i was able to feed her and she's been active all day, and right now she's running around the living room.

Thank you!

 

[AHBD]

That's great, glad to hear it ! Cooper was right on track with the good advice and I just chimed in with the same info but also wanted to see if her gender was correct. Hope Scylla continues to improve.

 

[Varalidaine]

Super glad to hear she is feeling better! I can tell by the breeder pic that you got her from Dachiu. In that case, you may want to get her tested for ADV since many of their dragons seem to be infected. You can get info on testing here: http://www.thepats.info/sign_up.html

The testing is actually run by one of the members on this site (Drache613) and she has been super helpful in testing my own for it. It's very easy and cheap. Just fill out the contact form and they'll get back to you in a few days! I don't suspect mine has it, but knowing if they do or not can really help in how to proceed with proper care as ADV positive dragons generally need more care and are more susceptible to infections, parasites, liver (or is it kidney?) problems, etc.

Hope she's clear, but it if she is positive, it could be why she's less active.