Hello!
I'm really worried about our beloved bearded dragon, and I would be so thankful if anyone could help/ give any advice!
I'm sorry for the wall of text, but I want to include as much information as possible.
He was born in September 2016, (the breeder didn't write the exact date on the papers we got), and we've had him for 11 days.
The first week he ate like he's suppose to; mostly dubia roaches, a few meal worms and he did eat some of his salad. We've read a lot about their diet and I've had a healthy, well-fed, happy bearded dragon before, but that was several years ago and he was a bit over a year when I got him.
When he arrived to his new home, he started “glass surfing” for a while, then ran around licking things in his vivarium and eventually seemed to relax and hung out at his basking spot before it was time to go to bed, (he fell asleep very quickly). We left him alone the first few days other than when it was time to feed him, (with the exception of the bath he got the first they he arrived), and he was fine with us holding him and didn't show any signs of aggression. He was also active and seemed to be sleeping well.
However, after a few days he seemed to become more cautious around us. He even bobbed his head at us, but did not get aggressive whatsoever when we picked him up to feed him. He was a bit jumpy though, but just a little and that's normal for his age. We didn't grab him hard, we just pet him on his back and he calmed down. We also decided to let him explore our living room for about 15 minutes after feeding him. He ran around with his tail up in the air and seemed curious, and he even jumped up on my shoulder and sat there for a few minutes before starting to explore again.
Yesterday, he started acting different.
Instead of watching us/ acting cautious around us when we were in the same room as him, he just laid by his basking spot with his head down and his eyes closed. He has also been breathing heavily since a few days back.
We took him out to feed him and he wouldn't eat anything. We tried again about seven hours later, but he didn't want to eat then either.
We gave him a bath instead since he's shedding, but he just closed his eyes and would barely move. We also noticed that he was licking his mouth a lot but wouldn't drink even though we gave him a bath and then misted him to try to make him drink, but he wouldn't.
This morning I got even more worried; he had stress marks on his belly! We picked him up to feed him and most of the stress marks disappeared, but he didn't eat much when we fed him even though he didn't eat at all yesterday. He was more active today though.
He also has a small wound above his mouth that he got from fighting with another male beardie before we got him, (the breeder separated them the day before). The troubling thing is that now the wound has turned brown and is slightly raised.
I don't have any good close-ups/ high quality pictures, so it's not easy to examine from the pictures, but I'll insert some before and after pictures:
Before:
After:
I'll insert a picture of his vivarium and some information about it:
- His vivarium is 4ft 11in long, 1ft 8in wide and 1ft 12in high.
- The temperatures in all areas of his vivarium are correct. It does vary a little bit though since it's wintertime here, (we're from Sweden), and our apartment can get very cold.
- We use an equal mixture of Exo Terra desert sand and and Dragon Bio Ground as substrate, (both bought at a pet store and are made for reptiles).
- He has a hideout on both the cool and warm end of the vivarium, some plastic plants, pieces of bark, a shallow water dish and a food dish filled with fresh greens everyday.
So to sum it up, my concerns/ questions are:
- Is he stressed out? And if so, why? Could he be afraid of us/ uncomfortable and want to be left alone?
- Could he have an infection, (his wound above his mouth)?
- Could his heavy breathing indicate any sickness?
- Could the above be caused by the fact that he is shedding?
- What could the reason be for him not eating anything yesterday and just a little today?
- Why is he licking his mouth a lot all of a sudden?
I know this was very long, but thank you so, so much for reading! <3
I'm really worried about our beloved bearded dragon, and I would be so thankful if anyone could help/ give any advice!
I'm sorry for the wall of text, but I want to include as much information as possible.
He was born in September 2016, (the breeder didn't write the exact date on the papers we got), and we've had him for 11 days.
The first week he ate like he's suppose to; mostly dubia roaches, a few meal worms and he did eat some of his salad. We've read a lot about their diet and I've had a healthy, well-fed, happy bearded dragon before, but that was several years ago and he was a bit over a year when I got him.
When he arrived to his new home, he started “glass surfing” for a while, then ran around licking things in his vivarium and eventually seemed to relax and hung out at his basking spot before it was time to go to bed, (he fell asleep very quickly). We left him alone the first few days other than when it was time to feed him, (with the exception of the bath he got the first they he arrived), and he was fine with us holding him and didn't show any signs of aggression. He was also active and seemed to be sleeping well.
However, after a few days he seemed to become more cautious around us. He even bobbed his head at us, but did not get aggressive whatsoever when we picked him up to feed him. He was a bit jumpy though, but just a little and that's normal for his age. We didn't grab him hard, we just pet him on his back and he calmed down. We also decided to let him explore our living room for about 15 minutes after feeding him. He ran around with his tail up in the air and seemed curious, and he even jumped up on my shoulder and sat there for a few minutes before starting to explore again.
Yesterday, he started acting different.
Instead of watching us/ acting cautious around us when we were in the same room as him, he just laid by his basking spot with his head down and his eyes closed. He has also been breathing heavily since a few days back.
We took him out to feed him and he wouldn't eat anything. We tried again about seven hours later, but he didn't want to eat then either.
We gave him a bath instead since he's shedding, but he just closed his eyes and would barely move. We also noticed that he was licking his mouth a lot but wouldn't drink even though we gave him a bath and then misted him to try to make him drink, but he wouldn't.
This morning I got even more worried; he had stress marks on his belly! We picked him up to feed him and most of the stress marks disappeared, but he didn't eat much when we fed him even though he didn't eat at all yesterday. He was more active today though.
He also has a small wound above his mouth that he got from fighting with another male beardie before we got him, (the breeder separated them the day before). The troubling thing is that now the wound has turned brown and is slightly raised.
I don't have any good close-ups/ high quality pictures, so it's not easy to examine from the pictures, but I'll insert some before and after pictures:
Before:
I'll insert a picture of his vivarium and some information about it:
- His vivarium is 4ft 11in long, 1ft 8in wide and 1ft 12in high.
- The temperatures in all areas of his vivarium are correct. It does vary a little bit though since it's wintertime here, (we're from Sweden), and our apartment can get very cold.
- We use an equal mixture of Exo Terra desert sand and and Dragon Bio Ground as substrate, (both bought at a pet store and are made for reptiles).
- He has a hideout on both the cool and warm end of the vivarium, some plastic plants, pieces of bark, a shallow water dish and a food dish filled with fresh greens everyday.
So to sum it up, my concerns/ questions are:
- Is he stressed out? And if so, why? Could he be afraid of us/ uncomfortable and want to be left alone?
- Could he have an infection, (his wound above his mouth)?
- Could his heavy breathing indicate any sickness?
- Could the above be caused by the fact that he is shedding?
- What could the reason be for him not eating anything yesterday and just a little today?
- Why is he licking his mouth a lot all of a sudden?
I know this was very long, but thank you so, so much for reading! <3
