Juvenile Bearded Dragon Won't Eat and Rests Most of the Day

[YoursTruly]

Thank you! His eyes seem to be doing better but they are clearly still bothering him. But I'm hoping the meds will take care of that. I will try to give him some greens later along with more roaches. If he continues to like these, I plan to start a colony.

 

[YoursTruly]

I am sad to update with this news, but Thane has tested positive for atadenovirus. He is now all but refusing food. He ate one cricket today. He won't even look,at the Dubias. His feces is completely diarrhea. We have to force feed him repti boost formula. We will likely have him put down so he doesn't have to continue to suffer. I should have never gotten a dragon from a chain pet store.

We would like to bring home another beardie at some point if Thane goes, but honestly, I am so scared of this happening again. This whole experience has been heartbreaking. There is apparently a reputable breeder/reptile shop owner nearby that we could purchase another one from, but if anyone can recommend a breeder in SE Michigan, I'd be eternally grateful. I don't want to ship a dragon because I need to meet it first to ask questions of the breeder/make sure it's healthy. I'm also concerned about a new dragon possibly catching ADV despite me cleaning everything. Would bleach water work to sterilize the tank and decorations?

Thank you everyone for your wonderful help.

 

[JessPets]

Oh my gosh that is horrible!!!! I am so so sorry!!

 

[Taffer]

I'm also concerned about a new dragon possibly catching ADV despite me cleaning everything. Would bleach water work to sterilize the tank and decorations?

I'm so sorry to hear this YT.

Instead of bleaching everything, I'd put everything in the oven at about 225 for 30 minutes or so that would not melt, and the items that would melt, I'd bleach and soak in fresh bleach at a 3% concentration or higher, and if any of the items come apart, disassemble them first so bleach will reach as much of the surface areas as possible. Many people do not realize this, but bleach has a shelf life and 3 months after you buy bleach from a store (Wal-Mart, grocery store, etc.), per EPA standards it is no longer suitable for sanitizing surfaces, but it is still fine for doing laundry and bleaching colors out and oxidizing. It doesn't matter if the bottle is unopened or not because bleach is unstable and degrades, breaking down to salt and water. I run a side business for cleaning roofs and the exteriors of buildings so I use a lot of bleach. I use fresh bleach (I get it at a pressure washing store at 12.5%) that is a few days old tops so I'm spoiled and my wife won't touch store bought bleach anymore LOL. Anyway, for the tank I'd either bleach it for several days with about a 3% bleach solution. If you don't have anywhere to keep the tank where it won't put off odors in the house, cover it with plastic wrap. I say this because if there are little air pockets, the water may absorb the air. I don't own many fish, but I've seen little air bubbles on stuff when we set up our daughters 3 gallon tank and the bubbles absorbed/shrunk over 2-3 days. I don't remember what size tank you had, but if it is small, it may be worth replacing simply for the peace of mind factor...that, and the cost of the bleach and hassle may be more effort than it is worth if it is a smaller tank.

 

[YoursTruly]

Thank you everyone. Thane ate okay yesterday and today. About 6 bugs each day plus calcium. We stopped all meds and he seems to actually be feeling better without the antibiotics being shoved down his throat. Still no greens yet though. He was very active yesterday, actually.

What are some good supplements to support his immune system? I saw something about milk thistle. Does that come as a powder? How do I administer it? I don't want to shove things at him in a syringe anymore. It makes him miserable.

 

[YoursTruly]

Well... a LOT has changed since my last update. Thane's appetite SKYROCKETED once we stopped the meds. With the Reptisun Bulb, CHE for nighttime, a proper timer for his lights (7am-8pm), and a comfy hammock under a 75w bulb for basking, baby FINALLY seems happy. Also, his eyes are better!

Once we stopped the meds, his appetite picked up to about 5-10 crickets/dubias per day at first. But the past week he's been eating MUCH more than that! We have a hunter on our hands! Today he ate--get this--21 crickets! It's a record for him!

The only thing I'm struggling with is getting him to even look at greens. He hasn't had any greens in weeks. Honestly, I'm just stoked that he is eating at all. But we tried baby food green beans and butternut squash, as well as a couple different kinds of leafy greens diced up for him (dandelion and collards). A local reptile shop (which is AMAZING and has been helping us out a ton) suggested a little cilantro in his greens to perk up his sense of smell. That didn't get his attention either, though.

Any further advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[JessPets]

You will want to take out the hammock, because it can cause foot and nail injuries

 

[Taffer]

SO SO glad to hear your baby is off the meds and feeling so much better!

Our bearded dragon would hardly ever touch anything besides insects until she was 8-10 months old I guess? The one exception was the yellow dandelion flower, which I've never to this day seen her so eager to eat anything as the yellow dandelion flower tops. She will see them in our hand through the glass and smack into the glass trying to get to them, and follow it back and forth like a person hypnotized by a watch...going back and forth (like a freaking crack addict trying to get a fix). The only thing we could get her to eat occasionally were fresh Basil leaves, freshly plucked from the plant (which may have also been triggered by the sense of smell). Then one day she flipped her diet like a light switch and started turning her nose up at live insects, but would gobble down greens. It may be a maturity thing? The first time she ate a dandelion flower we didn't even know if it was poisonous...my daughter was 5 at the time and she is a sweetheart - and had picked a dandelion flower to give mommy. Mom sat the flower down on the arm of the couch, and we had the dragon out. She sat about 18 inches from the flower for probably 30 minutes, then with no warning jumped from the pillow she was resting on, through the air to the arm of the couch and gobbled down the flower before we could even react, and so her love of yellow flowers began (buttercups are poisonous...so make sure you don't pick those).

How big is he now in weight length versus when you acquired him YT?

 

[YoursTruly]

I was bad. I didn't weigh him when I first got him, and I don't have an accurate scale. I have a food scale, and I weighed him on it at 22g when he was sickly and skinny. A week before that weigh-in, he was 16g at the doctor. But then I weighed him again after two weeks of a healthy appetite and it weighed him the same. I thought, there was no way he could be the same because his belly has already filled out a LOT. So I don't exactly trust that scale. I'm still waiting for his little arms and tail to fill out more.

 

[Taffer]

Well, to be fair to the scale, as much as these little guys poop, that could make a fair difference in their weight from one weigh in to the next. He could have been in need of a good poo when he was weighed previously and recently evacuated before his last weigh in...who knows. You see a positive change so that's still great!

 

[YoursTruly]

SO TRUE about the poo. And boy, does he love to poo! It's been getting more solid, too. Update from the boyfriend: Thane ate 6 bugs this morning, and was left a buggy salad to stare at, lol. We're having a heck of a time trying to get him to look at greens. Trying mustard greens this week because they look like kale (which he loved until I found out that they bind calcium).

 

[Taffer]

SO TRUE about the poo. And boy, does he love to poo! It's been getting more solid, too.

Was that an intentional rhyme? :lol:

Update from the boyfriend: Thane ate 6 bugs this morning, and was left a buggy salad to stare at, lol. We're having a heck of a time trying to get him to look at greens. Trying mustard greens this week because they look like kale (which he loved until I found out that they bind calcium).

Oh, I didn't realize that about Kale...I'll make sure my wife knows that when she shops for greens for Monster. I knew it was listed as an 'occasional' food versus a staple, but good to know!

 

[YoursTruly]

Oh, I didn't realize that about Kale...I'll make sure my wife knows that when she shops for greens for Monster. I knew it was listed as an 'occasional' food versus a staple, but good to know!

I was told by a vet and by others on here that Spinach and Kale aren't great choices for the little guys. I'm not COMPLETELY sure, but I trust the sources enough to try other greens. And no, the rhyme wasn't intentional :lol:

I do have a few additional questions for the beardie vets on here:

Thane is still pretty thin, and he generally only eats 8-10 crickets/dubias a day. Obviously that's better than before, but I know he should be eating more. He's also sleepy quite a bit. Is there anything else I can do to fatten him up and help energize him? My temps are correct. His habitat is cleaned regularly. He's got somewhere to bask, and he's bathed 2x a day.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, I'm hoping that Thane will live a reasonably healthy life with you despite his diagnosis. I hadn't read this entire thread before [ and skimmed a bit of now TBH ] but it's good that you got him off the meds. for now ! They can do good but they can also be harmful when given for too long. Since he has ADV he may always struggle more than other beardies, but you're doing a good job with him. ADV is not always an early death sentence.
One thing I would recommend is to cut the baths way down. Doing so 2X a day is not helping anything, might even be stressful and can increase chances of developing a respiratory infection due to aspiration of water or from being wet too much. Offer water dripped on his snout once a day, bathe every other day ONLY if he likes it and/or if he drinks. Then be sure it's not late in the day, pat him dry + put him right back in the tank to dry off in the heat. Be sure the cool side is no higher than 82-83 degrees.

Best wishes to you +Thane !

 

[YoursTruly]

Thanks AHBD! Why no higher than 83 on the cool end? Just curious. And I will try one bath a day from here on out. I was told that ADV beardies and small beardies (Thane is only 22g) dehydrate easily, so he needs more bathing. But I have noticed that he really only drinks in the morning. And now that I have a humidifier in the bedroom, his tank is a steady 22%-25% (before, it was only around 13%! No wonder he was thirsty!)

What do you think about Acidophiliz+? I ordered some in hopes that it might encourage him to eat. I've read good things about it on here, for use after a bought of deworming meds.