Major problems with 9yr old BD

[NateS]

There have been some serious concerns with our 9yr old bearded dragon today. He has been panting and taking heavy deep breaths...hadn't pooped for a few days either. At one point he kept his back end still and started flailing his front end around somewhat violently...smacking into the glass and all.

I got him out to give him a bath...he went poop pretty quickly so I got fresh water and put him back in......he black bearded for the first time ever (in 9yrs) and continued to huff and puff. He would open his mouth wide almost trying to get air.....his mouth looked pretty yellow as well.

Any ideas on what is going on? I'm thinking he may be at the end of his years, and we don't have a herp vet within about 2 hours....hoping somebody has an idea.

Thanks.

 

[AHBD]

Hi Nate...I'm so sorry to hear about the beardie's distress ! And how distressing for you ! Poor guy, has he been out in the yard or anything different lately ? How is he now ? It may be that he's at the end, a vet could possibly give you more insight . Again, I'm so sorry....and I hope he recuperates.

 

[NateS]

Hi Nate...I'm so sorry to hear about the beardie's distress ! And how distressing for you ! Poor guy, has he been out in the yard or anything different lately ? How is he now ? It may be that he's at the end, a vet could possibly give you more insight . Again, I'm so sorry....and I hope he recuperates.

He seems to be panting less now and somewhat normal. I think the poop helped him even though he acted like there was more he couldn't get out. He is also breathing fairly normal. I am afraid he's getting toward the end but we'll see how he recouporates. He also threw up his vegetables earlier before all this happened.

He hasn't been out in the yard or anything differently so I think it may be age. Thanks for the response.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am sorry to hear about your 9 year old boy!
Can you reveiw your tank setup with us & his feeding & supplementation regime?
Do you have any pictures of him as well to post for us?
If he had a hard time going potty he could be dehydrated or low in calcium. How often do you use calcium supplementation for him?
Are you using a UVB light & if so, what type & brand do you use?
I would bathe him & try to give some oral fluids, also to help him with hydration status.

Tracie

 

[NateS]

Well, he is basically on a 100% veggie diet. Lately mustard greens but he usually eats endive...his favorite. I wonder if the mustard greens aren't settling well. He gets calcium dusted on his veggies some and he gets a large dubia or two as a treat maybe every week or two. (He is really fat so I limit the live feeders alot). He will go some days where he doesn't eat anything. Sometimes he may go a couple days without eating lately. Up until about a month ago, he munched his veggies really well.

His cage setup is a 40g (36x18x18) with a basking branch and a tile platform that is also a hide underneath. His basking temps are about 100 cage temps in the 80-85 range. He has an 18" reptisun 10.0 also that he sometimes will get really close too...so I don't think that's a problem. Of course, none of this has changed in the past year.

Here's a few pics of the peak of his black bearding.

Yellow mouth and a lot of saliva...even a bit of foaming