My Baby is Lethargic, Yellow Fungus, Not Eating

[FancyGermanTea]

My dragon is about 3-4 months old now. A while back I had noticed some spots on my Beardie that look like yellow fungus. We've been treating her for the last week or so, and brought her to the vet. He gave her a de-wormer orally and told me to switch from crickets to mealworms and to add a vitamin a supplement to her food, saying she was a bit small for her age and yf might not be the sole case for it. She seemed to be getting alot better, when about 3 days ago she stopped eating. She wont eat any of her vegetables, and we filled her cage with crickets (her favorite) and she took absolutely no interest in them at all. Today all I cou and ld get her to eat was one mealworm. I called back to the vet, and the earliest they can get her in is two weeks, and for another de-wormer treatment. I'm worried that she wont make it this long. She is very lethargic and doesnt run around her cage like she used to, today she cant even keep her eyes open all the way.
We live in a relatively cold climate and the tank is generally only 85-90f. She is also shedding like mad (Im not sure if this could be it). What do I do?

 

[Gail]

First thing you need to do is get her temps increased. Is the 85-90 the basking area? It needs to be closer to 100 for a young dragon. Second, ditch the mealworms. They can cause impaction especially if the temps aren't high enough for proper digestion.
Its highly likely she is impacted, is she pooping at all? Is she on sand or another loose substrate? If so, it needs to be removed.

She does look thin, how much were you feeding before? What kind of supplements were you using? Do you have a UVB bulb? What kind and brand?

I would really suggest a different vet. Telling you to switch to mealies and giving meds without a fecal are signs of a bad vet. What kind of dewormer was she given? This is important, call the office if you have to and ask. There is one called ivermectin that is very toxic to reptiles and for some reason vets like to still use it.

For now, get some apple sauce baby food, mix a spoonful with a few drops of vegetable oil and try to get her eating that. If she is impacted, that will help move it along. Make sure she is getting plenty to drink.

 

[FancyGermanTea]

First thing you need to do is get her temps increased. Is the 85-90 the basking area? It needs to be closer to 100 for a young dragon. Second, ditch the mealworms. They can cause impaction especially if the temps aren't high enough for proper digestion.
Its highly likely she is impacted, is she pooping at all? Is she on sand or another loose substrate? If so, it needs to be removed.

She does look thin, how much were you feeding before? What kind of supplements were you using? Do you have a UVB bulb? What kind and brand?

I would really suggest a different vet. Telling you to switch to mealies and giving meds without a fecal are signs of a bad vet. What kind of dewormer was she given? This is important, call the office if you have to and ask. There is one called ivermectin that is very toxic to reptiles and for some reason vets like to still use it.

For now, get some apple sauce baby food, mix a spoonful with a few drops of vegetable oil and try to get her eating that. If she is impacted, that will help move it along. Make sure she is getting plenty to drink.

Everything I am using came from this http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/deluxe-bearded-dragon-kit.htm with the exception of the roundish rock, substrate and the wood piece. She is pooping regularly. I have switched on her heat pad and nightlight to get the temp up. She is on sand, what else should I use as a substrate? The stuff that came with the kit is actually crushed walnut shells, and I am very allergic to nuts.
As for supplements, I was given a Vitamin A packet called Sunshine Factor which I put on her vegetables and fed her by hand to make sure she ingested. Her crickets and salad are dusted with repti-cal several times a week.
I will call back to my vet to see what the dewormer was.
I live in a really remote area, and that was the nearest vet, an hour away..

 

[Gail]

Glad she is pooping but you have quite a lot to fix in your cage sorry to say. Zilla produces a really bad UVB, you need to replace it ASAP with a reptisun 10, the best prices are at petmountain.com

Without proper UVB, a dragon not only can develop soft bones but have a low appetite and not grow properly.

You can use newspapers or paper towels for the time being, later a solid bottom like slate tiles would be perfect. Crushed walnuts are terrible, they are super sharp and can slice the intestine up if eaten. sand can cause impaction, especially in babies. The sand will also make it hard to treat the yellow fungus.

The temp gauges that stick on glass are garbage, you need either a infred temp gun or a digital with probe. I like the digital kind, you can get them at walmart for around $12. Put the probe directly on the basking area.

The repti cal is a good brand, use it 5 days a week but only on one meal daily. You do need better vitamins though, repti-vit is recommended but I use zoomed with good results. Dragons are prone to vit A toxicity, I worry your vit supplement it too high in A.

 

[SDragon]

I have to agree with most of what Gail has said especially regarding temperatures and diet (not your fault if the vet advised you to use mealworms) the fact that he sees no urgency in the situation and is willing to leave it two weeks to see an animal under his care just to give a guesswork treatment makes me suspicious of his aptitude and decency as a vet.

Whilst I'm not as anti sand (as long as it's playsand) as many I would take her off it until she is well and you have fixed her husbandry at least. You have to get those temperatures correct, a heat mat won't work. She needs a basking spot with high temperatures up to around 110 but with a gradient. You need to make this work, it's not optional just because of local climate. For UVB I would suggest the Arcadia 12% T5.

Whilst the common de- wormer shouldn't be too harsh on gut flora I think it would be a good idea to give her a lactose free probiotic to give her good gut bacteria a boost. You should also get a fecal done as worms are not the only possible parasite.

You also need a clinical confirmation that it is specifically yellow fungus and if so you need to tackle it with the assistance of a vet who knows what they are doing.

Is she drinking?

 

[FancyGermanTea]

We bought her a new bulb today, a which should help.
I made her some food (food processor+various fruits and veggies) and mixed in the dry pellets that came with the tank (she would never eat them on their own and I figured they probably had some nutritional value), repti-cal, and sunshine factor.
I am feeling a little less worried and I am beginning to think maybe its just that she's molting so much. She hasn't been opening her eyes, probably because her eyelids are peeling so much!
My vet really avoided the question "did she have yf" and I never got a straight answer, and I don't know of any other vets in my state that know anything about reptiles : P
She drinks daily and I've been making a point to give her water even more often than usual because she is in molt. I don't have a water dish in her tank (I've read that if she walks through it the yf could spread to other parts of her body via the water) so I take her out several times a day and hand feed her and she drinks until she's had enough.