Pkimberlee13
Member
I’m gonna give a preface to my bearded dragon. His name is Apollo and he is a rescue. I got him in October and he has two paralyzed back legs and some chipped/missing skin on his mouth. Neither have ever really caused him much grief or prevented him from doing anything, but I just thought it may be worth mentioning. He lived with my boyfriend in a tiny cage from october to early March, and he seemed pretty happy and healthy but his cage was just too small so we moved him to my house and he now resides in a 40 gallon tank with a heat lamp, a UVB lamp, some rocks to bask on, a water bowl, a bowl for his fruits/veggies and a nice big cave for him to go in (I also use carpet for flooring). So here’s where my concerns take place—and I have a few.
1.) First of all, I have no idea how old he is. He is about 14 inches long, so it’s clear he is an adult, but that’s all I know that may relate to his age.
2.) Second, ever since we got him, he’s had a weird eye problem. His left eye is super watery to the point where it drips down his face sometimes, and although he doesn’t seem too bothered by it, it worries me. He blinks a lot in just that eye and sometimes he will even keep it squinted for a while, and on top of all that it looks a little bit droopy. I’ve been told to give him more UVB or to take him outside often, but neither seem to do much. He used to get white crust in his eye and ever since we moved him to my house and gave him more UVB it has helped, but the droopiness, blinking and leakiness still remain. I’m thinking saline eye solution might help, but I don’t know.
3.) Thirdly, he recently (as in since yesterday) has been keeping his mouth open a lot. I don’t know EVERYTHING about bearded dragons, but I do know that they keep their mouths open to bask—however, his mouth is usually open pretty wide when he does it. Recently his mouth is open just a little, and maybe I’m just paranoid, but I looked up respiratory diseases and he does show a couple signs that lead me to believe he may have one, but I’m not sure how he may have gotten it, if he even has one, or—if he does have one—what I can to do treat it. (He also swallows a lot and breathe a little heavy, but he’s always done that)
4.) Lastly, he is not eating. When we first got him he had an eating issue, but it was more so that he was eating too little than not eating at all. When we got him he was quite skinny, and still is (but not as skinny as before), but when we fed him he would eat right away but he would only eat about 5 worms give or take and that’s it. We assumed it was because of whatever accident he got in before he was rescued (hence the paralyzed legs and messed up mouth) and that he may have been stressed/traumatized, or that he was nervous since he had moved to an entirely new area once we brought him home, but eventually he ate more and more. He also had always had a poop issue where it appeared a very dark brown, sometimes even almost black and very mushy/watery, although his pee pellet thing (or whatever it’s called) always remained pretty white and never yellow. Eventually we got him to eat veggies and he LOVED to eat peppers and he would be eating about 10 worms a day with a couple slices of green pepper. I have never really seen him drink water though, but I just assume he does it on his own without me seeing, but recently I’ve been trying to drip water in his mouth just in case. When we moved him to my house in his new cage, he was still eating but he refused to eat the greens I gave him. I hate force-feeding, but I did it once or twice and he would get very frustrated with me and even smack my hand. I don’t know why but he just would not eat his freakin peppers anymore. Eventually he started eating only worms and his poop, for the first time since October, came out solid and healthy and he was even pooping daily (which was pretty rare for him). At one point, he stopped eating completely. I tried everything, and the only thing that worked was force feeding but I felt too guilty to do it and most of the time it wouldn’t make it into his mouth because I’d get too upset and would stop myself, or if I did succeed in it, he’d only eat about two small chunks of pepper. I had him on a steady routine for feeding, but all of a sudden he wasn’t anymore. He eventually started sleeping all day and hiding in the dark, so I assumed he was going through brumation although it isn’t really winter anymore. This happened for about 2 days I think last week or so, and then all of a sudden one morning before school he ate an entire 7 worms and even ate some blueberries later in the day. Then, the next day, he ate maybe 2 worms and that was it. Then, the next day, he ate like 6 blueberries, and he would shift between eating nothing or eating a little bit up until maybe yesterday or 2 days ago. He just stopped eating. He has a lot of energy and spends most of his day basking looking all lively, but he barely eats. Throughout all of this, his poop and pee has remained normal and healthy, but he just won’t eat. I think yesterday he ate a few blueberries and this morning he ate 2, but that’s all he will eat. He doesn’t want his worms anymore, doesn’t want his peppers, and only wants a few blueberries and that’s it. I can’t bear to force feed him, but I think that’s all I can do. In my opinion, he doesn’t really seem sick, and actually seems pretty lively and active, but for the life of me I can’t get him to eat his food, or at least not enough food. When he first refused to eat I assumed it was because of his moving from my boyfriends home to mine—but weeks later and he has started ignoring/refusing food again.
I apologize for the length of this post, but my Apollo is truly my everything, and I love him very dearly. I admit I get pretty paranoid and can be a helicopter parent to my lizard, but that’s because he’s my first pet, my first bearded dragon, and he is extremely special to me. I worry about him constantly, but recently I keep finding new things that worry me with him and I feel as if I’m not doing what I should be to help him. I find myself constantly looking up things that pertain to him and my worry for him interferes with a lot of my daily life. My boyfriends baby dragon died today, which also has been making me pretty paranoid, and I just want to do all I can for my Apollo to keep him happy and healthy and give him a better life than hes experienced in his past. I’m not always this crazy over him, but recently I’ve noticed some off things. Please help me, I’ll take all the advice I can get—thank you!
1.) First of all, I have no idea how old he is. He is about 14 inches long, so it’s clear he is an adult, but that’s all I know that may relate to his age.
2.) Second, ever since we got him, he’s had a weird eye problem. His left eye is super watery to the point where it drips down his face sometimes, and although he doesn’t seem too bothered by it, it worries me. He blinks a lot in just that eye and sometimes he will even keep it squinted for a while, and on top of all that it looks a little bit droopy. I’ve been told to give him more UVB or to take him outside often, but neither seem to do much. He used to get white crust in his eye and ever since we moved him to my house and gave him more UVB it has helped, but the droopiness, blinking and leakiness still remain. I’m thinking saline eye solution might help, but I don’t know.
3.) Thirdly, he recently (as in since yesterday) has been keeping his mouth open a lot. I don’t know EVERYTHING about bearded dragons, but I do know that they keep their mouths open to bask—however, his mouth is usually open pretty wide when he does it. Recently his mouth is open just a little, and maybe I’m just paranoid, but I looked up respiratory diseases and he does show a couple signs that lead me to believe he may have one, but I’m not sure how he may have gotten it, if he even has one, or—if he does have one—what I can to do treat it. (He also swallows a lot and breathe a little heavy, but he’s always done that)
4.) Lastly, he is not eating. When we first got him he had an eating issue, but it was more so that he was eating too little than not eating at all. When we got him he was quite skinny, and still is (but not as skinny as before), but when we fed him he would eat right away but he would only eat about 5 worms give or take and that’s it. We assumed it was because of whatever accident he got in before he was rescued (hence the paralyzed legs and messed up mouth) and that he may have been stressed/traumatized, or that he was nervous since he had moved to an entirely new area once we brought him home, but eventually he ate more and more. He also had always had a poop issue where it appeared a very dark brown, sometimes even almost black and very mushy/watery, although his pee pellet thing (or whatever it’s called) always remained pretty white and never yellow. Eventually we got him to eat veggies and he LOVED to eat peppers and he would be eating about 10 worms a day with a couple slices of green pepper. I have never really seen him drink water though, but I just assume he does it on his own without me seeing, but recently I’ve been trying to drip water in his mouth just in case. When we moved him to my house in his new cage, he was still eating but he refused to eat the greens I gave him. I hate force-feeding, but I did it once or twice and he would get very frustrated with me and even smack my hand. I don’t know why but he just would not eat his freakin peppers anymore. Eventually he started eating only worms and his poop, for the first time since October, came out solid and healthy and he was even pooping daily (which was pretty rare for him). At one point, he stopped eating completely. I tried everything, and the only thing that worked was force feeding but I felt too guilty to do it and most of the time it wouldn’t make it into his mouth because I’d get too upset and would stop myself, or if I did succeed in it, he’d only eat about two small chunks of pepper. I had him on a steady routine for feeding, but all of a sudden he wasn’t anymore. He eventually started sleeping all day and hiding in the dark, so I assumed he was going through brumation although it isn’t really winter anymore. This happened for about 2 days I think last week or so, and then all of a sudden one morning before school he ate an entire 7 worms and even ate some blueberries later in the day. Then, the next day, he ate maybe 2 worms and that was it. Then, the next day, he ate like 6 blueberries, and he would shift between eating nothing or eating a little bit up until maybe yesterday or 2 days ago. He just stopped eating. He has a lot of energy and spends most of his day basking looking all lively, but he barely eats. Throughout all of this, his poop and pee has remained normal and healthy, but he just won’t eat. I think yesterday he ate a few blueberries and this morning he ate 2, but that’s all he will eat. He doesn’t want his worms anymore, doesn’t want his peppers, and only wants a few blueberries and that’s it. I can’t bear to force feed him, but I think that’s all I can do. In my opinion, he doesn’t really seem sick, and actually seems pretty lively and active, but for the life of me I can’t get him to eat his food, or at least not enough food. When he first refused to eat I assumed it was because of his moving from my boyfriends home to mine—but weeks later and he has started ignoring/refusing food again.
I apologize for the length of this post, but my Apollo is truly my everything, and I love him very dearly. I admit I get pretty paranoid and can be a helicopter parent to my lizard, but that’s because he’s my first pet, my first bearded dragon, and he is extremely special to me. I worry about him constantly, but recently I keep finding new things that worry me with him and I feel as if I’m not doing what I should be to help him. I find myself constantly looking up things that pertain to him and my worry for him interferes with a lot of my daily life. My boyfriends baby dragon died today, which also has been making me pretty paranoid, and I just want to do all I can for my Apollo to keep him happy and healthy and give him a better life than hes experienced in his past. I’m not always this crazy over him, but recently I’ve noticed some off things. Please help me, I’ll take all the advice I can get—thank you!
