Please help im new on this page, Made an account just now because I found my beardie laying unresponsive in his tank. Hes 7+ years old, kept in ideal conditions 75 gal, proper lighting and temps. He eats normally every other day. No change in behavior whatsoever. He appears to be dead or in a coma. No matter what I do he won't budge. Tried warm bath and basking him. Even ever so gently touched to see if he was stiff or impacted. He's still warm, not breathing and I dont hear a heartbeat. His eyes are really puff like I never ever seen. Its been 2 hours now and I dont know what to do anymore. Please help me!
Oh that doesn't sound good at all. You do not see any signs of breathing at all? Is his
beard black?
His eyes are puffed out but not sunken in?
I hate to ask but if you have a picture, you can post it real quick, just so we can try to
determine anything.
Could he have ingested anything toxic?
I am sorry this is happening, I know it's very upsetting.
His beard is black, his mouth is slightly open which it never has been. While he was in this state his body seemed to be having tiny muscle spasms, like tiny heart beats everywhere; (hind legs, tail & back).He was fine this morning, running around and ate vegetables. Had a bowel movement. No changes to his environment. The dragon I have in the next tank over is completely fine so I dont think its the food or lighting. I dont live anywhere with wild insects that could crawled in. I sit about 2 feet away from my dragons everyday so I observe everything.
Ive tried everything imaginable
So no changes at all, there is no sign of breathing & there hasn't been any type of movement
from him? Is he having the tiny muscle spasms or twitches or have those stopped? I am
not sure what has happened unless he had a stroke or heart attack possibly.
When you pick him up, is he limp or stiff now?
If you haven't seen any signs of life, have turned him over, etc then he has probably passed
away. I wouldn't be real hasty in burying him yet, just to be sure. You could take him into
a vet for analysis if you think he may not be gone.
Is there a vet nearby ? …. in this situation any vet will do.
They will check your pet immediately if you tell them you are on your way with a critically ill pet …. they all have portable (handheld) doppler ultrasound machines and can use these to check for any blood flow , even if they can't hear a heart beat with a stephoscope….
Reptiles can, in critical situations, slow their metabolism down to only a few beats per minute and it can be very hard to see any chest movements from the heart and lungs working. They can appear very dead and still be alive.
If the doppler ultrasound shows no blood flow - he's no longer alive. If they detect blood flow - they may be able to resuscitate him...
I never bury my dead lizards until they start to show obvious signs of death - blood pooling, seepage from nose , mouth , sunken eyes (no optical response), starting to smell (not always a reliable) , and have been know to keep a lizard in it tank in a warm spot for 24 hours before declaring it DEFINITELY DEAD.
Usually my imagination plays tricks on me …. imagine seeing breathing, twitches of toes, tail …. very hard to let go of a much loved pet.