Newbie In Desperate Need of Help

[CatbugArie]

• Hi, I am Catbug! I got my first ever Beardie Dragon less than a year ago. I don't know her morph, her age, her weight, her breeder, her parents, etc. She is fully grown and was abandoned, twice. Now she is in my possession in forever loving arms and I am afraid she won't be for much longer.
  
  I believe she is egg bound, constipated, has parasites, and is for sure dehydrated. I am in desperate need of help, I have pictures of her poop that I will add photos of. Her poop smells foul and is runny with white urate.
  
  Before I do not know what they fed her in the possession of the original owner, all I know is they moved out and left her in the home. Then my dad got her, nearly killed her from feeding only meal worms. He also kept her in a twenty gallon, where she barely had room to turn. The only shelter she had from the 90 degree heat inside her tanks was a cardboard box only a few centimeters- if not less- thick. They kept her on dyed sand now her arms and tail is permanently stained. And after that they almost killed her by feeding her meal worms they never, ever gave her any source of protein again, and only one kind of green- kale.
  
  In my care she is in a 40 gallon, I plan to put her in a 150 gallon some day. She is dehydrated and I can't seem to get her to drink water. The only way I can get her to drink is through soaking hard pellets and from fruits and veggies. I tried flicking the water inside her bowl and putting fruit juice inside, she was uninterested, even when holding it in front of her face. She barely eats her fruits and veggies and won't eat them unless I hand feed them to her. She tries to eat out of the bowl but it is too hard for her. If I leave the greens uncut she will eat them but I like to cut them up.
  
  Need information as to whether she has eggs or not. I don't feel any. But she is very big, inactive, looks depressed, etc. Is it okay if I put her in the twenty gallon with a half sand and half dirt substrate to lay her eggs? For a couple of hours every day and put her back in the 40 gallon? I don't want to fill her 40 gallon with dirt and sand where she eats because I don't want her impacted. I think sand and dirt substrate is gross and awful to keep reptiles on.
  
  I am only 16, turned 16 last month and my family cannot afford to take her to the vet. (So please don't recommend it, as much as I want to, I financially cannot take her.) I am getting a job soon however, and when I do I plant to get x-rays and a c-section done if she is egg bound and possibly get her fixed so she doesn't need to go through the pain of being egg bound ever if she truly is. I cannot imagine how much pain she is in if her eggs were due a long time ago.
  
  (Btw she have UVB/UVA bulb, day and night basking bulb, and already an egg tub thing in her tank but she doesn't use it, but she does go in it. I mist her directly and give her baths, I also drip water over her nose with a syringe without the needle but she doesn't drink the water. She eats around 10-14 crickets every 2-3 days and a couple of super worms as treats, never meal worms. All calcium dusted. She is around 13"-15" and I believe a Central Bearded Dragon.)
  
  Images of her and poop-
  http://imgur.com/b423sUA
  http://imgur.com/OnPAGvd
  http://igmur.com/TDwO73F
  
  Thank you and I am so sorry for the long paragraph

 

[AHBD]

Hi Cat, sorry that your dragon is having trouble. The poo pics showed up but the 3rd pic did not show up so there's no pic of her. She probably does have parasites , the only other possibility would be lots of new food items + greens. But if nothing'd changed, it's probably parasites. You'd need a vet to do a fecal test.

So post some pics of her and her set up, and post exactly the type + brand of lights. She may not be eggbound but just feeling ill from possible parasites and maybe needs some adjustments in her lighting. And by the way, you could post this in the E.R for more help.

 

[CatbugArie]

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm sorry to hear she's had such a rough life so far. I'm glad you are able to take her in and give her some love and a chance at recovery. They are quite tough and can fight back from some pretty rough situations so keep doing your best to help her. We'll be here to help you care for her as much as we can. I agree with AHBD that it may not be egg binding but it's tough to tell without an exam. Same with parasites. The best thing you can do for now is keep her hydrated, get her used to a good diet, and give her a proper heat gradient and UVB exposure.

It's a good sign that she's eating. Since she's an adult, she should be eating primarily veges but it may take a while to get her used to a proper diet so be patient. Try to limit bugs to about 20% of her diet overall. Hopefully she will dig into a nice varied salad. It's good to offer collard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, bok choy, and mustard greens along with things like squash, green beans, bell peppers, and whatever else you can get fresh at the store. The more variety you can provide, the better. This is a good list to reference for ideas http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html If she isn't drinking water she may be getting enough hydration from food. You can try offering her some extra hydration by dripping water on her nose with a dropper or plastic syringe. Don't be too forceful with it just make it available for her to take if she wants some more water.

For lighting, continue using the basking light you have but don't use the night light. Usually overnight temps above 65 or so are fine but since she's sick it may be better to keep overnight temps in the high 70s. You can use a low wattage ceramic heat emitter to bump the temps overnight if needed but don't use anything that produces visible light. You want the basking light to produce a good gradient across the tank. Shoot for about 100-105 in the basking area with 90s around that and a gradient down to 75-80 or so on the cool side. You can raise/lower the basking light or try different wattages to achieve this gradient. It takes some fiddling around at first but once it's set it doesn't require too much adjustment.

For UVB, I would upgrade your bulb. Ideally, I'd get a T5 tube with a reflective fixture but if those are out of your budget at the moment (they cost about $75) then there are some smaller adjustments you can make. I would at least upgrade your compact bulb. The 13w isn't very powerful and isn't likely to be producing adequate UVB exposure in a 40g tank. I would upgrade to a 26w like this one https://www.amazon.com/Exo-Terra-Intense-Compact-Fluorescent/dp/B00B4ZRXSW and set it about 6-8'' above the basking area for best results. If the weather is good where you are, I would bring her outside for some natural sunlight when you can. You can't beat natural sunlight for proper UV exposure. Hopefully once she gets used to a good diet and has proper heat and lighting she will start to perk up a bit and feel better.

 

[CatbugArie]

Thank you, I could not afford a higher watt bulb so I bought her a harness and leash to take her outside for stronger rays, today it was 90+ degrees Fahrenheit but felt like 100 degrees Fahrenheit

 

[CooperDragon]

Bright sunshine on a nice day like that should do wonders. Please let me know how it goes =)

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from Introductions to Health

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

It looks like you are doing great.
I agree, if her stools do smell that bad then I would recommend trying to fine ai natural way to get rid of them. Try parsley & cilantro mixed up with some greens, to naturall detoxify her system. Give this to her daily for about a week or so. Is she losing weight right now?
She looks pretty good in the pictures, overall.
I personally prefer the tube bulbs over the compact/coil lights though. There is just too many accounts of eye issues & poor health with the compact/coil lights. I just don't think that they emit good enough quality, really to do them all that much good. The Reptisun 10 tube or the Arcadia D3 12% tube either one are very good.
If you can get her out in the sun, that certainly will help out.

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

 

[CatbugArie]

 

[AHBD]

She looks really good there ! Nice to see her out in the sun, that'll give her plenty of uvb, too. So she's doing pretty well ?

 

[CatbugArie]

I think that she is in brumation period, that is why she seems depressed and no longer active, her poop still concerns me though, it still smells, is hard, and runny. She loves round fruits though, flick blueberries or chucks of fruit she'll chase and eat it. I could probably ball up vegetables and leafs and flick them to see if she'll eat them, other than that she rarely eats her fruits, veggies, or leafs

I am going to add a second hide to the cool side of her tank after reading a multiple paged article here over brumation, which was very helpful. I thought it couldn't be her brumation because it is summer here, but it might be winter in Australia so that might be it and why she doesn't eat much. She even began to eat less crickets

So far she does not like walks, she hissed at me, opened her mouth, and puffed out her black beard, I think maybe because the harness was pulling upwards on her scales (was not tight and I was not actually 'walking' her, just letting her sit in the grass), or she was just scared to be outside

And finally, I've been giving her baths daily, she is still seemingly permanently stained from the dyed sand my dad put her on and has difficulties shedding so I bought her soft tooth brushes which she likes, she likes to be scrub behind her eyes. I've been bathing her daily since they take in water through their vents

And I have a question, how often is she suppose to poop? She probably poops 3 or less times a month... which I feel is a bad thing

 

[kingofnobbys]

I think that she is in brumation period, that is why she seems depressed and no longer active, her poop still concerns me though, it still smells, is hard, and runny. She loves round fruits though, flick blueberries or chucks of fruit she'll chase and eat it. I could probably ball up vegetables and leafs and flick them to see if she'll eat them, other than that she rarely eats her fruits, veggies, or leafs

I am going to add a second hide to the cool side of her tank after reading a multiple paged article here over brumation, which was very helpful. I thought it couldn't be her brumation because it is summer here, but it might be winter in Australia so that might be it and why she doesn't eat much. She even began to eat less crickets

So far she does not like walks, she hissed at me, opened her mouth, and puffed out her black beard, I think maybe because the harness was pulling upwards on her scales (was not tight and I was not actually 'walking' her, just letting her sit in the grass), or she was just scared to be outside
<<<< If she's not accustomed to being taken outside , it will be very disturbing and scary for her , I'd take her outside with the leash and harness on and sit on the grass with her on your lap, when she plucks up enough courage or gets inquisitive enough she'll crawl off and start exploring , but only when she's ready, essentially you will be her safe place when outside and she's likely to want to very close to you until she decides she is safe outside.

And finally, I've been giving her baths daily, she is still seemingly permanently stained from the dyed sand my dad put her on and has difficulties shedding so I bought her soft tooth brushes which she likes, she likes to be scrub behind her eyes. I've been bathing her daily since they take in water through their vents

<<<< daily baths are too often.
My beardies only get bathes very rarely and only if
--- they have really soiled themselves
--- its very hot (to help them cool off)
--- if they are impacted (with tummy rub and a dose of olive oil (about 0.3ml) )
--- if they have an open injury (soak in weak solution of betadiene)
I wouldn't worry about the staining, it will eventually disappear with ware or with the next shed.



And I have a question, how often is she suppose to poop? She probably poops 3 or less times a month... which I feel is a bad thing

Different beardies - different pooing habits, depends on how much and how often they are fed, and the temperatures, their age, the individual metabolic rates .
Rex can go over a week occasionally between pooes, but she usually goes pretty regularly every 2 days or so.
Peppa & Toothless can go a week sometimes, other times it's 2 or 3 times a weeks.

A feed of nice juice silkworms seems to do wonders getting the pooing going, as does a daily small dose of olive oil given orally by syringe if there a slight impaction going on.

None of my pet lizards have ever bromated , I keep the day long (about 15h per day lights on) and keep their temperatures warm.

If she's been on sand , it might be worth having radiograms done to check for impaction due to sand accumulated in her intestinal tract (not good). The other risk I see is that fake plastic vine , a hungry beardie can try to eat anything that looks green and leafy .... if it does the plastic pieces can cause impaction.

I notice the combo pack includes a red coloured "heat" globe , they are useless, best off with a standard par38 clear colourless incandescent spotty as your basking globe if you are not using a MVB.
At night time if it gets cold in the house a CHE (a mushroom shaped globe that emits no visible light like http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/100W-Ceramic-Natural-Heat-Emitter-Reptile-Light-Heater-Lamp-Bulb-Brooder/281996771993?_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555014%26algo%3DPL.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20151005190705%26meid%3D529e0ed3fb274604beed4b5476a335b8%26pid%3D100506%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26 , these can be had for under $12 , and I use them to control my heatpads (and have had no failures or other problems for over 8 years with these).

 

[CatbugArie]

I won't use a heat pad on her because I heard Bearded Dragons cannot feel heat through their stomachs, and I got told by a specialist that she needs to be bathed daily, and that actually Bearded Dragons are suppose to be bathed at least once a week to simulate bowel movements. They told me to not use the brush because it is actually hurting her, though it is a soft bristle brush. They told me to just rub her scales downwards with my hands. Also I got rid of the red bulb as advised but couldn't get the ceramic one, I could only get a black light bulb to give her heat at night, but I think the day light works well for her