WE ARE FIRST TIME OWNERS OF A BEARDED DRAGON, ROCKY, WHOM WE PURCHASED ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO FROM AN EXCELLENT SHOP. WE HAD HIM AT THE VET SHORTLY AFTER GETTING HIM HOME. HE HAD A FULL EXAM INCLUDING STOOL FOR OVA AND PARASITES. THE VET APPROVED OF OUR HOUSING AND LIGHTING AND HE WAS JUST FINE. PAST FEW DAYS HE WAS A LITTLE LESS ACTIVE, BUT STILL EATING, POOPING REGULARLY AND WOULD RUN AROUND IF WE TOOK HIM OUT. WE WOULD PLAY WITH HIM DAILY BUT WERE ALWAYS CAREFUL OF THE TEMP IN HIS TANK. WE HAD THE PROPER UV LIGHTING, ALSO HEATING LIGHTS FOR NIGHT AND DAYTIME. TODAY HE HAD POOPED AND WAS OK BUT THEN BECAME SLUGGISH AND THEN HE BECAME COMPLETELY LIMP, WAS UNRESPONSIVE, NO HEARTBEAT COULD BE FELT. WE WERE DOING EVERYTHING RIGHT FOR OUR LITTLE GUY. WHAT DO THINK WENT WRONG? WE WILL BUY A NEW ONE BUT DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT WE COULD HAVE DONE TO PREVENT THIS.
ANY HELPFUL THOUGHTS?
KAREN
Please don't think I am talking down to you in any way - are you sure?? When mine died it was stick straight hard - not limp so was just curious.
I have no recommendations for you but to say I'm sorry. Did you bathe it? Could it have been dehydrated? Other than that I really have no ideas.
I know that I basically do the same thing with Lindy that I did with my first. Only difference is that he takes baths twice a day now. He has grown sooo big where as my first one died after 3 weeks.
I'm sorry he died. Sometimes the only way to tell what happened is to get a necropsy done. Sometimes that's possible to do, sometimes (like with us) it's not.
We could go over your setup and see if anything crops up.
I am sorry that you lost your dragon so suddenly. Sometimes something is wrong that is not detected at the vets, & if no bloodwork was done it is almost impossible to rule out liver or kidney failure. They hide their illness well until it is almost too late to do anything. I am sorry for your loss.
You did check to make sure he was not breathing, as well, right? Sometimes, they breathe very shallow.