Petstore Beardie - Worried

[JoshK]

I kinda just want to rant a sec and not sure really where to put this.

Got a bearded dragon from petco almost a month ago. (june 11th).

We had a 55 gallon long tank that we used to have fish in. We recently relocated and gave the fish away. After we got settled we wanted to get the tank set back up but we were burnt out on the fish and decided to get some sort of lizard. We read about Bearded dragons and decided that they were what we were looking for.

We went to petco and asked some questions about our tank and other info.

I ask a worker near the reptiles if he knew much about the bearded dragons. He said yeah I have eight etc.. (find out later eight in same tank sigh). Anyways I end up buying a bunch of stuff I don't need and proceed home to set up the tank.

Through my own stupidity I end up shattering an $80 mvb bulb, and manage to set up the rest of the tank.

Go back the next day and get one dragon (6" 9g), some crickets and bring it home.

Spend the next two days reading constantly on this forum about everything that is wrong with my setup and what I was told.

I spend a bunch more money getting the things I need and perhaps some things I don't and am just cheerful at our new pet and what the future with it will bring.

Fastforward two weeks...

It was eating a couple of crickets a day for the month and I realized that wasn't enough. Called around for a vet that looked at reptiles and found one. Brought it there and she said.. oh it's skinny but can't find anything else wrong. I should feed it mealworms she says to try and help him gain weight.

We get home and he eats 5! mealworms right away. I was so excited that he was finally eating and maybe this is all going to be okay. Next day he wouldn't eat anything and we found some poo and looked like it had blood on it. He also would not eat mealworms anymore.

Started going through a full body shed and we made sure to bathe him almost every day.

A week ago or so later vet calls and checks up and I say nothing has changed that he still won't eat. She explains to buy meat based baby food and feed it to him out of a syringe.

So now I've tried offering it: crickets, dubia, mealworms, phoenix worms, and putting baby food on lips. Just doesn't seem to care.

So now twice a day for past few days I've been giving it 1/2 tsp of babyfood via forcing his mouth open and giving it to him with a syringe. Now he has some poo but it looks very spotty almost like he has the movement then drags the liquid around his tank. I still try to offer live feeders every day but it wont' even give them a look.

I'm just really burnt out now, and sad. I feel like we're doing everything we can and nothing really matters because it's just going to die anyways.

I'm not sure if it's something my wife and I are doing wrong, or cause of poor treatment at the pet store. If this one passes on I'm not even sure we can get another beardie since we could be the reason it died.

I feel sick to my stomach over this whole thing.

Not only that but there is the financial aspects.. Not that we're hurting for money but the amount we've spent is quite high.

Lets see off the top of my head:

$50 for beardie
$80 mvb light 1 i broke
$80 mvb light 2
$20 pet store crix
$15 basking bulb
$30 tank deco/hiding spots etc
$30 ghanns crix
$200 dubia colony
$20 two tubs for crix/roach
$20? reptile carpet
$20 switched to tiles
$200 buy a 40g breeder tank + a bunch of extra lights off craigslist after realizing a 55 long will suck for a beardie
$60 for a reptisun 10 bulb + bulb enclosure thing
$10 for 10g feeding tank
constant veggies my wife keeps buying that he won't touch.
$15? for supplements
$50 vet visit

$900 just a rough estimate

etc... haven't really sat and thought about the cost so far. I really like my dragon, and love looking at and reading about them on here. I want this to be a pet.. but right now... ugh.

So depressing

 

[beardie osk]

Oh my, I'm so sorry for all you and your wife are going through, but your at the right place for advice, where do I start????
First and foremost, it's too bad you had to find out the hard way about the incompetence of Petco, occasionally you may find someone who knows what their talking about, but usually the advice given is far from the truth....................
1. As far as your tank, you could have used your larger viv and blocked off half of it instead of getting the 40 gallon breeder.
2. What type of MVB bulb did you buy, there have been a # of problems with all these bulbs, so the reptisun 10, along with a basking bulb is more reliable these days. Hopefully you have a temp gun or a digital reader because the stick on thermometers don't work. Temps should be between 100 to 110 in basking, 70's or low 80's on the cool side.
3. In feeding crickets or any live food, you can only feed beardies sizes as big as the space between their eyes, mealworms should not be given, (only once in a while for a treat, they're like candy) and babies eat TONS of crickets 2 to 3 times a day, that's why ordering them by the thousands is recomended. Phoenix worms and nymph dubia's are good as well, you can puree some of them to make a slurry to add to baby food too. (I know it sounds gross)
4. As far as salad is concerned, offer it daily, but the bulk of their food is live protein, and they may ease into the veggies, mustard greens, collards, endive, turnip/beet greens, Kale, shredded summer squash or butternut squash etc. Baby food squash is good by syringe if he's not eating salad, but be careful not to force the liquid in his mouth, he'll get pneumonia or choke.
5. Daily baths will help his shed, and hydrate him, make sure you monitor him during bathing, and support his head if needed, it'll also potty train him to go in the tub.
6. The reptile carpet is good, and you can also use papertowel too. Never sand, and tiles are good if their rough to file down their nails, (usually when their older)
7. All beardies go through re-location stress, where they don't eat, etc., so give him some time.

I'm so sorry your sad, and discouraged, I don't blame you, but don't give up, beardies are the best pets ever, you just got off to a wrong start. Now we'll have to have more specifics to help you, so we're all here for you.

Welcome to BD.org,
Hang in there!

 

[JoshK]

Oh my, I'm so sorry for all you and your wife are going through, but your at the right place for advice, where do I start????
First and foremost, it's too bad you had to find out the hard way about the incompetence of Petco, occasionally you may find someone who knows what their talking about, but usually the advice given is far from the truth....................
1. As far as your tank, you could have used your larger viv and blocked off half of it instead of getting the 40 gallon breeder.

I bought the 40gallon as a long-term tank since the 55 gallon was only 13" wide I thought it would be uncomfortable for the drag as he started to grow

2. What type of MVB bulb did you buy, there have been a # of problems with all these bulbs, so the reptisun 10, along with a basking bulb is more reliable these days. Hopefully you have a temp gun or a digital reader because the stick on thermometers don't work. Temps should be between 100 to 110 in basking, 70's or low 80's on the cool side.

I have been using a powersun mvb 100w. I ordered a 24" reptisun 10.0 + holder the other day. UPS says it will arrive thursday. Temps on basking side stay between 105-110 (measured with probe). Opposite end stays low 80's.

3. In feeding crickets or any live food, you can only feed beardies sizes as big as the space between their eyes, mealworms should not be given, (only once in a while for a treat, they're like candy) and babies eat TONS of crickets 2 to 3 times a day, that's why ordering them by the thousands is recomended. Phoenix worms and nymph dubia's are good as well, you can puree some of them to make a slurry to add to baby food too. (I know it sounds gross)

I ordered 1000 crix from ghanns a few days after bringing beardie home after I was reading how many per day they would go through. I've been sadly disappointed there as I still have most of them that have not died. They were 1/4" size. I've tried phoenix worms and a few of my dubia nymphs but he won't eat any live food anymore. Not even the 3-6 crixx per day he was eating. He's completely stopped eating on his own.

4. As far as salad is concerned, offer it daily, but the bulk of their food is live protein, and they may ease into the veggies, mustard greens, collards, endive, turnip/beet greens, Kale, shredded summer squash or butternut squash etc. Baby food squash is good by syringe if he's not eating salad, but be careful not to force the liquid in his mouth, he'll get pneumonia or choke.

I haven't tried giving any veggies via syringe just the baby food beef because he was losing weight due to not eating.


5. Daily baths will help his shed, and hydrate him, make sure you monitor him during bathing, and support his head if needed, it'll also potty train him to go in the tub.

We've been giving baths almost daily. When we first got him while he was still eating a little he would go in the bath. Lately he does not go at all in the bath. Just in his enclosure and it's fairly runny never solid any more. He does dip his head into the water a bit and drink.

6. The reptile carpet is good, and you can also use papertowel too. Never sand, and tiles are good if their rough to file down their nails, (usually when their older)

Yeah we were using the rep carpet but have since switched to the tiles as we like that better.

7. All beardies go through re-location stress, where they don't eat, etc., so give him some time.

Yeah I understand that.. But it has been a month now and when he first came home he was actually eating.. A small amount but eating on his own. Now he does not eat on his own at all. I don't think he ate anything on his own for 3-4 days before we started force-feeding the baby food.

I'm so sorry your sad, and discouraged, I don't blame you, but don't give up, beardies are the best pets ever, you just got off to a wrong start. Now we'll have to have more specifics to help you, so we're all here for you.

Welcome to BD.org,
Hang in there!

Responses in bold and thanks for your tips.

 

[beardie osk]

JoshK
That sounds great that you got a new tank, I agree, 13" is not wide enough for a beardie, all else sounds like your doing a great job. The only thing I would suggest is to use chicken baby food and not beef. As a matter of fact, you should only give minimal protein babyfood and stick with the squash because of his lack of eating, the protein will be too much for his kidneys right now.
I also think you should cut and paste your story and put it in the "beardie ER" section in the Bearded Dragon Discussions, and you will get more help from the moderators who can give you medical advice. There is critical care, repta-aide, etc, and maybe you need to get a fecal done.
Hope that's helpful.

 

[Goonie]

Split posts from "Pointless and sad posts"

 

[neworleans]

Ok now something is getting fishy here... I read your whole post nodding my head at the similarities of our situations. I got my beardie at petco as well, he ate fine on his own at first, but now, i can't get my poor guy to eat anything! This is the third post ive seen talking about a juvenile/baby beardie from petco that wont eat on its own.

Its so draining when you stress and worry all day about your poor lizard.

Hopefully our problems will be solved

 

[Noctern]

I am in the same situation as well, except mine was from Petsmart [but they're all the same with caging many juvies in one enclosure]. Ours, however, was pretty small to begin with [4.5-5 inches] and he hasn't been eating for five days [only the first day]. My BD looks like it's on the verge of death. I've only had mine for less than a week [last Sunday], but he seems to refuse anything. I may have to resort to force-feeding baby food, now.

I think the main moral is that petstore chains sell BDs too young in bad enough environments. It's better to dish out the extra money to a trusted breeder for a healthy lively BD, which I will do if Loki doesn't pull through.. agh

 

[dEEjHaY]

Don't forget that everytime you make a change to their environment this can cause added stress and it will take time to see him coming out of relocation stress. When I got my guy, I kept it very simple; Tiled floor, basking rock and water / food dish. He was very skidish when I brought him home, barely ate, barely moved, etc.

After a few weeks he started to come around, I added a piece of wood that has hollowed out middle, he wouldn't eat for days, and was very scared, now he sleeps in there every night, and scales the wood like crazy... he loves it. I added the aquarium background to cover the sides because he was getting stressed because of things he seen through the sides. Again it freaked him out and he would avoid the edges, now a few weeks later hes back to normal.

Long story short, ANY changes we make they need plenty of time to adjust, the more you change because you don't see results super quick, could be leading to more stress. As long as your offering feeders daily, greens, and soaking him to keep him hydrated, I say let him settle in!

Best of luck!

 

[Ric]

Called around for a vet that looked at reptiles and found one. Brought it there and she said.. oh it's skinny but can't find anything else wrong. I should feed it mealworms she says to try and help him gain weight.

We get home and he eats 5! mealworms right away. I was so excited that he was finally eating and maybe this is all going to be okay. Next day he wouldn't eat anything and we found some poo and looked like it had blood on it. He also would not eat mealworms anymore.


A week ago or so later vet calls and checks up and I say nothing has changed that he still won't eat. She explains to buy meat based baby food and feed it to him out of a syringe.

Find a new vet!!

Mealworms have too high of a chitin content and will cause impaction in a baby. You should never feed these to a baby beardie. They can not digest them. If he has stopped eating AFTER eating mealworms and is leaving trails of poo then, he is very likely impacted and it sounds bad.



Get him some pumpkin or squash babyfood and try giving him that.

 

[Buggsy]

Yes i agree the vet sounds like she knows nothing about beardies at all!

Mealworms are bad and the first thing she should have done was ask for a fecal sample, as he may have internal parasites, causing bloody stools.

As he dosnt have a UVB at the min, his appitite will not be big. They cant digest anything properly without it, so its good youve ordered the reptisun already, that should make a big difference!

I wouls give him at least 1 bath a day and pop his next poop into the vet for them to do a fecal float and smear to test for parasites, any vet should be able to do this, but i would begin to look for a better vet!

 

[JoshK]

Yoshi has died.

His eyes went into his head like sunken in, and he was very stiff. No breathing, no reaction, even when I would flip him upside down.

I don't know what else to say. I appreciate the help you guys gave.. I wish I had more time with Yoshi and could of figured out how to make him happy and healthy.

We're not sure if we'll be getting another.. We'll talk about it some other time I guess.

Cheers

JoshK

 

[Buggsy]

Oh im soo sorry!

sometimes pet store sell babies with genetic defects and you did everything the vet said, I know its upsetting now but if you need help in the future with another scaly baby you know where to come!

Hugs x

 

[Goonie]

Josh, I am so sorry that Yoshi didn't make it. It sounds like he was just too young and too weak.

Don't give up on the thought of having another beardie. It was obvious that you did everything you possibly could. It was unfortunate that Yoshi was allowed to be sold before his time, but that doesn't mean the next one will be the same.

Give yourself some time to grieve over his loss and revisit being a beardie dad again.

 

[beardie osk]

JoshK, I'm so sorry for you loss, I know it was frustrating along with now grieving the loss.
If you should ever consider another baby, please buy from a private breeder, a good example of one, is Barbara, here on this site. viewtopic.php?f=30&t=110033&start=1380 They are healthy and reasonable.........But in the meantime, please know we're here for you and your wife,
So sorry again,

 

[kimmie]

Oh my, so sorry to read Yoshi passed away. It's so disconcerting when you've spent so much time & $$$ and this happens. PLEASE don't get discouraged though and try again soon! This site is a godsend for newbies and I've learned alot and value any/all information I get!

You have the investment, maybe look into getting another one, from a breeder and maybe not as young.