PLEASE HELP! My Beardie is VERY Sick!

[Nikki1292]

I just got my beardie 3 days ago. She's about 3, maybe 3 1/2 inches long. She was perfectly fine all day but when I got ready for bed (around 2am) I went to check on her and she wasn't moving. I thought she might be sleeping but had a bad feeling so I turned the light on and opened her tank. She didn't move and when she breathed it looked HEAVILY labored! I picked her up and she hardly moved! Her is slightly opened and when looking at her you would swear she were dead until she takes a labored breath! Please help! I am very worried! I use reptile carpet instead of sand to avoid impaction but could she have eaten too many crickets???? What do I do?!?!?!?!

 

[Jiffy]

Hope your baby is doing ok.
bumping up for others to see so they can help

 

[spurlee01]

How is your beardie this morning? They are VERY deep sleepers.
Sara

 

[Nikki1292]

I was up all night long trying to help her. Called a reptile vet but they wouldn't give me any advise over the phone and my parents wouldn't take her in and staid in bed. This morning around 4 she stopped breathing and died. I don't know what I did wrong or if she was sick when I got her. I bought her on Monday and whenever I tried to feed her she would eat only 4-6 crickets and refuse the rest. Whatever the cause, I am very upset.

My mom has already promised to buy me another this week and as happy as I am about that I am still attached to Snips the bearded dragon

 

[spurlee01]

I'm so sorry to hear about your dragon. Do you mind me asking where you got her from? If you would like, I'm going to post some questions and we can make sure your setup is great for your next dragon. Make sure you thoroughly wash EVERYTHING in your viv. The viv itself can be washed with a bleach solution. Let it sit with the bleach solution on it, then thoroughly rinse until the bleach smell goes away. Any wood items you can bake in the oven at 250*F for 1 hr. Smooth rocks can be cleaned like the viv, porous rocks I believe are suposed to be baked like wood. This will kill any parasites your dragon may have had.

What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?

 

[Nikki1292]

I got her from PetSmart. I wanted to find a breeder but my mom said it was ridiculous to spend more than $80 for a lizard so that idea went down the drain. I use a little bit of bleach in the tank and do keep rinsing it until the smell goes away (i do the same for my python). I have no wood items just in case any reptile of mine were to get mites and stick to fake trees, logs, ect.. I use bleach with every item.

(just answering the following)

40gal.
Repti-carpet.
Yes.
Mercury Vapor bulb.
Powersun, 100wat.
She could get right up to the top of the tank under it or stay on the ground but never went to the top.
Yes. A Basking Spot bulb, 75wat.
90F with the basking spot 105-115.
85F.
A stick on thermometer.
I sat the thermometer under the basking light for 10 hours before I got her.
No heat rock and no heat pad.
Small crickets, about 3/8 of an inch.
I feed her in the afternoon around 12pm once a day.
Yes.
I was using Rep-Cal Calcium with Vit,D3 once a day and was going to use Rep-Cal Herptivite once a week but she didn't live that long.
She only went twice the first day I got her and I had her for almost three days.
Didn't have a chance to bath her.
I offered her water in a dish and she drank water from a brand new, thoroughly washed eye dropper.
No.
My mom said its pointless since she's dead but I disagree. I don't want the same thing to happen to my new one.


If anyone has an idea on what I may have did or if it was bad luck or if it was something I couldn't prevent, comments are highly welcome.

 

[spurlee01]

I have a couple of ideas. First, I cannot vouch for babies from petsmart. You can probably get a dragon from the "for sale" section for around $80, althought it might be a bit more with shipping. Remind your mom that the initial investment of a bit more might mean a healthier dragon thus less vet bills. Char at http://www.thedragonhut.com/available-dragons-2.html has some beautiful babies for $75 INCLUDING shipping. I got my girl from there and she is completely healthy. In fact, I had a fecal exam run just yesterday (had her for about a month) because I am paranoid, and it was completely clear. I would highly recommend going that route. You can order tomorrow and have it hear Thurs (she ships Mon-Wed). Babies at pet stores are more likely to be poorly cared for or have parasites or other diseases.
Okay, next- the powersun has caused some problems. Here is a link about that. viewtopic.php?f=45&t=105630
I'm not positive so hopefully someone will chime in, but I think beardies need to be 12" away from the powersun so it doesn't fry them.
Third, a basking bulb and a powersun together are probably way too much heat for a beardie.
Unfortunately the stick-on thermometers are not worth their money. They can be off by 20*F or more. I know in my 36 gallon tank, just a 75 watt bulb keeps the temps high enough. You will need to get a digital thermometer with a probe ($12 at walmart) or a temp gun.
With the MVB, you will want a calcium WITHOUT d3.
If you choose not to use the powersun, you could either get a different MVB bulb and NOT use the basking light or you can use the basking light and the reptisun 10.0 UVB which is available at http://www.petmountain.com.
Hope this helps,
Sara

 

[joesaldivar]

Ditto to Sara's advice. So sorry to hear you lost your baby beardie.
Franki

 

[Nikki1292]

Sara, I checked out thedragonhut.com and plan to buy one of the beardies. They look A LOT healthier than the ones at petco, petsmart, ect. and I for one feel far more comfortable buying from a breeder. Thanks for the help.

Still pretty upset about losing Snips but thanks to my friends I'm feeling better.

 

[spurlee01]

Thedragonhut.com is awesome! I couldn't be happier with my girl. She was actually 6 months old when I got her and it was very obvious she had been well cared for the entire time. I know it is so hard losing a little one, but so often the ones from the pet store are already sick or fragile. One thing I like about thedragonhut.com is they won't sell babies until they reach a minimum size so they are less fragile. I want lots of pics when your new baby gets here!
Sara

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I just wanted to make a quick comment. I am very sorry for your loss of your baby, that is terribly unfortunate. Please do let us go over your tank setup as we are, to ensure that everything is correct for the next time that you have another dragon.
While there will be alot of times that there wont be a need to take your dragon to vet, there might be times when it is necessary.
As owning any animal, that is part of the responsibility of taking care of them. Unfortunately, things can go wrong sometimes, & a vet visit may be necessary.
Your mom needs to understand that reptiles are a bit more difficult than a dog or a cat & require specialized care & even a vet sometimes. If she can't be willing to help out with the care or the cost of one, then you might want to reconsider getting another one.
Please don't take that the wrong way, it just isn't fair to the animal when emergency care is needed & it is ignored & refused.

Tracie

 

[Nikki1292]

Tracie, I don't take what you said the wrong way and you're correct. Instead of asking my mom about a reptile vet, I talked to my dad about it. He said that if it were to ever get sick, he would drive me down to the nearest vet that takes care of reptiles (the closest is and hour and half away). My mom thinks her dogs are the only ones to need a vet which often leaves my dad and I to make our cats and pythons vet appointments whenever there is an emergency. If he weren't willing to take it to one I would definitely reconsider buying any other reptile.

But, in both of my parents defense, when I noticed something wrong with Snips it was close to 2am and my dad had to leave for work at 5am, and my mom was sick so sadly it was understandable why they didn't feel she should be taken to the vet and thought I was exaggerating. I can get paranoid when it comes to my pets but it is often because something is normally wrong, it just may not be as bad as I make it out to be. But Snips would be gasping for air one second and not moving the next, and because she only ate 9 crickets the two days I had her I felt something was seriously wrong. Turns out I was right

I'm the reptile person in my family. I've had four in the past. One died at 5 years old while giving birth. I had to have my dad take her to the vet but there was nothing he could do so because she was in pain and dieing I thought it was best to put her to sleep-- it seemed less cruel than letting her suffer so much and her mate (same age) was poorly taken care of when I went out of town with parents to try to make me feel better about losing his mate (my parents and I sent him to a reptile keeper that a friend recommended and she took my reptile carpet out and replaced it with sand and he died of impaction after she feed him too many large crickets). Those two died about two and half, maybe three years ago. Safe to say that losing two in a row made me feel lower than dirt though it was nothing I did. My other (my baby) died from what I assume was old age (he was about 9 years old) two years ago. I was 7 when I got him but he was already two years old then. My current reptile in my year old ball python Pandora "Pan" and is very healthy and VERY spoiled. With her, I take extra care and time to make sure she stays healthy. Even her mice of treated like royalty. Now, when we go on vacation, we have my brothers son take care of her as he also has reptiles and I have PERSONALLY shown and told him what to do.

I researched for months before I got Snips and did everything correctly but I am dead set that she was sick when I got her because of her lack of appetite. Rest assured that this new beardie will go to the vet if sick even if I have to call a taxi. Nothing is worse than losing a pet of any kind in my opinion since I consider them family.

 

[spurlee01]

Making the couple of changes listed above will greatly help your new baby's chances. Did you check out the link about the powersun to see if yours was one of the ones causing issues? I don't think the bulb would have killed your beardie that fast, but I want to make sure you've got a safe bulb for your new baby. Also, I cannot emphasize enough how critical a digital thermometer w/ a probe is. I know that it seems like a fancy over-the-top accessory, but it is sooo important to their wellbeings. I honestly would have unknowingly fried my baby if I didn't have a digital thermometer w/ a probe in the tank.
Sara

 

[Drache613]

Hello Nikki,

Quite true, 2am is early! i just wanted to save you from more heartache in the future if you were ever to need vet care or any other care & did not get support. So you would like to try to get another one soon?
I am happy that your dad is helpful with your reptiles. Well, you have had several instances of bad luck, that is heart breaking I know. They were not your fault but I know you feel they are. Sometimes, there is just nothing else that can be done.
At least you have a good "babysitter" when you go out of town, most people don't have that.
We can never worry too much as if something seems off, chances are it is. I am sorry you lost your baby just recently & hope you are doing ok.
The Powersun 100 watt, is that the new one with a red dragon on the front of the box? How far did you have it from her?

Tracie

 

[Nikki1292]

Yes, its the powersun with the red dragon on the front. The branch on one of her "trees" went right up to it but she never went up it and staid on a low branch in the basking area.