Princess Leia might be in trouble?? Need some help!

[hrdedman]

Hi I'm a new parent with three beadies. Two of my beardies are doing great but one has become leathargic and sleeps all day staying on the cooled side... let me give you the back story: I recieved my two girls on April 29th, 2011, the first few days both girls ate an exceptible amount of crickets each day. Then Leia began to start hanging out on the cool side (80F) of the tank and stopped eating, while the other girl basked on the hot side (110F) and ate like there was no tomorrow. So because I was worried that she might be stressed out from the other dragon I switched her to her own tank with the same setup with newspaper as substrate. She still refused to eat until yesterday when I was able to hand feed her two crickets. Is this just a stress related issue or should I take her to a vet ASAP?? I failed to mention I am misting morning and night for hydration. What sould I do??

Say ahh...

This pic was taken while in other cage...

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sometimes they just do not do well being housed with another dragon. One will inevitably suffer & become stressed while being dominated by the other one. So, that is great you already gave her a tank of her own.
Since she is not eating right now, you can use baby food such as chicken or turkey baby food, & mix some squash baby food in with it. You can use either a plastic dropper or a plastic syringe to drip it onto the end of the nose to see if she will lick some of it off.
What are your temperatures in the tank, & what type of thermometer do you use?
Which UVB do you have right now?
How are her stools, or has she gone to the bathroom since she is not eating?

Tracie

 

[hrdedman]

Hello,

Sometimes they just do not do well being housed with another dragon. One will inevitably suffer & become stressed while being dominated by the other one. So, that is great you already gave her a tank of her own.
Since she is not eating right now, you can use baby food such as chicken or turkey baby food, & mix some squash baby food in with it. You can use either a plastic dropper or a plastic syringe to drip it onto the end of the nose to see if she will lick some of it off.
What are your temperatures in the tank, & what type of thermometer do you use?
Which UVB do you have right now?
How are her stools, or has she gone to the bathroom since she is not eating?

Tracie

Thanks for the response,

Ok don't start yelling at me yet because I will stop and start doing what you suggested today. Now, I have gotten her to eat two miniature mealworms two days ago and one last night, it's all that I could get her to eat. her tank is at 110F on the basking side and about 85F on cool side, I am using a tempgun to check temps. She still seems to be hanging out on the cool side of the tank most of the day. I am using a Zilla Desert 50 UVB tube but have a 10.0 reptisun on the way. Tank size is 30"L x 13"D x 13"H. So, I just found her stool this morning it looks similar in consistency to my other two beardies stool just alot smaller. Also, it looked to me like the white:dark ratio was more like 50:50 rather then 20:80 as in my other dargons' stools. On a side note this morning I was able to spend a little more time with her and she did start gaping after I put her on her basking rock. I think that means the temp is good right?

Thanks again for your help,

Harry

 

[Drache613]

Hello Harry,

No, no yelling!
I would however, turn off the Zilla UVB light though, it could really be bothering her.
That is great you are using a temp gun to measure the temperatures then, they should be fine. You are using a bright white light, correct, for the basking light?
Did you get her to eat anything today, other than a mealworm?

Tracie

 

[hrdedman]

I will turn off the zilla light and yes I am using a bright white light for basking 100W. She ate about 0.5 ml of baby food seemed to like it. One thing I haven't mentioned is that she is only 6" from nose to tall tip. I also got her to drink a good amount of water with the syringe too. Thanks again for the response. I will update with any changes.

Harry

 

[hrdedman]

Update:

Leia ate a good amount today about 1.5 ml of a turkey/squash baby food mix. Today though I noticed what I can only describe as an" eye booger" in her eye is this something I need to go to the vet for?

 

[Drache613]

Hello Harry,

How is her eye looking? Could her eye be shedding?
That is good you are using a bright white light for basking then.
I am happy to hear Leia ate some baby food then. Did she enjoy it I hope? Keep up the baby food feedings for her to help her out right now.
The eye that is bothering her, is that the eye which was closest to the UVB light?

Tracie

 

[hrdedman]

Hi Tracie,

Leia seemed to like the baby food, although this morning she ate very little. Maybe she is still digesting the food from yesterday?? What ever the gunk in her eye seemed to be reduced in size this morning, and its possible that that was the eye closest to the UVB but not 100% sure. I will continue the baby food feeding...

Thanks for all your help and concern,

Harry

 

[Drache613]

Hello Harry,

That is good she ate a little bit of baby food. It does take some time for them to digest, but her appetite should pick up pretty soon I hope.
So, her eye is looking a little better today? If it was the light, it should start clearing up now since you have turned the light off.
Let us know how she is doing!

Tracie

 

[hrdedman]

Update:

Leia ate more baby food tonight about 1mL and had a nice healthy poo! She seems to be more active now and stayed on the basking side of the tank more with eyes open :shock: . Stuff in her eyes was virtually gone, you were probably right about the shedding. Pics of poo and Leia below:

let me know if anything looks wrong.

Harry

 

[Drache613]

Hello Harry,

How is she doing today?
So her eye is looking a lot better now, it must have been shedding issues then, with possibly a little irritation from the light.
Is she eating well & active?

She looks good & her colors are bright as well.

Tracie

 

[hrdedman]

Hi Tracie,

She is still not eating very much and today she seemed to stay on the cool side again. When I pick her up she looks around doesn't seem scared, just curious of whats going on. Something that really worries me is her weight, I weighed her three days ago and she was 8.6g and now today I weighed her and she was down to 5g. Thats a 42% weight loss! I think its time to take her to the vet with a poo sample. Below is a pic of her hanging out on the cool side of her viv...

Harry

 

[majesticbeardie]

Hi I'm a new parent with three beadies. Two of my beardies are doing great but one has become leathargic and sleeps all day staying on the cooled side... let me give you the back story: I recieved my two girls on April 29th, 2011, the first few days both girls ate an exceptible amount of crickets each day. Then Leia began to start hanging out on the cool side (80F) of the tank and stopped eating, while the other girl basked on the hot side (110F) and ate like there was no tomorrow. So because I was worried that she might be stressed out from the other dragon I switched her to her own tank with the same setup with newspaper as substrate. She still refused to eat until yesterday when I was able to hand feed her two crickets. Is this just a stress related issue or should I take her to a vet ASAP?? I failed to mention I am misting morning and night for hydration. What sould I do??

Say ahh...

This pic was taken while in other cage...

But is Leia bleeding? :?: :roll: :idea: :bikerwave: :bikerwave: :bikerwave: :bikerwave:

 

[hrdedman]

No bleeding just leathargic and only eating small amounts of baby food, but she does seem to be increasing food intake over last couple of days , although still wants nothing to do with any live protein (crickets/phoenix worms)...

 

[hrdedman]

Update:

Leia has still been eating only baby food, until this morning when she ate ONE crickets ... and then about 1/2 mL of baby food. So food intake seems to be slowly climbing... Also, her head shed this past weekend and after words her activity seemed to increase. All and all things are looking up.

Harry