question about breathing through mouth

[sheri85]

i got a rescue beardie on thursday and i've noticed a couple things. she drank a lot of water in the bath yesterday, so i don't know if this correlates or not, but i noticed her mouth is really wet. it's really noticeable, is this phlegm or mucus? also she periodically opens her mouth to take a breath. not constant breathing through her mouth, every 10 minutes or so (rough estimate). when she does take a breath from her mouth, it sounds like small bubbles popping...

i got her from a member of bd.org who said she was really skinny when she rescued her, and the only problem she had was a URI, which is gone now. i weighed her earlier, and she's at 350g. she's 17" long.

i currently have her in a small tank, but only temporarily as i bought her for my mom who recently lost her beardie (my mom has a 40 gallon long tank, and i'm giving her the new repta sun bulb i bought for this girl). she has uvb and a heat lamp, and her appetite has been decent (eats dubias and supers no problem, though she only eats her greens if a bug happens to be on it). i'm wondering if i should take her to the vet, or at least get a fecal done? my plan was to take this beardie to my mom this weekend. i just want to make sure she's okay. i'd hate to give my mom another pet that will die soon (she only had her rescue beardie since December).

 

[NightFury]

Sounds like she may very well still have URI. The popping noise from her mouth is a symptom, do you keep her humidity low? The previous owner must of not had the right setup. Will she eat greens when you hand feed them? She's an adult so she needs a mostly veggie diet.

Taking her to the vet would be best, I would ask the vet If she still has URI and since she was in such bad care I recommend a blood test with the fecal. You give her any supplementation?

 

[sheri85]

i've tried hand feeding greens, and she doesn't show any interest in them. my other adults eat greens from my hand no problem. she has no water in her tank, so humidity is low. i've only had her three days...

 

[NightFury]

Keep mixing her dubias or worms with her veggies then if she eats them when the bugs are on it, it may encourage her to eventually eat them on her own. It's a shame, beardies can be very finicky eaters. That's why training them to eat greens early is the best. Like I said before a vet would be a good idea so she can get a thorough check up to know what exactly she needs. Do you have any idea what the setup the previous owner had her in? What's your substrate and kind of UVA bulb?

 

[sheri85]

i will keep doing that with the bugs then. right now she's on paper towel. her uvb bulb is a repta sun 10.0 18" tube. i don't know what her set up was like before, but i got her from HowlinGaleDragon. and i was warned about the URI possibly returning. when she gets to my mom she'll be on a non-adhesive shelf liner (already gave my mom the whole SAND IS EVIL lecture lol).

 

[NightFury]

Sounds like you have a good setup going. How often are you bathing her? If she still has URI then I would cut back on the baths. You said she seemed really thirsty, do her eyes look normal, sunken in at all? She may have just not had any way of getting enough water from her previous owner. Beardies get most of their water from their prey so veggies do usually help alot with that. If she does have URI still though you will need to get her fast immediate attention for its deadly

 

[sheri85]

i've only bathed her once (again, only had her three days). her eyes look fine--alert and bright, not at all sunken in.

 

[dragonlover3]

I have 2 rescues I got off Craigslist in August, 6 months ago, who had severe URI's.
They had mulitple vet visits and several courses of antibiotics over the course of their first 4 months with me and they had perfect viv set ups.
Now My Moya and Talon no longer have the URI but it took a long while.
I also got 2 juvie rescues, Dargo and Zhaan, in December from a member here.
The female arrived with a RI but we were told by the member they had been exposed to RI's during the rescue.
She had multiple vet visits as well and 3 courses of antibiotics before she cleared.
Reptiles heal slowly to begin with and it's been my experience respiratory infections are very difficult.
I would take her to see a vet immediately.

Amanda