Rapid Weight Loss

[Damieboo]

I made a lay box with moist play sand for the heck of it but she won't sit in it for more than 2 seconds. Not making any digging actions either...Yesterday she ate a few shreds of collard greens that I offered to her. Still not eating worms. Hopefully the vet turns up something.

 

[AHBD]

Hmmm....I know this is frustrating for you. I hope the X-ray's can show something. Be sure to tell the vet about her hunching over last week [ if you haven't already ] By the way, have you tried hornworms for her ?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I hope she is feeling better soon.
When will you have any results back from the vets? Maybe that will show something & help with some answers.
At least she has eaten a little bit of the baby food & greens so far.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

 

[Damieboo]

I have a vet appointment on Monday. In the meantime, she's been digging in my kitchen for an hour straight with no signs of stopping. At first I thought she was just finding a spot to sleep in but this is more like digging than her "get comfy" wiggle. Last time she did this, I picked her up and put her in her lay box and she jumped out and stopped her digging, so I don't want to interrupt. But she's getting nowhere fast haha...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXnMVXhf00g

UPDATE: I decided to try the laybox again. Put her in and covered it up so it was dark and she's digging inside. We'll see what comes of it.

 

[AHBD]

Sounds good ! Hopefully everything goes well for your little girl !

 

[Damieboo]

This new vet was much better than the last. Didn't want to do anything to her without having a specialist look at her first. Didn't see any eggs on the xrays unfortunately...but I got some copies so perhaps someone might see something we missed. We weighed her and she's a whopping 583 grams still. So long as she's not lethargic, I'm not TOO concerned, but I'm probably going to make an appointment with a specialist in San Diego. Hopefully she starts eating again in between now and that appointment. She dug again today but hopped out after an hour of random digging.

Here's an album of the x-rays. http://imgur.com/a/hHanR

 

[Damieboo]

She finally ate! I didn't set up an appointment with the San Diego specialist yet because we're really broke this month and pay day was moved back a week, so I was monitoring her and still offering live food every day. Yesterday she ate one to my surprise but refused anything else. Today she ate SIX! I didn't want to give her too many since she's had almost nothing in her stomach but hopefully things are looking up now. She never laid any eggs and stopped digging after those 2 weird days. Very strange indeed...

 

[AHBD]

Hey, that's great news ! I think she's doing all this so she can have a nice long thread about herself on b.d.org.

 

[Damieboo]

Well we're back at square one again...not eating, starting to lose weight again, and frantic digging/running around the apartment. She won't sit still in her cage for more than 2 minutes before she's glass dancing, running in and out of her hide, and opening her mouth as if she's too hot. I checked the temps with a gun and her basking spot is 110, a couple inches away it's 92 and inside her hide it's 83. She's panting even inside her hide, so I let her out and she's running back and forth for HOURS in front of my glass patio window and trying to tear up the carpet in the corner of my bedroom. I put her in her lay box every time she starts digging but she'll either jump out immediately or dig in different corners for an hour and jump out. Her favorite spot is still under my kitchen cabinets but it's cement there and I don't want her scraping her claws to the bloody nubs. The xrays showed no eggs so I don't know why she's still doing this. I've gotten two superworms and a couple waxworms in her in the last week only because I stick them in when her mouth is open and she automatically chews and swallows, otherwise she doesn't even look at food.

Should I try anything else with her laybox? Right now it's just a box of play sand slightly moistened, room temperature. I tried putting it in her cage so it'd be under her heat lamp but it dries out within 10 minutes and she hates it. Will they only lay eggs in warm sand or does the temperature not matter? If she even has eggs...she's got all the symptoms but nadda so far.

 

[Damieboo]

I should also mention...since she's been panting so much, I got a good look at her teeth and they are ALL brownish black. Especially the top ones, it looks like a brown mess. Is there anything I can do for that? I was reading an article the other day that said bad teeth can significantly reduce their life span and that there's no known "fix" for it but it was a couple years old. Her teeth definitely look bad. She doesn't seem to have problems chewing her food but it could be contributing to her lack of appetite. She's always eaten worms and soft foods like bananas and strawberries which supposedly stick to their teeth and cause tartar and plaque.

 

[AHBD]

Poor girl....you might try lowering the basking temp. to 100, that might help a little with her frantic attempts to get out of the tank. Of course that's not the main concern here, i understand, so about the lay box. They don't need it to be warm, just room temp. in the upper 70's is fine. There should be a good amount of sand, about 10" deep and you can pile it up on one end to be even deeper and then start a tunnel with your hand.

As for her teeth, some adults will develop brown stains as they age....it's not necessarily a health problem. I will make a suggestion to get a baby toothbrush , wet it and just gently + quickly give a swipe here + there as you get the chance. Be sure to keep a TIGHT grip on it for the obvious reason.....you don't want her to try + swallow it, although I doubt she'd try. It might help to get a bit of stain off, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, then don't bother trying.

 

[Damieboo]

Well, she ate some banana today. I don't know if she's just bored of food or what. I've offered her superworms, dubia, baby dubia, wax worms (which she used to love), mealworms, greens, strawberries, you name it. She just ignores it all. She wasn't interested in bananas until today but still won't eat anything else and I know banana isn't very nutritious for them. She's digging almost constantly now. Spent a good 20 minutes the other day scratching at the floor in the middle of the kitchen. Do you think I'd be able to email pictures of the xrays to a reptile specialist to look at? San Diego is such a long drive especially since I already had xrays taken of her and the vet couldn't see anything :/ Do they charge for consultations like that? I wish blood tests could tell if they were gravid...but none of the vets in town feel comfortable drawing blood from a bearded dragon. Can't say I feel comfortable getting one done after seeing videos of it.

 

[Damieboo]

UHM...SO SHE LAID AN EGG THIS MORNING. Freaking out a bit because she went on another food strike but just recently started eating again a week ago and was even gaining back a bit of weight. No more digging or glass dancing. Then this morning she woke up at 6:30 when my husband was getting ready for work and was exploring her cage, and when I woke up at 9am, she was sitting in her cage with a small poop and a yellow egg next to it. I don't think the shell was developed at all, I could barely pick it up without the membrane tearing. I have no idea if she has more because no way I'd be able to feel these inside of her. Too squishy.

So what now? Xrays weren't able to pick them up...she's just walking around like normal and still eating. Looks like she CAN lay eggs, should I just let her be for the next few days? Is there anything I can really do if she has more eggs?

(small white piece is just banana)

 

[AHBD]

What a crazy surprise for you ! The egg is actually pretty well formed though. You can try putting her in the lay box to see if she'll lay anymore. Other than that she may just drop a few throughout her tank. X-rays might show something this time, but I know it's expensive.