Respiratory Infection?

[PoohBearThePerilous]

Hey Everyone!

As of lately I have noticed my bearded dragon Pixie,who just recently turned a year old, has been cracking her mouth slightly open. At first I figured she may have just been regulating her temperature, but she seems to do it even outside of her cage as well when she starts to get into a resting state. She is still perky and energetic. If I have her out or even if she is just listening to what I am doing from within her cage. She will not have her mouth gapped. Its only when she is relaxed and ready for bed or deeply basking.

Her basking temperatures hit 100 during the day. The cool side of the tank is around 80-85 (she is a strange girl who likes it cold)
Her diet may stray from others that I have seen on here, but it works for her and makes her happy it seems. She has fresh veggies in her tank at all times. As for protein,I have 10 dubai roaches that reside in her tank at all times. This doesn't stress her out at all since roaches tend to hide and give her space. Plus they eat the veggie scraps that are left behind so the circle of life in this tank works well. Based on the ones that go missing Id say she eats 2-3 a day. Some days none. I will twice a week take everything out of her cage and gather up the roaches by hand to count them and see if she wants to eat any. Usually during those times she will only eat 1-2 and then refuse any more. As for the veggie bowls I give her, she will eat half of the bowl on some days and then annihilate the entire salad on others. Sometimes I don't know where she puts it all lol. She has healthy solid poops every 2 days as well.

Please let me know if this is a infection or what other thoughts you may have!

 

[kingofnobbys]

Signs of a RI in a lizard : http://www.anapsid.org/rti.html

One thing to check is if her nostils are blocked with retained nostril shed, this happens sometimes and can fool you into thinking the lizard has an RI.
My boy Toothless has this going at the moment (noticed it a bit over a week ago) and had me worried he may have an RI.
But in his case it's just blocked nostrils and hopefully this will resolve itself when he sheds again, so tempting to try to get the blockage out using a sharpened toothpick or needle or pin or fine piece of wire but this is likely to harm the sinuses and nostils and if he moves his head unexpected I'm terrified the end of it will damage one of his eyes , so I'm opting to leave it be and let nature take it's cause when he sheds next.
(No other signs that could be an RI with Toothless and apart from sometimes blowing up his throat when eating or breathing he's fine.)

I recommend NOT leaving the roaches in the viv permanently as you describe , their pooes can cause issues and will encourage fungi, bacteria and viruses in the viv, and they will be crawling over her in her sleep and perhaps disturbing her sleep , and they can breed up and produce large numbers of baby roaches to infest the viv and the house in a matter of weeks, and if these are the only insects she's getting, at 12 months old she should still be getting two feeds of live insects per day.

How old is the UV globe or tube ? What Brand and how exactly is it and how exactly is installed ?

Can you show us her viv so we can see the light setup and substrate.

 

[PoohBearThePerilous]

Thank you for the reply! So out of fear of causing any kind of environment for bacteria growth, I have removed the roaches. I was never too worried about them breading since I tend to vacuum the entire viv every 2 days or so. Plus there is not any substrate for them to lay eggs in.
For substrate I just use paper towels. I used to use repti carpet but it ended up being such a pain to wash and I wasn't convinced it was being fully cleaned. I do not trust or use any lose substrate. I don't care how safe someone says it is. To many horror stories.

The UVB bulb is brand spanking new as of last week. Reptisun 10 UVB Globe. The old bulb was only 9 months old, but would rather not wait the full 12 month life span to change.

As for the feeding habit, thank you for the heads up. Normally with the diet she has she is this energetic demon. She will chase my cat around the house lol. However, with the state that she is in (she is a bit lazy lately but not lethargic. Still chases the cat and is perky and ready for pets when I get home from work) I will be getting her to eat two bug servings a day.

I think I found the culprit and I feel so lame for putting my beardie in any potential danger. I had some cardboard in the viv for my bearded to climb on (She loves it and is now giving me stink eye that I took it out) It did not dawn on me that the cardboard could absorb any kind of moisture. I mean, I live in Arizona and its dry as a fart here. What could it possibly absorb?
It has been a bit monsoony lately and I think the cardboard acted like a sponge, trapping that environment in her habitat. I have a humidity gauge in her tank and it has been reading 50-60% lately. Been boggling my mind as to what was causing it and I assumed it was because of external weather.
It is now removed and I see the gauge slowly decreasing. As I am sitting her typing this she just popped her mouth open just like the image after not having it open for the past 5 hours I have been watching her. Just to play it safe, I am going to schedule a appointment with the vet. The only sign she shows is the mouth gap. She has no heavy breathing, no wheezy, nothing. Rather catch the infection when its minor though.

ALSO as you will see in this picture the top of the tank is plastic. From the get go I was hating the low air flow this stupid tank offers. I just found a pet store near me that sells the 50 inch metal screen so I am investing in that on my paycheck this week. Kept telling myself I would wait until I got her a bigger tank, but I am not waiting on that any longer.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Thank you for the reply! So out of fear of causing any kind of environment for bacteria growth, I have removed the roaches. I was never too worried about them breading since I tend to vacuum the entire viv every 2 days or so. Plus there is not any substrate for them to lay eggs in.
For substrate I just use paper towels. I used to use repti carpet but it ended up being such a pain to wash and I wasn't convinced it was being fully cleaned. I do not trust or use any lose substrate. I don't care how safe someone says it is. To many horror stories.

The UVB bulb is brand spanking new as of last week. Reptisun 10 UVB Globe.
<<< 13W or 26W coil ?
If it's a 13W , it's very weak and not adequate , if it's the 26W , it needs to about 8 inches from the basking spot and UNDER the mesh lid. Mesh lids will block as much as 40% of the UVA and UVB .

teThe old bulb was only 9 months old, but would rather not wait the full 12 month life span to change.

As for the feeding habit, thank you for the heads up. Normally with the diet she has she is this energetic demon. She will chase my cat around the house lol. However, with the state that she is in (she is a bit lazy lately but not lethargic. Still chases the cat and is perky and ready for pets when I get home from work) I will be getting her to eat two bug servings a day.

I think I found the culprit and I feel so lame for putting my beardie in any potential danger. I had some cardboard in the viv for my bearded to climb on (She loves it and is now giving me stink eye that I took it out) It did not dawn on me that the cardboard could absorb any kind of moisture. I mean, I live in Arizona and its dry as a fart here. What could it possibly absorb?
It has been a bit monsoony lately and I think the cardboard acted like a sponge, trapping that environment in her habitat. I have a humidity gauge in her tank and it has been reading 50-60% lately. Been boggling my mind as to what was causing it and I assumed it was because of external weather. <<< 50 - 60% RH is perfectly OK , I get that in my house despite running my aircon 24/7 in summer (reverse cycle refrigerative aircon) , is lots hotter and much steamier in summer outside here in summer ( subtropical coast (only 3 km from the Pacific Ocean/Tasman Sea).

It is now removed and I see the gauge slowly decreasing. As I am sitting her typing this she just popped her mouth open just like the image after not having it open for the past 5 hours I have been watching her. Just to play it safe, I am going to schedule a appointment with the vet. The only sign she shows is the mouth gap. She has no heavy breathing, no wheezy, nothing. Rather catch the infection when its minor though.

ALSO as you will see in this picture the top of the tank is plastic. From the get go I was hating the low air flow this stupid tank offers. I just found a pet store near me that sells the 50 inch metal screen so I am investing in that on my paycheck this week. Kept telling myself I would wait until I got her a bigger tank, but I am not waiting on that any longer.

If you are handy with timber and power tools , a 4ft L x 2ft (sqr) viv with sliding glass front doors and good ventilation via some cupboard vents (round) or wall vents (oblong) made from 3/4 in thick marine plywood is an easy DIYS project for the weekend and would make a great forever home for your beardie.

 

[PoohBearThePerilous]

If it's a 13W , it's very weak and not adequate , if it's the 26W , it needs to about 8 inches from the basking spot and UNDER the mesh lid. Mesh lids will block as much as 40% of the UVA and UVB .

Very interesting. It is the 13W and I thought nothing wrong of the wattage. I have been wanting to switch to the tube > Globe since I wanted more area covered as well. I had no idea about the mesh blocking that much of the UVA and UVB. Could you point me towards how exactly to mount it underneath the mesh kit? Like I said, I am planning on tearing off this lid and replacing it with an all screen mesh so maybe its easier to mount the bulbs underneath with that.

I wish I was sufficient with power tools haha I do have some friends that can help me out with that and I am looking to build a custom tank after I move to my new place this year. I really do not like the tank she is in.

Thanks!

 

[kingofnobbys]

If it's a 13W , it's very weak and not adequate , if it's the 26W , it needs to about 8 inches from the basking spot and UNDER the mesh lid. Mesh lids will block as much as 40% of the UVA and UVB .

Very interesting. It is the 13W and I thought nothing wrong of the wattage. I have been wanting to switch to the tube > Globe since I wanted more area covered as well. I had no idea about the mesh blocking that much of the UVA and UVB. Could you point me towards how exactly to mount it underneath the mesh kit? Like I said, I am planning on tearing off this lid and replacing it with an all screen mesh so maybe its easier to mount the bulbs underneath with that.

I wish I was sufficient with power tools haha I do have some friends that can help me out with that and I am looking to build a custom tank after I move to my new place this year. I really do not like the tank she is in.

Thanks!

one way to do it , required 4 small cable ties + 2 medium cable ties & a piece of timber dowel
need to make two small holes in the mesh of it's very fine mesh (like flyscreen).