Our 3 year old Beardie (which we have only owned for 2 months) was totally fine this morning, then I helped her up onto the new basking log we put in her viv yesterday (which is from ProRep but quite smooth), and a few mins later she was on the floor of the viv acting very strangely. I am worried she may have fallen off it (although only approx 25cm high). Mouth wide open, very pale, so I thought perhaps she'd overheated a bit and was just cooling down, but her eyes are glazed and she's not moving. I took her out of the viv and she pooped (which she rarely does at the moment). She took infrequent very deep breaths, with mouth wide open and puffed her beard out - which she never does. She didn't move her limbs at all until I turned her onto her back in my hand. I put her in a shallow bath and she stayed still for a while then started moving all limbs (so at least not broken). Her eyes are still glazed over and are not following movement, but her mouth is less open and she seems to be breathing more normally. She's frozen still though. I have made a vet appt for this afternoon but would be grateful for any advice!
She may have injured herself internally from the fall --- it is good you are taking her in --- they need to do xrays to see if anything is broken etc............
Karrie
Oh no poor girl, how is she doing ? It sounds very serious, much more than being hurt from a fall. She may have gotten overheated or heatstroke. Do you know what the temps. are in her tank and how are you measuring them ? Also can you post pics of her and also her set up ? Here's how to post pics :
Have you been able to get any pictures for us yet?
How is she doing this evening?
Let us know how things go at the vets, she may be in some pain. It isn't a real high fall
though.
Can you review your tank setup a little bit, such as the temperatures, the type/brand of your
UVB lighting for us?
Thank you for your kind and helpful replies. I am very sad to report that she died overnight. She had stopped breathing by the time we got to the vet but they found a faint heartbeat and put her on a ventilator overnight as well as giving her fluids. They said the viv set up (photo above) looks fine and its unlikely she would have incurred a serious injury from a fall (we're not even sure she fell as did not see how she got down) so may have just been an unlucky coincidence.
We are in the UK, so the challenge is generally keeping the viv hot enough rather than cold enough. We recently changed from a 100W to a 150W bulb for that reason. I think the new basking spot directly under the heat lamp (on the right) may be too hot (was c.110F when I put the digital thermometer sensor directly on top of it today as also sunny), but she should easily have been able to move away from it to the cold side. The UVB lamp is a 10% Arcadia T8 lamp replaced c.6 months ago.
I plan to put the 100W bulb back in and/or change the perches around so a slightly lower one is under the lamp before introducing a new beardie (the kids seem pretty keen to get a new one), but any other tips or suggestions gratefully received.