Should I be worried?

[Beccabee16]

Hi!

I've had my beardie since Christmas and he is my classroom pet (I teach high school bio). I took him to the vet two days ago because he was holding one eye closed. They diagnosed him with an upper respiratory infection and I have to save his poops so they can test it for parasites.

Since I took him to the vet he is still eating normally and asking but today he was hiding most of the day. He has eaten (crickets, wax worms, and mealworms)but not pooped. Today his head is also white and his belly looks bloated.

Should I be worried?

He's about 3 months old and 10inches long.

 

[Beccabee16]

Oh and he is on an oral antibiotic as well as an eye cream.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Can you give a rundown of the set up? Temps? How you take them? Lights used? Brands? Also nix the wax worms and mealworms. Wax worms are way fatty and mealworms cause impaction. Your best feeders are crickets, Phoenix worms, silk worms and dubia roaches. Feeders should be no bigger then the space between the eyes.

 

[Beccabee16]

Thanks for the reply!

His basking temp is between 90-95. Flukners coiled uvb 100w and same brand for his heat. I also have a ceramic heat emitting light but I turned it off today because the basking temp was 100-105 which seemed high.

His tank is going to be upgraded tomorrow to a 30 gal but today he is in a 10 gal with paper towels as his substrate. Has a corner perch that is ramped and he hides under it. Also a lizard ladder for climbing.

He ate this morning: 5 crickets, 4 wax worms (didn't know they were fatty) and 8 mealworms. Once I'm out of those feeders I'll switch him. I also gave him pellets and collards today. He gets greens everyday.

The vet seemed to be happy with my husbandry so hopefully I'm on the right track.

The antibiotics are oral liquid I give him through a syringe they marked for me and the eye cream comes out of a tube.

I'm saving his poops to take to the vet for a fecal sample to confirm whether he has parasites or not.

UPDATE: He pooped this morning, it seemed normal. Urate was nice and white. He also ate 9 crickets this morning and I gave him fresh collards. His belly was less bloated looking too so maybe he just had to poo!?

 

[Vh621]

Hello, thats great he's feeling better! But I would change a few things. For one the coil uvb, I would change that as they are known to cause eye issues in reptiles also there uvb output is week. I would recommend a reptisun 10 tube flourecent. As for the temps you need a gradient with 110 on the warmer side and the cooler side being around the 80's for younger beardies. It's really hard to achieve a gradient in a 10g so it's good your upgrading though I'd recommend a 40g breeder as a minimum but a 4x2x2 is ideal.

Hope this helps and I hope your beardie makes a full recovery?

 

[Beccabee16]

Hello, thats great he's feeling better! But I would change a few things. For one the coil uvb, I would change that as they are known to cause eye issues in reptiles also there uvb output is week. I would recommend a reptisun 10 tube flourecent. As for the temps you need a gradient with 110 on the warmer side and the cooler side being around the 80's for younger beardies. It's really hard to achieve a gradient in a 10g so it's good your upgrading though I'd recommend a 40g breeder as a minimum but a 4x2x2 is ideal.

Hope this helps and I hope your beardie makes a full recovery?

Thank you! I bought him a reptisun 10.0! Tonight I will get his set up going, he is going into a 36x12 tank. Mat substrate, ceramic heat light, basking light.

I was also providing him with a bowl of water which I took out to decrease humidity. He ate this morning but decided to hide under his perch after basking for 5 minutes.

 

[Vh621]

Great! Best of luck! If you have any other concerns don't be afraid to ask.

 

[Beccabee16]

Great! Best of luck! If you have any other concerns don't be afraid to ask.

Thanks so much! He is my first beardie so I'm a little paranoid

 

[destiny1998]

H.Do you take the temps? If you have one of those dial stick one those are very inaccurate. You need a digital with a wire probe or a temp gun. Good luck and it sounds like you are on your way with correct husbandry

 

[Beccabee16]

H.Do you take the temps? If you have one of those dial stick one those are very inaccurate. You need a digital with a wire probe or a temp gun. Good luck and it sounds like you are on your way with correct husbandry

I have a probe thermometer on his perch! I had an old dial one in the tank but I don't rely on that for much other than ambient temp. The probe is much better