Sick baby PLEASE HELP!

[LilIrishBrat]

Hey everyone, my newest beardie Puff was doing perfectly fine and on Sunday my daughter accidently fed her a few meal worms and Puff has gone downhill ever since. She only ate 4 and they were small but on Sunday night she started this odd posture, her head leans to the right and when she tries to move she basically just spins in circles. I thought maybe she was impacted so I have been soaking her and rubbing her tummy and today she seems worse. I did get her to poop this morning but now when she tries to move she flips over. I'm freaking out. She's still trying to be active, eyes open and seems like, other than this weird flipping thing, she's fine. I'm at a loss. PLEASE HELP!

She's about 6 months old, she's in a 25 gallon tank, she eats vegies + fruit, crickets, wax worms, and Rep-Cal dragon food is always in the tank if she wants to snack on it. I have a heat lamp on one end of the tank (60w) and a UV fixture on the other (ESU Slimline reptile, 18" 15w Super UV fluorescent)

 

[TazzysMamma]

Hi,

How much did she poo? How did it look? Try more bathing. The UVB bulb you have isnt the best, it doesnt give out enough of the UVB - I used to have the same one... lol

Can you get her a repti sun 10.0? That's the best. Also, are you supplementing her with any calcium?

Do you know what your temps are in the tank? Temps are really important, and should be about 80 degrees on the cool side, and her basking spot should be between 100-110.

HUGS

Sandi

 

[LilIrishBrat]

It looked to be a good size poo, hard to tell if it was soft or not because she did it in the water while she was soaking. How often should I be soaking her? Can I soak her too much?

I'll see about getting a better UVB bulb. This is all I've been able to find where I am. The rest are the coiled UVB's. Could low UVB be causing her to posture like this?

I haven't been dusting her crickets because I feed the crickets flukers calcium fortified food and cricket quencher and I didn't want her to get too much calcium. This is the same way I have done things with my older beardie and he has never has this problem.

Her tank temps are 85 on the cool side and 100 at her basking spot.

Thank you for responding!

 

[TazzysMamma]

Yes it does seem like maybe she could need more calcium - I would dust them too. Between that and a good UVB bulb, I think she will improve. You cant over bathe her - it'll keep her well hydrated, and that's so important. How are you measuring her temps?

Here is a great place to get the repti-sun 10.0 at a very good price : http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html

It's the best flouescent tube bulb you can get for them.

Hugs

Sandi

 

[LilIrishBrat]

I'll start dusting then. Whatever it takes to get her better. I feel horrible seeing her like this. Poor baby. She looks so frustrated trying to get around and just spinning in circles. Have you ever seen this in a beardie before?

I have temp gauges in the tank (stuck to the glass) and I also use my hubby's stick temp gauge (whatever it's called) when I want to check basking spots in my beardies tanks.

Now that she's pooped can I go back to feeding her? I don't want to add to her problems by causing malnourishment. Thanks for the link. I'll check it right now. I hope all this helps. I just want her to be ok.

Thanks so much!

Hugs back
Micci

 

[TazzysMamma]

Can you run down to Walmart and pick up a digital thermometer with a probe? The stick on ones that you described can be off by as much as 20 degrees either way. Walmart has a good one usually in the inside garden/electrical area that only costs about 12 dollars, and also measures humidity.

It's SO important to get accurate temps.

Yes, go ahead and feed her - just make sure that you dont give her any more meal worms, and that nothing is bigger than the space between her eyes. You may also want to supplement her with some squash mixed with chicken baby food (about 1/3 chicken to 2/3 squash) and give it to her from a spoon or needless syringe.

HUGS

Sandi

 

[TazzysMamma]

Also, here's a good site for learning about the best nutritional items to feed your beardie, and what to avoid:

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

HUGS

Sandi

 

[LilIrishBrat]

The probe kind is what my hubby has. I leave the stick on kind just to make sure things seem to be staying in the same temp range. I don't rely on them for accuracy though.

I just ordered the ReptiSun 10.0 bulbs for BOTH my beardies. Better safe than sorry. Thanks again for the link. I should have them within a couple days.

No worries about me feeding my dragons meal worms again. I never have before, and I NEVER will again! I was out of town and my hubby accidently bought the wrong kind of worms and that's what my daughter used. She didn't know they would hurt the baby. When I got home I saw her acting strange. I've always tried to be so careful about what they eat. This is exactly why. I'll try the baby food too. I was able to get her to eat a few tiny crickets a bit ago. Hope she can digest them ok.

Thank you again Sandi for all your help. I feel a lot less stressed now.

Hugs
Micci

 

[TazzysMamma]

You're very welcome! I just hope she acts better for you very soon.

When I rescued Tazzy he was flipping his head from side to side and rollling himself almost all the way over. This is what I did for him to help him out, and now he's growing in leaps and bounds. Please be sure to keep bathing her... its possible that she's still impacted, so bathing will definitely help with that. The chitin shell on the mealworms are too hard to digest and may take a while to fully come out.

Im so glad you got the Repti-Sun! Go ahead and turn off the other bulbs until you get the new ones. It's possible also that the other bulbs are causing her trouble. She's good for up to 2 weeks without UVB and better off with none, than the wrong frequency. Just keep the temps up, and her home as bright as possible during the day.

HUGS

Sandi