Hi,
I have a bearded dragon (Itchy) just about one month now. A week ago, I discovered he had what looked like mouth rot, I took him to the vet right away and they said it was a tumor, and have given me antibiotics (Baytril) to give him twice a day, if it doesn't clear then they can perform surgery and remove it.
The good news is the baytril does seem to be clearing the tumor, his mouth looks much better and he is more active, however its not completely clear just yet, still a few more days of treatment left.
The bad news is every since then he has been increasingly unhappy in his vivarium and in the mornings constantly wants to get out.
The day before I took him to the vet, I put him in a new vivarium (Vivexotic EX48) with a new UVB and Basking light.
I had initially purchased a "Starter Setup" from the pet shop:
2ft x 2ft x 3ft Clearseal vivarium.
150w Exo-Terra Sun-Glo
15w Exo-Terra 18" Repti-Glo 5.0 UVB
Repti bark substrate.
Heat mat and other misc furnishings.
This setup was ok, however I found that it would get very warm under the basking light; 110 - 120°F on the ground (18" distance), and also, the bulb started to burn burn the top of the vivarium.
With the risk of fire and it generally overheating, I wanted to get him into a bigger space, but also a safer one. Another change I wanted to make was away from the Repti-bark to play sand, the bark isn't easy to keep clean and finding feces in it isn't the easiest either.
His new setup:
Vivexotic EX48 (approx 2ft x 2ft x 4ft)
60w Zoo Med Basking Spot Lamp (Testing - so far today it has reached 100 - 110°F on a slightly elevated basking area.)
30w Exo-Terra 36" Repti-Glo 10.0 UVB (Which he can get to within 6" of.)
Washed play sand.
Heat mat (same).
Even with the new lights installed in the vivarium today, he is still constantly trying to get out of the vivarium, I'll let him out because I can't stand knowing he is in distress, but he'll still be walking from corner to corner of the room, and never seems to be happy whatever I try to do.
Although his eating has reduced (which the vet said might happen because of the tumor), its only slightly and he is still eating crickets, locust and his veggies.
I should note, that before all of this, once every couple of days, he would get into cage rage mode when he wanted out, but it would rare, I'd take him out, let him run around, and then put him back in and he'd be fine.
I'm sorry if I've left anything out here, but please feel free to ask anything you need to know.
Can anyone please help? Although I try to read as much care sheets, forum articles and so on, I'm still very worried I'm doing something right. He's a great beardie and I want him to have as happy a life as possible.
Thank you.
I have a bearded dragon (Itchy) just about one month now. A week ago, I discovered he had what looked like mouth rot, I took him to the vet right away and they said it was a tumor, and have given me antibiotics (Baytril) to give him twice a day, if it doesn't clear then they can perform surgery and remove it.
The good news is the baytril does seem to be clearing the tumor, his mouth looks much better and he is more active, however its not completely clear just yet, still a few more days of treatment left.
The bad news is every since then he has been increasingly unhappy in his vivarium and in the mornings constantly wants to get out.
The day before I took him to the vet, I put him in a new vivarium (Vivexotic EX48) with a new UVB and Basking light.
I had initially purchased a "Starter Setup" from the pet shop:
2ft x 2ft x 3ft Clearseal vivarium.
150w Exo-Terra Sun-Glo
15w Exo-Terra 18" Repti-Glo 5.0 UVB
Repti bark substrate.
Heat mat and other misc furnishings.
This setup was ok, however I found that it would get very warm under the basking light; 110 - 120°F on the ground (18" distance), and also, the bulb started to burn burn the top of the vivarium.
With the risk of fire and it generally overheating, I wanted to get him into a bigger space, but also a safer one. Another change I wanted to make was away from the Repti-bark to play sand, the bark isn't easy to keep clean and finding feces in it isn't the easiest either.
His new setup:
Vivexotic EX48 (approx 2ft x 2ft x 4ft)
60w Zoo Med Basking Spot Lamp (Testing - so far today it has reached 100 - 110°F on a slightly elevated basking area.)
30w Exo-Terra 36" Repti-Glo 10.0 UVB (Which he can get to within 6" of.)
Washed play sand.
Heat mat (same).
Even with the new lights installed in the vivarium today, he is still constantly trying to get out of the vivarium, I'll let him out because I can't stand knowing he is in distress, but he'll still be walking from corner to corner of the room, and never seems to be happy whatever I try to do.
Although his eating has reduced (which the vet said might happen because of the tumor), its only slightly and he is still eating crickets, locust and his veggies.
I should note, that before all of this, once every couple of days, he would get into cage rage mode when he wanted out, but it would rare, I'd take him out, let him run around, and then put him back in and he'd be fine.
I'm sorry if I've left anything out here, but please feel free to ask anything you need to know.
Can anyone please help? Although I try to read as much care sheets, forum articles and so on, I'm still very worried I'm doing something right. He's a great beardie and I want him to have as happy a life as possible.
Thank you.
I think they should have training for their employees don't you? for instance they sold me a Red heat lamp for night and told me that the beardie wouldn't be able to see the red so it wouldn't bother him and I wont even get into the rest of the stuff he sold me. It just totally baffles me that company can have people selling animals that they know nothing about. Oh! and mind you this guy claimed he owed 4 beardies of his own. So god bless those babies. 
