starving beardie? other problems?

[BlueS14240sx]

i recently aquired another beardie, she seems very sick. i need some opinions on getting her to wake up and eat something so i can get her healthy again

all she does is lay there with her eyes shut, if i pick her up she will open one eye slowly and move a little. as soon as i set her down she will close her eye and procede not to do anything but lay there stiff.

she does move throughout the enclosure through the day and is not alert enough to take crickets or mealworms, she wont even look at lettuce. if i put food infront of her face she will close the one eye and not do anything

i believe she is over a year old, if not somewhere near there...she also doesnt respond to baths, will also lay there not moving with her eyes shut.
she is very skinny and this is concerning me

also earlier when i moved her from the log to her dish she sat there unresponsive and it looked like she was holding her breath. then she exhausted all of the air in her lungs and opened her mouth, she did it again and made a clicking sound (kind of looked like she was dry heaving).

she ate 2 mealworms the day i brought her home, and she may have eaten 3/4 of one today but im not sure (so almost 3 worms in 3 days)
someone please help, i really dont want to lose her.

 

[gogga]

Im no expert but I would seriously suggest taking her to the vet ASAP.
The liflessness / closed eyes / skinny are not good signs.
A vet would be able to diagnose the clicking sound and give much needed supplements and boosters via injection to get her some energy and to help her recover better.

Keep up the baths for hydration and you can add (I think its called reptaid) to the bathwater for some energy. Also Critical care can be given till you can see the vet.

 

[BlueS14240sx]

bump? anyone else have suggestions? she is still not responding, yesterday i gave her a bath and as she slowly lowered her beard into the water (falling asleep or w/e she is doing) her nostrils touched the water and she woke up enough to take a drink, still hasnt eaten since the other day

 

[DoubleJ]

Do you plan to take her to the vets? I definitely think that is the way to go to start with.

 

[munchkins9802]

first of all do NOT feed her mealworms--they can create impaction
Can you go over cage setup with us
Substrate?
Lighting?basking light uvb light?
Temperatures--how are you taking them and what are they -basking and other
Food
Calcium/vitamins--is she getting them

 

[BlueS14240sx]

Do you plan to take her to the vets? I definitely think that is the way to go to start with.

kinda tight on cash at the moment so im gonna do what i can until i can afford a minimum of 70$ JUST to bring her

 

[DoubleJ]

It costs so much just for a check up or consultation I hope you get things sorted and it all works out.

 

[BlueS14240sx]

first of all do NOT feed her mealworms--they can create impaction
Can you go over cage setup with us
Substrate?
Lighting?basking light uvb light?
Temperatures--how are you taking them and what are they -basking and other
Food
Calcium/vitamins--is she getting them

the enclosure is full wood, 4' long, 2'6'' high and 15'' deep (much taller than a 55g fish tank)
the substrate is just paper towels on top of the wood floor
there is a heat bulb on the cooler side of the enclosure, a repti sun 10 and a 100w? basking bulb, the cool side temp is 85 (there is some shade if needed) and the basking area is about 95-105. the dragon is never closer than 6'' from the bulb at its highest point. all taken with a digital probe thermo.
she wont eat much of anything so food cant be discussed, and idk what the prev. owners fed her.
if she would eat she would deff be getting her calcium but she isnt eating so....
i even tried baby food on the nose like we know all beardies love and she could care less about me sticking it to her nose (i figured any form of eating anything was good at this point

 

[rayjones]

The things you are saying about that Dragon lead me to think it is very near to death. As in days at most.
I would STRONGLY suggest taking the dragon to the vet.

If you really can't afford the vet I would suggest you get some food down that dragon soon. If the dragon won't eat on it's own you will have to force feed. Very traumatic to the dragon, more so to the loving caretaker. If the dragon is as sick as you describe it you won't get much of a fight out of it. As it get's better you will find out how much dragons hate force feeding. Go on youtube and search for syringe feeding bearded dragons. There are some videos to show you how. Squash baby food is good and the Dragons seem to like it. Reptile stomach capacity is 25-100ml/kg (or .025 to .1 cc per gram of dragon weight). A ml is equal to a cc. A one cc syringe is USUALLY marked in tenths of a cc. If the dragon can keep the food you force feed down you have a chance. If the Dragon can't keep down the food you have a very serious problem. Stop force feeding since dragons are not made to regurgitate. It can cause them serious damage. If you force feed do it twice a day for three days minimum with one so ill. If you stop too soon the Dragon may not start eating on it's own. Don't expect poop the first day, but the second day you should get at least a little poop out of the dragon. The third day you should get an almost regular sized, but runny poop.

Force feeding is not for the weak. It is very traumatic to the dragon, and if done wrong can cause damage. You can drown the poor dragon by shoving food into it's lungs (feed slowly and let it swallow it, if it will, some won't). The only reason I mention it is this dragon is holding on for some reason. But if it's looking skinny and won't wake up it is loosing the fight rapidly.

I wish you great luck with this dragon and I repeat my opening statement. Find a way to take the dragon to a vet as soon as possible.

 

[BlueS14240sx]

looks like force feeding is what we are gonna have to do until i can get her to the vet.

i feel that with some food in her stomach (if she can keep it down) she will bounce back in no time, im sure she wont like it but with food in her stomach she will get her energy back and be able to eat on her own

 

[DoubleJ]

you could also try reptaid, but read the post in this forum about it as I cant remember what age you can feed it to beardies. This is the herbal stuff (but still strong) not Repta-Aid which is prescribed. My beardie is on it atm. It isnt a substitute for food, but it has certainly helped to pick up my beardies spirits. She is definitely perkier than before and starting to eat babyfood without me having to force feed her anymore.

I agree that force feeding is horrid, and my beardie is about 2 years old not a baby. But needs must as the saying goes.

 

[DoubleJ]

you could also try reptaid, but read the post in this forum about it as I cant remember what age you can feed it to beardies. This is the herbal stuff (but still strong) not Repta-Aid which is prescribed. My beardie is on it atm. It isnt a substitute for food, but it has certainly helped to pick up my beardies spirits. She is definitely perkier than before and starting to eat babyfood without me having to force feed her anymore.

I agree that force feeding is horrid, and my beardie is about 2 years old not a baby. But needs must as the saying goes.

 

[BlueS14240sx]

you could also try reptaid, but read the post in this forum about it as I cant remember what age you can feed it to beardies. This is the herbal stuff (but still strong) not Repta-Aid which is prescribed. My beardie is on it atm. It isnt a substitute for food, but it has certainly helped to pick up my beardies spirits. She is definitely perkier than before and starting to eat babyfood without me having to force feed her anymore.

I agree that force feeding is horrid, and my beardie is about 2 years old not a baby. But needs must as the saying goes.

thanks for the info, any more info on force feeding? just pretty much get it in the mouth and hope she swallows?

 

[DoubleJ]

oops sorry for the double post, my laptop went manic for a bit. To get reptaid into Brindi I have a very small needleless syringe, I prise her lips apart a little on one side and push the syringe in, then quickly slide it towards the front of her mouth. She usually gets the message and chomps on it a bit. It's a bit trickier to do it with a bigger syringe but its the same process. I am lucky atm as she licks food off her nose so I just have to drip it on there. I am sure there are other ways to do it. I hope others give some suggestions for convincing beardies that clamping their vicelike jaws shut is not in their best interests. :/

 

[beardie parents]

I, also, would like to know what the temps of your beardie's viv is, what you are taking them with and what uvb you have and how far it is from the basking spot.

The answers to that question will help us to see if there is something that can be done without taking him to a vet. If the uvb isn't a good one or is outdated your beardie will not have an appetite, personal experience talking here. If the temps are too low he won't have an appetite, either, again personal experience talking.