Still Sick?

[Aicara]

Haku, my beardie has been going through a bit of a rough patch health wise the past 2 weeks, give or take. (I've provided all his tank information at the bottom of this post)

Haku is about 5 months old, probably closer to 6 now.

Originally, he was being lethargic, not eat, burrowing obsessively, hiding a lot etc. Ended up taking him to the vet because I thought he was a bit young for brumation. Turns out (as I suspected) he was sick. He had a mild infection and due to the infection he had some parasites (also mild). He was put on several courses of medication for treatment including:

- 3 day course of oral medication
- 5 day course of oral medication
- 1 month course of antibiotics (which he is still on, has one every 3 days)

He seemed to be making a super speedy recovery after starting the medication, he was eating, basking and just seemed like his normal, quirky self again! He was even chasing crickets around, which he normally doesn't do because he's a bit lazy.

Although, the past 2 or 3 days he's been off again. He's eating little to none of his crickets (didn't eat any at all yesterday), eats minimal greens (which I hand feed him) and spends a lot of time burrowing in his hide and staying in there. I'm leaving him to it for now, trying to handle him as little as possible. Except I checked on him today to find he's wedged himself under his hide rock, he wasn't stuck but I did take him out as it certainly didn't look comfortable. He has also been digging obsessively behind the two plants in his tank. He isn't lethargic at all, pretty active actually but he's usually one to sit under his UVB and bask all day, not burrow and run around his tank and scratch at the walls/glass. He hasn't lost any weight so far and is pooping normally. He's also not sleeping as well as he normally does? A lot of the times at night I go to check if he's asleep and he's still basking and sometimes gaping, I do turn the temps down a little bit at night but I'm not sure how much sleep he's actually getting.

One thing to note is that he did start shedding on one of his feet and on his jaw the other day, I gave him a warm bath and most of the skin soaked off. Although... he hasn't shed anymore since that one leg. His head perhaps does look a little bit more dull in colour though. Is this burrowing, hiding and not eating behaviour possibly a full shed approaching? Just worried about his drop in demeanour since he seemed to be making such a massive improvement and I'm concerned he might need to go back to the vet?

Here are some pictures of him from today after his bath:
https://sta.sh/21rpjdo8jj63?edit=1 (hopefully this link should work)

Tank Set Up:
Here is a photo as well: https://sta.sh/04c1ho0mu76

Size: 60 Gallon (Wooden with glass front)

Substrate: Loose recycled paper pellets (doesn't eat them on accident, haven't had any issues)

UVB: Reptisun 10.0 (7:00am until 8:30/9:00pm)

Basking Light (Day): Exo Terra 100w Infrared (in the process of getting a new one as I've read that Infrared is no good, just not sure what to get as there are so many options!)

Basking Light (Night): Exo Terra 150w Infrared Ceramic (its currently winter so need the 150w to keep the temps up)

Temps:
Cool side: 84
Basking side: 95
(basking is on the low side, but it's difficult because when I switch to the 150w Infrared it gets way too warm, trying to sort this out by finding a new household bulb instead of a reptile one. Open to suggestion as to what would be the best one! )

I offered him some crickets just now and he wasn't interested. He glanced at them but made no effort to eat them even when they crawled right in front of him. He's also stopped burrowing and gone to basking under the UVB... not sure how long that will last though.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, it's probably in part due to the infrared light. Some beardies won't bask with it at all. And if that's a hammock directly below it, that would fry him. At night you don't need that much heat, it's really going to mess with the sleep cycle. If it doesn't go below 65 at night you don't need a CHE at all. If it DOES get that cool, get a lower watt CHE.


For daytime light + heat just get a halogen flood bulb from Walmart/Home Depot. If you need to bump up the temps. a bit just get another aluminum reflector from Home Depot or Walmart as well and add another bulb. But he'll probably be fine. BTW, what type of antibiotic is he on ? That's a long time so far on meds., that can wipe out his good bacteria in his gut along with the bad and lower his immune system.


One more thing, it would be good if he could get closer to the uvb bulb.

 

[Aicara]

The hammock isn't directly underneath the the basking light, it's off to the side and he never goes along that spot anyway. I originally didn't want to have the hammock that close to the basking light but it was the only way to keep the whole thing up as a support so that the stick running under the UVB doesn't fall down, or alternatively, if he falls off.He loved that stick ever since he was a baby and I don't think he understands that he's just a little bit too big for it now. I also couldn't get him much closer to the UVB if I tried, the picture might not show it very well but there's a long stick on his hammock that curves up towards it, he could probably touch the UVB tube if he wanted to.

I do turn the thermostat down a bit at night with the 150w, it just gets WAY too cold with no heating at all or just the 100w (that disturbs his sleep regardless). Last night he slept better and did eat a little bit during the day which was an improvement. I'm not sure on the antibiotic, I'll need to have a look and get back to you on that one. The vet I took him to was the reptile specialist at the exotic pet clinic so I'm hoping that I can trust her decisions on his treatment? But I didn't actually think about the bacteria thing until now, so that's an interesting thought?

I'm in Australia so there's no Walmart here but I'll take a look at the options in the hardware store or order one online if they don't have anything, I do want to get that basking bulb changed asap.

Thanks for the advice, I'll reply again with the antibiotic once I'm home to take a look!

 

[Aicara]

Got home and grabbed a picture of the antibiotic that he's currently on:
https://sta.sh/0ejlbdztm4l

Also an update on Haku today. He's not eating, or hasn't eaten yet after being offered a few crickets. he's been burrowing obsessively again and laying down in the holes he digs behind his plants. Whilst he's laying there he looks a bit mopey, like he intends to have a nap. At the same time he's still somewhat active, walking around and climbing but only basking for very short periods. He's also scratching at the walls of his tank repeatedly and jumping up them on occasion. He also comes up to the glass every now and again. He's pooping still, poop looks normal, there's more moisture than normal but the poop itself is firm, no sign of blood or anything like that. Just in himself he's not acting normal at all.

I haven't been able to find a halogen light in any hardware store that will work for his tank and haven't had a lot of luck with finding them online either. I temporarily got him a reptile one just so the infrared was out of there. It blew within an hour of having it in (typical) so I'm going back to get a replacement and keep looking for a halogen light.

With the photos of Haku himself that I attached in the first post, does he look healthy?

Thanks again.