Unexperienced owner needs help with a new sickly beardie? :(

[KomingUndone]

Ok so my boyfriend and i got a beardie from someone less than a week ago. We know nothing about them but the poor little thing was so scrawny and didn't get much attention. The only things I do know about reptiles are more or less common sense stuff. I From what I was told it is a male, but I got no age. i know his body is about 4 inches, and he's about 8 with his tail. When we got him he was on that calcium sand? and eating crickets, lettuce and carrots. I noticed that his skin looked a little bunched so i thought maybe he was dehydrated, but i couldnt understand how as we were told he loved water and often lounged in his water bowl. I don't know what kind of light he has, some kind that came with his tank from the pet store, it looks almost like a regular bulb, but can't place the brand. We went out and got him some crickets dusted with calcium and he did good eating them but I notced he seemed to have a problem pooping so I soaked him in some warm water, and as soon as I put him back in basking spot he pooped. But it's only been two days now and the poor thing looks even skinnier, his skin more wrinkly and he is even more visibly compacted. He isn't moving much, but thrashes like his life depends on it when i tried to clean him up after his bath. He had almost black lines on his face and black spots on his belly, but they've lightened up since I got him soaking more. And another thing is his feet and tail have turned orange, i don't know if that means anything. I feel bad because i feel like we're doing more harm than good, someone please help! But he is in a 20 gallon tank, not sure of the temps, but everything is set up the way they had it, and they had the temps right, and it's a little bit warmer here. We were planning on taking him to a vet tomorrow, but I'm so nervous for him, plus the vets around here aren't always the most knowledgable.

 

[KomingUndone]

Ok so right after I typed that my boyfriend ran in to tell me that he pooped, but its very green, and he's still needing to go. But it's like this color. I don't know if I should soak him again or maybe just leave him alone? His black marks have faded more, as well as the spots on his belly.

 

[Ethelia]

Hi there,
Thank you for taking the poor little guy in.
I will try and help as much as I can.

Lets start with light and temperatures.
Both are vital for a healthy dragon.

The light should have a brand stamped on it somewhere, look all around the bulb.
What does it look like? Is it long and thin like a strip light? Is it large and dome shaped? Is it white or red? All these things will help us identify your bulb.
Unfortunatly there are a huge amount of awful bulbs out there that can damage your dragon, so its important to check.

Temperatures are also vital. His basking spot should be 95-105 and the cool side should be around 75-85.
The only way to measure your temperatures is with a digital thermometre with a probe. You can get one from Walmart for $12.
Stick on gages or dials can be as much as 20* off.

To help the memebers help you further could you please answer the following questions:
How old is your dragon?
How long have you had your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What is the sex of your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
How close can your dragon get to the bulb?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?

Holly

 

[Elora]

You are surely doing more good than bad, even by coming here and posting it means that you really are willing to learn and want to help this little baby! It would be worse to leave him with the owners that done care.

First I would take out the sand. I know its a horrible annoying job (i had calci sand when i first came to this website) but its really bad for them. Even though it says that its digestible. its not and it can ball up like cement if your babies belly! Scoop it all out, wipe the tank down and then you can put down some paper towels. Paper towels are great becuase you can easily clean up the poop by just taking the peice out and puttin gmore down. after you get your beardie stable I would recomend Non Stick Shelf Liner. you cna get this at walmart or a dollar store. its pretty cheat and make sure to get the kind that dosnt have the holes. its non absorbant so the poop just wipes right up (if you catch it before it dries) it also comes in many colors!!

Also bearded dragons need 2 kinds of lights. UV that mimics the sun and then heat. You can get a MVB bulb that does both or you can get a long tube uv bulb and then a. a heat bulb if your house gets cold or b. a regular household bright white bulb. Now for the fixture for the tube bulb. Done waste money on the expensive ones that they sell at the pet store. a long fixture for tube bulbs can be found at home depo (or a store like it) they seem to have different grades of them and the cheapest one does just fine. I got mine for 9 dollars. the one at the pet store was 30 dollars! Just make sure you leave the bulb cover off (the clear plastic peice that covers the bulb) to let all of the uv get through.
here is a good website to get uv bulbs

http://www.petmountain.com/product/fluorescent/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html

you get 10% off if you enter the word Holiday
here is a image of my set up

you can see that i have the long tube fixture from homedepo on the left, a house hold bulb on the right and in the middle i have a ceramic heat emmiter (its cold here in NY so i needed extra heat) you can also see the probe thermometer


ANYWAYS now that you are probably bored out of your mind :lol: :lol: i will sugest a few alternatives for veggie feeding. lettuce and carrots are not that great. try mustard green or dandelion greens. here is a great website that has the nutrition content for many foods for your beardie. you can see that the veggies listed in green are the ones you should feed every day.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

 

[KomingUndone]

I really appreciate the help from everyone, but I'm afraid he passed away this morning. His name was Vader :/ My mom was checking on him while I was at work and found him. I had got hopeful for him because he had used the bathroom a bit last night but apparently it wasn't enough or it didn't happen soon enough, i don't know. Unfortunatly my boyfriend is very upset about this so i doubt we will get another beardie any time soon, but thank you guys for the help.

 

[Ethelia]

Im so sorry he didnt make it.
Im sure he was greatful for the hard work you put in.

Holly

 

[KomingUndone]

Thank you. A friend of mine used to have an iguana a long time ago, and said that it acted the same way but had had metabolic bone disease? She said he didn't show any signs of acting strange or walking funny. Could this have been it?

 

[Ethelia]

It could be yes if he didnt have proper lighting at the store, which it sounds like he didnt.
I would think calci sand was the culprit. It is just so dangerous for dragons and it is so upsetting when stores use it.

Whatever it was it sounds like he was way too far gone to save.
You did what you could.

Rescuing dragons can end unhappily. I rescued my girl as an adult and I had 7 blissful months with her until her liver failed and she had to be put to sleep.
I was utterly devestated when I lost Dex and wasnt sure if I could do it again.
Two weeks ago I rescued a little boy called Ruben and he is filling my life with joy.

I hope this doesnt put you off beardies for life.
They can be the most loving and affectionate pets.
If you ever feel ready to rescue another dragon or to buy one for yourself the members on this site will be happy to go through your set up withyou before hand to make sure everything is perfect for your new arrival.

God bless.

Holly

 

[haleygirl272]

I'm so sorry! I know what you're going through. This happened with my first dragon. Hope you feel better soon.

My condolences(sp?),
Haley

 

[beardie parents]

I really appreciate the help from everyone, but I'm afraid he passed away this morning. His name was Vader :/ My mom was checking on him while I was at work and found him. I had got hopeful for him because he had used the bathroom a bit last night but apparently it wasn't enough or it didn't happen soon enough, i don't know. Unfortunatly my boyfriend is very upset about this so i doubt we will get another beardie any time soon, but thank you guys for the help.

I understand how you felt. When Redrock fell of my shoulder she must have injured her head because she died 10 days later. Anyway, I had gotten hopefull for her also as she had improved a LOT the day before she died. My husband called me at work about 11am and told me she'd died.

 

[beardie parents]

I'm really sorry Vader's death. I do suggest you stay on here and read a lot. I've learned much about healthy beardies, recognizing healthy vs sick beardies just by reading on here. The first two I had were sick when we got them but we didn't know it. We lost the first one 1 year and 8 months after we got them, the second after 1 year and 10 months. We still miss them. They were worth having even if we did know that they were sick.

 

[KomingUndone]

Thank you so much everyone. Yea the people we got him from had purchased him from our local pet store, and we only have one around here, which uses sand in all of their reptile cages. We had discussed it earlier and surprisingly my boyfriend said he wanted to try again with another one. First thing is we're going to throw that godawful sand out and replace it with that shelf liner that you guys told me about. I went to wal-mart and couldn't find that digital thermometer but maybe they would have them in Lowe's? And the first thing we are going to do is take him/her to the vet. The day we get get him/her. As for the bulb he had it is a Sunbeam bulb, 65w 130v. Isn't that a household brand? But it's in the right light fixture. There's a store around here that has the long bulb fixtures for really cheap. We have a zoo-med bulb that a friend had bought awhile ago and never used, it's 18", it says 15w, 53.0 uvb? I think we might try to find one that is over a year old also.

 

[beardie parents]

I would ask someone that works at walmart where the thermometers are. I was directed to the area where the ceiling fans are located. Others found them in the outdoor area, if I remember correctly. I will tell you, the last time I looked for one I was told they don't have it anymore but I went back where they had the digital thermometers and looked harder and I found it. Walmart does have it. Do you know what it looks like? I know Diane has a picture she posts of what the accurite digital with probe for $12 looks like. I don't, yet.

 

[vickson420]

Thank you so much everyone. Yea the people we got him from had purchased him from our local pet store, and we only have one around here, which uses sand in all of their reptile cages. We had discussed it earlier and surprisingly my boyfriend said he wanted to try again with another one. First thing is we're going to throw that godawful sand out and replace it with that shelf liner that you guys told me about. I went to wal-mart and couldn't find that digital thermometer but maybe they would have them in Lowe's? And the first thing we are going to do is take him/her to the vet. The day we get get him/her. As for the bulb he had it is a Sunbeam bulb, 65w 130v. Isn't that a household brand? But it's in the right light fixture. There's a store around here that has the long bulb fixtures for really cheap. We have a zoo-med bulb that a friend had bought awhile ago and never used, it's 18", it says 15w, 53.0 uvb? I think we might try to find one that is over a year old also.

Hi
I am so sorry to hear about your beardie Vader.I am glad to hear you guys are trying again though.The sunbeam is just a basking light for heating,your beardie will still need a good linear flourescent uvb.I recommend you get a reptisun 10.0 or reptisun 5.0.Please stay away from all coil and compact bulbs they are horrible.I also would not recommend the reptiglo 10.0 or the desert series uvb as are not good quality either.As for the thermometer you will find it in walmart but its in the hardware/outdoor section.Its actually an indoor/outdoor thermometer and its usually by the the somke detectors.The zoomed you have I am assuming is a reptisun but is it a 2.0,5.0,10.0?Are you sure it has never been used?