Vader is sick =(

[VadersMama]

Hi, I am new to the board. I got my bearded dragon about a month ago(were assuming her birthday is around the 1st of January) and so far everything has been great.. We've been feeding her crickets, greens(butter lettuce, Romaine lettuce, Carrot), the hard juvenile bd food, and snacks of different fruits(I recently ordered some silk worms that should be coming soon) but as of a few days ago she hasn't been acting like herself, for a while I was suspecting it of being metabolic bone disease but now I am not so sure. It started with her having 1 loose bowel on Friday so we kinda decided to watch her and see what happened. the rest of the day she was fine, ate normal and was very active. Yesterday(Saturday) I noticed she hadn't eaten any food at all so I tried coaxing her into eating something to no avail, I figured it had something to do with shedding.. I gave her a warm bath and that's when it seemed like she was going into seizures, its only in her head and it just shakes. now its anytime she gets stressed or gets picked up. I am kind of worried about it being metabolic bone disease(she doesn't have any bone defects or lumps anywhere) she has massive diarrhea and she wont eat anything and she just sleeps all the time(I managed a little bit of baby food today) I don't know what to do, I am going to go to the vets office tomorrow when it opens! I am so scared for her, I don't want to lose her! Any suggestions would be awesome!!!
thank you in advance!!
~Vader's Mama!
oh also I want to add our city water has fluoride in it, I didn't think about that until just a little bit ago.
Her cage is normally 101-105 at the hot end and 90 cool end in the daytime and around 75 at night.
we use zilla blue uva 75 watt bulb a regular heat bulb and Zilla red light for at night(not sure of the wattage)
we also have a heat pad on her warm side of the cage

 

[Killzone3265]

do you have a UVB bulb? reptisun 10.0 LONG and arcadia 12% are the only good ones

also, the heatpad is not needed as long as her basking area is warm enough, heatpads arnt needed at all really.
i dont think fluoride does anything to them, my beardies been fine with tap water and baths every few days.
what is your substrate?

 

[VadersMama]

Paper towels but we were using calcisand for a week or 2 because that's what the petstore owner told us was the best...
yeah we have a UVB bulb I knew I was forgetting 1 reptisun 10.0

 

[daner923]

Ok, so a few things. Not only is the heat pad not necessary, it is actually dangerous as beardies don't feel heat well from below. I would turn it off. Also, do not use a red night time lamp - they disturb sleep. As long as it stays above 65F, you don't need anything at night. If it is colder than that, you need a ceramic heat emitter. Please replace the blue bulb with a bright white basking light. Blue light can hurt their eyes, and appears dark to them. Is your ReptiSun 10.0 a tube or a compact? How far away is it? What is your calcium dusting schedule? I would stop feeding lettuce immediately - it can actually cause diarrhea, and is nutritionally worthless. She needs collard, dandelion, mustard, or turnip greens as a staple. Shedding can make them grumpy and less hungry, but the shaking is definitely worrisome.

 

[VadersMama]

Its a tube, but I was told that I should get a bulb, its about 6 inches away from the bottom of her cage(5 1/4)... Could the shaking be from her not eating? like her electrolytes going wild or something? she goes into the vet at 3pm today its just waiting that long and not going insane!! thank you so much for all your info =) I have been really misinformed lol

 

[daner923]

The tube is correct, but make sure it ReptiSun and not ReptiGlo. Also, it may be a bit TOO close - it should be 6-8 inches from the basking spot. I doubt the shaking is from not eating. It sounds like a calcium problem. Is it possible something is stuck in his throat? That's my only other thought.

 

[VadersMama]

I honestly don't know, she drinks water ok and the little bit of meshed up food I stick on her mouth she licks off but she really hasn't had anything that would get stuck in her throat that I know of... I have a buddy with a beardie and hes the 1 who helped set everything up.

 

[VadersMama]

Miss Vader Didn't make it... she died last night. Took her to a vet for an animal autopsy, they said up to 6 weeks for the results. she was doing so good too. finally back to eating and having small bouts of movement.

 

[Esther19]

I'm very sorry for your loss.