What should we do?

[beardie parents]

Hi all.

Goldie's 60 watt eb mega ray blew on May 13th, probably because it was plugged into an outlet but not into the ballast, anyway that's our guess. We had purchased a reptisun 10 some time ago that was never used, we put that on her and, even tho it's never been used, her appetite didn't increase any. We've tried taking her out in the sun but she seems to want to stay in the shade. She even tries to avoid gaping when she's hot so we won't be able to stick food in her. The 60 watt eb mega is not available now. We have the t-rex on her that we purchased just over 2 years ago but didn't use her's last summer, just in the winter. I'm not sure what to do because all of the other MVB's have gotten bad reputations from what I've heard. I expect the new megas to be better than the other's have been the last two years but I worry about Goldie's lack of appetite, two weeks now she's not had any appetite.

Thanks

Lori

 

[beardie parents]

Also, just to let you know, I tried butternut squash baby food on Goldie earlier today and she ate very little then refused more.

 

[AHBD]

If your'e in Az., it would be difficult, but getting her outside in the a.m before it's TOO hot is a good idea. You can always rig some type of partial" shady" area, along with an area of total shade. Even in partial to most shade she'll get UVB. Just out of curiousity, how big and what is her weight ? Some large dragons go on little hunger strikes when there is a change in their routine, environment, etc. It's usually harmless.

 

[beardie parents]

We live near the AZ/Mexico border so we aren't nearly as hot as Tucson or Phoenix get. We do have to get them out before 9 am or 10 am, tho. I got them out about 10:45 am today and they wanted shade at that point. We have various ash trees so they get anywhere from mottled shade/sun or total shade or total sun. It just happens that most mornings we can get them outside much before it's too hot, at least this time of year. there are days, however, where it's just to windy to get them (or us) outside.

I forgot to mention, Goldie was 433 grams on April 5, 2011, then 438 on April 21, 2011 but today she dropped to 392 grams so she's lost 46 grams since the end of last month.

 

[beardie parents]

Goldie still hasn't been eating much. Bill got a fecal from her yesterday and we are taking it to the vet in Tucson tomorrow. He also got a picture of it and I've uploaded it in case some of you have information on how it looks. I was concerned until I saw it but all she's been eating is a few greens, vegies.

 

[catUK]

If she is losing weight it may be an idea to get her to the vets too. Im not 100% sure of that picture but it looks a bit like egg yoke, could she be gravid? -(I might be wrong on this though). Females can loose their appetite when gravid

Symptoms of egg retention include lethargy, depression and non-responsiveness. Pre- egg-laying, the female will dig continuously for up to two weeks and will completely lose her appetite for a few days, allowing more room for the eggs to develop.

 

[beardie parents]

I've thought about that but she's not going crazy like Rosie did for the month or so before she layed her eggs about 3 weeks ago. She's not going crazy yet, but she's been eating a lot more than normal, prior to this spring.

The only thing that Goldie's been doing that's similar to laying eggs is, earlier this week, was she's pooping urates out two or three times a day and not eating but she's lost more weight. Bill called the vet a couple of days ago and we have an appointment in Tucson (more than 1.5 hour drive away) at 10 am tomorrow. Which is good because we were planning on going tomorrow anyway. I still think it's because her mega blew on the 13th of May and for some reason the never used reptisun 10 tube isn't helping her appetite any.

 

[catUK]

hope it all goes well at the vets. let us know how she's doing

 

[beardie parents]

Thanks, Cat for keeping up with this. I can't help worry about her. I posted a fairly long (for me) post about the vet visit this morning and I am posting a link to that page so I don't have to do it again.

viewtopic.php?f=49&t=137326&start=180

 

[catUK]

ah well glad there were no problems. The critical care should work wonders. Hope she's better soon and thanks for letting me know. Hope your ok too, i had my beardie to the vet recently for an unexplained URI and i was so worried so know how worried you'll be. take care

 

[beardie parents]

we will, but we still can't help being worried.