Whats wrong with my BD!? :(

[tricketts]

Hello everyone!

I am a new member here and a fairly new bearded dragon owner.
I have recently purchased a juvenile BD named Carlos from the local pet store roughly a month ago. I am not sure if it is male or female. It's terrarium is set up in a 20L tank with a cage topper and tank consisted of desert sand, 100 watt UVA basking light, and a timed 75 watt night light that turns on at 9:00 and back to daytime basking at 7:00 a.m along with a UVB lamp. His basking spot temp (from infared laser gun) sits roughly between 100degrees to 110degrees as other parts of his tank generally stay between 75-80 He/she usually eats his daily crix from 10-15 a day. He is about 7" long. I recently unloaded 100 mealworms into his meal worm dish as the local pet store employee ensured that the dragon will only eat his fix until he is full.

Unfortunately, here lately Carlos has been very pale looking. He no longer is active and resides at the bottom of the tank which he is usually always basking. His behavior also is abnormal when I try to interact with him he has no motives to run away and try to get away from me as he always has done in the past. Another key behavior problem he contains is he always has his head down and seems as if it is to heavy to even lift. I am afraid he may be suffering impaction from the sand. I cleaned out his sand and went with reptile carpet for the time being. I have caught him twice curled inside of his now empty meal worm dish looking very uncomfortable. I usually carefully place him on his reptile hammock or under his basking light and he shows no motivation or coordination to hang on and seems as if he could fall of and not even try to stay at a higher altitude. I tried bathing him in luke warm water but his head seems so heavy as he rests it on my fingers and can not submerge his body because his head rides with my hand.

Although only having Carlos for a month, me and my girlfriend have grown to love this little guy! Hopefully he gets over the spill or sickness or what ever may be happening to him!

Please! If anybody can help me! I love this little fellow and have no idea what my next step is! This is about the third day he has had this type of behavior! Thanks in advance!!!!

 

[PADsMommy]

Try and stay away from meal worms, they are very hard for them to digest . If any just a few here and there for treat..Stick with small crickets for a staple protein food, or small dubias roaches..do you give your dragon a daily salad? If you think he may be impacted try soaking in warm water to help with a bowel movement..hope your dragon starts feeling better.

 

[tricketts]

Wow, what a fast reply!

I will stop feeding Carlos mealworms. I'm afraid the change in his diet may have caused his behavior issue. He always 24/7 has fresh salad greens (non-iceberg style) to eat from. He does occasionally eat greens but primarily diets on small crickets.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....I'm sorry about poor little Carlos. He's so cute there in his bowl. He may very well be impacted both from the sand and especially the mealworms. Baby beardies can't eat many mealworms without getting impacted, you were given incorrect information. If he has a serious impaction it can affect him neurologically, along with possible calcium deficiency depending on what type of lights you have [ you are best off with a Reptisun 10.0 long tube by Zoo med ] and you must dust his insects , which should be small crickets, dubia roaches + Phoenix or reptiworms. When was the last time he pood ? You might need to get some veg. oil, canned pumpkin or baby food prunes to help move his bowels, [ mix in a little calcium powder] if you put him in a warm bath just keep his head up. When done, pat him dry + put him back in the warm tank. If he doesn't improve soon, an experienced reptile vet may help, but this can be pretty serious. I truly hope your little guy can get better !

 

[tricketts]

Yes, I dust his crickets every time he eats! His last bowel movement that I can remember was within the same day he received the meal worms. I was afraid the guy at the pet shop had no idea what he was talking about. He encouraged me to stay away from repti-carpet due to toe nail/claw entanglement and to stick with yet another substrate called "calci-sand" which contains matter healthy for the BDs to eat. I feel so helpless for him right now because he looks so hurt. I will attempt to give him another warm bath tomorrow. My finger follows the contour of his neck as he looks as if he can not hold his head above the water.

 

[PADsMommy]

Unfortunately most pet store employees do not have all the info they need for beardies.. Mealworms have a very hard exoskeleton and eating that many at once could definitely cause a impaction. What kind of UVB light do you have the coil type isn't very good,best one to get is the repti sun 10 fluorescent tube. I changed to these bulbs in each of my beardie tanks and could see the change for the better within a week..they ate more, more active, and just seemed more healthy, Petmountain.com has really great prices half of what the pets stores sell them for.

 

[tricketts]

I'm glad I found this website with people who actually have experience and knowledge! I am currently using a coil type UVB light but hopefully will get that one you mentioned above within the next month or two when I start a larger terrarium build.

 

[kcarello]

You need to give him a few bites of unsweetened applesauce with a few drops of olive oil in it,,,just put some on his nose where it will run down and he wil lick it up. You can do the same with plain canned pumpkin or the baby food prunes. Calci sand is the worst kind of sand...it turns to concrete in their tummies, then throw in the mealworms and he could be in serious trouble. If he doesnt go poo tomorrow after giving him this mixture and a warm bath...you should get him to a vet.
http://www.everythingreptile.org/bearded-dragon.html

That is a link to an excellent care sheet and website.
I am so sorry that you were given such terrible information.

 

[tricketts]

That did it! Carlos is located at my girlfriends house for the time being and I forwarded her to this thread. This morning she gave him another warm bath as he was still acting strange. Before she left to work, she left him some olive oil infused unsweetened apple sauce and dabble some on his nose. She got the report while at work from her mom that he pooped quite a bit more in a liquid form then usual! I think that did it! She contacted me at my work and told me that he went to the bathroom finally and that he had the strength to get into his hammock! When I got home after work, Carlos was under his basking light acting his usual self and usual temperature and color! His head was held high and proud! Thank you guys so much! I was really getting to worry about him.

I'm sure this question gets asked a lot an answers are everywhere but what kind of substrate is the best to go with? I will no longer listen to the pet store employees after that incident!

Here is a picture of Carlos this evening happy as a beardie can get!

 

[kcarello]

So happy to hear he is doing better!!!
As far as substrates,,there are a few really good choices. Reptile carpet, non adhesive shelf liner, or ceramic or slate tile. All are pretty cheap, even the tile.

 

[Oki05]

So glad to hear that Carlos is doing great and is healthier than ever for substrate you can also use paper towels or newspaper. Their cheap substrates but they are great for cleaning. But when he gets older you can switch to tiles or have him on tiles as a baby it doesn't matter.

 

[AHBD]

Yay for Carlos ! What a relief for both of you. I'm really glad everything turned out O.K.