Who has lost their BD to old age?

[SeventyGTX]

Lately I have noticed my 11 year old girl is seemingly losing her eyesight. Since she was little, I have always hand fed her. Now she seems to go after my fingers or thumb instead of the Superworm I offer her. I have to time it just right so she gets the worm with her tongue, instead of my thumb...... :lol:

Besides an episode of lots of blood she threw up a few weeks ago (see my post in ER), she has been very healthy. She is alert, eats well and is strong. I was curious what the symptoms are for their end of life cycle. I have come to this forum off and on for a long time and have never seen anyone discuss losing their BD to old age. I assume as long as she is eating, she is ok, but her eyesight somewhat bothers me. It seem to be just a closeup thing, she still watches everything going on around her.
Here is a shot of her a couple of weeks ago catching some rays on her favorite piece of driftwood....

...and in her cage on her climbing rocks shortly after the blood episode. I think she still looks pretty good for an old lady.

 

[SeventyGTX]

Wow, nobody has lost their beardie from natural causes?

 

[Heyimbrit]

I haven't lost any to old age but this thread made me think..

Do you think someday we'll find a way to lengthen beardie lives like we have with humans?

 

[Gail]

There have been a few dragons passed from old age but those threads are quite old and probably gone by now. From what I can remember, bad eyesight wasn't one of the symptoms of end of life or at least not a common one.
The more common symptoms are loss of appetite, lethargy and weight loss. At 11 year, your dragon looks fantastic. Its not surprising that a elderly dragon developed bad eyesight. You might get her to a vet to to double check but if it was me, I wouldn't worry unless she starts running into things or stops eating.

 

[SeventyGTX]

Thanks for the reply Gail. She is and has been a great pet. In fact, besides the closeup eyesight thing, she seems to eat and act as she did years ago. Even the burst of blood episode she had a few weeks ago didn't slow her down. We came to the conclusion it was a cyst. Hopefully we can get a few more years out of her. I think the dry, low humidity Nevada air is one thing that keeps her healthy.

 

[stellar96]

Just out of curiosity... how do most beardys pass away if not from old age... :?

 

[Taterbug]

Just out of curiosity... how do most beardys pass away if not from old age... :?

I'd put money on poor care or chronic health problems from previous poor care.

 

[beardie parents]

Deb (her screen name is sweetiepie9) lost a beardie last year sometime that was 11.5 years old. His name was Lonzo if I remember correctly. You can go to her thread in beardie tales. the title of her thread starts off with 'Leo, Gabriel, Nathanial,' then has names of other beardies. She has lost a lot of beardies in the last couple of years of various problems, one was of yellow fungus.

 

[premammalian]

I was ready to open a related topic, when I saw that, where I would ask: What are the symptoms of an ageing bearded dragon? Does anyone know about the symptoms? I have read about ageing in reptiles, but I don't have an idea of the exact symptoms, and how an owner perceives them.

Just old age does not kill. As an organism gets older and cellular repare mechanisms start to malfunction, the probability of something going wrong in any organ system of the body increases dramatically, and one day the disfunction is so severe that proves fatal for the organism. The same applies to humans, all old people will die from something, not just of old age. So it is the norm that a bearded dragon will die from a disease, which can be caused or exasserbated by old age. With these I want to reassure you that you haven't necessarily done something wrong if your bearded dragon died from an illness in old age. It could be anavoidable.
Bearded dragons aren't exactly long-lived reptiles. Their hole biology is centered on growing and reproducing quickly, in order to offset predation pressure, just like most small mammals, and unlike slow maturing turtles, crocodilians, large snakes etc. Bearded dragons grow extremely fast, breed young and produce a huge number of ofspring, most of them get eaten and adults usually die young due to predation. That lifestyle hasn't selected for long lifespans or resistance to disease in old age. The same applies to rabbits, of which the most part of their captive lifespan corresponds to middle and old age. My own can be considered middle-aged now, and I can discern the changes. Most other agamids exhibit a similar biology, as well as the closely related chameleons. The slow-maturing uromastix may be an exception. Other smaller agamids live even shorter lives, and species of the australian genus Ctenophorus are described as essentially annual animals. The same with the american iguanid Uta stansburiana. Even though the bearded dragon has a short lifespan, still it is much longer than that of a warm-blooded mammal of the same weight. Bottom line, don't feel guilty about a natural death.
Bearded dragons are susceptible to many diseases in old age, and particularly to cancers. You will be astonished in the variety of described cancers affecting those animals if you search Pubmed or another scientific journal. Bearded dragons age more like mammals rather than more like long-living reptiles.

 

[kingofnobbys]

http://www.petplace.com/article/reptiles/general/general-reptile-care/care-of-the-elderly-reptile

I've heard of at least one geriactric bearded dragon who was nearly 20 yo. Not very common to live that long, regularly heard of 10 - 12 yo beardies (who have had very pampered lives and wanted for nothing.)

 

[premammalian]

Excellent article. Surely 20 years is a record. Did you see him?

 

[kingofnobbys]

No , only heard about him. Had no reason to query further , I thought them living so long in captivity was quiet common where the husbandry is right .

 

[diamc]

We had a beardie, Judas, that lived to be over 11 years, he was amazing and our 1st beardie. We got him from a pet store so we didn't know his exact age but we had him longer than 11 yrs. Even though he looked healthy, he started moving around less & less, took him longer to eat & catch the feeders. He would start taking naps during the day off & on. When he was out walking around, he would have bursts of energy and then tire quicker.

You can see the "age" in their faces and their eyes aren't quite as bright. Also, their bodies can't absorb the supplements as well so we switched to liquid calcium which seemed to help some. We also switched to soft feeders to make them easier to digest. It is so hard seeing them grow old. His last few days, he didn't want to eat anything and would even push the baby food off with his tongue rather than swallowing it. He became very inactive and we could tell that his body was slowly starting to shut down.

Here's a couple of pictures of Judas, our macho guy. We miss him LOTS.

Your girl looks very good, I wouldn't worry about the loss of some eye sight unless she seems uncomfortable or has trouble walking around because she can't see. You might want to think about softer feeders and maybe switching to liquid calcium. Also a good idea to keep her very well hydrated.

Good luck with her, cherish every minute as long as you can.