Worried

[Gravesdragon]

Hello all. We have a new dragon after losing bandit last month and we might be hypersensitive, but thought maybe I'd post here to get your thoughts. We got Mooshu three weeks ago now and he was hatched on 2/7/15. We brought him home and he is in a 75 gallon tank. We have a 4ft Sunblaster UVB (T5) bulb. We are using a heat lamp and then also a basking light from zoo med. We have been checking the enclosures temps with an infrared heat gun religiously. The basking spot is averaging about 107 and the area around the basking spot is anywhere from 92-109. The cool side of the aquarium is an average of 79 degrees. Mooshu was doing great and seemed to be adjusting well and he was eating well and was very active. Two days ago we bought some crickets at a pet store and he ate about 20 of them in a 15 minute period. (The crickets were smaller than the space between his eyes) Now the last two days he seems to be acting strange and not nearly as active. The temps in the tank have remained constant. He has had one small bowel movement and one normal size bowel movement. He has not eaten yesterday or today (greens or crickets) and his beard is black, the last couple of inches of his tail are black, and he is very light colored compared to what he has been. Now my daughter is extremely distraught that the same thing is happening to Mooshu as her last dragon. I cant have this happen again...... I will be making a vet appointment in the morning, but are we being overly sensitive since we lost one dragon? Here are some pics of Mooshu a few days ago.

Then here is a pic of him today just now. He seems to be getting lethargic...

Any thoughts??????

 

[AHBD]

Can you get a closer pic of him ? A black beard on a 7 month old male is not unusual, and he also may be losing his huge baby/juvie appetite as he's getting older. What time of day did he eat them by the way ? If he ate late then he may not have digested them well.

 

[Gravesdragon]

Can you get a closer pic of him ? A black beard on a 7 month old male is not unusual, and he also may be losing his huge baby/juvie appetite as he's getting older. What time of day did he eat them by the way ? If he ate late then he may not have digested them well.

Here are some closer pics. We fed him the crickets at about 5:00 on Thursday evening. His lights go off at 8:30 (set for 8:30 - 8:30). He literally hasn't held his head up for two days other than when I would move him. I went to take these pics and now he is "standing up" His color is still real light, but I am hoping him standing is a good sign.....

 

[AHBD]

How are you hydrating him ? He looks a bit dehydrated. See if he'll take some water from a feeding syringe directly on his snout or using a gentle direct stream from a spray bottle.

Have you had a fecal test done by chance ? And what size were the crickets....3/4 or adult ?

 

[Gravesdragon]

We have a shallow water dish in the cool side of the tank. We gave him a bath on Wed in lukewarm water and while he was in it he drank several times. We also use a spray bottle misting him once a day. How can we tell if he's not hydrated properly? I guess I mean what do you see? The crickets were maybe 1/2" and no we havent had a fecal test completed.

 

[AHBD]

He may be thirsty....it's good that he drank when you soaked him, so do that more often to give him the opportunity to drink. Misting doesn't hydrate them , only if the water actually drips directly on their snout like I mentioned in my other post. Half inch crix shouldn't cause any problem....he may need more frequent soaking to get a drink, beardies almost never drink from a bowl.

And it would rule out parasites if you have a fecal test done.

 

[Gravesdragon]

Thank you! What did you see that made you think he might be dehydrated?

 

[AHBD]

You're welcome. It may not necessarily be the problem but just the fact that he's a bit thin even though he had a fairly large meal, and it could cause him to be a bit stressed [ black beard ] if he was thirsty.