Illness with my beardie (and blind?)

[Siriku]

Um,so last night at about 12:40 i came down and found him moving very weirdly, and very unresponsive. i assumed it was due to trying to sleep, so i left it.

This morning, hes still the same, wont respond to the other dragons, like they arent there, wont headbob, is slow reacting, and is bumping into things. His eyes have sunk back into his head a little, and seem lighter in colour.

Even with the other male jumping out his tank and running up to him, he just acted like he couldnt see him.

I dont know if it helps, but his excrement is pure locust shell, and mealworm shell. Theres hardly any substance there. Im also worried he might have eaten his own waste, because theres brown around his mouth, and in one part of his gums.

What should i do? Is there any definite way to test his sight, or should i just take him to the Vets?

TIA

[Siriku]

Right. I cant get him to the vets till later tonight, and just as i left the house he was puking brown liquid, whether it was liquid excretment i cant tell, but he was trying to swallow what was left in his mouth afterwards.

I tried to check, but he refused to open his mouth, his tounge looks fine from what i can see, and the gums looks relatively normal.

I know dog excretment can make you go blind, but can Beardies who eat it go blind too? I heard it differs from animal to animal.

Any ideas what it is? Im really worried =/

EDIT: Sorry for the double post.

[Cloudkicker]

That doesn't sound to good...The only thing I can think of is coccidia (sp?), but in order to do determine that, I'd have to ask a bunch of questions and in the time I do that, you could already have him looked at. Coccidia can be transfered if fecal matter is consumed and it is an airborn virus aswell, so it's now a matter of getting the proper treatment from the vet. Make sure to seperate him from the rest of the beardies as soon as you can. Hope this helps and good luck with him,
-Andrew-

[Siriku]

Well, we took him to the vet, who gave him a small dose of Antibiotics to see him through today. Tommorow at about 5:20pm (GMT0 we're taking him to a proper specialist, zoologist, or something.

I dont know if hes going to live through the night though. Hes been acting drowsy, unresponsive since hes come back. Just before i started typing this, he started to open and close his mouth fast, and i noticed alot of saliva, and again, as the vet pointed out, how blue and yellow his mouth was. No normal reddish colouring at all.

It looked like he was choking, he couldnt shut his mouth properly due to his tounge from what it looked like. The vet said it might be hepititis, but i dunno...im sure he has eaten excretment since, i had to wipe more off his mouth about an hour ago, and his tank smells like he had just done one, which was nowhere in site..

He's never been with our other beardies, just lived in a seperate enclosure. He seems to hate and have a go at all other beardies, regardless on the sex.

...This dragons been like one of my best friends, and i dont want him to suffer, but i dont want him to die either. Hes only like 3 and a half years old. All the dragons i seem to keep live like 2 years and then die. He had a bad start to life, and looks to be a bad end too...god i bloody hate this.

[Cloudkicker]

Sorry to hear about that, what kind of set-up do you have for them?> lighting(U.V.B?), heating(temps day and night), substrate, tank size etc. Maybe there's something wrong with the set-up. Do you use calcium supplementation (D3) on the food,? I'm one for getting to the bottom of something until it's right. What do you feed them,& how often? 2 years is a very short life span for a beardy if everything is set-up properly, which would lead me to believe something should be changed.
Cheers,
-Andrew-

[Siriku]

I dont know much about the general overview, my Dad pretty much got the info, and set it all up.

The substrate looks like a whiter version of this:

http://www.mdmaterials.com/graphics/woodchip.jpg

We use calcium supplementation, and its 40 galleons i believe. We have UVB Lighting, not sure if i need any more details on that, but we do have a slate fairly high up in the tank for them to bask under,so close exposure to that? Im talking about 3-4 inches from the Beardies head reaching it.

Ill try to find out the temps, those, i dont know.

He hasnt ever eaten all that much, he's always seemed to eat very rarely and in unpredictable patterns. We feed him dusted locusts, mealworms, and cabbage, we offer every morning, if he doesnt eat, we leave the locusts in there until he does eat them.

[Siriku]

Ill still try to find out the temps to see why, but he died during his sleep last night...thinking of taking him to the vet regardless, to see if we can find out what he died from without cutting him open.

[thunder]

I know it can be hard to allow you pet to be cut, but I think that when an animal dies in an unexplained manner, it is extremely important to have a necropsy done to determine the cause, for the safety of your other animals. If it is an infectious disease you will need to know that to save your collection, and if it is a husbandry issue you will need to know that improve your care for the health of the other animals. And if it is something completely beyond you control, such as a disease or genetic problem, you will feel better knowing that you did everything you could. So I strongly suggest you get a necropsy done, even though it may feel bad. If you do decide to get it done, don't put him in the freezer as if will cause major damage to his body tissues. Put him in the fridge.

[Siriku]

I buried him at about the same time we would have been at his appointment...ironic really..i buried him, i didnt want him cut open...the other 2 beardies dont come in contact with him often, and havent recently..other then the male coming close for about 3-4 seconds the day before he died. I dont think it was contagious at any rate, im pretty sure it was an internal problem, maybe paction (compaction is it called?) or maybe some sort of blockage inside.

I wont ever know why he died, thats what feels bad. Cutting him open would feel worse..when we went to bury him, he already had a hole under his vent where tiny worms had been eating at him. I wouldnt want his body discarded in a bin, id rather he was buried with the other animals in the garden..keep him close to us.

Does anyone here believe in reincarnation, or animal spirituality? Im feeling really bad about everything to do with him, and would appreciate any input. I want to meet him again someday. I cant buy another dragon, parents arent allowing me, so i dont know if he will reincarnate to someone else, or if he will come to me later on in life, perhaps in another animal, or beardie.

I couldnt bear the thought of him living elsewhere..=(, i really couldnt, or that hes just gone, and nothing is there for him after death..probably guess im crazy for thinking this stuff, but i just cant stand the thought of parting ways forever..