Beardie not looking so hot

[Nes]

cross post from oscarfish.com

I'm pretty sure there are a few people arouind here that keep bearded dragons. My brother's dragon is about a year & a half now, he's just now starting to slow down on eating cricket (which we know is a little late but normal when they are still presented). His absolute favourite is raspberries Smile.

Recently my dad & I have noticed that the beardie is not moving very often. He's spending much of his time sleeping on his heat pad and not much else. I know they get more seditary as they get older but this seems to have occured quite quickly & to an extreme.

I've met adult beardies and really do feel falcor is acting abnormally.

Any suggestions? I'm giong to try to get my brother to take him to a vet for a check up next week (at their moms house this week). I don't know alot about the beardie because he's my brothers lizard - any suggestions on what might be wrong?

Other then a few live crickets he gets a full completment of fresh veggies & raspberries so I really doubt its a dietary thing.

Nes.

Sand in the bottom, reptile sand I'm sure

I they are dusted but they also get flukers so they are a little packed (bro doesn't take good care of them & they always die Mad)

He does have a UV light which is why it's wierd he's in the corner all the time.

He was cold a couple weeks ago when I first noticed he wasn't doing well apparently it's up around 76.5 right now because his lights are off but it's usually around 80.

He's holding his legs out like a hot dog does, or maybe a cold reptile Smile

As far as I know there is only the one heat-pad.

Nes.

I'm looking into taking him into a vet this weekend - but does anyone know what might be wrong?

It's my brother's lizard so I don't know much about him except that he doesn't look very well right now - just not moving around as much as he should.

Nes.

[HeatherRose]

Is your basking spot at 80? All I know about beardies is that they need really hot basking spots, something like 110 degrees, and if it's not hot enough they can become sick.

What kind of veggies does he eat?

He's holding his legs out like a hot dog does, or maybe a cold reptile Smile

I also think you might want to buy your hot dogs somewhere else

[Nes]

My dog does that though - big golden retreiver & splays his legs out in all directions :x so bad for his hips!

I'll definetly make sure his heat-pad gets turned up - my dad said somethign earlyier about it being up around 100F but I don't really know about a thermometer/temperature gadge on the head pad. I didn't even know it was there until a couple weeks ago

He gets kale, bok choy, dandylions, bean sprouts, lizard pellets & raspberries - I think that's everything but there could be more. My bro's pretty good about giving him a complete diet - but he could be missing something

Nes.

[HeatherRose]

I really don't know anything about beardies other than the heat issue, and I think that's your problem. If you don't have a basking spot of 110+, your beardie can't digest it's food among a myriad of other problems...

[Matt_K]

Aside from the UV light, are you using any other kind of light source? Maybe for heat? As Heather said, 80 is too cold for your beardie.. When I had mine, they were at 112º and seemed to do just fine..

I would takle the heat issue and then work from there.. We have a couple VERY knowledgable Beardie Keepers on this site and IM sure they will chime in with their thoughts soon

Keep us updated though..

-Matt

[Nes]

Then we've definetly been keeping him too cold - I don't know why; I thought 80 was ok for him, I'll make sure the heat gets turned up for sure.

Nes.

[Matt_K]

Good Stuff IM sure once you heat him up you'll see that he's a different Dragon..


-Matt

[drewlowe]

I would take the heating pad out immediatly and put a heat lamp in. Beardies like to bask so they need their heat from above. As heather said they need a higher basking temp, it aids in digesting thier food. The basking spot should be anywhere from 100-115 depending on the beardie. If they stay in the basking spot most of the day then you should raise the temps a bit, and if they hide from the basking spot then it should be lowered.

"Sand in the bottom, reptile sand I'm sure"

Do you know if he is house on calci sand??? Calci sand has been proven not to be digestable as quickly as they claim.

Jamie

[Nes]

He has a heat-lamp as well - one over his basking spot and then another to light up the tank. I'm not sure of the wattage but I know it's a special reptile bulb.

I know the away or near trick - it's like baby chickens

I'm not sure about the sand, I think it was special reptile sand, it's very light whit, quite possible it is calci - what would be a good other substrate for him though?

Nes.

[timminsreptiles]

i agree.......heat should be supplied with a good basking light and UV light rather than a heat pad and I like to keep mine on coconut like ecoearth cause its digestable....i dont like taking chances with sand. The older your beardy gets the more greens ( collars, dandilion, kale, water crest, turnip greens) he should be eating and with those greens i give them melons like honeydew or cantelope for there water content (i dont use water melon) some people always seem to turn towards there food when a reptile gets sick but it is often due to a lack of water......beardies dont drink much to start with so adding melons to there food helps keep them hydrated properly.

Lucas

[bidden]

one thing to concider is the time of year, it's getting close to winter and since this is your beardies first full winter, they do go into a 'dormant' state for a couple months. Definatly get the temps up, but if he's still lazy I wouldn't be too worried. If he's eating the right stuff, pooing ok, and generally looks healthy I'd say it's just the winter shutdown kicking in.

another thing to possibly concider is the UV lamp, if you've had the same one since you got it(I'm assuming since it was a baby) you should concider replacing it. UVB bulbs are recomended for only a year, after that the UVB output drastically reduces.

A fecal exam by a vet is cheap and will eliminate the chance of it having parasites/worms(or if it does you can get meds) You probably don't need to bring the dragon in just yet.

I would also concider limiting the amout of fruit(berries) it get's too, too much fruit sugars can hurt it's liver.(from what I've been told)

[Nes]

He's up to 81.5 today & definetly looks even better then yesterday (he moved! ) so I'll make sure his temp gets turned up even more.

Melon sounds like a great idea since he's not had any but Falkor usually gets raspberries at every meal for a few days every couple of weeks (just long enough that they stay fresh). How much fruit is too much?

The UVB bulbs get changed pretty regularily (every 3-4 months) I don't know why but they don't seem to last very long - I guess that's not a bad thing then .

Fecal exam eh? hmmmm, that might be a good idea & there sure is a ready supply

Nes.

[Matt_K]

If you're looking for a good light, you should try the Power Sun's that produce both Heat and UV or the Mercury Vapour Bulbs.. they'll get the temp up in no time and give off a better amount of UV than the tube lights.. They also last MUCH longer..

-Matt

[K1LOS]

Okay, 81 is a pretty good ambient air temperature. Do you have a hot end / cold end set up? Do not heat up the entire cage, it needs to be able to escape the heat if it chooses. I personally do use a heatpad, but it is not for their basking spot. Mine is solely used to warm up the hotside. My basking spot is at 114 F. I don't offer my beardies any fruits, they are not bad as occasional treats, but every meal is definately waaay too often. The sand shouldn't be the problem IMO, but impaction could be the cause. Could it be dehydrated? Give it a good misting or a bath, then we could rule that out. Crank up that basking spot, change the diet and give it a little bit of time. Brumation is also a possibility. If no results from those changes, go get a fecal check from the vet. Good Luck

Geoff

[Nes]

He was just cold!!

My bro just moved him under the lamp when he got home & right away falkor was looking better & eating away

Weird lizard...

Thanks again to everyone for your help!!

Nes.