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Bearded dragon illness

spete0203 Jul 01, 2006 08:49 PM

I have a female bearded dragon about 6 months old (body length not counting tail is about 4" who was fine this afternoon when we went out, but she wasn't when we returned this evening. It looks as if she regurgitated meal worms feed to her last night and she is having problems moving her legs. She still has good head movement, but her legs seem to be having spasms folding back toward her tail. Can anyone advise how to help her or what might be going on?

Replies (3)

mistaman Jul 02, 2006 07:29 AM

Is your Beardie pooing? Sounds like may be an impaction. Try a warm water soak to stimulate a bowel movement. If this doesnt work, a small drop of olive oil to about 4-5ml of water fed via a needless syringe has worked for me in the past.
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AndyD

0.0.1 Mexican Kingsnake
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Hypo-Green)
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Red Phase)
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Hypo Red X Purple Tiger)
1.0.0 Egyptian Uromastyx
0.0.1 Frilled Dragon

You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat!!

PHLdyPayne Jul 02, 2006 12:44 PM

Mealworms are not a good feeder insect for young dragons, especially if their overall length is under 10". They can cause impaction and really don't have enough nutrition on their own. It would be best to switch to crickets, small silkworms, butterworms, young roaches or even freshly molted small superworms.

The twitching sounds like it could be caused by impaction but it can also be caused by metabolic bone disease. To be sure, need to know more about your setup. What are your basking temps, substrates, do you have a UVB light? How often do you feed him, what do you feed him (other than mealworms) etc. Do you use any suppliments? What kind and how often do you use them? Has he been pooping regularly before regurgitating? Has he since?

Soaking in luke warm water can help with the impaction by giving the dragon a chance to hydrate himself and easing passage of stool. If he doesn't improve in a couple days, I suggest getting him to a qualified herp vet.
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PHLdyPayne

spete0203 Jul 02, 2006 09:01 PM

we have her in a 20gal long tank with a uv bulb, a rock formation where she can get at different levels. The substrate is calcium sand, we feed mostly crickets and mixed greens with vegies. The crickets are feed everyother day sprinkled with calicum supplement. The water we give is distiled. I am not sure if she has pooped as we had her in the set up with a male her size untill today, I bought a new setup for her and seprated the pair. At this time is moveing around a little better she just looks weak. I gave her the olive oil and dulited gateraid and a warm bath. I hope this helps we will see in the morning. Also I got a under tank heater as someone sujested. Thanks for all the help and info.

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