Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well we got the blood work results back from our male snow x normal dragons. we took him in a few weeks ago with some odd behavior and not eating very much. his odd behavior included not being able to catch food, tipping his head almost upside down with convulsions and twitches, running into walls and objects as if he were blind. well we thought at first it was an inner ear infection but it became worse. we were told he has meningitous *however u spell it* hes on injections of antibiotics every 3 days, injected in his front legs. we alternate legs every shot. anyways the blood work came back to tell us if it were viral or bacterial and unfortunately it is viral. they also tested his uric acid which was elevated to the point where his kidneys are starting to go. the vet has us taking him back in after he is done the antibiotics to see if he has improved of not with the meningitous and his kidneys. if he is worse off, or not improved we may have to put him down. we are actually in the process of selling off our colony and getting out of dragons for now, but this is definately not the way we wanted to have him leave us. i was hoping to pass him on to another breeder and have him breed for someone else like he did for us. he was our stud for the past 2 years. by the way he is approx 3-4 years old... dont know exact age as we bought him full grown from a local pet store
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Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

Sorry to here your dragon may not make it, hopefully the anti-biotics help and his kidneys don't shut down. I am not sure if meningitis can be spread to other dragons but deffinitely a good ideal to isolate this guy if you haven't already done so, and get blood work on any dragon that may have come into contact with him in the last year as a precaution. Talk to your vet about risks of spreading to other dragons, if any. I really don't know but deffinitely a good ideal to find out especialy if you are hoping to find new homes for your collection.
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PHLdyPayne

Viral meningitis is a symptom, you need to find out what virus it is and I am only familiar with 2 in bearded dragon and both that can be passed to others and others can be a carrier of it and pass it to more. One never leaves them and can always be passed to others, the other one will runs its course and those that do not die will totally recover and never have a trace of it again or infect others

Has this dragon been tested for a viral infection with the fecal test that was developed for them by Dr Dan Wentz, Ferguon, MO to identify what virus is causing an illness in bearded dragons?

I know several good breeders abnd owners who have been hit with this the past few months as it seems to show up more in the fall or shortly after laying or babies hatching (the babies easily pass it due to the frequesncy of feces. From them it can be passed to adults

Other's have had the fecal test done by the vet that developed it, even long distance. In those cases it was confirmed to be a high contagious virus. You might want to talk to your vet in case they do not know that this test is now available for testing through the developer.

Either virus that I am aware of, that effects bearded dragons are highly contagious, although some and in some cases many do not show any symtoms of it. No dragons should be sold from a collection that might possbily have a viral infection.

If you do send any to other homes, you should make them aware of this and the option of testing done AND to quarantine any dragon until test show it is clean... as we already know some breeders that have lost between 60-400 dragons or had to put them down.
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www.reptilerooms.com

Sorry that is Dr Dan Wentz, in Ferguson, MO and he will work with other vets to complete the test for what virus it is
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www.reptilerooms.com

i have only breed this male to one female and she has been tested and she is fine. i have also had one other female that was housed with the infected male, and she too is fine. its odd, the offspring from him have always been very strange, i have had many of them mutalate and bite the hell out of eachother. more than just nipping. i have not sold any of the offspring to anyone online so thats a good thing. i gave some away to a friend of mine, debbie aka sacredpurr on here, but thats it. unfortunately alot of the offspring did go to my local petstore. i have already notified them about this though.

thanks for the info
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Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

Thank you for notifying the pet store and others. That is the only way to control bearded dragon virus

It is not only or always passed through breeding or or direct contact dragon to dragon. The history of this does show that some adults do have some resistance to it and a female may not get it from an infected male if mated. She have a strong enough immune system that the virus does not get into her system and incubate.

It is believed it can be passed to the offsping through the sperm/ova and we know that it can also be passed from an infected one that is handle by someone and then handles a baby dragon or through furnishings, bathing tubs and towels, etc. Baby dragons are very susceptible to it and usually come fown with the virus in 10 days to 2 weeks, often dying within 24 hours. Those that survive the onset of the adenovirus are always carriers for life. Coronavirus often shows up with adenovirus, it is a theory they may be related in establishing illness, but there have been many tested that only show one of the virus and corona does leave the dragon's systems
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www.reptilerooms.com

I hate to say this, but they very well could be infected with adenovirus. I experienced similar aggressive behavior with some babies and they tested positive for the virus. If you have any doubt, you have a responsibility to the dragon community to have your animals tested specifically for adenovirus before finding them new homes.
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Wendy
www.neverlanddragons.com

all that have been in contact with my male have been tested and he is the only one infected. i no longer have any offspring from him as most died from their wounds, and the rest were uthenized as the vet highly suggested since they were also carriers or infected.
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Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)