Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My baby bearded dragon is becomming more and more dormant it seems. Sleeps all day and refuses to eat. When I take him out his eyes stay open for a few seconds then close again and he won't move at all. He will not "cling" to my skin or clothing like before, he instead will lose grip and fall into my waiting hand. My friend bought a female beardie of the same size 2 days after me from the same location and she is now twice the size of mine and very active. Mine was active and eating around 6-10 crickets a day but has not been for the past week 1/2. Cage temps are 105-110 on one side and 80 on cool side w/ basking spot of 115. Water bowl to soak in, mealworms and crickets offered daily. The cage/lizard is misted 2-3 times a day. Calci-sand subtrate. UVA/UVB light and ceramic heat emitter during day and red basking lamp at night. Just trying to see if anyone knows whats going on here giving his living conditions and actions. Sorry for the length and thanks in advance.

The only thing I can offer is to tell you to take your dragon to the vet as quickly as you can, take stool samples with you if you can. My beardie Bob has parasites and I need to manualy feedhim but was not as bad as you discribe so all i can say agen is to see a vet.

that is definetly vet time. Also try not having him on cal sand. Not only is that not good for him but when they are babies it gets impacted...try paper towels...not very pretty but it works great until they are older...and go to a vet!

I started doing the same thing today, I made a mix of greens,pedialite, and Nature zones dragon bites ground in a blender, I gave him about 3cc total and he seemed to take it ok.
The way the vet showed me was to pull his lip back alittle and start at the side as well, then the rest he does while licking, generaly.
How much do you give your dragon at one time? I was thinking small amounts over a day but don't know how much would be too much?

Just got back from the vet 45 min ago. He is the only reptile specialist in San Angelo and he told me that I was doing everything right as far as my cage setup is concerned. His only concern might be internal parasites so he gave my boy some parasite medication and handed me a seringe (sp?) should I have to resort to force feeding. His advice was 2.5 cc of protein baby food like chicken or somthin several times a day should I resort to force feeding. Just completely cleaned out the cage and have him in there w/ crickets and live mealworms in a bowl. I guess now its a sit and wait process. Thanks for the replies and any more are certainly welcome.

Just becarefull of the crickets, if they get the right conditions they will snack on your dragon, I will also try the baby food too

How many years of experience and how active is your vet in the reptile world?? Certified really means sqwat!

As suggested before I would definitly get rid of the calci sand and never buy the stuff again. The problem with calci sand is that they tend to lick it and also tend to scoop some up while feeding on the crix or whatever, then it goes into there insides lumps up into a fun little lump and blocks the dragon from being able to pass there food. In otherwards they cant take a crap.
Also I would cut back on the mealworms. There exoskeleton is very hard and hard for them to digest it completely. This can also cause compaction.
I would seriously get rid of the sand and find something other then sand to put him on such as paper towels, slate tile, shelf liner, anything you can use for now until you figure something else out that you like.
Once your beardie is older get some washed playsand or anything other then calci sand to use as a substrrate. Or keep him on slate tile or something and make him a sand box.
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

I am having to do a mix (3cc morning of baby food and at night 3cc of protein rich dog food) along with small finely chopped veggies. Now with that i have to make sure he is pooing and what not accordingly. Also, when they are done they are done. I don't like to force him to continue if he really wants to stop eating. The vet i use seconds that one...he knows when he is full

Also, the best baby food i have found is the gerber mixed veggies...kinda keeps him from getting too hooked on one particular veggie! its totally messy though(can you tell i don't have kids)

Did your vet mention the possibilty of useing kitten food? Its much higher in protein then dog food. Its what i feed to my colony of roaches.

M
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

I use the A/D food i believe...its a prescrption dog/cat food that is less harsh on the stomach but still high in protein...its kinda for both but you have to get it from a vet...

Mealworms can and do cause digestive impactions or fecal impactions. They are a ton of exoskeleton to digest and aren't good for younger dragons. Stick to crickts, they are the safest live food in my experience. You want to make sure that the length of the cricket is no longer than the width between the eyes of your dragon.

Is he still going to the bathroom regularly?

I would try only misting him once a day, just a suggestion based on prevous experience.

Does he run around the cage at all?

I think a vet visit may be in order, or you can try force feeding him as talked about in the post below. Good luck and keep us posted, we will do what we can to help.

Regards,

Jason Couch
509-985-6510
jason@beardeddragons.biz
www.beardeddragons.biz

thanks i forgot to mention to stop with the mealworms...and make sure the crickets are size appropriate. They should be no bigger than the space between their eyes. Also you need to soak the little guy...at least once a week...a water dish is not enough

the calium sand is worse than playsand and will cause a blockedge if parisites cant beproven by a fecal i would be more concernd with impaction, try pushing the fluids and warm baths this often will help get things moving, switch to paper towel shelf liner or anything that they cant eat especially with babies
good luck
Tony

Hi
calsisand is nota good sand .
and mealworms r not good .
i not use even calsisand and mealworms for my adult beardies .
they r hard to digest and calsisand wil impact youre beardie .
i would bath youre beardie schoulder deep and feel with youre wrist if its not to hot .
after 15-20 min he wil poop ,atleast most of the time .

byeeeeeeee
www.dragoncave.nl

Went to the store yesterday and picked up a can of "beach nut beef & beef broth" and the same for chicken as well. Trying out 2.5 cc of each 2-3 times a day. So far no poop but he is looking more filled out. I soaked him for 2o min yesterday in tub, no poop. Will do the same thing every day If his progress keeps up. I will replace the calcisand as well since I do believe this is the main problem for his illness. Thanks for everyones input, really helped alot. byenow

I think your making the right choice on changing the substrate!! Kudos man!

Also I dont know how to do it but im sure someone here maybe Lady has the directions if not you can find it some where. You take olive oil and mix it with something or other and give him a dose of that x times a day. Its supposed to help loosen and break up the sand and help him pass it. I would definitly look it up and figure out what exactly you need to do with it as I think working on getting the imapction clear is most important right now. If you just keep feeding him and he cant pass anything then your just backing him up more.

Best of luck to you and your little guy!
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

I've heard that olive oil solution before but I don't know all the details. Thanks again for the reminder and i will def try and find out more about it. Thanks again everyone.