Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I work in a reptile department and we have 2 rather small bearded dragons, they're about 2" by my guess(head to tail). The other day when I went to check on them, they seemed kind of lame, just lying on the ground under the log. When I picked one up to check it out, it went limp and then seized. He was twitching, his back legs went straight, and his body flatened. I thought he might be dehydrated because the red heat bulbs tend to suck the moisture out of smaller terrariums like theirs, so I put him in a separate container in the back room and misted some water on his head to drink. They're set-up properly, and all the other beardies we have are in great condition. I just can't understand what happened to this little one. Any suggestions on what might have happened and/or what I can do to help the little guy are greatly apreciated.
Thank you,
Amy

Umm, maybe he was closer to 3"... I just realized 2" is really tiny. He was pretty much hatchling size anyhow.
Just correcting a mistake.

-Amy

3" is small for a hatchling, most are 4" or so. But the twitching and lathargy sounds like one or two things, impaction or MBD. Impaction could be from substrate if they are on any loose substrate (calci-sand, regular sand, wood shavings or mulch, or that crushed walnut stuff) or from being fed too large prey items. Crickets shouldn't be bigger than the space between their eyes, and mealworms should not be fed to baby bearded dragons, as their heavy chitin can cause impaction.

babies need to be fed 3-4 times a day, misted several times a day to prevent dehydration. They also need their crickets dusted once or twice daily with a multivitamin and calcium with D3.

I'm aware of their basic requirements, that's why I mentioned that they were set up properly. They are all on brown paper, they are misted twice daily and fed twice daily (with occassional supplementation). We carry many sizes of crickets and make sure that each reptile is fed the proper size and amount. We also give them an assortment of fresh fruits/vegetables. I suppose it could be possible that someone fed them mealworms at some point. I did find a small mealworm in the enclosure. I thought that because it was small enough it wouldn't have caused that reaction in the beardie.
So you think it would have been the mealworm, regardless of the size?

Sorry for late reply, been away for the last couple days. If the husbandry needs are met, only other possibilities I can think of for the seisures could be MBD or vitamin deficiency. In either case, a vet examination and treatment will be necessary.