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Sick Beardie

mieandercat Feb 06, 2007 09:58 PM

I have been long-term caring for a bearded dragon (I've had her about 2 years now). She is in a 20 gallon tank, with outdoor carpet substrate. She recently started acting very uncoordinated. She sees crickets and veggies, but misses a lot of the time when she tries to pick them up. I upped the temperature hoping it was just the cold temperatures we've been having, but no luck. I've been giving her vitamin fortified water as well in case it was a deficiency, but this has been going on for a few weeks now. I've been hand feeding her to make sure she gets something (I can move it towards her when she misses her aim), but I'm at a loss. Any suggestions before I try the vet?
I also have another bearded dragon in a seperate tank that is just fine.

Replies (4)

BDlvr Feb 07, 2007 06:47 AM

You need to give us more information so we can try to narrow things out.

Are you dusting with vitamin and Calcium Supplements? If so how often?

What greens are you feeding?

What are you using to supply UVB? If so when was it changed?

What is the basking spot temperature?

BDlvr Feb 07, 2007 06:49 AM

A 20 Gal. Tank is way too small for an adult dragon. Minimum size should be 4' x 2'.

mieandercat Feb 08, 2007 09:07 PM

She is only about 6-7 inches long, I think the 20 gallon should work for now, but I agree she will need a bigger tank soon. I feed her a mix of peas and carrots, kale, summer squash and zuchini squash most often, and supplement this with other veggies like spinach or fresh green beans occasionally. (She has been a bit of a picky eater lately, and would pick out the peas and carrots, and ignore everything else, or just taste it and then leave the rest. I've been offering her a variety anyway.) I give her about a dozen crickets once a week and usually give her mealworms once a day with the veggies. I mist her food with a calcium spray, and put a multivitamin spray in her water. I'm not sure what the basking temperature is exactly but I'm guessing it is around 90 deg. F. at the hottest point. The UVB bulb probably should be changed-I wasn't aware they lost potency after a while.

BDlvr Feb 09, 2007 06:27 AM

You say you have been caring for these Beardie's for 2 years?

Inland Bearded Dragons (pogona vitticeps) generally grow to 18 - 20"(non-german giants) as adults. Usually a 6 - 7" Dragon is about 2 months old. Dragons generally are mostly full grown 18" in one year and then slowly get a little longer over the next year or so.

6-7" is small even for a Lawson's Dragon (aka incorrectly Rankins Dragon or Pogona Brevis)

Well anyway, Don't guess at the basking spot temp. You need a digital thermometer with a separate probe. The basking spot should be 105. UVB bulbs should be changed every 6 months.

Kale and Spinach are bad for Dragons since they contain too much Calcium binding oxalates. The link below has a good easy to understand format for what is the best dragon food. I feed Collard, Mustard, Turnip Greens, Dandelion, escarole and endive as greens. Peas, beans, squash, zucchini, and peppers as vegitables. Apple, raspberry, mango, and papaya as fruits.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

I feel a powdered calcium supplement provides more calcium than the spray. I'd recommend the Rep-Cal Ultrafine Calcium with D3 (This calcium has no Vitamin A or Phosphorus) Rep-Cal also makes a good powdered multi-vitamin (again has no Vitamin A) Too much Vitamin A is bad for dragons so just check that your multi-Vitamin contains little or none. The Vitamin A to D in a multi-vitamin should be no higher than 10:1.

I feel that if your dragons are truly that small then they must be calcium deficient. This could cause their lack of coordination but so could Hypothiaminosis if you freeze your vegitables prior to feeding. I would recommend you see a reptile vet, they can detemine if there is an imbalance that has caused the lack of growth and coordination. http://www.arav.com/USMembers.htm

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