Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am a new beardie owner. I bought a male and female at one of the reptile shows in Columbus over a month ago. The babies were 2 weeks old at the time. The male has doubled in size (more skiddish than the female). The female has remained tiny and always lets me handle her without much fight (just thought she was less scared). Now I'm wondering if she hasn't been sick the whole time and I didn't know it. I just thought her size was to do with the fact she's the female but NOW it's apparent that her size isn't normal. She is lethargic, lays around constantly and her sides don't move in and out like the male's do. She looks almost sunken. When I put her under extreme heat (a blower) she gets more lively for a second but she will not stay under the heat lamp in their 20 gallon tank. (The male does) She just kind of lays wherever and doesn't perk up for much. I tried putting her in the water dish - she seemed dehydrated and that seemed to waken her a little. She did eat some of the romaine lettuce I added yesterday but doesn't eat the crickets anymore. Thoughts on a home remedy or do I need to see a vet? It seems that it's only a matter of time that she will hang in with her condition.

I would take her into the vet just to make sure she is not sick.
But if you have a syringe maybe you could try putting a little baby food in there and force feeding her. That is what my vet had me do when my beardie was sick and was not eating. She had fatty liver disease.
Do you have the prober UV lighting?
Have you fed her meal worms? It is hard for little beardies to digest them, she might be dealing with an impaction.
Liquid calcium can help get back the appetite also.
But the best thing to do is take her to a vet, I know a lot about beardies but I am far from an expert, just make sure that the vet knows about Bearded dragons, you may have to drive to another town but it is well worth it.
Good luck!
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----ALICIA ROTH----

Sounds like your small dragon is being intimidated by the larger one. Also, 2 weeks is very young to buy a dragon, barely out of the egg and many dragons won't thrive if moved around so much so soon out of the egg.

But what you can do, is get her out of the male's cage, put her in a 10-20gal tank by herself, will proper heating, uvb light, etc. Make sure she is out of sight of the other dragon as well.

Without the larger dragon to intimidate she should start eating on her own, if not, do what the other posters have suggested.

I also strongly suggest reading up on bearded dragon care sheets as well, if you haven't. Also read the nutrition charts on the site below to learn more about what proper greens to feed your dragon.

www.beautifuldragons.com
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PHLdyPayne

Youre beardie not basking is of concern, it seems the other is dominant and doenst allow her to bask. She needs proper temps to digest her food, you should also be dusting the crickets with supplements and that lettuce is useless give her collards or other nutritious greens find a good caresheet to get a better idea. If she is still eating on her own its a good sign but you will probably have to seperate them or put them in a bigger enclosure so you can have 2 basking spots the size doesnt mean one is male and one is female its probably due to a dominating issue, the one just wont give up the basking spot to the other. Be prepared to seperate them and if you cant put them in seperate enclosures you might think about giving one up to someone who can care for it.

You need to separate them right away! You are taking a tremendous risk that the larger dragon will kill or maim the smaller dragon. That's what she's afraid of. On her own with no competition she should recover.

You have a very stressed dragon. I would bring a stool sample to the vet if possible. But, if you separate them she will most likely bounce back. I wouldn't consider housing them together again until they are adults.

I agree with everyone here! You should always also Quarentine any herp for 60-120 days at least and they should have be seperate. That way things like this don't happen.

Seperate and take to a vet!