Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

My brother bought me a 1 1/2 yr old bearded dragon about 2 months ago. He seemed fine the first few weeks and did'nt appear to be in shock as he readilly ate and went about a normal routine. Then about 2 weeks ago I notice he would close his left eye. Now I remember when I have had beardies in the past they close their eyes for various reasons so at first it did not concern me as he was still active, healthy and eating. I took him outside quite a bit as it seemed he only liked to go to the bathroom when I took him out of his cage. He was eating assorted greens as well as canned crickets, live mealworms, superworms (all dusted with calcium and vitamin powder). I also started soaking him in water 20 mins /daily. About 1 week ago he was getting to the point where he could not open his eyes for very long and was very sleepy and lathergic. I took him to the vet who gave him a basic exam and gave me (2) meds for him. The firts is PANACOR 1m1/daily and Albon 5ml/daily. The first day after the meds he appeared to be better as he was active and eating but after that I have had to force feed him both food and water and he looks as bad as ever. His eyes dont look healthy (when he opens them) and he sleeps all day. He has gone to the batheroom 2x's and the next time I am gonna save it and take it back to the vet. Anyway any help or advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

First thing I have to say is why is your vet prescribing panacur if he hasn't done a fecal yet? Panacur is a dewormer, same as albon..sounds like your vet has no clue and is just using a parasite treatment for lack of anything else to try.

I suggest talking to your vet and find out just how much he knows about bearded dragons and reptile care in general, get a fecal done asap and, if possible take your dragon to another vet for a second opinion.

Other than that, to figure out what is the original problem with your dragon..it sounds more like something is irritating his eyes, either light is too bright, or eye infection, or something is in his eye and causing irritation and possible infection. Swollen eyes can also be a secondary sign of other problems, such as MBD or gout. Your vet will need to do bloodwork and possibly x-rays to get a better ideal what is going on with your dragon.

It is hard to know for sure what is wrong without more detail about how you have been taking care of this dragon. What size cage is he in, how old is he, what is his basking temp, ambient temps, etc. Substrate. what type of basking light is being used, UVB light etc. What is his weight now? What was it when you got him? (if you weighed him before).

As parasite treatments tend to dehydrate and destroy natural beneficial gut flora..add a probiotic to his diet. In a pinch, unsweetened no fat bio-active yogurt can be offered (level half teaspoon a day for a couple days, at the most) or a reptile safe probiotic...acyliphis (not sure on the spelling but similar to this)

parazap is a good thing to offer as well, though it has to be mail ordered for the most part.
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PHLdyPayne

What are you using for UVB? If you are using a compact fluorescent turn it off. If you are using a 10.0 make sure it is between 12" and 20" but no closer than 12". If you are using a Mercury Vapor make sure it is at least 2 feet away.

I'm worried about the possible unnecessary dewormers too. Was a fecal done?

hi
i have here a link to look for a second opinion vet.
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/

how much do youre beardie weight?
normal you give panacure one time and then again after 10-14 days one time .
vew days behound each other have a impact on the beardie.
byeeee
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www.dragoncave.nl

Thanks everyone for all the information. Yes I did get the idea my vet had no clue what he was doing. I has sand in the tank (calcium sand) but I have never used that before but it was all the petstore in the remote area I lived had. I finnally changed to bark and disinfected his entire tank. I think most of you hit an important point. The lizard is in a tank maybe 13 inches high, 18 inched wide and 3 feet long. I remember beardies like to climb so I put lots of things for him to climb on but both the heat lamp and the zoo med reptile sun 2.0 sit right on top of the cage (which means it is only about 4-6 inches from him. Thank god he seems to be back to himself and I am forced to sell him as I am moving cross country but I will make sure the new owner elevates the lights. It's tough selling your beardie in a pinch and finding someone that has both the information and $$ to take care of him . Thanks again, any further input is good. BTW during the day his basking area is about 105 and other areas araound 75-80. I use a small 75 watt night bulb at night.

Hi
bark is not a good subtrate also calsium sand is bad they both can cause impaction .
also the 2.0 uv light should be change to a 5.0 .
and the temp is beter little bit higher 110-115 .
byeeeeee
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www.dragoncave.nl