Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Before I start I want to say 2 things...I’m going to take her to the vet ASAP and two, I will add pictures tomorrow.

I got my BABY bearded in July at a reptile show in July. At that point the thing was a midget, lol, tiny as can be. This is my second bearded btw. Anyways, my girlfriend got one from the same breeder, and hers was a bit bigger than mine, and now the things a monster. Mine? Not so much. Its growth rate is VERY slow even though its eating insanely and getting supplemented with vitamins, calcium, etc... A rough gestimate is that its ~ 7inches-8 or so, which means its TINY still. Poops a lot, fairly regularly, every day or every other day. Right now its in a 10 gallon with a 75 waiting for it. Im using reptile carpet and the temps are spot on.

ANyways, a few weeks back I noticed a bump near the base of its tail. I didn’t think anything of it. Its not a big bump, figured its just something I havnt noticed before. Today I’m feeding it, and I notice the tip of the tail is literally "rotten" away. It just looks like its withered away. SO I did the math, and god knows how this happened but I think maybe the tail is broken at the bump which led to the rot. ANy advice on this, like...anything?

I remind you I will be taking it to a Vet ASAP. I Live in NYC and plan on going to the Park Slope vet, any new yorkers here that have an opinion about that?

And lastly, how much should a visit run me?

no help?

Size.

I have 6 babies hatched from the same clutch on 8/8. Two are 14 3/4" long while the smallest is only 7". Conditions and food are the same. Why the disparity in growth rates who knows?

You didn't mention what you were using for UVB.

You are welcome to backchannel me your phone number or I will give you mine as it's hard to diagnose of give opinions on such limited information.

Anyway, I know you said your temps. are perfect and I think we've been through this before. My only thought is that babies generally poop at least once a day. More commonly twice. Pooping every other day means he is slow to process his intake. There is likely to be an internal or external reason for that. You just need to eliminate any possibility of it being external.

A 10 gal. is WAY too small for any dragon but a hatchling.

The tail issue sounds like an injury to me. The tail end is most likely from a crushing injury. The bump could be an injury or a deformity. Hard to tell from here.

I live in S. NJ and a Vet visit costs me $40 so thats about $400 in NY dollars. lol.

Wish I could be more help.

The tail sounds like an injury, or genetic defect as already mentioned. It will most likely need to be removed above the bump which isn't too major (unless the injury is very high up on the table, close to the body).

The consistent eating but little growth, to me, indicates parasites. Bring a fresh stool sample with you to the vet (should be no more than 24 hours old, refrigerate, don't freeze). Hopefully the little guy will obliged with a fresh morning poop before your appointment.

I am also assuming he is housed alone.

Till you get him to a vet, not much else we can do but guess.
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PHLdyPayne

With the tail thing I really dont know but as far as the pooping, being you have him in a 10 gal it could be dehydration from the heat there is no way for him to thermoregulate in such a small enclosure if the 75 gal waiting is in youre home you can divide it in half or something and that woul work much beter good luck at the vet