Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello , I am the proud owner of bearded dragons about 15" from head to tail. I am unsure of the exact age , along with a slue of animals from snake's ferret's to frogs and just this week one of my dragons stopped eating which was very unusuall because he loves eating. This all started wed the 24th. The day started with him eating his brunch time crickets and there wasnt anything noticibly wrong. Then it came time for dinner and he wouldnt eat a thing. His beard was all darkend and he wasnt being very active just kinda hanging around in the same spot. So the next day I try to feed them and he wont eat again both feedings on thurs. Friday comes and he still wouldnt eat and his condition seemed to be getting worse it looked like he was loosing weight and he was moving around less and less each day. So friday afternoon I took him to the nearest vet that has a specialist on hand that deals with exotics. The vet ended up diagnosing him with pin worms and possibly ghyeardia(sorry cant spell that one). The vet sent me home with a powdered food to mix with water so I could force feed him and she gave me medicine for him. Panacur liquid and metronidazole. So when i got home from the vet I gave the poor guy some food to try to make him feel better. I only gave him about a quarter of the daily dose of food because it was getting close to lights out. The next day around their first feeding time I started him on his meds and gave him some food. By this point he wasnt moving around at all on his own and he didnt have the strenght to move at all. I stayed with him about an hour after i gave him his meds because he didnt look like he was comfortable he puked up some of his food and after it looked like he settled down some i went 5 mins down the road to the genral store. Sadly when I came back he was dead and I dont know how or why but its really got me bummed out. The other dragon I have that has been in the same cage together so far is healthy as far as I can tell and the vet doc wont be in till monday so I cant bring her stool in to get it examined. If anyone has any clue what could have caused this please let me know im so crushed about loosing the little guy and it would kill me to loose the other one as well. I take great care of all of my animals and the husbandry is spot on with all of my animals and I dont think that pin worms could have caused such a drastic and fast decline in health to the point of death but I dont know. He was healthy on tues and dead on friday and I dont know what I could have done differently please help me.

best thing to do is refrigerate the body and bring it in to the vet Monday for a necropsy. Sorry for your loss.

I agree that pinworms are not likely the cause of the problem, unless they have been steadily increasing in population till they finally overwhelmed your dragon's ability to survive.

To really guess at what could have happened, will need to know all the details of your setup, how much and what do you feed, temps, substrates, approximate age (how long you had him and what was his apprx. size when you did get him). His weight before the decline if you know it.

Any changes in his environment could also account for a fast decline. New lights, fall cleaning around his cage (toxic reactions can cause several of the symptoms too) Check temperatures, a bad thermometer can cause heat to spike up.

As you had two dragons in the same cage, I recommend taking that dragon out and completely disinfecting your cage and put him back in. Take him to a vet for fecal and examination (including bloodwork) as a viral infection could start causing symptoms too and catching it early would be beneficial. Also, parasites like pin worms are often spread to cage mates.
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PHLdyPayne

Well I am not sure how old he was exactly but he was 15 inches from head to tail and i belive the vet said he weighed 190 grams when I took him in, I might be wrong there I need to find out for sure. The enclosure is a melamine cage with a rat wire top that I made. It is 6 feet long by 2 feet deep and 2 feet tall with 2 plexi doors on front. I keep a basking temp 100-104 on one side of the cage and the cooler side where i have their food and water bowl is in the low 80's. I have a total of 4 lights for the cage. there is a day time basking, a compact uvb and a regular flouresnt light that are on timers that i keep set with the light outdoors a natural cycle, and there is an infared heat lamp i keep runnin 24/7 so that at night one side of the cage will be in the mid 80's while teh other side is mid 70's. They eat fresh greens everyday such as romane lettuce, green beans, broccoli, carrots adn i give them fruits once in a while like melon squash strawberries and cantalope. Their meat diet is mostly crickets 2x a day feeding as much as they want in about 10 mins and i give them some wax worms and meal worms on occasion. The substrate I use is a carpeting but i am using newspaper now since the vet told me to. I dont know how it could be an inpaction because there isnt any cage furniture or substrate he could have eaten plus he was pooping all along even when he wasnt eating he would poop a little bit.

I have cut out all the filler and things you do right

I have a total of 4 lights for the cage.
there is a day time basking,
a compact uvb - NOT GOOD FOR DRAGONS
and a regular flouresnt light - NEED A SPECIAL BULB FOR UVB
an infared heat lamp i keep runnin 24/7 - NO LIGHT AT NIGHT

They eat fresh greens everyday such as romane lettuce, green beans, broccoli, carrots adn i give them fruits once in a while like melon squash strawberries and cantalope.
- I THINK THEY ARE LOW ON GREENS, HIGH ON VEGGIES, not right

Their meat diet is mostly crickets
2x a day feeding as much as they want in about 10 mins
and i give them some wax worms and meal worms on occasion.
- MEAL WORMS ARE NOT GOOD

SOrry for your loss, I would guess you went to a pet store to get them?
I HATE PET STORES

No light or heat at night unless your house drops into the 50's.

Here's a good site for better food choices.

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

At 190 an adult cricket could have caused a problem. I have seen a dragon pass loose stool around a blockage. Almost lost a rescue a few months ago from this. Thank god for good vets!

I am not feeding them adult crickets, they are eating 1/4 inch sized crickets

I too don't think parasites were the cause. Guessing, I'd say impaction or injury. A necropsy could determine the cause. Sometimes vets will do them out of their own curiosity. Sorry for your loss.

I might have the vet examine him, I put him in my fridge since he has passed because I would like some kind of closure and I want to make sure that my other dragon doesnt end up dying.

This is the best thing to do. Nothing you mentioned in your husbandry would account for a quick death. Though Compact UVB bulbs do cause problems with bearded dragons and other reptiles, doe to the high levels of UVB Index (higher this is the more dangerous the radiation, hence why during the summer always here the high UV index warning and emphasis to wear sun block etc to protect skin from damage... Compact UVB bulbs due to something in their make up push the light they provide into dangerous UV index levels. I will include a website below for you to read more into this).

The cage and space is more than enough for two adult dragons..though 15" nose to tail tip is small for an adult dragon, unless his tails has been cut short due to some event in his past (tail nips by cage mates is one common cause of shortened tails).

How long did you have the dragon?

The death could also have absolutely nothing to do with the care you provided, he could have had internal problems such as tumors, defects, etc that would have caused problems regardless. Hence why a necropsy is beneficial.

www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm
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PHLdyPayne