Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have a 2 year old female that has been acting "sick" lately. She won't even get up by herself anymore and her appetite has decreased. She won't go after crickets anymore, the only thing she's shows the slightest interest in is super worms. We took her to the vet and she said she looked pretty healthy. She did give us some antibiotics (sulfatrim) and some liquid calcium. She also injected some fluids in her back for hydration. It's been a week and at first we saw improvement, her appetite did improve and she would stay up and bask, but now she's back to hiding under her log all day. Any suggestions to get her up and going again? We are still getting her up to give meds and bask, but she goes back into hiding afterwards.

Or did she just feel around and come to a conclusion?

Are you keeping her well hydrated?

What is your setup like?
Temps, food, supps, lighting.

Are you giving her greens to eat? At that age she should only be getting insects a couple times a week and the majority of her diet should be greens and veggies.
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Rob Talkington

The vet did not do any bloodwork or fecal. Which I expected from what I've read here, she didn't even mention it. She was not correctly cared for as a baby, she was kept in a very small tank and was fed only crickets and pellet food, she has MBD and has been with us for the past 8 months. She is 15in and 240grams. Basking temp is 95-98. Her tanks is 4'x 2', she eats crickets, super worms, and the occasional pinky mouse. Her crickets get powdered with repti-cal every other day. She also gets salads of collard greens, cilantro, parsley, and occasional fruit, rasberries, strawberries, etc. But she does tend to eat more insects than veggies. Lately she just hasn't been interested. She does get misted and the occasional bath, she does drink often from offered cups of water. I thought she was doing very well, until about 3 weeks ago. Should I request the vet to do some labs? What could be wrong with her?

your care is probably not the problem although I would change a few things to make it better. It may be her past problems catching up with her or something new all together. Any vet working with reptiles should always do a fecal first. I don't know your vet or the experience they have but I would be concerned about that. Bloodwork can be done but it can also be difficult and hard on the BD not to mention expensive if it's more than just a CBC.

I would start with a fecal assuming there is anything to do a fecal on. from there I would bump the basking temp up to 105 and see what the ambient temp is where she is spending most of her time. No rodents, they are fatty and not very healthy. be careful of parsely more than once a week and only a sprig at that. Many veggies are high in oxylates and block calcium from being absorbed. change her diet, give her variety. try silkies or roaches as well as squashes and other veggies. you could probably ease back on the rep-cal as well to once or twice a week at her age. Make sure the cage is nice and bright as that encourages activity. try 12-14 hour days. Keep tabs on her weight and watch to see if she appears dehydrated (loose skin). you may want to soak rep cal pellets in water or pedialite and use a syringe to inject them as a force feeding diet if things get worse.

good luck
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Bennett

Home Of The Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com

>>The vet did not do any bloodwork or fecal. Which I expected from what I've read here, she didn't even mention it. She was not correctly cared for as a baby, she was kept in a very small tank and was fed only crickets and pellet food, she has MBD and has been with us for the past 8 months. She is 15in and 240grams. Basking temp is 95-98. Her tanks is 4'x 2', she eats crickets, super worms, and the occasional pinky mouse. Her crickets get powdered with repti-cal every other day. She also gets salads of collard greens, cilantro, parsley, and occasional fruit, rasberries, strawberries, etc. But she does tend to eat more insects than veggies. Lately she just hasn't been interested. She does get misted and the occasional bath, she does drink often from offered cups of water. I thought she was doing very well, until about 3 weeks ago. Should I request the vet to do some labs? What could be wrong with her?

I don't know how many superworms you were feeding her but keep in mind they should only be offered a couple times a week.

Other than the items mentioned I really don't know what else could be going on. I definitely would look into a different vet, though. If anything, I'd inquire as to how much experience she has with reptiles and if there's not much there I'd get a second opinion from a different vet.

Good luck with her!!
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Rob Talkington