Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased 10 red phase baby beardies, and to date Ive lost 4. Every thing is right as far as tank setup goes. 100 to 110 degree baskingspot. Feeding them greens, crickets and babby food when they dont eat. Im giving them a bath. The little ones that are passing dont realy eat crickets so some times we have to hand feed them babby food. Internal organs seem to be bloaded,but that might just be me. If anone has any info big or small please let me know. This last guy seemed to be getting better but in 2 days he went down hill and passed away. I love these guys and I dont want to lose any more.

I'm just guessing since I don't know the whole situation, but some babies don't drink while being soaked/bathed. Dripping a bit of water on their nose works better and you can make sure each is drinking... at this point, you'll probably want to use Pedialyte instead of water to treat dehydration (which is a likely cause). A cheap oral syrring (which can be purchased at almost any pharmacy) works well do give them Pedialyte (I wouldn't try to force them... leave a drop on their nose and they should drink).

The food size could be the problem if the crickets are too large.. the crickets should be no larger than the distance between the beardie's eyes. Also if these are babies, they probably won't be interested in greens and will need to be fed small crickets 2-3 times a day.

When I feed baby food to non-feeders, I use a meat/veggie blend like chicken dinner by gerber. I dilute it with pedialyte to treat the possible dehydration as well. Hope this helps.

I think the first thing you should do is separate the more aggressive eaters from those that are not feeding as well. The next thing I would do is get as many fresh poop samples as you can and bring them to a qualified reptile vet right away to test for parasites. It is likely that one or more may have had parasites, and it has spread through the lot of them. This can be treated with medication. I don't want to scare you, and I think that you should take care of this promptly. The more aggressive ones may be scaring the less aggressive causing them to go downhill quickly. I would separate as many as you possibly can. I had a non-eater also who turned out to have coccidia. I used a mixture of collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, yellow squash, juvenile repcal pellets, and yes, even crickets (yuck) and blended them into a liquid. I would draw it up in a needleless syringe, but prior to that, I would dust with calcium and mix that in. Soon she was eating on her own, and now she is a big girl, 8 months old, and almost 20" long and almost 400 grams. The most important thing you must do is get a fecal to the vet right away (I mean like tomorrow), as fresh as possible, and separate them ASAP.

lets get some basic info before attempting any answers.
how old were they when you got them?
how old are they now? how big are they?
did they come from a breeder?
did you contact the person you got them from?
were they eating when you got them?
how long has the problem been going on?
How are they being housed? DETAILS
How many to a cage?
how big is the cage?
what are you feeding, supplimenting?
lighting?
last poop?
any fecals?
additional info?

of course this will lead to more questions but answer these so that we can offer some informed advice.
-----
Bennett

Home Of The Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com

Have you taken any of the baby dragons that passed away to a vet for a necropsy? This can certainly tell why the baby died. It could be alot of things, including hard to diagnose things, like Adenovirus. The bloating you feel could be caused by fruit baby food, but don't know what kind of baby food you are feeding them.