not seen on here before and something that people really need to talk about. Both the buyer and the seller need to have an understanding of what is expected of them should something like this occur.
Although very rare, sudden death in a established dragon over 6 weeks can occur without any prior indicators of problems and it has been in another home for a few weeks. If it does, it is usually related to something that the baby was exposed to, ate, or respiratory infection, any of which can kill a baby dragons in as little as a few minutes. In only one necropsy report out of many that have been set to us from vets on herpvetconnection,com and members of ARAV for data collection, was it from a congenital defect. In that case the baby had a muscle in the digestive tract that was defective
What should a buyer or a seller do if one is lost?
I think the buyer should notify the seller that one was lost. The seller should go over all the husbandry issues like you did..... the buyer has to understand, this is not to point blame, but a genuine concern to try and understand what happened. Private seller have a vested interest in the babies they sell, they nurtured and cared for these guys for several weeks and felt good when they left their home that all was well.
Sometime is can be something as simple as the baby inhaled water in the bath and a respiratory infection started. Toxins: Fumes from the dye when heated up on a piece of commercial home carpet(not designed for reptile), bleach not rinsed well from cleaning and fumes when that is heated. Aspiration of undigested food that the baby did not heat up properly before going to sleep, or a baby that had vitasand or calcisand in it, creating a blockage which pressed in the spine and CAN paralyze them from the upper back down, that includes the spontaneous breathing. Another showed that the sand had moved into the intestines and with crickets had created a blockage there, cause the baby to vomit when sleeping and it aspirated that into the lung......no signs of any problem prior and then suddenly what appeared to be a healthy baby dragon is gone.
All of the above are on actually necropsy reports we have been given involving very young dragons that were healthy up until the time they were found lifeless.
Thankfully, these owners did have a necropsy done and that helps the rest of us understand what did happen and to try and avoid those things in the future.
Its a terrible feeling for both the new owner and the breeder when these things happen, but also important to get answers as to why it happened. If an owner feels everything was perfect they should get a necropsy done. They can be done for much less through a University Vet school lab than many people realize.
If it came out it was congenital or birth defect related, I would replace the dragon, and pay all or part of the necropsy, ever after the time period guaranteed. If it showed it was not, and something husbandry related while they had the baby, I would still work with them on getting another dragon, at a discount and go over all husbandry issues.... sometimes those that lost one, make the best future owners.
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www.reptilerooms.com
Sigh. Anyone else have this problem, where no matter how hard you tell the person not to do seomthing in regard to husbandry of the bearded dragons, they do it anyway, have the baby die, and pretty much blame you? Ughhh...
