Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I just got 2 baby bearded dragons on Wednesday, they both seemed to be ok till today. One of them has just been lying around all day, looking really tired. It can barely keep its eyes open either. I have no idea what is wrong with it, yesterday and the day before it seemed alert and was running around, but now its just sitting there. Is there something wrong, or is it just really tired? I appreciate any help, thanks.

Daniel

Like types of lights? temps? how you measure it? what is the baby been eating? Size of each? are they in tanks together?

np

I just type faster, buts its good as it tells others that they need to give the set up information for other on here to be able to try to help

What is your setup like??

Well they're both togehter in a 10 gallon terarrium, with calci-sand in it. They have one branch and some plastic leaves. Theres also a ceramic bowl with water (though I spray them too), and a cutout bottom of a styrofoam cup which i put their veggies in (lettuce and carrots). I cut the veggies small enough for them to eat. I also fed them some small calci dusted crickets yesterday. For lights I have a UV bulb and a temporary light to provide warmth. Its about 85 degrees in the tank. Is this enough info?

Well they're both togehter in a 10 gallon terarrium, with calci-sand in it. They have one branch and some plastic leaves. Theres also a ceramic bowl with water (though I spray them too), and a cutout bottom of a styrofoam cup which i put their veggies in (lettuce and carrots). I cut the veggies small enough for them to eat. I also fed them some small calci dusted crickets yesterday. For lights I have a UV bulb and a temporary light to provide warmth. Its about 85 degrees in the tank. Is this enough info?

First i would get rid of the calci-sand and put down some butchers paper or papertowel or even black and white newspaper. Calcisand is not good for your dragons, if ingested it can cause impactions. I would also take out the plastic leaves, i dont know how thick they are or how big they are but you never know what a dragon will try and eat, you dont want them ingesting plastic. The styrofoam cup i would also get rid of, something else they can ingest, use a shallow glass dish or a reptile dish which would be safe for them. An ambient temp of 85 on the cool side is a good daytime temp, but you also need a basking spot of at least 105 for them to be able to properly digest their food, i beleive they need a gut temp of 103 for digestion, otherwise the food can rot inside their guts, unable to be digested or they will bring it back up. Make sure also that they can get within 8-10 inches of their UVB lighting, it looses its effectivness at longer distances. The crickets should be no bigger then the space between their eyes, you should be dusting with calicum with d3, i do it one feeding a day with lil ones and once every other day with the bigger guys. You need to dust with a multivitamin 2-3 times a week also. I would look into getting another set up ready as they will outgrow that one quickly. Do you know the sex of the youngsters? it can be hard to tell with babies, be prepared to have 2 set ups ready for them, they might be male female, or might just not get along as they grow even if you have 2 females, anjd if they are male male youll definatly need to seperate them. You probably dont need the water bowl as well if you are spritzing them, dont want too much moisture in the enclosure.

I hope that this helps some, i hope the baby perks up. Have you noticed the other one picking on her at all? have you seen her eat? and are the crickets appropriatly sized? is there anything missing or with bites out of it in the enclosure? look carefully, ya never know. Has she pooped as of late? how big are these babes? You definatly need to get your basking temps up, this is VERY important. If she has eaten and doesnt have the correct temps, she cant digest her food.

Hey,
thank you so much. I was thinking that it was the temperature.Ill be sure to get a heating strip. Thanks for the tips.

a spot basking lamp for the basking spot, you still need a cool side for the dragons to be able to cool down at... temps for these guys are really very important

105-115 basking temp/hot side (adjust to your dragons needs)
85 ambient temp on cool side

Ok thanks again, I'll make sure i get the lamp instead. I was taking some stuff out of the tank just now, and I picked up the sick one and she smelled really bad. Could it be that she does have stomach rot? If she does how do I treat it? Also there doesn't seem to be any bite marks on the leaves and they're big too, so do you think it would be ok to keep them?

her not smelling good isnt a good thing, do you have any just regular lightbulbs around? and a clip light or something? or a pie tin you could put around a regular lightbulb and rig it up over the enclosure? anything? but then you would need something to measure the temperature as well, she really needs heat for digestion. You might want to check the phonebook for 24 hour emergency clinics, i dont know how much they will be able to help her but its worth a try. You could either try and rig something up at home now to get a basking spot for her or get her to the vet and see what they can do for her. I wish i could help more, i think that is what is wrong with her but it could be a multitude of things, but without proper temps and her eating, its the first thing i can think of that it would be...

i have 2 light fixtures (the ones that go with reptilian cages). I think I just didn't have enough heat going on them. I just found a light bulb that should heat things up in there, and I have a thermometer strip to tell the temp too. Thanks again for your help, and I'll let you know if they get better.

Daniel

How have you been?

alright, finally have the net back up after 6 months =P took us long enough after we moved..The scaley kids are doing great and enjoying their new home. how are you doing?

many lights only have UVA, you need to read the box and make sure it has UVB.

Dragons need both higher temps 95-110 to digest food and UVB. without it you get the problems that reiko said.

Also since she has been without the higher temps for a few weeks, she may have parasites now and you would want to get a fecal to the vet and have it checked. this can also explain the smell you are having.

Check and see if she is smelling bad because she has been tracking through her own poo or that of the other dragon. A warm bath would be one way to make sure she isn't just smelly due to being dirty. Just use a tupperware or similiar type container for the bath, make sure it is has high enough sides so she can't rump out and run off (if she suddenly feels energetic of course). Luke warm water is all you need to use (say about 80 F). Roll up a facecloth or put in a rock so she can rest on it, but make sure the water isnt' too deep just in case she doesn't feel up to moving to a safe place. Keep an eye on her in either case. Using an old soft toothbrush, gently run it over back, legs, and tummy to get off any dirt etc. Pat her dry with a towel and put her back under her basking light to warm up.

I would also recommend taking both of them to the vet for a checkup and bring in a fresh poo for both of them to check for any parasites.

Another thing you should do, is get rid of the lettace (I am assuming by lettace you mean iceberg lettace) and carrots. Iceberg Lettace is useless for bearded dragons and the carrots, though good once in awhile, shouldn't be used as a stable. Collard, Mustard, dandelion greens, enchive, escaroli and parsley are good stables to use.

I hope she recovered quickly.

Well shes doing great now, I went out and bought the proper light bulb today. I had a regular light bulb on her last night. But she seems to be recovered. Oh and about the smell...my sister was saying she saw her step in some poo, so that explains that. But I just wanna thank all you guys again for all your help.

Daniel