Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can anyone come up with a reason??? Me and a friend purchased 5 2-3 week old Babies from a acquaintance. The 3 my friend had all died within 2 weeks of getting them and then boom both of mine died within another week. Mine went from plump little vivacious babies to within a couple of hours skinny dead babies. What I found odd was that this acquaintance called to see how they were doing as if something may have been wrong all along. I've never purchased them so little and i have 3 adults but I just found it odd that all 5 would die off so quickly.

Sorry for your loss, thats really awful losing so many babies.
Baby beardies are fragile and prone to dehydration, thats why its best to get bigger babies, that being said...since so many died I would guess they had either a disease or parasites, the only way to know for sure would be to get a necropsy done.
You should throw out/disenfect EVERYTHING that came in contact with the babies just in case they did have a contagious disease and definatly not get anymore from the same person.

babies that young should not have been sold at all, as they are extremely frigile and can easily stress out. Dehydration, stress, parasites and disease can easily wipe out baby dragons.

How did you keep them? (ie cage size, temperature, how often fed, etc?) How were they kept by the acquantence?

If you only had them for a day I would ask for refund if you paid anything for them. I certainly would be hesistant to get anymore babies from that source.
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PHLdyPayne

The babies were in a 20 gal tall with logs and all. They ate like pigs and were always seen in the water. They were very energetic too. I'm thinking parasites too. Unfortunately this acquaintance doesn't care so no refund. And that's fine cuz too much bad blood there already and now this. For them not to care is just wrong. I will from now on get my babies from a reputable breeder who doesn't sell them so little.

Thanks.

There was a study done that showed babies under 6" and 6 weeks old only had a 50% survival rate when sold through wholesalers and pet stores. I know you said you purchased from a breeder but aparently not a reputable one. If they were eating well and running around though, you should think about your husbandry. Babies need to stay well hydrated and have a good hot basking spot of 105-115. large prey items are also a big danger. Having a vertical or diagonal basking spot also helps.

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Bennett

beardiedragon.com
Home of the Florida Orange

Wonderful healthy looking sun raised babies Bennett... could you imagine trying to raise all them inside.. you know they would not have the vitality these do I think

RE the original poster, buying babies that young was potentially dooming them as few that young can handle the stress of changing like that. that is one of the reason that reputible breeders are listed on the Breeders Network and committ not to sell them that young.

Another thing I would suspect highly is that they had been exposed to adenovirus, this virus is in many beardies in this country and came from Australia. Although the parents may appear fine, if they are carriers of it, all the babies are infected and usually do not survive long
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www.reptilerooms.com

Usually pet stores wont sell beardies until they are eating and healthy...Im not sure if this aquantanice was a breeder or not but I would tell him not to sell beardies at such a younge age...usually maybe a few months old, but not a few weeks.