Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

Brew · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:40 pm Post subject: Beardie advise

My other half has an adult Beardie, I believe about 4 years old. Over the last few days it's stopped eating which is totally out of character. I went round today when she was away at work, to check on it and try to feed it but still no luck. The one thing I noticed was it kept seeming to swallow, when I phoned her she said she had also noticed the BD doing this (again out of character) other than this it looked fine to me but she's very concerned. It's over 3 days now since it last took food, She called the vet to make an appointment only to be informed the Reptile vet has left the practice and gone to Holland. The closest reptile vet now is a good 100 mile round trip. It may just be a phase but has anybody encountered this before, or any ideas what the prob could be.
Any advice really appreciated.

timbo · I'm new here... Joined: 16 Nov 2007 Posts: 18

what kind of substrate do you use - could it be possible that the beardie has got a piece stuck in his throat? Just a though but may be worth checking.

tigerbaby2k · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject:

Where abouts are you Brew?
Main things to do - check throat for anything stuck (as Timbo also said) and then keep the beardie hydrated - this is a must! Easiest thing to do is to put tepid water into a bowl (an inch or two) and place beardie in for 10 mins. If you have a syringe try to give them water via mouth (1ml) do this twice a day. If they dehydrate they can get kidney failure quickly and once the "nephrons" in the kidney shut down, they dont repair (unlike dogs, humans etc).
Next thing - find vet Smile

I may be able to help you if you tell me where you are Smile

Lizards rarely regurgitate - has yours? its not a great sign, so needs attention asap. It may be something as simple as intestinal worms causing an impaction (all too common) or the substrate (sand often impacts). Also coccidia (a protazoa parasite) is quite likely. But hard to tell without seeing the beardie
Keep us informed and hope they pick up Smile

_________________
Sophxx

Counting down the weeks til I get my Cham! My beardie is 10 1/2 years old Smile

1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.0 Lhasa apso
1.1 Lionheads
0.1 Syrian Hamster

Brew · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject:

Thanks Tim and Soph.

Soph, I'm in Suffolk, remember me having a laugh at your post not including Reptile vets in Suffolk yesterday lol. The substrate is fairly course sawdust I believe, problem is it's not with me as it's in other half's house. I'm going round now with a small syringe so we can at least try to get a bit of fluid down.

Brew · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject:

We just managed to get about 2ml of water into it, wasn't easy! It doesn't seem to be swallowing like it was, hopefully it was something stuck in it's throat, although it's still not interested in any food.

tigerbaby2k · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:07 pm Post subject:

Excellent that you got water in. I wouldnt try feeding tonight. Try again 2mo lunch time. Give another bath and some water in the morning again. Where abouts in Suffolk (yeap I remember now the comments!) I know of a very good reptile vet in kent (where Im actually trying for a joib to join them) its in Snodland. Maybe you could www.theaa.co.uk/routeplanner to see how long it would take. OR you would ring her up (Kate Everett) and ask her if she knows of any reptile vets closer to you (she did used to work in Cambridgeshire, so she may know). Say I passed her details to you.
Do you want the number?
_________________
Sophxx

Counting down the weeks til I get my Cham! My beardie is 10 1/2 years old Smile

1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.0 Lhasa apso
1.1 Lionheads
0.1 Syrian Hamster

tigerbaby2k · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject:

How they doing now Brew?
_________________
Sophxx

Counting down the weeks til I get my Cham! My beardie is 10 1/2 years old Smile

1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.0 Lhasa apso
1.1 Lionheads
0.1 Syrian Hamster

Brew · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:28 pm Post subject:

Hi Soph, thanx for askin, she seems a little brighter today although still not interested in food. we got some fluids down her this morning and again this afternoon. She got a little hot today and opened her mouth to bask a bit and we managed to get a couple of small pieces of red pepper into her, she ate them rather than spit them out so I suppose thats a good thing. We managed to track a reptile vet down only about 30 miles away, so we will see how she is on Monday and if she's still suspect we'll book her in. Hopefully she'll be better again tomorrow. [/i]

Brew · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:32 pm Post subject:

Well she still wont eat, we've managed to bath her and get some water into her twice a day, were takin her to the vet tomorra, fingers crossed!

tigerbaby2k · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:13 pm Post subject:

Thats a shame, at least you keeping her hydrated! Hope vets go ok. Keep us posted
_________________
Sophxx

Counting down the weeks til I get my Cham! My beardie is 10 1/2 years old Smile

1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.0 Lhasa apso
1.1 Lionheads
0.1 Syrian Hamster