My bearded Dragon is very sick! Help!!?

OK, he is around 6-8 months old and has never been truly "Healthy".


This is because of lack of research on my part and i feel TERRIBLE about it.... Here are the conditions he was in prior to this past weekend.


Lighting- 2 75 watt r zilla bulbs (Realized he was getting sick so we started gut-loading crickets with extra calcium and fed him more greens) this was about 2 months after i got him. Oh and he was around 2 months when i got him


Temperatures- low 75 high 90


Substrate - walnut shell


Diet - a few crickets each day and some lettuce/zucchini/broccoli





After i while he got to where he was twitching and shaking. I looked this up and realized it was do to lack of calcium. (Didn't realize that D3 was needed to digest calcium) so i started to dust crickets more and feed more calcium rich foods. He got better and i took him outside every day. Winter came so i stopped taking him outside because i felt it was too cold for him... he got better and ate more than normal. One day when i woke up he was dragging him self around with all of his legs.. (back included) but didn't lift himself up.. This deeply disturbed me and i immediatly looked it up online. Then i realize my mistake and quickly changed his cage to as follows:





Lighting- 1 r-zilla 8.0 UVB/A 24" light 1 150 watt r-zilla night heating light, and 1 r-zilla 100 watt daytime heating light. (I have 2 Reptisun 10.0's on order as i read they are the best. I'm not sure how good the other 2 lights are but my heat in cage dramaticaly improved


Temperature- basking area 105-110 low 82-85 Night temps low 74 high 83. ( around 14 hours of UVB and bright lights on, then just night heater on)


Substrate- Newspaper (Much easier to clean and i read small dragons eat loose substrate such as wallnut shell-which i hear is the WORST)


Diet- 4-6 Crickets a day and a bowl of collard greens, Turnip greens, and zucchini-which i mist before giving.





At first, there was a Dramatic improvement. More active, alert, hungry, and he seemed to be happier as well! But, last night and today he has been down... worse than before! Last night he didn't eat AT ALL or drink (that i am aware of) i mist and bath him daily to help him go. I forced water through a syringe last night and today because he appeared dehydrated. Now that his basking temps are higher he loves to sit on the log and bask although he cant get up there himself because he can hardly move... but when i set him up there he perks up and acctually lifts his head in the air! which is way better than laying flat and not moving much at all.... anyways i tried to get him to eat greens as well but he wouldn't. Now today a new problem appeared.. now he doesn't seem to want to keep his eyes open. He can because if i poke him or move him he opens them and looks straight at me, but after a few seconds he puts his head back down and closes his eyes. When i bathed him today he filled his whole body with air and got stiff.. which he never did before.. I'm not sure what this means.. i thought they could only puff necks.. Anyways i am trying to find the money to take him to the vet.. I hope he will recover and have a good life because i truly care for him.. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRICIATED!!! PLEASE email me for pics or my phone number if you need to talk to me! i am willing to do ANYTHING!!! ALL HELP WILL BE GREAT!!!








Additional Details





I would like if you problems specifically could be addressed, as i feel his cage, diet, temps, lighting are now ok. I am worried about these things tho





Please answer all of these seperatly so all will be addressed! thanks.


Laziness -





Not wanting to open eyes -





Dragging self around/ not lifting up body-





Mouth WIDE open when basking, not slightly like i see in pictures or described in books/forums.





Could a dragon of his age be undergoing brumation? even if chance is low i am curious...





Also i am worried about why he wont open eyes for more than 4 secs at a time.. this is a reletively new symptom. I have also heard that uvb lights can damage the eye of many reptiles including bearded dragons. I am using a r-zilla 8.0 24" tube bulb that is about 10" away... i have 2 lights over his basking area 1 is a r-zilla incandesent 100 watt bulb that is slightly frosted and the other is a 250 watt bulb that is a deep purple so it produces hardly any light.. all are about... 9"-10" away... the 2 bulbs are above the screen directly over the basking area, the uvb tube is below the screen back away from the basking area. but is still 10" away... (its below the screen because i heard uvb waves are greatly reduced when passed through glass and screens)


Thanks, and continue with your answers!|||Well first thing I would take him to the vet ASAP. I'm glad you are trying to improve his care but I think you still need to do some research.





He could be like this due to improper lighting but he may also be impacted. Impaction can cause them to be paralyzed, constipated, and shaking, lack of appetite and weakness. This can only be fixed by a vet.





He should be eating at least 40 gut loaded and dusted crickets a day.


You also need to get those repti sun 10.0 bulbs ASAP. The reason his mouth is open when he is basking is because he is too hot.





Make sure the greens you are giving him are healthy for him(mustard, dandelion, collard, turnip, kale) and feed him mixture of veggies, orange flesh squash(acorn, butternut, spaghetti, pumpkin), green bell peppers, peas, green beans, and parsnip.





Here is a lot of caresheets read them all and take your Beardie to a vet.





http://calientedragons.com/bdcare.html


http://www.anapsid.org/bearded.html


http://www.dachiu.com/beardeddragoncare/鈥?/a>


http://www.dachiu.com/care/abeard.html


http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/ca鈥?/a>


http://www.sunshinedragons.com/caresheet鈥?/a>


http://www.kingsnake.com/gladescs/bearde鈥?/a>|||I came across this website that might be helpful to you...





beardeddragon.org





Good Luck|||Usually, eye problems are due to UVB putting out bad rays. They UVB light you have isn't a good one, so I would turn it off until your reptisuns get here. He'll be better off without UVB for a couple days than to be exposed to BAD UVB.





He's probably gaping (opening his mouth while basking) because he has been used to lower temps. Nudge up the temps gradually. For now, you might want to keep it around 100, instead of the upper end. Dragons are all different and some actually prefer the lower end of the basking temps.





There is no need to use a light at night, and it can actually interfere with your dragon's sleep, a reason why he might close his eyes and act lethargic. Temps as low as 60 are acceptable at night. If your temps drop below this, use a ceramic heat emitter, instead of a heat pad or light bulb. It looks like a bulb, and screws into a bulb socket, but emits heat only and no light.





A dragon his age should be eating about 50 crickets a day, appropriately sized (no bigger than the space between his eyes). As for your veggies, do you mean you offer the salad two times a week, or just the mixed fruit 2 times a week? He should have veggies available daily. Also, broccoli isn't great for dragons. Here is a list that shows which veggies are good and which ones aren't for dragons.


http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.co鈥?/a>





The dragging around could be due to eating too large crix, or MBD.





Please visit http://www.beardeddragon.org There are some VERY knowledgeable people in the ER and Health sections who can help you and tell you how to care for an MBD dragon.





Best of luck!|||I think you should try and contact "Been there: done that - I think!" she is a member on yahoo answers, She rescues all kinds of reptiles and is very very experienced in reptiles, what she doesn't know about beardies could probably be written on the back of a postage stamp! hope this helps!|||You should NEVER buy ANY kind of pet without researching it FULLY!! This poor creature would not of had to go through all of this if you would have only done research!|||Teke him to a vet


its pretty urgent that u do


but instead


have only a few sticks and have a 150watt globe and a UVB with a stronger wattage and 10.0


have a heat mat


and also take him out and see if he wiill run


if he runs then that means that he is healthiesh


also dust ur crix with the repti cal or what ever u have


then also do the veggies if u want


make sure he gets water


I really hope that this helps


than once u have enough take him the next day


GOOD LUCK


Harry|||give him a tiny bit of olive oil ONLY a few drops in a syringe. this will help him poop. make sure you are soaking him in hot water, like 90 degrees. DO NOT FORCE HIM TO DRINK WATER he will drink when he wants, you can asperate him by doing this. and when you use a syinge do not put it straight into his mouth. put it in on the side. just pull his side lip down a little. if he doesnt want to chase the crickets, and doesnt have the energy. put them in a bag and in the freezer for ten minutes this will kill them but still provide the nutrients. hold him in your hand and pull down the side of his lip and hell open his mouth and eat them. only give him a 6 at a time but multiple times a day until hes better. your tank seems good and so does lighting. but..he needs to be no more and no less than 6 inches away from the uv bulb. get a clip on light and youll be able to get the light close. 10 inches is too far from him. go to petco or a pet store and buy bone-aid liquid calcium and liquid uv ( ithink thats what its called it will be right next to the liquid calcium and is made by the same brand. these are known to save them when they are desperate) and keep on dusting his crickets. to get more powder on, which he needs, dip the cold dead crickets in water and then in the calcium powder. only feed him crickets until he improves. he needs alot of protein to help him get better. do not feed him superworms or anything else like that until hes an aluexoskeletonnd juvis cant digest the exoskeleton. hope this helps. |||To me it sounds like he could have a vitamin deficenecy still, I had that with my BTS and he also had problems with his eyes. If you aren't using a compact fluorescent bulb for UV, then I don't think it's the lights giving him problems. Are the eyes crusty or just not opening? The UV light can go on top of the screen, I have never heard of it having problems going through screen glass yes, but not screen. It's good that you got him off the walnut shell. Since you said that has pooped I agree that it doesn't sound like impaction. He might have a parasite, when you go to the vet, and he does need to go ASAP, try to take a fecal sample for testing. I would mist him less often as over misting and too much humidity can lead to respiratory issues. If he appeared healthy except for the lethargy, then I would say brumation, but there are other things going on, so I don't think that is the case. Hope he gets better.|||Hey


i am so sorry about whats happening to ur bearded Dragon.I hope u get enoguh money to go to a Vet..i suggest borrowing money from


a close friend or relative so u can take him or her as soon as possible to the Vet . if u dont it may be too late