Eastern Beardie help

[xAshx]

I recently (a week ago) purchased 2 eastern beardies (on licence and purchased as central, but been id as eastern), and i shouldnt have brought them home, but i couldnt leave them there to suffer any longer.

They were both in terrible condition, very thin, lethargic, and just generally looked very unhappy... They came to me in their enclosure which is only 3ft, so we are now progressing well with building a 5ft enclosure with height for branches etc. So they will be in the 3 footer for another week or so..

They never had much in the way of lighting or food obviously. I have been feeding them small amounts often. They now have sufficient basking temps and UV.. I have them out in the sun daily.

My fear is, the female has come on in leaps and bounds, she is eating dusted woodies, veggies, drinks well, and is now very active, she has even got some colour to her now, and not just dark grey. The male ate the first 2 days, only a very small amount, but now he wont eat anything at all, and just sits in the one spot with his head on the floor of the cage, sometimes he sits upright but his eyes are always shut.. I have been using syringe to get fluids into him which he is taking. And I have even been putting a woodie in his mouth for him, he will eat one or two, but after that, he just spits them out. I have had them both to the vet the day after I brought them home, and the vet said that they were both very dehydrated and underfed, and to do what I am doing, and whilst the female i feel is going to be fine, Im worried the male is just not going to make it regardless of what else I do...

Does anyone else have any other remedies I can use or advice that will help me get him back to health?

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This is the best he gets as far as opening his eyes.

 

[Beans]

Alright it might be a good idea to bath them every day for about 10 mins each to let them really soak up some water. Doing this also promotes bowel movements and the male might perk up a bit and drink in the water, just hold up his head. Keep the baths at lukewarm and just high enough so that their vent (Butthole) is submerged and no higher than their arm pits. Keep the male off solids till he is eating on his own, so just keep to things like blended up veggies, baby food even (the ones you get in the jar, the puree) With the UV light, I advise not using a coil cause they give off wrong wavelengths of uv and they can irritate the eyes. Might also be a good idea to get fecals done on both of them to check for parasites and other things. Also if they are together, separate them asap beardies don't do to well together even more so when they are sick. Even if they have little room to move just get a divider in there seeing as its only for a week. Keep us updated on how they are going

Also get them on a multivite along with the calcium.

 

[xAshx]

Ok Ill do the bath now... Ive got them on multivite as well as the calcium.. Will duck out now and pick up some puree baby food.. Do I just syringe it into his mouth??

The vet said, if they get enough sun during the day outside, they do not need a UV light in their enclsoure, is this correct? The only ones I can find in our reptile shops are the coils, which type do you recommend?

 

[Beans]

The long tube reptile lights are the best ones. Get an 18 watt if you can find it. If you can't find it then take them outside for a good dose of natural sunlight, just don't use a coil uvb. Pet shops should stock the long tubes. The reason I say do liquid or mushy diet is because he looks very very under nourished so if you can do anything to make digesting easier then yeah.

You can try just dropping it onto his nose and seeing if he will lick it off, if not then yeah just syringe it in. Keep up the multivite and calcium. I'll link you to a good site that has a great list of veggies that are awesome staples. And what to avoid.

Nutrition Content

that's a great little guide to use and tells you information about things and why to avoid some foods. You can get some of those and blend em all up in a blender with some water and give that to them too.

ALSO I see you are housing them on sand atm? Yeah you wanna turf that out. It can hold bacteria and its a pain to clean, plus you don't want your guys eating any if they are clumsy eaters! Just use newspaper or paper towel for now. Keep it simple !

 

[xAshx]

Ok, will get them off sand today...and change the uv over from the coil... I honestly don't think he is going to make it.. He won't make an effort to take what I give him from a syringe, I have to physically put it in his mouth and he will make half an attempt to swallow.. He can't even hold his head up now... I'll ring the vets ASAP and get him in to them, when they open at 8am.. I rang them late last night and he said there's not a lot more I can do and maybe it would be kinder to put him to sleep. I'll see what the vet says this morning.

 

[Chris82]

This seems maybe a little out there, but why not try a small amount of watered down powerade/ Gatorade? This I have seen used on reptiles before (suggested by a vet)

There is also a product called herp boost I think on the market which could be worth trying.


Did the vet give the beardie any fluids?

 

[PythonLegs]

This seems maybe a little out there, but why not try a small amount of watered down powerade/ Gatorade? This I have seen used on reptiles before (suggested by a vet)

There is also a product called herp boost I think on the market which could be worth trying.


Did the vet give the beardie any fluids?

^--- Yeah, what he said. Straight from the bottle is fine, works wonders. Use an oral syringe. You can also do up a veg smoothie if you have a decent food processor, using the usual staple veg and powerade to get to a milkshake like consistency, works wonders. I wouldnt worry about bugs at this stage, at the state he's in he'll have a hard time digesting em anyway.

 

[Chris82]

I think the main priority is getting the beardy hydrated. Once he becomes more hydrated his appetite should slowly start returning!

 

[mark_p]

In regards to UV lighting, MVB Reflectors (mercury vapour bulbs) are definitely the way go, most general pet shops don't stock them but you can get them online from afew places, URS and herp shop have them. Fluro tubes and coils are cheaper but much less effective, and don't last as long. Also with MVBs you get heat and light.

 

[Beans]

Gatorade OMG I forgot that! I hope he can pull through

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[Grogshla]

bath is great sometimes they wont drink water unless you splash it around a bit.

 

[Beans]

Yeah get em in the bath, and just drip it over them, move the water a bit with your hand too How are they doing?

 

[xAshx]

The female is great, they are now separated and on paper instead of sand.... She is powering along... The boy is still struggling. I'm feeding him small amounts often of purée organic baby food, and giving him water often as well as the baths twice a day. He picked up a bit today, he could see the girl eating woodies, and went a little off his tree wanting some too, so I offered him 2, which he caught himself... But he still isn't trying much on his own accord... He is getting natural sunlight daily, he has an outdoor mesh enclosure which is half sun half shade, so I leave him out there for an hour 3 times a day, with a Big shallow bowl of water, which I actually caught him having a soak this evening.

 

[Beans]

Oh that's great news indeed!!! Its not much progress but it's something right! Keep up everything you are doing and HOPEFULLY in the next week we will really see some improvments. So glad that he even tried to catch food.

 

[sam78s]

That poor baby. He sounds like he's in good hands now and hopefully picking up.


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[xAshx]

More progress! he is now getting himself onto his basking spot, having a drink on his own, and today ate 4 woodies on his own. He gets ****ty if he see's me feeding the others and not him, so I offered them to him and he caught and ate, so Im not complaining. So Ill just keep doing what Im doing, and hope he keeps improving.

 

[tahnia666]

I've got my fingers crossed for you [MENTION=39374]xAshx[/MENTION] sounds like a tough little guy

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[Beans]

Omg yes that's freaking AWESOME. Just keep it slow and steady and letting him go at his own pace! I do suggest doing a fecal though just to make sure theres nothing else going on there. :3 Oh man this makes me so happy. So proud of you and the little guy!

 

[xAshx]

Fecal getting done on Monday when he has his check up, ill take some with me. Both of them have been wormed out.. His attitude has changed greatly since they were separated.

 

[Beans]

I knew it would. I'm so glad Ash! So glad you came here for help!