dying beardie?

[Designer]

hey guys ,

I brought a 6yr old female beardie less then a week ago.She was only $50 for some unknown reason. She was extremely docile from the moment that I purchased her. Within hours of buying her she dropped 22 eggs.

I have been trying to feed her as much as i can , at firt she was eating everything, from roaches to pinkies.However over the last fw days she has stopped eating..and all she has been doing is sleeping. for the past day she has been sleeping with her mouth wide open, a though she is gasping for air..she does not look well at all...I purchased her for my son for his 4th birthday and he is in absolute love with this girl , i dont know what im going to do if she dies but things jut ont look promising.....Any suggestions/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fritzi2009]

hey guys ,

I brought a 6yr old female beardie less then a week ago.She was only $50 for some unknown reason. She was extremely docile from the moment that I purchased her. Within hours of buying her she dropped 22 eggs.

I have been trying to feed her as much as i can , at firt she was eating everything, from roaches to pinkies.However over the last fw days she has stopped eating..and all she has been doing is sleeping. for the past day she has been sleeping with her mouth wide open, a though she is gasping for air..she does not look well at all...I purchased her for my son for his 4th birthday and he is in absolute love with this girl , i dont know what im going to do if she dies but things jut ont look promising.....Any suggestions/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

go to the vet

 

[mysnakesau]

What have you done with the eggs. Perhaps you could incubate them and your son will have her soul.

Sitting open-mouthed is their way of trying to cool. She could be too hot. Just check the temperature mid-enclosure and cool end. Also, if she isn't moving from her heat she could easily overheat so you might want to check the temps at her warm end and basking spot. You might have to move her away from the heat if she isn't doing so, herself. But if she is sick, heat is the best thing to speed up the life cycle of any bug that might be lurking. So I am not suggesting to turn her temps down, but if she isn't moving about on her own, you might need to move her just away from the hottest spot so she doesn't cook.

One more suggestion - my book "The Bearded Dragon Manual" suggests that 6 years old is getting on in age for a beardy. I have heard of ppl having them for longer, but at 6yr old she could very well be at the nearing the end of her innings. Having a clutch of 22 eggs could have taken some wind out of her.

But in saying all this, she may very well recover from having the clutch and live on for you. Just don't know. Perhaps go along to your next herp meeting and meet some ppl with beardies for some advice, or ask a reptile-orientated vet.

 

[Brettix]

Take her to the vet mate ,sounds like respiratory infection to me.

 

[Chris1]

not sounding good, take her to the vet,....has she pooed out all this food?

anything could be wrong, she could be egg bound,....getting her to the vet asap will be her best chance,....

basically from what uve written she sounds uncomfortable/in pain.

seriously, get off the forum and get her to the vet,....sorry if thats not the answer u were after.

what area are u in so someone can send u deets fro the best herp vet possible,...?

btw, 6 is young, they live till around 15 so its not an age thing

 

[JasonL]

Yes to the vet, it may be calcium deprived (thus lethargic) after laying eggs, could be a few things....

 

[geckos_are_great]

yeah that sounds bad you should take her to the vet

 

[Chris1]

if shes under the heat with her mouth open sure its a cooling down thing, but not if shes not under her lights and all lethargic on top of it,..

id say an infection, but not a respiritory one,...i picked up a really sick beardy (with an RI)a while ago and she didnt have her mouth open permanently, just when she took a breath, (and gurgled and coughed it was horrible)
.youd be surprised how well antibiotics work even if the vet is unable to diagnose the problem,...
RIs are awful but dont kill as quickly as other types,...
i lost a beardy a year ago to a possibly infected egg, thats the best the vet that did the autopsy could tell me. other than that she looked absolutely perfect.

one day she was fine, the next morning she only did a urate not a whole poo, when i got home from work she was still basking which was unusual, i gave her a drink and she pooed, 4 hours later she was dead.

ur wasting time if ur reading this!!!

 

[Designer]

I will tke her to the vet now.thanks for all of your advice guys..much appreciated!

 

[JAS101]

i have u tryed the old warm water bath? maybe she is backed up ?
also my vet has said in the past that pinkies are too high in protein for beardies and can cause issues later down the track

 

[PimmsPythons]

get some water into her,they are very dehydrated after laying eggs and can drink quite a bit.ours swims in her pond after laying eggs each time.
cheers
simon

 

[mysnakesau]

Just wondering how beardy is doing? Hope she's still kicking and fighting back to good health.

 

[torry666]

Think he stated in another thread that she had died. Eggbound.