Help! Sick Bearded Dragon

[James W]

We rescued a sick bearded dragon 3 weeks ago that we named Lazarus. He's a yellow dragon (which we didn't know until a few days in because he started a sickly brown color. He had been deprived of food, light, heat, and water for at least a year that we know of.

We've brought him back to life these past weeks and he's been steadily improving. Keep in mind that he has brain damage from some injury before we knew him. This caused a permanent head tilt. So we're not expecting him to be 100% normal and healthy, but just want to give him a good life.

Yesterday he had very bad diarrhea and must have thrashed in it because it was all over everything in his tank. We cleaned him up and he started going nuts in his tank, thrashing against the glass, flipping over. Now today he is turning black???? He's completely unresponsive (eyes open though) and just acting very sick and different than usual.

He has been to vet. Has been dewormed. Eats Repashy from a syringe, and superworms, and greens. He's been a good eater till today. The black coloring is what has me concerned. Please help if you have any input.

PICTURES:

1. Day 1 vs. Day 4 of rescue
2. Just another comparison
3. Today's odd coloring
4. Yesterday's thrashing

Thanks!

 

[Heather8497]

We rescued a sick bearded dragon 3 weeks ago that we named Lazarus. He's a yellow dragon (which we didn't know until a few days in because he started a sickly brown color. He had been deprived of food, light, heat, and water for at least a year that we know of.

We've brought him back to life these past weeks and he's been steadily improving. Keep in mind that he has brain damage from some injury before we knew him. This caused a permanent head tilt. So we're not expecting him to be 100% normal and healthy, but just want to give him a good life.

Yesterday he had very bad diarrhea and must have thrashed in it because it was all over everything in his tank. We cleaned him up and he started going nuts in his tank, thrashing against the glass, flipping over. Now today he is turning black???? He's completely unresponsive (eyes open though) and just acting very sick and different than usual.

He has been to vet. Has been dewormed. Eats Repashy from a syringe, and superworms, and greens. He's been a good eater till today. The black coloring is what has me concerned. Please help if you have any input.

PICTURES:

1. Day 1 vs. Day 4 of rescue
2. Just another comparison
3. Today's odd coloring
4. Yesterday's thrashing

Thanks!

How big is your tank? Maybe it's too small and he needs somewhere to go I was told when they turn black it's from stress but my little mufasa just runs back and forth when his tank was too small maybe he needed a bigger tank try taking him out and letting him run in a shallow warm tub?

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[Heather8497]

Or maybe a room that he can't get under things and easily visible maybe he has too much energy

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[PatsyB]

Crap did the vet test for atendovirous? The whole head tilt and seizures are a symptom. But if he has previous head trauma, the seizures are most likely caused by that. I would just make sure there isn’t a lot of clutter in his tank that he could hurt himself on if he thrashes again. As far as the diarrhea goes, has he eaten a lot of juicy bugs? What kind of greens do you feed him? Did the vet do a fecal? If so, how long ago was it.

Just seeing the dark color on his back doesn’t look too off, it almost looks like coloring when they are absorbing UVB. All dragons go darker when absorbing UVB.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Depending on things the diarrhea could just be that he is overly hydrated and so his poop may have been runny and then well they tend to poo paint...
Now for the flipping over part.. Since this dragon has a previous head injury this is likely a neuro issue and will need some special accommodations as they can't breath upside down and if they can't right themselves......... Housing and decoration should be considered to minimize him hurting himself or getting stuck or falling from items if going into a seizure...Also this seizure activity is another serious issue like Patsy just posted..
I would get him vetted again and test for Atendovirious and since you do a rescue you need to protect against exposure to the others so no shared tools, food, bowls etc.....

 

[Hdrydr31]

How big is your tank? Maybe it's too small and he needs somewhere to go I was told when they turn black it's from stress but my little mufasa just runs back and forth when his tank was too small maybe he needed a bigger tank try taking him out and letting him run in a shallow warm tub?

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They can go dark/black for numerous reasons.. Soaking up heat/UVB, mating coloring, agitated/mad, dominance coloring, cold, excited, sick, stressed... So it sometimes needs some detective work to figure out why...

 

[Heather8497]

They can go dark/black for numerous reasons.. Soaking up heat/UVB, mating coloring, agitated/mad, dominance coloring, cold, excited, sick, stressed... So it sometimes needs some detective work to figure out why...

Oh well thank you lol I've just noticed mufasa turning black when he wanted out of his cage or when he's mad

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