It makes no sense...

[AmyNicole]

Hello everyone! I am trying to make sense of what could have happened to both of my bearded dragons. I lost them both within a month of each other, for no reason that i know of and it is driving me crazy! Ok quick background.. the first one i got from my now boyfriend.. someone had given him to him and he was close to death.. i had to pry his mouth open and hand feed him green beans the first couple days..(i chose can beans because it was the only thing i thought i could grab if he choked) he was so tiny and thin, im shocked he survived.. they had cedar chips for substrate, which i immediately removed, the "light" they had was one of those flat plastic energy efficient ones that wouldnt get warm if you left it on i definitely.. and they were catching cockroaches to feed him when they remembered... i still want to get my hands on that guy for his ignorance.. anyway, i saved him.. he grew from this tiny starved ugly lizard, into a big beautiful guy within 3 months of being with me.. i will include pics.. the collage is him when i got him then almost exactly 3 months later.. he looks totally different! This is going to be longer than i thought!! Sorry! Anyway, i got the second dragon from the pet store, they had him discounted because nobody bought him.. so i brought him home. They each had a separate enclosure and i have a metal cage outdoors for natural sunlight in the summer. I changed their uvb bulbs every 6 months approx. And they were fed veggies, fruits, superworms, crickets, hornworms, wax worms, calciworms, and roaches from the pet store. Jump ahead four years, the first dragon started showing signs of mbd.. he had head tremors, and his coordination wasnt as good as it once was.. but he was still functioning.. i just had to help him catch his worms more than i used to.. the lizard i got from the pet store, who was healthy and eating fine, had no signs of any health problems died first. He had ate, and was acting normal.. i came home and he was dead.. i left him alone for a day or two to make sure he was actually dead.. he was stiff.. so we buried him under the tree.. the next thing i know, about a month later.. i found my other dragon, dead.. same as the first, for no apparent reason. They were approx 4-5 years old.. i didnt change anything that could have caused this that i know of.. it seems really weird to me that they both died that close together.. it just doesnt seem right.. so im reaching out trying to make some sense of this... both of the collages are of the first dragon i got.. he changed that much in 3 months! But, as you can see, they both seemed healthy... i just dont understand.. i know they should live longer than 4 years...

 

[Dragon's Gramma]

I have no idea, but I am so sorry for your loss!! They were beautiful, & you were obviously taking great care of them. So sorry, truly my heart breaks for you!! HUGS

 

[Sadie]

Hello everyone! I am trying to make sense of what could have happened to both of my bearded dragons. I lost them both within a month of each other, for no reason that i know of and it is driving me crazy! Ok quick background.. the first one i got from my now boyfriend.. someone had given him to him and he was close to death.. i had to pry his mouth open and hand feed him green beans the first couple days..(i chose can beans because it was the only thing i thought i could grab if he choked) he was so tiny and thin, im shocked he survived.. they had cedar chips for substrate, which i immediately removed, the "light" they had was one of those flat plastic energy efficient ones that wouldnt get warm if you left it on i definitely.. and they were catching cockroaches to feed him when they remembered... i still want to get my hands on that guy for his ignorance.. anyway, i saved him.. he grew from this tiny starved ugly lizard, into a big beautiful guy within 3 months of being with me.. i will include pics.. the collage is him when i got him then almost exactly 3 months later.. he looks totally different! This is going to be longer than i thought!! Sorry! Anyway, i got the second dragon from the pet store, they had him discounted because nobody bought him.. so i brought him home. They each had a separate enclosure and i have a metal cage outdoors for natural sunlight in the summer. I changed their uvb bulbs every 6 months approx. And they were fed veggies, fruits, superworms, crickets, hornworms, wax worms, calciworms, and roaches from the pet store. Jump ahead four years, the first dragon started showing signs of mbd.. he had head tremors, and his coordination wasnt as good as it once was.. but he was still functioning.. i just had to help him catch his worms more than i used to.. the lizard i got from the pet store, who was healthy and eating fine, had no signs of any health problems died first. He had ate, and was acting normal.. i came home and he was dead.. i left him alone for a day or two to make sure he was actually dead.. he was stiff.. so we buried him under the tree.. the next thing i know, about a month later.. i found my other dragon, dead.. same as the first, for no apparent reason. They were approx 4-5 years old.. i didnt change anything that could have caused this that i know of.. it seems really weird to me that they both died that close together.. it just doesnt seem right.. so im reaching out trying to make some sense of this... both of the collages are of the first dragon i got.. he changed that much in 3 months! But, as you can see, they both seemed healthy... i just dont understand.. i know they should live longer than 4 years...

I am sorry about your dragons -- its a tough thing to go thru especially losing two of them at a time --

the flat UVB you had what was it? Brand and bulb ? Did the fixture have a reflector in it? The first thing is the UVB and the basking temps are the two MOST important things in the tank - temps need to be taken w/ a digital probe thermometer and UVB's need to be a long tube fixture -- NO coils so the way your describing I am thinking you had a long tube fixture -- placement and distance for them is crucial --- UVB's are not supposed to get hot - they can get warm to the touch but that is normal --- the head tremors and coordination is a sign of MBD like you said and that would be from lack of UVB or incorrect UVB--- had the dragon black bearded at all? Dragons hide their illness for a long time till they can no longer but the head tremors and the lack of coordination would be a sign of something wrong -- if you were using a coil UVB that would of been the cause of the deaths and MBD --- coils are terrible UVB's so I am not sure exactly what you were using -

 

[Bailey]

Leave us some husbandry information such as basking temp, uvb lighting brand + setup, size of enclosure, some things you had inside the enclosure. Did you re-use decorations or anything inside the enclosure from a previous dragon? Germs can spread, or it could be a husbandry thing.

So sorry to hear about this losing them is the worst

 

[Krystal0]

These R pretty colors