My Beardie got sick overnight and unfortunately passed

[oh-sarica]

My beardie Tesla was about 5 years old. Saturday mid-day she started acting strange by being lethargic, not responsive to me giving her food or just being around her. I noticed a redish looking stool in her tank but i thought it’s blueberries she ate the day before. Little after i noticed regular looking stool as well. She was still moving around the tank but not as energetically as usual but i didnt think there is something wrong. At some point she stopped moving and i noticed the sunken spots at the top of her head above her eyes and that her entire back was curved up. On Sunday those spots were even more sunken and her eyes as well. I moved her closer to the water bowl and over the next few hours she slowly moved entirely in the water bowl and stayed there for a long time. She moved out of it after a few hours. She looked even more dehydrated so i gave her a bath outside in sun. After that she had bubbles come out of her nose. The last thing she did was open her mouth super wide and pulled her tongue out. She died little after that.
Im so sad she died this way and i cant think of the reason what might have caused her to get like this overnight. On Friday she was acting perfectly normal. Did anyone have this experience with their beardie?

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh no. I'm so sorry to hear that.

 

[Sadie]

My beardie Tesla was about 5 years old. Saturday mid-day she started acting strange by being lethargic, not responsive to me giving her food or just being around her. I noticed a redish looking stool in her tank but i thought it’s blueberries she ate the day before. Little after i noticed regular looking stool as well. She was still moving around the tank but not as energetically as usual but i didnt think there is something wrong. At some point she stopped moving and i noticed the sunken spots at the top of her head above her eyes and that her entire back was curved up. On Sunday those spots were even more sunken and her eyes as well. I moved her closer to the water bowl and over the next few hours she slowly moved entirely in the water bowl and stayed there for a long time. She moved out of it after a few hours. She looked even more dehydrated so i gave her a bath outside in sun. After that she had bubbles come out of her nose. The last thing she did was open her mouth super wide and pulled her tongue out. She died little after that.
Im so sad she died this way and i cant think of the reason what might have caused her to get like this overnight. On Friday she was acting perfectly normal. Did anyone have this experience with their beardie?

I am sorry to hear this -- the light in the tank looks to have a yellowish hue to it -- her being 5 she wasnt that old can you please go over your basking bulb you were using along w/ the UVB --- blueberries will not be red in the poop - that would be strawberries or red peppers - do you think it was blood? The bubbles out of the nose could be she aspirated water from the bath -- I can have Tracie take a look at your post that might give you some insight as to what happened here

@Drache613

 

[oh-sarica]

@Drache613

Thank you for responding to my thread. You are absolutely right about the light. We were afraid she might be too warm and we got the new 80w bulb that morning. Until we changed it she had 160w that we put in February. She had a hammock where she didnt usually spend much time.

 

[Sadie]

Thank you for responding to my thread. You are absolutely right about the light. We were afraid she might be too warm and we got the new 80w bulb that morning. Until we changed it she had 160w that we put in February. She had a hammock where she didnt usually spend much time.

Well I am sorry to say incorrect surface basking temps UVB and temps in the tank are all crucial to a dragons over all health - until we can go over the husbandry you were using we can rule out certain things - but for the most part only a necropsy could be done to determine exactly the cause - dragons will hide their illness for as long as they can and its quite a shock for them to just up and pass not showing any signs of being sick - the pic of her in the bowl she looks ill and on the log itself - was that the day before she passed ?

 

[oh-sarica]

Well I am sorry to say incorrect surface basking temps UVB and temps in the tank are all crucial to a dragons over all health - until we can go over the husbandry you were using we can rule out certain things - but for the most part only a necropsy could be done to determine exactly the cause - dragons will hide their illness for as long as they can and its quite a shock for them to just up and pass not showing any signs of being sick - the pic of her in the bowl she looks ill and on the log itself - was that the day before she passed ?

That was the day she died. The morning of the day before she was acting fine and was still alert.
She only had that UVB light, we stopped using other basking bulb few years ago since she was always hiding due to being too warm.

 

[Sadie]

That was the day she died. The morning of the day before she was acting fine and was still alert.
She only had that UVB light, we stopped using other basking bulb few years ago since she was always hiding due to being too warm.

So how long was she w/ out a basking bulb? Those solid clear bright white bulbs provide UVA which is essential to their health

 

[oh-sarica]

So how long was she w/ out a basking bulb? Those solid clear bright white bulbs provide UVA which is essential to their health

The light we used is with both UVA and UVB. The other one was used before only during the night to keep her enclosure warm.

 

[Sadie]

The light we used is with both UVA and UVB. The other one was used before only during the night to keep her enclosure warm.

Dragons should not have any lights on at night - if heat is needed a Ceramic Heat Emitter should be used - ambient temps at night should be 65-75 -- dragons like cool and dark - heat should be used at night if the dragon is sick like around 80 that will help the immune system -- again I am sorry about her I am flagging Tracie again
@Drache613

 

[oh-sarica]

Dragons should not have any lights on at night - if heat is needed a Ceramic Heat Emitter should be used - ambient temps at night should be 65-75 -- dragons like cool and dark - heat should be used at night if the dragon is sick like around 80 that will help the immune system -- again I am sorry about her I am flagging Tracie again
@Drache613

Sorry i should have probably explained fully from the beginning, but we didnt have a light on during the night. We used UVB/UVA light during the day and nothing during the night. We used to use the heat emitter but not in the past few years since it was too warm for her. The problem was that this all happened over night so we didn't even get a chance to treat her or anything.

 

[Sadie]

Sorry i should have probably explained fully from the beginning, but we didnt have a light on during the night. We used UVB/UVA light during the day and nothing during the night. We used to use the heat emitter but not in the past few years since it was too warm for her. The problem was that this all happened over night so we didn't even get a chance to treat her or anything.

I understand it is hard to say what happened and a shock as well- I need Tracie to look at the pics you posted of her

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Oh my, I am so sorry to hear you lost your girl in that manner & so suddenly. I agree, a necropsy would
likely render some type of answer as to what happened.
Could she have eaten something poisonous, or possibly got bitten by a spider, etc?
It does seem very sudden if she hadn't appeared to be having any issues before the episode.
Did she seem to get worse after her bath? As mentioned, it is possible she aspirated on some water &
couldn't breathe very well.
I am so sorry you lost her that suddenly, it gave no time to do much of anything.
My condolences.

Tracie

 

[oh-sarica]

Hello,

Oh my, I am so sorry to hear you lost your girl in that manner & so suddenly. I agree, a necropsy would
likely render some type of answer as to what happened.
Could she have eaten something poisonous, or possibly got bitten by a spider, etc?
It does seem very sudden if she hadn't appeared to be having any issues before the episode.
Did she seem to get worse after her bath? As mentioned, it is possible she aspirated on some water &
couldn't breathe very well.
I am so sorry you lost her that suddenly, it gave no time to do much of anything.
My condolences.

Tracie

Thank you!
The day before she started acting strangely she had some basil that my neighbour gave me from her community garden. I didn't wash it but now I'm wondering if there may have been something on the leaves that made her sick.
She did get worse after bath even though i was making sure to have very shallow water so nothing gets in her nose and she kept her mouth closed.

 

[Sadie]

Thank you!
The day before she started acting strangely she had some basil that my neighbour gave me from her community garden. I didn't wash it but now I'm wondering if there may have been something on the leaves that made her sick.
She did get worse after bath even though i was making sure to have very shallow water so nothing gets in her nose and she kept her mouth closed.

If there was pesticide on the basil you gave her that would of done it- did her beard turn black after she ate it?