My poor baby is stressed and so am I

[VinceG123]

So it's been a little more than a week since my baby stopped eating. I felt that it was dehydration so I gave baths and gave him drops of water on his head until he stopped licking it up. But that didn't help.
Just a couple days ago I took him to the vet. They did a check up and gave him a shot and gave me some medicine to give him along with a syringe and some food to assist feed him. After that vet visit he hasn't been the same. His beard and neck are dark but not jet black. He just sits in the same spot all day. I give him squash baby food and the food the vet gave me which has a lot of protein in it as I can see from the labeling. But until I can get him to poop something other than just urate so that the vet can do a test on it, I'm stuck having to syringe feed my poor guy every day.
He's been so stressed since the vet visit and having to put a syringe in his mouth to give him his meds doesn't help with that either. For the food I just put it on his mouth and he just licks it up so that doesn't stress him at all.
But now it's just a waiting game to see how he gets. He's just a little baby and he looks so skinny and I feel so bad. His stressed has rubbed off on me and I can say without a doubt this has been an extremely stressful week. I don't want to lose the little guy

 

[baldegale14]

how old is he?

 

[VinceG123]

how old is he?

I got it as a gift on my birthday and I asked my sister but she said she forgot to ask it's age. But by its size I wanna say maybe 2 months

 

[baldegale14]

I got it as a gift on my birthday and I asked my sister but she said she forgot to ask it's age. But by its size I wanna say maybe 2 months

oh that is quite young! me being semi new too (only been on here a year or so) ive never came across this specific problem so i have not the slightest clue what the solution is or what could be wrong. im assuming the fecal will probably reveal everything if something is wrong.


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[baldegale14]

can you give his basking/coolside temps, what you were feeding him, substrate, what UVB you use, and what size tank hes in?


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[VinceG123]

oh that is quite young! me being semi new too (only been on here a year or so) ive never came across this specific problem so i have not the slightest clue what the solution is or what could be wrong. im assuming the fecal will probably reveal everything if something is wrong.


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Yes it is very young. I want to be able to give this baby a long healthy life that it deserves. I don't know if maybe I'm just overthinking and overreacting but this is my first bearded dragon. I did a loooot of research before I got one. My parents knew that too. I just hope my baby recovers quickly and nothing bad happens.
The fecal will be able to tell us if it has anything to do with parasites. I'm just praying for the best.

 

[baldegale14]

Yes it is very young. I want to be able to give this baby a long healthy life that it deserves. I don't know if maybe I'm just overthinking and overreacting but this is my first bearded dragon. I did a loooot of research before I got one. My parents knew that too. I just hope my baby recovers quickly and nothing bad happens.
The fecal will be able to tell us if it has anything to do with parasites. I'm just praying for the best.

as long as you have proper UVB and temps and a good diet just keep in mind that its not your fault if god forbid something does happen. being that young and considering that youve only had him for a couple weeks it was more than likely the pet store/the breeders fault.


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[VinceG123]

as long as you have proper UVB and temps and a good diet just keep in mind that its not your fault if god forbid something does happen. being that young and considering that youve only had him for a couple weeks it was more than likely the pet store/the breeders fault.


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Yeah you're right. Now we just have to wait and see what happens I guess.

 

[baldegale14]

Yeah you're right. Now we just have to wait and see what happens I guess.

also, just so you know, if you download the tapatalk app on your phone it becomes significantly easier to browse and navigate the forum and such!


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[VinceG123]

also, just so you know, if you download the tapatalk app on your phone it becomes significantly easier to browse and navigate the forum and such!


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Yeah I can see that you're using it. Maybe i will haha

 

[baldegale14]

Yeah I can see that you're using it. Maybe i will haha

yeah! only annoying part about is it sometimes the notifications come in pretty late or not at all. but also, if/when you do you can message me with any questions. im on pretty much 24/7!


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[VinceG123]

yeah! only annoying part about is it sometimes the notifications come in pretty late or not at all. but also, if/when you do you can message me with any questions. im on pretty much 24/7!


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That's pretty awesome haha. I'll check it out.

 

[BeardedHippy]

Im curious, what did your vet say was wrong with him? he must have had some idea if he gave him a shot and meds, what meds did he give you?
There are a few different things that could be affecting your dragon, the most obvious ,as stated above and the first thing you should check is your temperatures and bulbs. Secondly is parasites, which is what I presume your vet gave you treatment for as it would be unethical to give medication for an undiagnosed problem. Even then , he should have done a fecal test first one would think, to be sure. Lastly, you will see lots of posts here recently from people whose dragons are experiencing the same symptoms as yours. In many cases, this is down to the change in the season and (in the case of the babies) them entering a state of semi brumation. Loss of appetite, lack of activity, sleeping a lot are the noticable symptoms.
I can see why you are getting stressed though, when they are babies you want them to eat as much as possible so they will grow quickly. Its a nightmare when they wont eat and you dont know why. I am doubtful it is you at fault though, so dont beat yourself up about it.

 

[BeardedHippy]

I just re-read your post ,sorry must have missed the bit about him not pooping. Obviously ,no fecal test done. So, it just confuses me more, why did your vet medicate him? he obviously had no idea what the problem was...
Is your vet just trying to get money from you, by selling you stuff you didnt need? maybe its just me being paranoid, but its not unheard of for vets to do unnecessary treatments just for the cash

 

[VinceG123]

Im curious, what did your vet say was wrong with him? he must have had some idea if he gave him a shot and meds, what meds did he give you?
There are a few different things that could be affecting your dragon, the most obvious ,as stated above and the first thing you should check is your temperatures and bulbs. Secondly is parasites, which is what I presume your vet gave you treatment for as it would be unethical to give medication for an undiagnosed problem. Even then , he should have done a fecal test first one would think, to be sure. Lastly, you will see lots of posts here recently from people whose dragons are experiencing the same symptoms as yours. In many cases, this is down to the change in the season and (in the case of the babies) them entering a state of semi brumation. Loss of appetite, lack of activity, sleeping a lot are the noticable symptoms.
I can see why you are getting stressed though, when they are babies you want them to eat as much as possible so they will grow quickly. Its a nightmare when they wont eat and you dont know why. I am doubtful it is you at fault though, so dont beat yourself up about it.

My bulbs are about a month old and one of the best ones according to different forums. His temp is also good. The vets said they won't be able to diagnose anything until they get a fecal. But they gave him shots and medicine anyway. The medicine I have to give is pink and is called septra. I read that it's like an antibiotic but I'm a little iffy about giving it to my beardie if we don't even know what's wrong with it. But I still give it to him. So I'm just bathing him in pedialyte and giving him squash baby food until something changes. I'm also going to buy a new basking log just to be sanitary.

 

[BeardedHippy]

Yep, just looked it up, septra is an antibiotic, but mostly used for cats and dogs and other small mammals. I have yet to find it listed as a treatment for reptiles, however ,that doesnt mean it cant or shouldnt be used (i am no vet). It probably wont do any harm (though I doubt it will do any good) , but it can have side effects in cats and dogs (watch out for watery eyes and squinting). I do question a vet that would prescribe any meds for an unknown condition, if it even is a medical condition. Antibiotics only work on infections after all, there is little or no point giving them for anything other than that, all that happens is you build a resistance to antibiotics. I would look around for a proper reptile vet if I were you, you will get a much better quality of care.

 

[VinceG123]

Yep, just looked it up, septra is an antibiotic, but mostly used for cats and dogs and other small mammals. I have yet to find it listed as a treatment for reptiles, however ,that doesnt mean it cant or shouldnt be used (i am no vet). It probably wont do any harm (though I doubt it will do any good) , but it can have side effects in cats and dogs (watch out for watery eyes and squinting). I do question a vet that would prescribe any meds for an unknown condition, if it even is a medical condition. Antibiotics only work on infections after all, there is little or no point giving them for anything other than that, all that happens is you build a resistance to antibiotics. I would look around for a proper reptile vet if I were you, you will get a much better quality of care.

Yeah I feel like I came out of the vet with more questions than answers. I was thinking the same thing about the medicine. If anything it's making things worse by stressing him out. I only have to do it for two more days but I feel like stopping all together.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Was this vet a reptile vet?? At the most I could see them de-worming your little one as most dragons have parasites most likely pinworms..Make sure you start giving your little one some probiotics (culturel for kids make sure no coloring or added sugar. it's a powder you can mix some in with the baby food) meds are harsh on their GI systems.. What you can do is blend up (with something like magic bullet of sorts) blend up some collard greens/turnip greens/ dandelion greens add in some pure coconut water (no added sugars..) then you can (gross I know..) some bugs that your feeding..blend it up really good and syringe that... that way this is more nutritious and what it would be eating anyways..
Really make sure your temps are spot on maybe even a couple degree's hotter..as the temps will make a world of difference.

 

[VinceG123]

Was this vet a reptile vet?? At the most I could see them de-worming your little one as most dragons have parasites most likely pinworms..Make sure you start giving your little one some probiotics (culturel for kids make sure no coloring or added sugar. it's a powder you can mix some in with the baby food) meds are harsh on their GI systems.. What you can do is blend up (with something like magic bullet of sorts) blend up some collard greens/turnip greens/ dandelion greens add in some pure coconut water (no added sugars..) then you can (gross I know..) some bugs that your feeding..blend it up really good and syringe that... that way this is more nutritious and what it would be eating anyways..
Really make sure your temps are spot on maybe even a couple degree's hotter..as the temps will make a world of difference.

Yeah I was thinking about crushing roaches and mixing it with the baby food. I'll find some probiotics to give to my little guy. Thanks for the help.

 

[VinceG123]

Was this vet a reptile vet?? At the most I could see them de-worming your little one as most dragons have parasites most likely pinworms..Make sure you start giving your little one some probiotics (culturel for kids make sure no coloring or added sugar. it's a powder you can mix some in with the baby food) meds are harsh on their GI systems.. What you can do is blend up (with something like magic bullet of sorts) blend up some collard greens/turnip greens/ dandelion greens add in some pure coconut water (no added sugars..) then you can (gross I know..) some bugs that your feeding..blend it up really good and syringe that... that way this is more nutritious and what it would be eating anyways..
Really make sure your temps are spot on maybe even a couple degree's hotter..as the temps will make a world of difference.

And yeah they said they work with reptiles and they did say the shot was a deworming shot. I think the vet visit scared him and traumatized. He hasn't been the same since