desmith0927
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 25
I’d like to consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to bearded dragons and especially mine own. I pay attention to everything and notice the slightest changes. The vets in my area seem to be pretty useless at this point so I’m turning to this forum.
Exactly 3 1/2 hours ago (3:56 pm est - I know because I texted my fiancé the moment it happened) my year old bearded dragon Elliot was outside with me and ate some kind of bug when I turned around for a second to close a bag of plant food. I don’t know what it was. I heard the crunching - very loud crunching - turned around and tried to get it out of his mouth. That didn’t work out. I saw it chewed up in a mass from the side of his mouth for a second. It was a big and black mess. Again, made a lot of noise when he ate it. I decided it couldn’t have been a firefly and to watch him closely but also put a call in with his new vet (just switched to a highly recommended more senior vet in our area because the previous one was rude, inconsiderate and behaved as though my concern about my pet at any time was a major pain in the butt for her) just in case. The receptionist said he’d call me back.
he seemed normal enough for quite some
time. Around 5:15 we were back inside and I walked in my room to find him laying on his hammock lazily (a pretty normal thing) but his beard was pitch black all of the way up to his mouth. Elliot is not aggressive ever nor does he ever try and parade his dominance. There’s been a few times with him walking around the house where his beard will get a little gray like, “I’m king of this domain” but nothing major. Anyhow, he wasn’t worked up, not head bobbing, not scared, just laying there with his beard more black than I have ever seen it. I decided it must be because he doesn’t feel well and went ahead and administered some activated charcoal just in case of any toxicity at all. It’s premade in my reptile first aid kit with recommended dosage on the bottle. 0.4 to 0.8 cc for every 100 grams of body weight. He’s a little bit over 500 grams so I gave him the low end. 1.0 ml is 10 cc so I gave him 2 ml.
While that was happening I missed a call from my vet. He left a voicemail saying I needn’t panic, to keep an eye on him, if anything was abnormal to let them know but that he was leaving for the day. I called back maybe 6 minutes after that call and he was gone. I told the receptionist what I did and asked for advice on an emergency animal hospital with an exotics vet in case things went south - At this point Elliot was on my husband’s lap in the living room very calm and responsive with his eyes open, his beard had lightened, and though he wasn’t his normal “run around everywhere” self, things didn’t seem dire - she basically told me she didn’t know.
I decided to not “panic” further and to just continue to monitor him. Came inside from my phone call and his beard was pitch black again, disposition was however the same and hadn’t changed. Going against my better judgement, I call his previous vet. She was in surgery and the receptionist put me on hold to tell her everything I had done and what was going on. She gets back on the phone to say the activated charcoal was a good choice, they couldn’t get me in tonight, we don’t know what bug it was so there was no advice on anything else I could do, and “a black beard means he is mad or being territorial.” Which is exactly the kind of attitude and “what I’m saying is correct and you, the pets owner, don’t know your pet” crap that made me stop taking him there in the first place. I made it clear that there was zero aggressive or “mad” behavior. That he is just laying around CALM with his beard black. Does she really not know that they turn their beards black when they don’t feel well to look more intimidating to would be predators? To hide their discomfort?
anyhow, the receptionist is going back to tell her exactly what I reiterated and how much activated charcoal I gave him. Either way, useless.
Since then his beard has gone totally black a few more times for awhile. It isn’t accompanied by anything else. He’s more lethargic than usual but nothing indicative of him being in immediate medical distress. So, I apologize for the super long post but, any advice? Should I maybe give him some more activated charcoal since I’ve done the low end? Anything else anyone can recommend and most importantly, based on what I’ve said, will he be ok until I can get him seen tomorrow? Any and all help will be beyond appreciated. I just don’t know what else to do and cannot get guidance when it is clear that he is not feeling well and not himself at the moment.
Exactly 3 1/2 hours ago (3:56 pm est - I know because I texted my fiancé the moment it happened) my year old bearded dragon Elliot was outside with me and ate some kind of bug when I turned around for a second to close a bag of plant food. I don’t know what it was. I heard the crunching - very loud crunching - turned around and tried to get it out of his mouth. That didn’t work out. I saw it chewed up in a mass from the side of his mouth for a second. It was a big and black mess. Again, made a lot of noise when he ate it. I decided it couldn’t have been a firefly and to watch him closely but also put a call in with his new vet (just switched to a highly recommended more senior vet in our area because the previous one was rude, inconsiderate and behaved as though my concern about my pet at any time was a major pain in the butt for her) just in case. The receptionist said he’d call me back.
he seemed normal enough for quite some
time. Around 5:15 we were back inside and I walked in my room to find him laying on his hammock lazily (a pretty normal thing) but his beard was pitch black all of the way up to his mouth. Elliot is not aggressive ever nor does he ever try and parade his dominance. There’s been a few times with him walking around the house where his beard will get a little gray like, “I’m king of this domain” but nothing major. Anyhow, he wasn’t worked up, not head bobbing, not scared, just laying there with his beard more black than I have ever seen it. I decided it must be because he doesn’t feel well and went ahead and administered some activated charcoal just in case of any toxicity at all. It’s premade in my reptile first aid kit with recommended dosage on the bottle. 0.4 to 0.8 cc for every 100 grams of body weight. He’s a little bit over 500 grams so I gave him the low end. 1.0 ml is 10 cc so I gave him 2 ml.
While that was happening I missed a call from my vet. He left a voicemail saying I needn’t panic, to keep an eye on him, if anything was abnormal to let them know but that he was leaving for the day. I called back maybe 6 minutes after that call and he was gone. I told the receptionist what I did and asked for advice on an emergency animal hospital with an exotics vet in case things went south - At this point Elliot was on my husband’s lap in the living room very calm and responsive with his eyes open, his beard had lightened, and though he wasn’t his normal “run around everywhere” self, things didn’t seem dire - she basically told me she didn’t know.
I decided to not “panic” further and to just continue to monitor him. Came inside from my phone call and his beard was pitch black again, disposition was however the same and hadn’t changed. Going against my better judgement, I call his previous vet. She was in surgery and the receptionist put me on hold to tell her everything I had done and what was going on. She gets back on the phone to say the activated charcoal was a good choice, they couldn’t get me in tonight, we don’t know what bug it was so there was no advice on anything else I could do, and “a black beard means he is mad or being territorial.” Which is exactly the kind of attitude and “what I’m saying is correct and you, the pets owner, don’t know your pet” crap that made me stop taking him there in the first place. I made it clear that there was zero aggressive or “mad” behavior. That he is just laying around CALM with his beard black. Does she really not know that they turn their beards black when they don’t feel well to look more intimidating to would be predators? To hide their discomfort?
anyhow, the receptionist is going back to tell her exactly what I reiterated and how much activated charcoal I gave him. Either way, useless.
Since then his beard has gone totally black a few more times for awhile. It isn’t accompanied by anything else. He’s more lethargic than usual but nothing indicative of him being in immediate medical distress. So, I apologize for the super long post but, any advice? Should I maybe give him some more activated charcoal since I’ve done the low end? Anything else anyone can recommend and most importantly, based on what I’ve said, will he be ok until I can get him seen tomorrow? Any and all help will be beyond appreciated. I just don’t know what else to do and cannot get guidance when it is clear that he is not feeling well and not himself at the moment.
