Need urgent advice for my bearded dragon

[Sadie]

Thanks guys. Good tips and advice and thanks for the compliments too. I built and designed the terrarium myself and am very proud of it. Sometimes good to hear the comments because as one of you said...I am a very responsible owner, but still have a lot to learn.

Wilbert had already been diagnosed with YF by a Reptile vet end of November 2021. They took a sample of his scales and sent it off to the lab. Results came back positive. You could see it really clearly on the upper part of his chest and around his groin, which later spread all over the underside of his tail. We thought we'd caught it quite early but unfortunately it had already spread into his system. It has been a downhill struggle since then.

Unfortunately, this afternoon Wilbert took another turn for the worse. He lost all bowel and bladder control and slipped into a coma. I took him to the vets and they helped him go to sleep forever.

R.I.P. Wilbert. We will miss you dearly.
20 March, 2020 ~ 17 January, 2022.

I now know that my lighting equipment is actually quite basic and when I get a new bearded dragon I will be upgrading it to the best. The terrarium will be professionally sanitized and I will be replacing ALL of the decorations inside before letting another reptile live in it.

Here in the Netherlands we do use a special type of sand in our terrariums and it's never a problem. Impaction was NOT the cause of Wilbert's death. It was the YF and the side effects of having it. His immune system took a nasty battering and he had no puff left in him to fight it, despite all my efforts.

Throughout my research into bearded dragons I have noticed that per country that there are different and sometimes very contrasting opinions and beliefs on what is the right way to keep them. My intention is to make sure that their habitat imitates their natural habitat as closely as possible.

Keep up the Beardy love people! ❤

I am so sorry to hear about Wilbert --- that is terrible -- do you know how Wilbert contracted YF? It is very contagious and if hes not been around other dragons the only way I know is from the substrate he was on - loose substrate is not very sanitary and is not recommended - I know bioactive tanks are very popular and I would not try and do this w/ mine as I am not very savvy when it comes to how to keep them clean -- again I am so sorry about him he was not very old -

 

[Sadie]

I am so sorry to hear about Wilbert --- that is terrible -- do you know how Wilbert contracted YF? It is very contagious and if hes not been around other dragons the only way I know is from the substrate he was on - loose substrate is not very sanitary and is not recommended - I know bioactive tanks are very popular and I would not try and do this w/ mine as I am not very savvy when it comes to how to keep them clean -- again I am so sorry about him he was not very old -

Aw, that is so sad, I'm truly VERY sorry for the loss of your boy Wilbert. You were taking great care of him but that terrible Y.F. is something that can affect beardies seemingly out of nowhere and cause such trauma. My heart goes out to you, I know that Wilbert was much loved. : (

 

[Badwolfe]

Thanks guys. Good tips and advice and thanks for the compliments too. I built and designed the terrarium myself and am very proud of it. Sometimes good to hear the comments because as one of you said...I am a very responsible owner, but still have a lot to learn.

Wilbert had already been diagnosed with YF by a Reptile vet end of November 2021. They took a sample of his scales and sent it off to the lab. Results came back positive. You could see it really clearly on the upper part of his chest and around his groin, which later spread all over the underside of his tail. We thought we'd caught it quite early but unfortunately it had already spread into his system. It has been a downhill struggle since then.

Unfortunately, this afternoon Wilbert took another turn for the worse. He lost all bowel and bladder control and slipped into a coma. I took him to the vets and they helped him go to sleep forever.

R.I.P. Wilbert. We will miss you dearly.
20 March, 2020 ~ 17 January, 2022.

I now know that my lighting equipment is actually quite basic and when I get a new bearded dragon I will be upgrading it to the best. The terrarium will be professionally sanitized and I will be replacing ALL of the decorations inside before letting another reptile live in it.

Here in the Netherlands we do use a special type of sand in our terrariums and it's never a problem. Impaction was NOT the cause of Wilbert's death. It was the YF and the side effects of having it. His immune system took a nasty battering and he had no puff left in him to fight it, despite all my efforts.

Throughout my research into bearded dragons I have noticed that per country that there are different and sometimes very contrasting opinions and beliefs on what is the right way to keep them. My intention is to make sure that their habitat imitates their natural habitat as closely as possible.

Keep up the Beardy love people! ❤

So sorry to hear that Wilbert didn't make it and from the sounds of it you did everything you could for him it was just unfortunate that it spread into his system so quickly.

Its great to hear that you will be upgrading the lighting before getting a new Beardie and making sure everything is fully sanitised beforehand. Its also nice to hear that you intend to keep your dragon in as natural a setting as possible because after all nature has spent millions of years fine tuning these reptiles to live in the environments that they do.

You are right about different countries having different opinions about husbandry and whilst its impossible to fully replicate a little piece of Australia in such a small area modern husbandry techniques allow us to get pretty damn close.

 

[Badwolfe]

I am so sorry to hear about Wilbert --- that is terrible -- do you know how Wilbert contracted YF? It is very contagious and if hes not been around other dragons the only way I know is from the substrate he was on - loose substrate is not very sanitary and is not recommended - I know bioactive tanks are very popular and I would not try and do this w/ mine as I am not very savvy when it comes to how to keep them clean -- again I am so sorry about him he was not very old -

I'm sorry Sadie but that claim is totally inaccurate. YF is caused by bad hygiene practices, contact with another infected animal or bad husbandry (poor feeding, keeping beardies together, etc).

A clean loose particle substrate is not the cause of YF and in fact it can be argued that reptile carpets and tiles are more likely to harbour the fungus by lodging the spores lodging in the gaps between tiles and in carpet fibres where moisture is easily trapped.

 

[Sadie]

I'm sorry Sadie but that claim is totally inaccurate. YF is caused by bad hygiene practices, contact with another infected animal or bad husbandry (poor feeding, keeping beardies together, etc).

A clean loose particle substrate is not the cause of YF and in fact it can be argued that reptile carpets and tiles are more likely to harbour the fungus by lodging the spores lodging in the gaps between tiles and in carpet fibres where moisture is easily trapped.

I had read that loose substrate harbors bacteria etc and you can never fully clean a loose substrate and it also causes impaction

 

[Badwolfe]

I had read that loose substrate harbors bacteria etc and you can never fully clean a loose substrate and it also causes impaction

Both reptile carpet and tiles can also harbour bacteria in the cracks between tiles and also retain moisture there as well. Also Yellow Fungus is also exactly that - a fungus and not a bacteria.

If you maintain the correct lighting, temperature and high standards of hygiene then loose substrate is no worse than any other substrates you can use in a viv

The matter of impaction is also inaccurately described most times as well because as long as you are keeping dragons on a blend of soil / sand (with the inclusion of some clay) then impaction is never a problem. Impaction can be caused by all sorts of things, including your reptile ingesting small pieces of artificial plants (which a lot of people place in their vivs) The Australian outback, whilst arid, actually comprises largely of soil and clay and a lot of dragons actually live in lightly forested scrubland which again has a very high soil content. This substrate actually plays a big part in shedding and keeping femoral pores unblocked. Beardied dragons do not spend 24 hours of their lives on solid rock and reports are now starting to come out that keeping your Beardie on a solid floor could possibly be causing joint problems for your pet in later life.

 

[Sadie]

Both reptile carpet and tiles can also harbour bacteria in the cracks between tiles and also retain moisture there as well. Also Yellow Fungus is also exactly that - a fungus and not a bacteria.

If you maintain the correct lighting, temperature and high standards of hygiene then loose substrate is no worse than any other substrates you can use in a viv

The matter of impaction is also inaccurately described most times as well because as long as you are keeping dragons on a blend of soil / sand (with the inclusion of some clay) then impaction is never a problem. Impaction can be caused by all sorts of things, including your reptile ingesting small pieces of artificial plants (which a lot of people place in their vivs) The Australian outback, whilst arid, actually comprises largely of soil and clay and a lot of dragons actually live in lightly forested scrubland which again has a very high soil content. This substrate actually plays a big part in shedding and keeping femoral pores unblocked. Beardied dragons do not spent 24 hours of their lives on solid rock and reports are now starting to come out that keeping your Beardie on a solid floor could possibly be causing joint problems for your pet in later life.

I have heard that