Tiny baby bearded dragon - please help!

[xxbyamomentx]

I got a baby bearded dragon as a gift for my birthday and I need some help. She is very small, is staying very small, and has me worried. I got her three weeks ago and she was just under four inches - the breeder she was bought from said they didn't know her exact date of birth but that she was young, and I know she was way too young to be rehomed. The tip of her tail was dead from being nipped by another baby dragon she was housed with by the breeder, and that tip fell off the next day and seems to have healed fine. I didn't have a scale for her at this time, so I don't know what her weight was - but she was so tiny.

From the time I got her she would eat somewhere between four and six small crickets per day. Last Monday she was going through a shed and on Monday ate one cricket, Tuesday one cricket, and Wednesday nothing at all. Thursday she ate another cricket and a phoenix worm and this morning she ate a cricket but I'm going to try and feed her again later. Almost all of her shedding is done so I think the hunger strike is over. She still pooped at least twice a day through all of this.

As of today she is about 4.5 inches (obviously, without the bit of lost tail), so I got a digital scale today and she is 4 grams. She is very alert and when she moves she's active and seems healthy. She just isn't really growing and it scares me. I was wondering about pinworms, but looking up panacur doses makes me think she's likely too small to even receive a treatment?

She has the 10.0 18 inch UVB bulb and a 100 watt ceramic heat emitter in a 33*24*24 enclosure. She has a basking rock, a decorative rock, and a fake plant for reptiles that she loves to lay on at night. Her basking temperature is around 101 and the ambient temperature is in the mid 80s, and at night she gets around the low 80s because I live in Florida and that's about as cool as it gets this time of year.

 

[xxbyamomentx]

Just an update - When I went to turn her lights on for the morning, I found her unresponsive and completely limp. I warmed her up and got her hydrated and called the vet. I made an emergency Sunday vet visit and they gave her panacur, an antibiotic, and some carnivore care as she hasn't eaten anything today either. They sent me home with a new bag of carnivore care and instructions to offer small crickets and waxworms and to feed carnivore care in small doses 4-6 times daily until there is an improvement. I suspected parasites all along and I'm hoping between the medications, the new bright heat light to complement the UVB, and with some love and time that she'll finally start to grow and thrive. I'll keep weighing her daily and I have the vet's number in case anything happens or there isn't an improvement soon.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Awe sounds like she's soo tiny keeping my fingers crossed that she pulls thru...

 

[PatsyB]

I was going to suggest a bright white heat lamp during the day to get the temps up to 110 degrees. I hope she pulls through. Sounds like the breeder isn't very responsible if they breed dragons but can't tell you the date she hatched. That seems shady. Almost like there was something wrong with her when they had her and they just wanted to get rid of her. Sometimes tiny babies have failure to thrive. It's nothing that you did, its just they are so delicate.

If you have her in a glass tank. try covering 3 sides of her tank to help her feel more comfortable as she's getting used to her home.

 

[xxbyamomentx]

Thanks guys! I definitely suspect they had some shady practices going on, she's a variation of citrus morph with brilliant orange stripes and she was only $80. That's unheard of in my area. She was housed with her three siblings and arrived to me with an injured tail which was not shown in any of the pictures they posted of her. Luckily it was close enough to the tip that it fell off on its own without causing any other problems. I'd never recommend them to anyone but wouldn't trade my baby for the world.

I have a large enclosure I custom built myself but it's too large for her so I have her in a 20 gallon tall with the sides covered in black poster board until she's bigger and stronger. I have a 125w heat light on her now, but when I move her into the front-opening enclosure I'll have to get a dimmer or lower wattage bulb since it'll be closer to her. Tonight she started eating bugs again for the first time since she got sick, and she has her personality back completely. The vet is scheduled to call me back tomorrow morning and I can't wait to update him that she's finally eating. He may end up seeing her again just in case, but I think the meds and critical care saved her life. She's gained a gram so far and the bones around her tail don't stick up as badly as they did last Sunday. So grateful for my reptile vet and the advice I've gotten online!