Kylie C
Hatchling Dragon
- Messages
- 63
Last night I posted frantically asking for help with my suffering 2 1/2 year old beardie. Unfortunately he passed away a little bit ago. My number one assumption is that he ate something toxic outside without me noticing. I am going to list the symptoms and progression of his final day and hopefully someone can affirm my suspicion or shed some light on what happened to him. I’m looking for closure and maybe more information in case this happens to another one of my beardies in the future. I am extremely upset, exhausted, and in despair.
Jojo was outside from around 12-2pm yesterday. Perfectly normal, not stressed, active and happy.
At around 10 pm I notice his eyes are sunken, almost as if his eyeball is stuck toward the bottom of the sockets, if that makes any sense. I’ll post photos. His beard is black, he is salivating a little, hes lethargic, flattened out, and just seems really uncomfortable. There was new poop in there with a perfectly white Urate and normal brown stool.
my dad and I rush him to the vet. On the car ride he seems to be gasping once in a while for air. Shallow breathing. The emergency clinic told us it would be about a 4 hour wait, and the nurse didn’t seem to be concerned about his condition, which worried me because any experienced reptile owner would be extremely alarmed if their reptile was in the state Jojo was in. So we drove home.
picked up concentrated charcoal on the way home just in case I got the balls to use it on him. My actual vet thought he might be dehydrated so I bathedhim for a looong time and did my best to syringe feed him water and other liquid foods. got some water in him, and heswam around and seemed a bit happier while in the bath. Later that night he ate a cricket but seemed to have trouble swallowing.
sometimes he would try to move around, but he would act as if he had to climb up, like he couldn’t see right out in front of him. His movements were slower than usual. He was naturally a spastic lil guy, never could quite relax. When he snuggled up in a corner or something he would never fully close his eyes, like a cat sleeping with one eye open.
anyways, I stayed up all night with him on my chest with a heating pad. He was lethargic and clearly not doing well. He never would just sit with me. Always had to be on the move. Tried to syringe water into his mouth throughout the night. Not too much at a time. His jaw was clamped shut so not muchwas getting in despite me trying to safely open his mouth.
put him away from 5:30-7:30 am. This morning his condition was worse. His mouth was gaping slightly open. I could tell he didn’t sleep at all. Stayed in the same position all night, flat out and depressedlooking. I’m not sure if there was ton of saliva (he was not drooling) but it was definitely present. He pooped while He was in there and it was small with a white urate with normal brown stool.
rushed him to a different emergency vet this morning. They were so kind and the vet did everything he could. I could tell they knew what they were doing and to that I am happyand grateful that he ended up in good hands. They gave him fluids but said his condition was bad. When I gave him to them I noticed he had a wet substance aroundthe base of his tail. At that point I was convinced he was already dead, but he held on for afew hours.
I read that if it was a firefly those can kill adults in a matter of 15 mins to 2 hours. His death took a little more than 12 hours. I don’t believe he was dehydrated or calcium deficient because I am very keen of supplying my babies with the best diet possible. All I can think of is that he ate something up while I wasn’t looking. I am crushed to think that I could have prevented his death if I had watched him better. for the record, I do keep a very close eye on my beardies while they are outside. He does try to munch on plants while outside, but I always pullEd him away and moved him. I live in Michigan, so if any one knows of plants that are toxic to beardies in my region that I am unaware of, please tell me so I can remove them so this never happens again.
Jojo was outside from around 12-2pm yesterday. Perfectly normal, not stressed, active and happy.
At around 10 pm I notice his eyes are sunken, almost as if his eyeball is stuck toward the bottom of the sockets, if that makes any sense. I’ll post photos. His beard is black, he is salivating a little, hes lethargic, flattened out, and just seems really uncomfortable. There was new poop in there with a perfectly white Urate and normal brown stool.
my dad and I rush him to the vet. On the car ride he seems to be gasping once in a while for air. Shallow breathing. The emergency clinic told us it would be about a 4 hour wait, and the nurse didn’t seem to be concerned about his condition, which worried me because any experienced reptile owner would be extremely alarmed if their reptile was in the state Jojo was in. So we drove home.
picked up concentrated charcoal on the way home just in case I got the balls to use it on him. My actual vet thought he might be dehydrated so I bathedhim for a looong time and did my best to syringe feed him water and other liquid foods. got some water in him, and heswam around and seemed a bit happier while in the bath. Later that night he ate a cricket but seemed to have trouble swallowing.
sometimes he would try to move around, but he would act as if he had to climb up, like he couldn’t see right out in front of him. His movements were slower than usual. He was naturally a spastic lil guy, never could quite relax. When he snuggled up in a corner or something he would never fully close his eyes, like a cat sleeping with one eye open.
anyways, I stayed up all night with him on my chest with a heating pad. He was lethargic and clearly not doing well. He never would just sit with me. Always had to be on the move. Tried to syringe water into his mouth throughout the night. Not too much at a time. His jaw was clamped shut so not muchwas getting in despite me trying to safely open his mouth.
put him away from 5:30-7:30 am. This morning his condition was worse. His mouth was gaping slightly open. I could tell he didn’t sleep at all. Stayed in the same position all night, flat out and depressedlooking. I’m not sure if there was ton of saliva (he was not drooling) but it was definitely present. He pooped while He was in there and it was small with a white urate with normal brown stool.
rushed him to a different emergency vet this morning. They were so kind and the vet did everything he could. I could tell they knew what they were doing and to that I am happyand grateful that he ended up in good hands. They gave him fluids but said his condition was bad. When I gave him to them I noticed he had a wet substance aroundthe base of his tail. At that point I was convinced he was already dead, but he held on for afew hours.
I read that if it was a firefly those can kill adults in a matter of 15 mins to 2 hours. His death took a little more than 12 hours. I don’t believe he was dehydrated or calcium deficient because I am very keen of supplying my babies with the best diet possible. All I can think of is that he ate something up while I wasn’t looking. I am crushed to think that I could have prevented his death if I had watched him better. for the record, I do keep a very close eye on my beardies while they are outside. He does try to munch on plants while outside, but I always pullEd him away and moved him. I live in Michigan, so if any one knows of plants that are toxic to beardies in my region that I am unaware of, please tell me so I can remove them so this never happens again.
