Bearded Dragon Illness | August 2018
I hardly ever post anything personal on Tumblr anymore, but there is so little information circulating out there on reptiles (and even worse: misinformation) that I wanted to share my current situation with the Tumblr community to share any ideas or advice.
My bearded dragon, Puff, is almost three years old. I’ve had her since she was only a couple months old and got her from PetCo. I’ve only recently found out Puff is most likely female. When I brought her home it was a lot more work than anticipated and I did extensive research, and I truly feel like I can never learn enough about them because of the mixed bag of information available on different platforms. I currently have her set up in a 40gal breeder tank, repticarpet, food and water dishes, a basking site, a hide site, a basking bulb, and a ReptiSun 10.0 UVB bulb (standard size, not compact).
Puff never had any health concerns before, other than a slight case of coccidia when she was younger. We were sent home with medication and had no further issues. She gets crickets every other day and salad in between, yet she never shows interest in her greens. Sometimes this causes her to have diarrhea since she doesn’t get the proper nutrients from greens.
About 2-3 weeks ago, I noticed she went into almost a full body shed, which is taxing on them. She wasn’t eating like usual, and I assumed it was from her shedding. Luck would have it that I asked my dad to look after her while I visit my mom for about a week. I told him she hasn’t been eating, but it’s probably because of her shed and to offer her food daily, and give her soaks. He did so, and she didn’t eat the whole time I was gone. When I came home I noticed it looked like there was a small bit of vomit on her carpet that night. I took her to Broward Avian & Exotic Animal Hospital (as seen on TV) the next morning to be seen by a doctor.
They ran all sorts of tests. Blood work, fecal, ultrasound, etc. and found she had severe anemia and needed a transfusion from another bearded dragon, or else she might not have made it. They insisted they keep her at least overnight to monitor her and make sure her red blood cell count goes up. She ended up staying almost four days. The transfusion seemed to barely work, and they said her white blood cells are out of control, and that it’s probably a nasty infection.
They sent me back to my dad’s place (we haven’t even been home this whole time) with antibiotics for the coccidia parasite that she finished on August 17, and injections to help fight the infection that I administer to her every three days (help). She still has not eaten anything in a while now. When we finally returned home, (about a two hour drive from my dad’s) I took her to Medlin Exotic Animal Medical Services for a checkup/second opinion. This has not been a cheap process, and I want to make sure I’m making the best decisions for her. While at MEAMS, she got put on another antibiotic and received SQ fluids through an injection in her back to help with blood pressure. They also gave me omnivore care to assist feed her daily.
I feel so bad for the little thing and this new doctor seems to think it could require surgery if she doesn’t improve. If anyone has any advice or has had a similar situation, I’d love to talk with you and see how your beardie did. I don’t want her to suffer.