emaytiti Posted October 13, 2012 Report Share Posted October 13, 2012 Hey guys, woke up today and checked on my reptiles and one of my beardies has got the following symptoms: Brought him about a year ago, he was 5yo. Lethargic - wont move Refusing to eat/drink Really dark in colour - beard is completly black Vest partly open Smelly Eyes are smaller than usual Looks really skinny compared to a week ago I'm quite worried about him, his cage mates are perfectly fine. He is usually the most active one of the lot. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 13, 2012 Report Share Posted October 13, 2012 Vest partly open?? dehydrated, give him a good soak in a warm baTH seperate from others and up heating slightly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emaytiti Posted October 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2012 ?? Sorry, meant vent. Separated him, with a water bowl earlier this morning. Will bath him shortly. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 13, 2012 Report Share Posted October 13, 2012 They are Australian so they only drink beer. It is sometimes very hard to get them to take on moisture. I give mine lots of greens and a bath regularly---particularly females producing eggs. They are not like leopard geckoes that will go to a bowl and lap up water like a cat. I have never seen any of my beardies lap up water from a bowl but they will when given a bath. As they move, so does the water and they start having a drink. They will also take on water through the vent like a turtle I am led to believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Laura Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 Good luck with your beardy! Let us know how the bathing goes My beardy drinks water from his bowl. I got him a water well but he didn't like it. And he likes to eat his calcium like a gecko, gave me a heart attack because I thought perhaps he was deficient, but no, just seems to have a case of mistaken identity. He also 'tastes' everything he meets. Weird critter. Although he does get bathed quite regularly and seems to love it. Had a nasty issue where he got attacked by his cage mate/would have been a girlyfriend who is now residing at a friend's house, came home to a bloody foot, and a black beardy. Lost one toenail, two toes in the end. Been over a month and his colour is still not back yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emaytiti Posted October 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 He sadly passed away Saturday night. After bathing him he perked up a bit. Really puzzled on what was wrong as he was fine on Friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 I had one with similar signs that died a week ago. I have sent to vet for autopsy and nothing obvious was found. Still waiting on tissue tests--should get this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emaytiti Posted October 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 I had one with similar signs that died a week ago. I have sent to vet for autopsy and nothing obvious was found. Still waiting on tissue tests--should get this week. Any idea how much that would cost? and any specific vet or can any vet clinic do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 There are very few vets in NZ that are good on reptiles. This lady is still learning but does the reptiles at willow bank wildlife reserve. I have dealt with here before and she seems keen so tried again---best I could find. Best would be to ring around the vets and they may know a local vet in to reptiles. This will cost $78 but even then may not have a definitive answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Vet rang this afternoon. I seems the beardie was producing eggs but they missed the fallopian tubes and ended up in the abdomen where they eventially got infected and the bugs were the problem. Finally ended up causing a blockage to the heart. Still have some info to come on wether a virus could have reduced the imune system but it looks like nothing we could have done about it. She said since she did not lay eggs last season the problem may have gone right back to then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repto Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 had a pheasant that the same thing happened to.peritonitus was the result and here today gone tomorrow was the result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 I never like losing them but it is better to find out if there was something you could have done better. Seems not in this case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repto Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 maybe there was??in my bird at least the hen was grossly over weight with huge fat deposits that may have caused the yolk to not pass cleanly into the oviduct.Could be similar with captive reptiles that just have to sit on a rock and wait for the food to arrive?the more the eat the more you give etc?Thats what I was doing with my bird,feeding it up in the hope of more eggs,not these days as I have also discovered that overweight males have a low sperm count and used to get heaps of infertile eggs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 Wasn't fat---was about average I guess. Vet thought it was small but I think overfeeding is something to watch for as there can't be a lot of life in the Ausie desert (plenty of flies I suppose) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 14, 2012 Report Share Posted November 14, 2012 Got the bill from the vet today---$278. Results as stated earlier but infection also caused a blood clot which stopped bloodflow to the heart. Aparently this does not happen in the wild so still working on what we can do to improve the way we are looking after them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emaytiti Posted November 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2012 Got the bill from the vet today---$278. Woooo...was that just for the autopsy? still working on what we can do to improve the way we are looking after them. Awesome that would be cool. Ended up taking my other two to the vets after the other one died as I noticed they had been leaving runny faeces throughout the cage. Vet got back to me yesterday and one of them has salmonella - (not sure if this is what was wrong with the other one or not) going to do more test to narrow down the strain ($162) and hopefully find out some more information. Vet says that I can't do anything better than I am husbandry wise. Starting to wonder if the one that died had salmonella and passed it one to the other two when I put them together. The vet I saw was really helpful, he has studied a fair bit about herpetology and used to work at a clinic in the UK. He also recommended this website - http://www.anapsid.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 14, 2012 Report Share Posted November 14, 2012 When Heidi was doing her research I think beardies came out with more salmonella than turtles. I investigated a salmonella case years ago contracted from native lizards on one of the walking tracks on the west coast and it was St Paul if I remember correctly. That was just for the autopsy but $199 was for virology that proved nothing. Aparently the problem I had does not happen in wild populations so I am trying to find out more. Salmonella in reptiles can be sub clinical and intermitant (which means a negative test does not mean they have not got it---you would need a lot of tests to be sure). Also they can carry it without symptoms (asymptomatic). Doctors don't normally prescribe antibiotics in humans as it can often make things worse. They would give really heavy doses of realy heavy meds if needed. Not sure about vets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emaytiti Posted November 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2012 Going back to vets in the next week, once the strain is confirmed he will know which antibiotics will be best for the beardy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 14, 2012 Report Share Posted November 14, 2012 They usually do antibiotic resistance along with the serotyping to get a good ID of the strain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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