Beardie Advice

Hey,

One of my beardies seems to be under the weather.
About a month ago my gf surprised me with some bearded dragons, and at the time they were in sep. cages, as one is a female and the other is a male, and we couldnt handle the violent... (nature) lol. But about 4 days ago, we purchased a 6ft tank.. This thing is huge! Build a couple hides out of neverused flowerpots, and threw a couple logs, a water dish and a food dish in there.

For the first while, they seemed great.

But today, we came home to find that the female was sort of.. plopped on the bottom of her ground, sleeping, or so it appears. She looks very ill. Little to no attempt to move, she would only open her eyes to see what was happening, and the other one was hiding in the corner.

There were puked up superworms all over her cage. One of my friends, also my BP breeder who works at a reptile store his girlfriends father owns, told me that I should be feeding them 100 superworms a week, each. Needless to say, I havent fed anywhere near 100 superworms a week. We still have a handful in each bucket of 100, and we've had the buckets for 2 weeks. But it wasnt until I started feeding her more frequently that this problem arose.

Now, the reason I am not sure what is wrong, entirely is because there are a number of factors playing a part on her situation..

- New cage
- New cage mate
- Superworms

I would also like to add, that my girlfriend was staying at her dads last night, so her mom being the complete.. (MORON) she is, regardless of how many times I reminded her, didnt turn their lights on until she got home from work which was about 6:30 PM. And even when she did that she didnt turn the UVA/UVB bulbs on.

I try to put calcium on the worms as often as possible, and we provide fresh lettuce and carrots every morning.

I just really want to get her back to health, and happiness. She is looking thin and wrinkly ever since she vomited, and I know thats never a good sign.

Bunch of no-no's here. Take her out of the enclosure with the male, regardless of how big it is. Split it if you have to. Make sure the UVA/UVB is at the right distance, and is a quality product. Next make sure the basking temps are correct. Make sure you aren't using loose substrate as this can cause impaction. Next do NOT feed 100 supers a week. They can eat a couple every couple days. Supers are not for use as a staple. I had a female beardie throw up once from too many supers, I think they are just too fatty for them. Instead try feeding crickets, silks, and/or roaches. Also carrots and lettuce are garbage. Feed Collard Greens, Watercress, Mustard Greens, Dandelion Greens, etc.. Something with nutrition. Last but not least, put the bd's to soak in warm water a few times a week. Spray the actual dragon lightly every day, do not spray enclosure (this will spike humidity levels).

If this doesn't work, give her some pedialyte or something with electrolytes, and take her to the vet. Good luck.

You can not keep male and female dragons of a breeding size together unless you are breeding them and then only for short periods of time. the male will constantly try to breed her and can cause great harm(broken bones etc).

Feeding large amounts of super worms is not good.

Lettuce is not gonna do, try collards. mixing up the food items daily is important to the health and well being of any dragons.

I suggest putting timers on the basking light and the UVB lights.

Well, she does seem a little better today. My gf says that she was up and laying ontop the male when she turned the lights on. I will go out and get them some crickets. What should I do about crickets? Alot of people say crickets are just exoskeleton and no nutrition.
Also, is a multivitamin supplement important? I was reading about that and we haven't been doing that.

I'm a ball python person. >.< but I love these guys. (apart from the frequency they poop)

As stated crickets and greens should be their staple diet. Both of these should be supplemented with calcium powder and Herpevite (which has lots of other vitamins and minerals) a couple of times a week. Worms are very high in fat and should be given as a treat occasionally. I give worms and sometimes pinkie mice to females that have just laid as they need higher fat diets because they can lay over 100 eggs in a season. A non breeding beardie does not need all that fat. I have seen beardies get so lazy, fat and obese that they wont even chase food anymore and they can get so spoiled they only will eat hand fed. Its like feeding a kid candy all the time and then try getting him to eat some broccoli and fish.

The throwing up could be from too a very large meal and then being stressed by the other dragon,

OR

It could also mean she has parasites and needs to be treated. The best way to check for this is to have a fecal float done by a Vet. That means you have to collect a fresh poop sample and bring it to the vet for lab work. It is normal for beardies to have some coccidia in their intestines but there are times when their defenses are low and levels can get to the point of infestation and medication is needed. Or there are other parasites or worms.

As far as housing together I would not recommend this for beginners. I have kept certain beardies together when I was very familiar with their behavior. A very dominant male could terrorize and even kill other beardies. If you are not familiar with beardie behavior and personalities you may find this out the hard way. I would only recommend housing togethrr for breeding or for the very experienced keeper.

I have kept beardies for over 15 years and have bred many many hundreds of them. Treating for intestinal parasites is pretty easy so don't be to worried.

I definitely would invest in a fecal exam.