Death of brumating beardie. What could have happened?

Sorry this is a long one. I just want to be sure and give you guys as many details as possible.

So I don't own bearded dragons at the moment. This pertains to my little cousin's first beardie who passed away last night while I was up here visiting.

She was 1 day over a year old and had been in brumation since October. It was almost like she was in a coma. She would flop from one end of her tank to another through the day and would drink if her mouth was placed under a tiny stream of water everyday. Her eyes would never open and she looked kinda drunk when she did move. For the most part she just slept.

She slowed down and began eating less before brumation and had a bowl movement before she went to sleep as well. Since she has been asleep she has had a bowl movement about once every two weeks.

The entire time she was in brumation her mouth stayed open as well and we eyes started to sink in a little in the last few weeks.

The only other detail that may or may not be important is that since they got her at 6 weeks old, her back legs had always seemed a bit derpy. She got around fine but seemed a bit always moved slower and differently than the other dragons.

Does anyone have an idea of what could've went wrong? Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to help us understand.

Did they have a uvb light on it and how old was it? If the bulb was over 6 months old the dragon wasn't getting any uvb. Also, the legs may have been "derpy" due to the lack of uvb and no way to process calcium(or vitamin d3, I forget).

She was one day over a year old (turned a yr on Jan 1). They didn't have a UVB light on to begin with but she had it on her for the last month.

In my limited experience with lizards, that very well may have been the issue. I don't have all the scientific info on hand, but look up the effects on lack of uvb on lizards.

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Originally Posted by onthefritz

She was one day over a year old (turned a yr on Jan 1). They didn't have a UVB light on to begin with but she had it on her for the last month.

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Improper care. This was my first thoughts last night when I read the post but I didn't have time to post anything.
You also keep saying brumation however I think that was the sign of the start of problems.
My 5 dragons are between 3 to 5 years old and I have never seen any signs of what a typical brumation should be.
Then again they have a constant food source and do not have temperature swings as they would in the wild.

They have 3 other older beardies and they didn't go into brumation.

She called the breeders she purchased her from when her appetite started slowing down and she became kinda crabby at the first of October. He told her that there was no need to bring her in because he thought it sounded like she was just going into brumation. He also said that it was more common for the younger dragons to go through it than the older ones.

They also have a water dragon. There is a small possibility that he has a RI (he has a vet appt this week). If it turns out that he does, could it be possible that it was transferred to her while she was being handled and nobody noticed any typical symptoms because she was asleep?

She is devastated over losing her baby. I am just trying to help her look into what went wrong so that they can prevent it from happening again if possible. All 3 other dragons seem healthy and have 2 different lights, one for heat and the other for UVB.

I just think the lack of a UVB light for 11 months was the problem. They need that to get Vit D3, which allows them to utilize Calcium properly. Without that, it wouldn't be able to function as it should.

http://beardeddragoncaresheet.weebly.com/lighting.html

This has all you need to know.

when they started using it what type of UVB bulb were they using? They are not all created equal.

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

when they started using it what type of UVB bulb were they using? They are not all created equal.

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I haven't asked her for anymore details since I left because it upsets her to talk about it. Her mom, who helps care for the dragons, seems defensive and gets angry when I ask as well.

However, while i was visiting with them they purchased what they called a "vitamin light." I would assume this was what they were thinking provided the UVB. The light that they purchased that moment was a Zilla Night Black Heat Incandescent bulb.

I'm a BP person so I haven't had to do much reading on UVB light but what I just read suggests that the particular bulb they bought produces very little UVB because it is incandescent. This could be where in lies the problem. On the flip side, idk that this is the bulb that they purchased every time. I just know that its what they bought the other day.

I will send her a link to this thread later when she gets out of school. Maybe it will help her.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by onthefritz

I haven't asked her for anymore details since I left because it upsets her to talk about it. Her mom, who helps care for the dragons, seems defensive and gets angry when I ask as well.

However, while i was visiting with them they purchased what they called a "vitamin light." I would assume this was what they were thinking provided the UVB. The light that they purchased that moment was a Zilla Night Black Heat Incandescent bulb.

I'm a BP person so I haven't had to do much reading on UVB light but what I just read suggests that the particular bulb they bought produces very little UVB because it is incandescent. This could be where in lies the problem. On the flip side, idk that this is the bulb that they purchased every time. I just know that its what they bought the other day.

I will send her a link to this thread later when she gets out of school. Maybe it will help her.

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I have no idea what a "Vitamin Light" is, I assume they are saying it helps with D3 production but I don't know if that is the brand or not. Lighting for beardies (and really most lizards) is important. I am not a fan of the CFL style bulbs as their UV output is very low. A lot of people swear by the Mercury Vapor bulbs, however I prefer to use a 50 Watt (wattage is dependent on ambients of the house etc, 50 works for me in SoCal) Flood Lamp for the hot spot and for UVB I use T5HO fixtures with a 10.0 HO bulb. For what its worth that is my 2 cents.

http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/En...D=2&SearchID=5 - Bulb