HELP! Losing my Frilly

[cschneider]

So some of you may remember the story of my frilled dragon. I bought 2 BPs at the columbus show early this month and a frilled dragon somehow got into the bag. I decided to keep him after the BP breeder didn't claim him. He has been doing great until a few days ago. He is very inactive. I can pick him up and he will barely move. Sometimes he even let's me turn him on his back and he will open his eyes but barely move his legs. Here is his set up...

He is in an aquarium 20" x 12" x 14". He has a UTH for night time and a UVA and UVB bulb for day time. Fake branches and vines to climb on and a water bowl. I'm having a hard time keeping his humidity up with the bulbs on all day. It is usually around 50 after i spray with a spray bottle, but drops down to 10 quickly, and the ambient temp is around 85 to 90 degrees with a 100 degree basking spot.

From head to tail, he is about 6" and is feeding on crickets, although i haven't seen him eat in the past few days. I spray vitamins on the potatoes and cricket drink and I also have been spraying vitamins in the frilly's water bowl since he has been acting like this. I really thought he was going to die yesterday, but i did see him drinking water today which got my hopes up a bit. I also saw some new droppings, so maybe he has eaten and I just didn't see him do it.

I am definitely learning about lizards because most of my knowledge is BP stuff. I know the aquarium is smaller than he needs. I plan to buid a 4' enclosure for him but was waiting until he got a little bigger. He is so small, I figured it wasn't necessary yet. If anyone can help, or point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Pandora]

check out thefrilleddragon.com fast response for a small site. although herp might be your best bet. good luck

[Pandora]

sorry, after reading your post a bit more thoroughly, i think you might be over dosing him with vitamins...
you're supposed to give him calcium every day and multi-vitamin supplements 1-2 times a week, although once is good enough

[cschneider]

The spray I'm using now is just calcium. I will go out tomorrow to get a multi vitamin. Thanks for the advice. I really hope I don't lose him. I'm so worried and there are no pet stores open today! Ah, i drove everywhere looking for an open one.

[Beardedragon]

Whats your Uvb bulb you are using called? Brandname and type ( tube? Flourescent?)

What substrate? What size crickets?

Id also use repcal powder as your calcium and vits.

Im by no means an expert on Frillys, but these are some of the number one problems people have with Lizards.

[cschneider]

The UVB is a Zilla 20 watt tropical 25. The bulb looks like one of those new energy saver bulbs, you know, the spiral bulbs. I'm using paper towels as the substraint. Please let me know if this helps or if you need to know anything else. I'm kind of freaking out that he won't make it through the night.

[cschneider]

Oh and crickets are smaller than the width in between his eyes.

[Pandora]

Did you try that website?
My boyfriend was having a lot of problems with his frilled dragon and the girl who runs that forum knows quite a bit about frillies, she'll probably be able to point out exactly what's causing your concerns... it definitely helped us =]

[Pandora]

Also, I'm pretty sure you'll want to stray away from the compact spiral bulb. Spiral bulbs are no good, they've been known to cause problems in the corneas of the reptile, and 25 watts is too high. You'll want to get a tube of about 10 watts ZooMed brand ones are the best... your compact could be causing the problem. Make sure he gets about 12-14 hours a day of the UVB bulb... invest in a timer so you don't forget. Do his eyes seem any different to you?? I think you mentioned he's been keeping them closed lately. Try feeding him something other than crickets... maybe try a hornworm (which they love) or a silkworm if you can get your hands on any... try soaking him in a warm bath for a couple of minutes. Mist once or twice a day, an hour before eating, keep his humidity stable and measure it with a digital hygrometer. If you're having humidity problems, cover 3/4 of the tank lid and put the water dish right underneath the heat lamp; he's going to want to poop in there a lot so give him lots of fresh water. Make sure all your temperatures don't vary greatly between night and day, you want to keep them stable. The temps should drop slightly during night time, no less than the mid 70's...

That's all very jumbled but that's what worked for us... just very common fixes that might help. Once again, good luck

[Royal Morphz]

The UVB is a Zilla 20 watt tropical 25. The bulb looks like one of those new energy saver bulbs, you know, the spiral bulbs. I'm using paper towels as the substraint. Please let me know if this helps or if you need to know anything else. I'm kind of freaking out that he won't make it through the night.

Take the Zilla bulb back they arent the best and put out wonky amounts on UVB. Also a Desert bulb may be better at a Frilled Dragon mainly are from arid regions. But I would definitely check out a frilly forum for some info from known frilly owners.