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Critical Care of baby dragon

Dovahzul

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
11
Location
East Coast
Hi all, I have an unusual situation and would like some advice. I have come into possession of a very small beardie that had been anorexic for a week prior to being taken to the vet I work at. It is from a chain store that pulled it out of the "sale" case for its "lack of energy". As of right now we are treating as a failure to thrive case probably due to shipping and being in the store with much larger juveniles. As of now he's not on any medications.

He is 5g, 2.5 inches from snout to vent, 5.5 inches nose to tail. Direct fecal was negative for parasites, but sample was too small to do a crypto test on yet.

Yesterday he was so weak that he didn't resist syringe feeding and was licking carnivore care every few hours. As far as I know he has not had any supplementation since before arriving at the store either. Today he is a little stronger and eating more readily from the syringe, but absolutely refuses any type of live feeder and has no interest in veggies. Also today he started having a head tremor mostly when being fed.

any advice on suitable foods would be great. Is he too young to worry with veggies or should I puree some along with bugs and offer that. Everything is dusted with plain calcium carbonate and it is mixed with the first syringe feeding this morning. I will be adding reptivte and calcium with d3 as well but I've only had him for about 24 hours so far.

He is in a 20 long with paper towel substrate, a two hides, climbing branch, and a rock to bask on. he has a UVB reptisun 10 on a 12 hour timer and a daylight basking bulb with a thermostat that keeps his basking spot at 98*F. The cool end of the tank is 77. There is a small shallow butter dish lid that has bottled water in it. He has been thermoregulating on his own today.

I have lots of experiance with getting ball pythons and leopard geckos back on their feet (so to speak) but this is my first omnivore and the balance of protein to veggies is new
 

Dovahzul

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
11
Location
East Coast
I will add that I am extremely paranoid about Atadenovirus and Crypto getting into my own pets, so strict quarantine measures are in place. The dragon has its own trash can, insects, supplies, etc. I change clothes and wash my arms in chlorhexidine then Dawn before leaving the quarantine area.
 
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