Weird breathing/popping sounds

[kaybird]

I'm completely new to this forum, so I apologize in advance for any rookie mistakes.

My beardie is a rescue and is about a year and a half in age. He is the second dragon I've owned, so I'm not much of a newbie when it comes to caring for them.
His previous owners didn't take too great of care as he came to me with a regular light bulb as a basking bulb and no UVB lights-- as well as iceberg lettuce and crickets as his food.

In the 6 months I've owned him, he's never shown the signs he has shown for the past two days.
He has been puffing his beard only to be followed by a "pfft" or popping type of noise as he opens his mouth wide just to breathe for a few seconds. He does this every minute or so. I read that beardies do this when they shed (which he is currently doing) but now I fear it may be something to worry about.

There is no discharge from his eyes/nose/mouth.
He does not "wheeze" when he inhales/exhales.
I have noticed one nostril looks closed while the other is deeper and more open (see picture). I pulled a few fibers from his closed nostril and tried gently grabbing at anything that was in there but he freaked out and I was too terrified to try again for fear of hurting him. I have also been soaking him for about 5-10 minutes per day to try and loosen his shedding, thinking it may also help the issue. I have seen no difference in his breathing issues.

***If it matters, he is in a 75 gal long aquarium. His basking bulb is 100 watt, UVB 26. He does have a cool side which he never visits. Bottom of tank is tile. Diet consists of turnip greens/mustards and super worms as well as horn worms as of recent.

He's the sweetest boy and has NEVER shown me aggression even when he's upset or hurt. I'm not sure what to do and I just dropped a huge amount of money on school, so a vet visit isn't exactly a viable option for me at the moment. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Patti]

It sounds like it could be an upper respiratory tract infection. My one beardie had the same problem with his nostril being clogged like that and the popping sounds and sure enough when I brought him to the vet he had the infection. If you can find a reptile vet near you I would bring him to make sure he gets the treatment he needs. Unfortunately my beardie really struggled with this and eventually he got so bad with his eye that they had to remove it. I don’t know many of the details because at that point my ex boyfriend had taken him. So sorry for not being able to give you more information on that.


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[Patti]

It could be that his humidity is too high in his tank. I’ve noticed with my tiles that the moisture from his water bowl and the light making it evaporate gets stuck under the tiles. I would check this everyday and wipe up and excess moisture you might see.


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[kaybird]

It could be that his humidity is too high in his tank. I’ve noticed with my tiles that the moisture from his water bowl and the light making it evaporate gets stuck under the tiles. I would check this everyday and wipe up and excess moisture you might see.


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It's not humid at all in the room he stays in and I never keep water in the tank as he gets to come out and run around freely a few times a day as well as having access to water at that time. One thing that has changed is that I came home a few days ago and one of the roommates was vaping heavy clouds next to him. I was absolutely furious and am not sure if that is what has caused it.

 

[Patti]

It's not humid at all in the room he stays in and I never keep water in the tank as he gets to come out and run around freely a few times a day as well as having access to water at that time. One thing that has changed is that I came home a few days ago and one of the roommates was vaping heavy clouds next to him. I was absolutely furious and am not sure if that is what has caused it.

It sounds like that could have easily caused it. The chemicals and moisture in that could be very detrimental to his breathing. I would be furious too!


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[kaybird]

It sounds like that could have easily caused it. The chemicals and moisture in that could be very detrimental to his breathing. I would be furious too!


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I saw something from a bunch of different owners that you can use Reptaid as well as fogging them in a clear box with vaporub. Have you heard of this?

 

[Patti]

I saw something from a bunch of different owners that you can use Reptaid as well as fogging them in a clear box with vaporub. Have you heard of this?

I personally have not, you could google uses if using vapor rub is safe for them and if you decide it is you could try it


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[PatsyB]

I would have a vet take a look at him to rule out an RI, you really don’t want to let that go.

You also need to get a proper UVB bulb. Compact fluorescents don’t penetrate deep enough into the tank to provide adequate UVB. You want your UVB to cover at least 2/3 of the tank with your heat bulb overlapping it in the basking spot. A T5 tube bulb is the most common used one. Some people also use a mercury vapor bulb.

 

[Hdrydr31]

I agree with Patsy if it is a RI that needs to be addressed for sure.. You never want to self treat anything without checking with your exotic vet...

 

[Honchess]

Rather than try any home remedies I would find a reputable vet. If you knew for sure what was wrong a home remedy might work, but you aren't sure about anything at this point. And that roommate vaping beside the tank--pound her head! (Seriously, point out that it isn't good for your dragon, nicely if possible, although I don't know if I could be nice if it was endangering my dragon.)
Also do you know the temp in each end of the tank and under the basking bulb? The size of the basking bulb and UV don't seem high enough for that much space. I have a smaller tank than that and that is the size I use...
Maybe the overall temp is too low...

 

[Galapoodle]

My beardie had an RI (respiratory infection) and it was the same symptoms. A vet can easily diagnose it and get him on antibiotics (Baytril was the med our vet chose). It will upset their tummy so also ask the vet if they have probiotics to accompany the meds, to help their gut flora. She stopped eating the first time we tried meds without probiotics. Our beardie was on meds for 40 days, before she got the okay to stop from vet, we forked it out for blood tests. We also did multiple daily baths during the medication period as recommended by our vet. It took her even longer to bounce back fully after med period (eat her veg, get active). Course we'd spoiled her with worms during her illness and she had gotten lazy and fat. She was just under a year old when we realized something was wrong. We were newbs. She is now a 3 year old champion stealing hearts and active much of the time.

It's good you don't keep water in the tank but perhaps consider investing in a dehumidifier, it helps keep the overall ambient humidity in the room down, which in turn lowers it in the tank. Ours is out a lot too so it's important to consider the outside tank air regarding humidity. High humidity is the leading cause of RIs. As for your vaping friend, tell them to go outside or pay your vet bills.