How did my beardie die?

Question
QUESTION: Two days ago, my 2 year old male bearded dragon was a happy lizard full of life. Yesterday I woke up he was the same just sleeping. At 2:00 P.M. he defecated in his cave which is VERY unusual of him and his beard was all black and he was sleeping again VERY unusual. So I gave him a bath and he woke right up. in the bath he began to walk toward me which is usual but then he stopped dead in his track his eyes closed and his head went down into the water. I quickly took him out he was breathing but still black. I put him in his cage after drying him off. I then checked on him and he defecated again. I cleaned that out and a little later he defecated again. When my mom got home we took him to the animal clinic where he was givin fluids and antibiotics. After we took him home he was releasing liquids from him vent and small amounts of urates. he also had feces near his cloaca which could be seen and felt under his pelvis. He did not have the energy to expel it. during the night he would open his eyes and close them very rapidly and they were usualy followed by bowel movements and just liquids would come out. My little buddy died later that night =(

ANSWER: Hi Chris,
First off, I am so very sorry for your loss. I really can't tell you why your beardie died but can only offer some possible causes.  On;y a necropsy (animal autopsy) can tell you what actually was the cause.
Is it possible that your beardie ate a lightening bug?  They are highly toxic to beardies.
We you possibly using the calci sand in his cage?  That sand can be deadly to many reptiles as it encourages them to eat it and it does not digest but causes internal blockages. Other types of bark and loose substrates can also cause blockages.
Pine and cedar is very toxic to reptiles...
Eating only mealworms can cause blockages...
A heavy load of internal parasites can cause blockages.. too large of insects can also cause problems.
Of course tumors or other growths can also cause problems as can diseases.
From what you describe, it does sound like there was a blockage of some sort.  Did the vet x ray to check for a blockage?
Again, I am very sorry for your loss but the only way to know for sure what happened is to have a necropsy done. The black color was due to stress and illness.

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QUESTION: he was kept indoors ( we dont get lightening bugs where we live)and was on newspaper. We usualy dont give him super worms we only did because they store was out of crickets and silkworms. He was big enough for full grown insects. He has also had past blood work and that has came back normal. We did not give him and X-ray nor can we do a necropsy due to financial reasons.

Answer
Hi Chris,
It sounds like you were doing everything the right way... its sad when it happens, believe me I know as I lost a leopard gecko very suddenly. I was able to find out what caused the death which did help me to understand why it happened. If you talk to your vet, many are willing to do a necropsy for little or no expense as they use it as a learning tool. It may not hurt to ask your vet.  Again, I am so very sorry for your loss.
Another thought....there are cases where there are bad batches of insects.. I would check with the pet store and ask if there were any problems. They may not want to be 100% honest with you about it..but I would ask them.
With bloodwork normal, it may have been something genetic..which with so many people over breeding beardies, its the people that purchase the babies that suffer with things such as happened to you.