HELP! i think my bearded dragon is dying

Question
QUESTION: this might be a very stupid question, but this is my first pet reptile. is it okay to help take the dead skin off while your bearded dragon is shedding? my bd yoshi is about 6-7 months he began to shed so i started to take off the dry skin. the lower part of his back started to peel like dried elmers glue. this part wasn't as dry as the top part of his back but i figured it was dead skin so i peeled off the remaining skin which came off in one coat. kind of like peeling dry glue off of your hands as a kid. this happened yesterday morning (7/15/08) he's been looking kind of sluggish since this morning (7/16/08). he also looks much smaller within 24 hours. almost like he's starving but he gets food everyday.

i appreciate the help,
kadi

ANSWER: If your dragon is sick, taking the dead skin off his back did not cause it, so take a deep breath and another look at your dragon.  Is he still eating?  You said he is about 6-7 months old, have you changed his UVB bulb yet?  Many of those bulbs are only good for 4-6 months after which time they will still come on but not put out the UVB your lizard requires.  You are doing UVB right?!?!?  Not just UV but UVB, that B is very important.  What are your cages temps?  Hot end/cool end?  

Reptiles regularly "blow-up" before a shed, they retain water to make themselves bigger and thereby stretch the old skin, then they release and the old skin is easier to get off.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you so much for your response. i would have wrote back sooner, but I'm a little sad. when i woke up this morning my dragon was dead. but to answer your question, my dragon only stopped eating yesterday. he usually eats everyday, a lot. i just bought a new uvb bulb about 2 months ago, he was also receiving uva light. the hot side of his cage 95 degrees and the cool side is 75 degrees. he had a pinky for the first time on monday. Tuesday i put him in the bath tub to swim around, he was very active. even when i checked on him Tuesday night he was still running around. Wednesday morning he wasn't  active at all but i thought he was just being lazy. when i put him in water last night and realized he didn't "blow up" i figured i would bring him to the vet this morning, but he was dead. my little brother said that he caught a few moths Wednesday night and put it in his cage. i told him not to do that because i have no idea where those insects have been. it doesn't look like he ate any of them. but since he is a domestic reptile can wild insects be harmful? please help! i have no idea how does a animal goes from healthy, to sick, then dead in less than 48 hours.

Answer
OK, two things.  You said domestic-are you in Australia?  If not, then the bugs were not domestic.  If the bugs your brother caught included fireflys we've found our problem.  Fireflys (for some reason which escapes me at present) are extremely toxic to beardies.  That may be our culprit.  I would not feed wild-caught bugs to be on the safe side.  Second your high side temp needs to go up at least 10 degrees for your next dragon.  The only thing I can think of is if the pinkie was too big, but at 6-7 months I wouldn't think so.  The rule with beardies is that the prey item must fit between the dragons eyes if it were placed sideways on the dragons head.  I'm sorry about your dragon, please don't let this experience spoil you forever!


Kadi, are you in fact in Australia? And did your brother give him fireflys?  I'm curios.