spike, bearded dragon

Question
QUESTION: We have had Spike our bearded dragon for about 2 1/2 weeks.  She is small about 3 1/2 inches long not including her tail.  She is sleeping ,most of the time, and will not eat.  She is loosing weight, skin looks loose.  At the suggestion of another web iste I have been giving her baby food and she eats some of that a couple times a day.  She has bowel movements and occasionaly responds to Thorn or other bearded dragon.  Thorn is awake and eatting crickets and greens, spike has not the entire time we have had her.  We live in rural community in NM and do not have a vet that specializes in reptiles, so I've been on-line a lot.  I just bought a product called jump start that is for anorexic reptiles...I do not know what else to do.  The environment is as it should be and I dont know if she is trying to burminate???  She is just so small and fragile so I'm worried.  Any advice is much appreciated we reallllyyyy are attached to our to little friends.

ANSWER: Hello Jill,

First off, do you have them in separate tanks?  If not, I suggest you get the little one, Spike in a small tank right now until you can get her better.    
I do need to know, however, your entire setup, ok?
What type & brand of UVB light are you using, is it a flourescent tube light or a compact or coil light?  What type of basking light are you using, a bright white one or a colored one?
What are you using to measure the temperatures currently? A stick on type of thermometer, a digital probe or a temp gun?
What type of substrate is she on?  Right now, since she is ill, I would make sure she is on paper towels.  
Did you get her from a petstore?  There is a large chance that she has parasites, especially if she was housed with other dragons & on sand.  Or, if she was on sand, she could be impacted as well.
What are the basking temps?  The recommended basking temps are 95-110 for babies, & 78-82 on the cool side.  If you have her in a small tank, around a 10 gallon, shoot for only 100-105 as those small tanks hold heat very well!
Jumpstart is a very good product.  You can thin it down with turkey babyfood & squash babyfood, right now, since she is not eating on her own.  Keep trying to get hydration into her, daily, with a plastic eye dropper, but only 1-2 cc's daily, is plenty.  
The urates, is she putting out much of them with her stools?  How do her eyes look, are they bright or sunken in?
Losing weight is an indication of parasites most of the time.  There is a site www.herpvetconnection.com  
That has listings of vets in different areas, you may want to check it out.  
Another option is to go to a nearby vet & request a fecal on her.  Get a plastic baggie & collect a fecal & put it in there.  It should keep up to 12 hours in the fridge.  Most vets will do a fecal for a relatively low price, less than $30.  That would at least let you know what could be going on, if she has parasites or not.  If you opt for that, please get the counts on whatever she may have, & we can go from there.
However, at her age, I hesitate to medicate her as meds are so harsh on them.  If her levels are that high though, sometimes you have to medicate a little bit.

Keep me posted on her.

Tracie


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

QUESTION: Spike came from a local pet store along with thorn.  They were housed together.  The care they were recieving was not good, no reptile light and a home full of about 30 crickets that were crawling all over them.  Origninaly we just got spike but after reading the care guidlines we went back for thorn because I could not leave hime there.  Anyway our light is a slimline reptile light with 7% UVB, the tube kind not coil.  The basking light is not colored.  The temp on the warm side of the 30"L takn is about 90-95 and the cool side 75-80.  I have the temp measured by stick on circles temp gauges, not a strip, I got them and the light from PetCo.  The substrate had been a bark type but we switched over to sand.  Her eyes are very sleepy and sunken in, her belly is concave.  I am still doing jumpt start and baby food and daily baths.  Tomorrow I am contacting all the vets in our small town to see if someone can check her for parasites...or whatever else they can check for.  At night the tank does not do below 70.  Today she had trouble with her stool, it was stuck a little but came out in the bath.  Any more guidance is appreciated, and I will be hunting vets as soon as they open in the morning.

Answer
Hello Jill,
There are a few changes that need to be done.  :-))
The slimline, is ESU & it has no UVB output basically.  It is a very poor UVB light.  The best UVB that are flourescents are reptiglo 8 or reptisun 10.  He is not getting adequate UVB exposure.  
The stick on thermometers only measure the ambient temps, not the basking spot.  So I recommend getting a digital probe or a temps gun for better readings.  It sounds as if he is possibly getting too hot (the stick ons are off by alot) & she could be dehydrated.  
The substrate, sand, is it calcisand or reptisand?  She could be impacted from the bark previously & the sand, too.  
Good the basking light is a bright white one & not a colored light.  
I think that she may have a higher than normal coccidia or pinworm level just due to the fact that some husbandry has been off & that raises stress.  
Good you are looking for a vet.  Let me know how Spike is doing.  
Keep up with the jumpstart & the babyfood & fluids right now.  If you can stomach it, you can use the feeders to make a slurry instead of the babyfood.  

Tracie