Help

[Amanda87]

New owner of a new baby water dragon. 8 inch body? how old? Also he/she is eating fine but seems a bit sluggish. It falls asleep around 8 pm and also does not move around the cage much...even waiting for crickets to come to him! His clouring is fine however,he does have a small brown almost scab like bump in the corner of his month... any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

[DaremoAlpha]

Hi there and welcome to the board.

first off , the little things...

Do you have a pool of some sort for it to splash around in? When my dragon was still young it loved to play in the water dish.

Other food sources? What all are you feeding it ? It may be bored with crikets right now and need a different food, try meal worms or silk worms.

This bump may suggest mouthrot and so I have to say book a vet visit just to be on the safe side.

If you want to chat feel free to look me up on

Aim-- DaremoAlpha
Yahoo--- DaremoAlpha2000
Msn [e-mail]

Good luck and please keep us posted on what you do, find out and what the results are !!!

[Pooka]

HI,
I am assuming by 8 inch body that the dragons total length is 8 inchs? That usually indicates 3-4 months to me assuming she has all of her tail and was not seriously malnourished. Accurate aging should be left to a qualified herp vet though. Falling asleep at 8:00 is fine, Pooka, my dragon, is usually on her stick ready for bed by about that time if she is in her cage, but her lights go off just before 9:00 so she is used to that photoperiod. As the summer comes I will lengthen her 'days' by leaving the timer to keep the lights on later or bring them on earlier.

Sluggish concerns me, there can be many reasons.. personality, dehydrated, mal-nutrition, MBD, far to many variable to determine online. I would sugest you take your dragon to a vet with a fresh stool sample. The cost is usually about 30-40 for the appointment and fecal exam (this can be +/-20 also) The vet can examine the sluggish behavior and the mouth bump and give you suggestions on how to clean them up

How much is he/she eating everyday? Also do you have a UVB light and have you been supplementing food items with calcium supplement?

Welcome to GD

[Amanda87]

Ick the baby water dragon seems to be eating fine..i started him on wax worms yesterday. He still has the small bump on the side of his mouth,its not getting any worse and I am treating it with neosporin . His sluggish behavior is starting to worry me alot. He sleeps all the time! I have a pool for him to splash around in, two lights in the tank,have suppelmented his food with calcium. I also have him next to a window along with a UVB light so I think that is taken care of. Do not know what else to do.. vet visit...my last resort is returning him/her for another WD at the reptile store I got him from ..if that is even allowed...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

P.S. I have had him a little over a week and his breathing and clouring are fine...

[DaremoAlpha]

Move the tank away from the window, I have read that is a bad place for tanks.

Eating and breathing are fine and color is good hmmmm just sounds like you have a lazy baby.

Do the vet thing with the stool sample for parasites but other than that give it time and one day it will wake up and say hey look at me now.

[Amanda87]

Ick the baby water dragon died in my hand this morning. He did not look right so I picked him up and realized he was barely breathing. I rushed him to a warm ,shallow,sink full of water(this always wakes him up) and noticed he was opening and closing his mouth. I checked his mouth and realized there was a half eaten wax worm stuck. Rushed him downstairs got a tweezer and preceeded to take the wax worm out. His eyes opened,which I thought was a good sign. He went limp in my hand,yes, being a lifeguard I did attempt lizard CRP. Ick did not make it. It it possible for a lizard to choke to death?? Very upset.....

[DaremoAlpha]

I would say he tried to feed himself but did not have the energy to finish the job, there was something really not right internally I would have to say.

I feel sorry for your loss and the only comfort I can offer is there at least there is no more suffering for your baby.

[dragosmom]

So sorry about Ick. I agree, he probably was trying hard to sustain himself and just too weak to swallow the food.

[Pooka]

I am very very saddenedd to hear about Ick passing away. As I am not a vet I cannot confirm the cause of death, only a qualififed vet can give you more then just an educated guess on what was ailing Ick. Dragons can choke to death, I watched Pooka choke on some vomit the other day before she got it up and its a rather dramatic event. Luckikly she got it up and is feeling better now, I'm so sorry about your loss.

[dracco]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss

[Amanda87]

I brought poor Ick back to the reptile store. The owner informed me that all of their water dragons are wild caught. He offered to replace Ick as soon as soon as a new shipment of wd's came in .Ugghhh I hate when animals are treated as a busniness... . Anyway, the new "shipment" came in today. I went to look at the wds... this time I want to make sure the one I get is resonabably healthy.. There is a large one I am guessing is young adult and a very very small baby { no more than 5 inches head to the tip of the tail }. The rest are some what skinny and look alot like Ick. Any tips for picking one out ?? Any advice is greatly appreciated !

[DaremoAlpha]

If the bigger one looks somewhat healthy take it...and hate to say it but straight from petshop to vet is my advice.

From there start a good regiem of cricks ( dusted of course) small silkies ( 1- 1 1/2 long) and wax worms
just to fatten it up some and make sure it is healthy then work out the diet with lots of variety and with any luck you will have your self a happy dragon.

Make sure to take a fresh stool sample with you to the vet ( hell I would even suggest to the petshop they should be paying the vet bill because it was not a healthy animal they sold you in the first place.... But thats just me )

Lets us know how you make out

[Pooka]

Glad you deciced to get back up on the 'horse' so to speak. Many new dragon owners get discouraged when they loose an animal and give up. Daremo is giving sound advice. $35-$40 dollars for a vet visit and fecal exame is relativly nothing when compared to getting attached and loosing your pet to illness. Dragons are resilient creatures and if illness is detected early on then treatment is rather easy and effective. Keep us posted ;D