help my beardie has been seizuring and just vomited

[geckogirl1836]

I have a 3 year old male bearded dragon and I recently had to take him to the vet because he had been seizuring and the vet said it was because of a lack of calcium so I have been adding more calcium to his diet. lately he has been gasping a lot and he just threw up what he ate today fifteen minutes ago and now he seems really out of it. the vet is closed for the night so I won't be able to take him until the morning but I have no idea what to do in the mean time it's really scaring me he's just sitting there with his mouth open not moving

 

[beardie parents]

What are his temps and what do you take them with? If their temps are off (too cold) they can get an upset tummy.

 

[geckogirl1836]

the warm end of my beardies tank is about 102 degrees F and the cool end is about 78 degrees F and im not a hundred percent sure that the throw up is a seperate symptom due to the fact that he has been seizuring I'm wondering if my vet has made the right diagnosis I have kept beardies as pets for about ten years with very little problems and I've never seen anything like this before two weeks ago he had his first seizure it started out as what i thought was just odd head bobbing and then before I knew it he was flipping on all sides around the tank then I took him out and he started gasping and an two hours later he looked completely lifeless his body was limp and i didnt see any signs of breathing or a heartbeat then i picked him up to put him in a box so i could bury him and he jumped up and started gasping and for the next two hours he slowly got better and back to normal i put him back in the tank and he started eating with all the other beardies since then he's had three more seizures including one today after he threw up but none as bad as the first and the recovery time is less than an hour. after the first seizure I took him to the vet and she said it was a calcium difficiency seizure and I should start adding more calcium to his diet so i did the only thing is none of my other beardies have ever had a calcium related problem they get calcium powder and spray on their food every other day and thats a reasonable amount of calcium. so truthfully i have no idea what the problem is and im wondering if any one has any ideas or have had similar problems with their beardies

 

[Metalz]

Is he housed with other dragons? What UVB are you useing , how old is it , and how close is it to him? How did the vet come to thinkng it was a lack of calc. Did he/she do a blood test?

 

[geckogirl1836]

I have a tube UV light it is about a foot and a half - 2 feet above the tank and was replaced about 5-6 weeks ago and the vet didn't really do any tests she came to this conclusion i guess cause bearded seizures are usually caused by a lack of calcium so she said if after a few weeks the seizures haven't stopped to bring her back in and she would do a fecal analiysis. he is housed with two other perfectly healthy beardies

 

[Metalz]

What the type of UVB tube reptisun, repti GLO ?
2 feet over head seems a little far , the reptisun 10 should be 6-8 in at the closes spot.
The vet chould have ran a blood test to see the levels of calc. In her blood . That would have rule out the low calc.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Hi,
Now i want you to think back to these seziures. Was your dragon trying to bring up muckus? A dragon can induce vomiting to clear its throught of muckus.
You also mentioned your dragon is gasping alot. My 1st thought is an respetory infection. When your dragon vomits whats in it?

 

[geckogirl1836]

the UV light is a repti glo light and its somewhere between a foot and a half to two feet above it's just a rough estimate cause i don't have a measuring tape on hand and he's only ever thrown up once and it was parcially digested food and like i said im not sure the two symptoms are related but there's a very good chance they are

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

now there is going to be alot of people talking about the bulb, that isnt what im concerned about. I think you have an RI to get help with.The gasping is what concerns me. Bump your temps just a bit. When you pic up your dragon can you feel his breathing in your hand?

 

[geckogirl1836]

see I had thought it was a respiritory infection at one point two but the only time he starts gasping is an hour or two before he seizures and the rest of the time he's completely normal basking in the sunlight wondering around his tank, eating and chilling with the other beardies. and when i pick him up his breathing is normal its not even slightly labored it's seriously the strangest thing like right now he's just acting normal you wouldn't think anything was wrong but in any case my vet appointment isn't till tomorrow it was the earliest i could get in and i don't think my vet has any clue what is going on even though she is experienced with reptiles. if it was a respiritory infection wouldnt the symptoms be visible at all times?

 

[fresnowitte]

I think you have a couple of different symptoms going on.
The seizure are most likely due to the lack of calcium an I'd suggest liquid calcium to get him back on track. Unless you possibly have a beardie with neurological problems. I'm sorry I didn't' read anywhere and sorry if I missed it but how old is this beardie? I mean baby? Adult? Not all beardies have the same hardiness...some may have weaker systems this may be the case with this beardie sense the others don't have issues. Plus not all beardies absorb calcium as well as others. And without the proper levels of UBV and temps many can not.

But my first thought when reading this thread was that your beardie sounds like it has a respiratory infection also.

He needs to be in his own enclosure not with others...you wouldn't want others to contract it. No, the symptoms can come and go depending on how they are feeling...just like when we get one. Sometimes we feel better and start moving around then we tire out and the symptoms return.

the warm end of my beardies tank is about 102 degrees F and the cool end is about 78 degrees F

What is the basking temp directly on the basking spot? Also having your UVB that far away isn't very beneficial to them....over time they will become ill because inorder for the immune system to function properly they need the right amount and levels of UVB.

Zak-n-Wheezie tend to get URI's on a regular basis due to there condition because they are in a constant form of stress...stress compromises immune systems. What you described sounds like what I see with them. Tom is very correct about the phlem and vomiting. More than likely if there were not food in his belly when he vomited then you would have seen a foamy phlem come up. Does this beardie tend to put his nose up in the air or rest his head with nose pointing upward?

 

[geckogirl1836]

my bearded is about 3 years old a full grown adult bearded and im already using a liquid calcium spray on his food and the only time he seems like he has to constantly lie with his nose up is after a seizure other then that he's completely normal

 

[fresnowitte]

Personally I think the calcium spray isn't a very good product. Sorry!
When I say liquid calcium I'm meaning this stuff... The 3rd product down on this page. http://www.bug-de-lite.com/Products%20Page.html Personally i prefer and recommend the Repcal brand suppliments normally.
However I have an older beardie that isn't absorbing it anymore and she had started to get really wobbly...now she's on the liquid and doing very good.

Nose up in the air is a main symptom to URI's...and the first symptom you will probably see. Many times a URI will accompany other problems a beardie is having...it's very common to get one when they are having any other health issues due to the fact that their immune systems are being compromised. Think of it like when we are tired and run down we are more apt to acquire colds and other illnesses whereas when we are well rested and getting all our nutrients we are less likely to catch something.
:wink:

 

[geckogirl1836]

every other day for my beardies I spray the veggies with a calcium spray and dust thier bugs with calcium powder then two times a week i spray thier veggies with a vitamin suppliment and ive done this for years with no problems now just for Daffey I give him a calcium suppliment everyday and it seems to have cut down the recovery time on his seizures so im thinking a couple weeks from now the seizures may stop after the calcium has built up in his system and the reason im on the fence about the possibility it could be a respeiritoy infection is beause the gasping has only ever occured right before he seizures which he has only done four times in two weeks and every other day he is completely normal and about two hours after a seizure he completely back to normal eating and everything

 

[geckogirl1836]

for those wondering about my beardie he is doing really well I took him to a different vet an hour and a half from my home who diagnosed him with a parasite problem he had pin worms. I was given medication to treat them and he should be back to his old self shortly