Why bearded dragons die

One of the signs of this disease is trouble moving, as if they don't quite have control of their limbs and you see twitching or tremors, coupled with lethargy and lack of appetite. Bone deformation is also a common problem with bearded dragons with MBD and you may notice deformities along their spine, legs or their jaws. A third sign of MBD is problems with catching live insects, as their inability to move correctly impedes their ability to catch fast moving bugs like crickets.

Impaction can also cause problems with movement, specifically when the lizard looks like its back legs are not functioning and it appears to drag itself around the tank. Some other common beardie health concerns include tail rot, mouth rot and yellow fungus. The most obvious signs of these are visible problems with the lizard's skin such as discolored patches, particularly around the mouth, the appearance of rot, open wounds, swelling or inflammation.

Another sign is that the skin appears pale or gray and this is referring to skin that is not currently being shed. If your beardie's eyes seem "sunken" into his head or droopy, and they don't seem focused, bright and clear , this is a sign of dehydration. Providing them with a water bath, a water spray from a bottle, as well as Pedialyte through a small eye dropper can actually help with dehydration.

A dehydrated lizard can quickly succumb to illness and death, and intervening right away is key in keeping your beardie well. Beardie skin that appears visibly wrinkly is a sign of possible dehydration. You can also "test" the skin by taking your fingers and lightly pulling on the skin to see if it moves back into place. Regular, healthy skin should show elasticity and settle in as normal, whereas dry and dehydrated skin will not.

If your lizard is dehydrated, you may also notice that their tail looks skinnier than usual and their fatty areas, or pads, appear sunken in. Another very common problem with beardies are respiratory issues due to improper humidity or temperatures in their tank.

If you notice that your beardie is breathing with shallow or labored breaths or wide-open mouth breathing, this can be a sign they have a respiratory infection.

It also can be a sign that they are overheating, which can lead to dehydration and stroke. If you notice your beardie digging, staying in corners or under decorations or acting like they want to get out of the tank, check your temperature settings to make sure it's not too hot. A proper setup for a beardie will have a cold and warm area in a tank as well as a basking spot.

If your beardie stays in the cold area and does not leave, this is an immediate cause for concern. If a reptile cannot warm itself, its metabolism will not function properly which can quickly lead to death. If your beardie is not moving to the warmer areas of the tank or the basking spot, it may be that they are suffering from serious medical issues that are preventing them from having the energy to move about and they need a veterinary visit ASAP. Make sure you understand all the necessary environmental requirements for your beardie , including lighting, humidity, temperatures and proper diet as you'll need these not only to keep him or her health but to rule out causes when you see signs of illness.

It's important to interact with your beardie regularly and keep your eye on how often they eat, eliminate and show active behavior to pinpoint possible signs they are dying when there's still time to intervene. We received a free bear die from a pet store she was said to be 8 months old…. Then, I fell for a tiny baby dragon so active and as big as my finger!!! All through the winter she ate like a hippo…bugs not salad I offered but not eaten.

Tonight I am broken hearted for I lost my little sunshine. She was up on her stick. Hi emma our breaded drangon looks like she has anxiety. She keeps on moving all over her cage. Then she looks at her reflection and moves her head up and down.

Why is she acting this way? Pls help. It might be a boy and tyinks the glass is another male. We were also told to force feed the girl, she fought hard, but we still force fed her as recommended by the vet the vet sold us some stuff to force feed with … The 6 hours before my girl died, she vomit x3 times when my parents tired to force feed her… When I came home, she moved away from the hot side of the tank and with her mouth opened… She barely moved… SO I gave her a warm bath, took her out and held her for a while… Then noticed she was gone….

Looking back, I think the UVB lights I gave her were not effective anymore, as they were more than 1 yr old.. But any thoughts of what could have happened? Or the cause of death?

She always ate normally and was always very active. Hi my three month old bearded dragon was having breathing problems yesterday but cleared up after being fed water with a syringe. Ten minutes later she passed away. Please help. S she was eating, pooping and drinking water regularly. Set mine loose in the desert here in Central New Mexico about 2 years ago. Unfortunate, but true. I wonder if he survived, and how long? Plus, if there were a few other released pets, they could mate and become an invasive species.

Today my sweet girl passed away. When she was a year and half old she became impacted. Several x-Rays and doc visits she was good as new! I set a apt and took her in Thursday. She was still eating and moving around but I knew something was wrong. And told he thought she had gout. I was told to give. After first dose she slept.. She passed away about 4 hrs ago. I feel so stupid for not researching this medication first. Looks like FDA says it is to be used in dogs only.. I told them I would drive her the 2 hours for a proper exotic vet but they ensured me even though my original doc is gone that they could see and treat her… She was one of my own!

My 3 year old beardie passed away yesterday morning; he was acting strange the days before. The next day, his beard was fully black, so I decided not to touch him in case he was going to get defensive. My mom gave him around 12 live crickets usually he has more, but she wanted to spark his appetite. I noticed later he had eaten maybe 5 or 6 of them, but the rest were just running around his tank. That afternoon, I took him out even though his beard was still black and he was not nearly as active as usual… he kept falling asleep on me.

The next morning, he was back on his log beard still black , and I checked on him later around AM to find him in an unnatural position in his bowl, eyes half open and his mouth slightly open. This was very upsetting, and he has already been buried. I am trying to find some reason as to why he could have died.

He was perfectly fine, i have everything he needs a proper diet, fresh veggies, live crickets bathed in calcium, and all the lighting needed. GIGO had a nice small funeral me and some background music at my house and was buried in my backyard. He was awesome RIP. We noticed yesterday that his beard was very black.

He had a seizure, vomited up a lot of blood, and then bled a lot from his mouth and died within an hour.

We are shocked,we are stunned, we are heartbroken. He was very healthy so this comes as a complete shock. What could cause a death so quickly? I have a 4 year old bearded dragon. She has always since day one never really pushed herself off her belly.

She just has always kinda crawled around the cage. I have recently noticed that when she goes to move her legs to get around her legs are shakey. She very rarely eats live insects anymore and only wants greens. I have always given her calcium powder on her food since day one. I have taken her to the vet and they say she is fine maybe just fat.

The reptile store also says she is fine just fat but she is not that fat. I have always cleaned her cage and put new bedding down that the reptile store told me to use. If anyone knows what is going on with her please let me know.

Thank you. I own ed a wonderful little spirited dragon named Joe. He was allowed outside and with many hours of patience and some near misses he could have a life in the yard during the warm months. He died. I was out of the house for 5 hours or so and when I came back he was dead. I am heart broken. My concern is this? Could he have eaten something in our yard ie a lightning bug? Also he ate my neighbors tomato and cucumber plant leaves.

Lost to pieces with a broken heart. I live in Pa which is considered a warm temperate climate. I just was scrolling through the answers here looking for any closure for the recent loss of my dragon, but as it turns out I can help with yours. Tomato leaves are quite toxic to some animals, this could have been what caused it. As a warning to all Beardie owners scrolling by, please always watch and care for your animal when you have them out of their vivarium.

I too have had 3 beasties. I just lost 1. They all got sick within days of each other. My 2 is 9 months old so was his sis I lost. My point is this.. I Love them dearly!

They have all the right things. I have a good idea on everything but no one ever knows everything! Never lose Faith! I will never feed them another wax worm tho. Tails 9M. Playing drinking water taking warm soaks going for rides that they LOVE.

I just need to figure it out. I wish everyone luck with their beasties. High in protein! Not good!! My bearded dragon is still alive but she has turned black her legs arent moving amd i dont know what to do for her.

I will be taking my 5 month old Berdie Fluffy to the vet within the next few weeks for a check up. I stopped reading now because you made me paranoid about anything and everything I am doing.

My almost 3 year old beardie died today…. Do you have any idea of what may have happened to him? Parasites maybe? Can cause lethargy as the parasites take everything good from him and his energy and make them anorexic, loss of appetite. So sorry. I lost my boy too but mine was unknown nothing came up on tests. She keeps opening her mouth and makes a sound that sounds like a puff of air.

She is almost a year old and is about 12 inches. She also has blood on her rectum. I have never seen her like this. This happened within 2 hours of me being gone. Please help hurry. I used a gas portable gas hob like for camping and gas cylinders to heat up the water and put him on the hot water bottle.

A thought for a backup if heat goes out again. Least you are prepared. Hope that helps. One night I fed him his Cali worms and he had a black beard, and I thought he was mad with me, so I cuddled him and then put him to bed a few hours after. The next morning he still had a black beard and I rang up vets and took him and they said he was a very healthy boy and it might be the time of year, his fat pads were great and well hydrated and he might have just hurt his leg when he was in his tank, I showed the vet a video of his walking and she said his symmetry is good but looks feels a little inflamed or it might be some hard urine in there that just needs to be pooped out.

She took blood tests from him that day. The next morning he had thrown up all of his baby food and his Morio worms and Cali worms whole. He went to the toilet fine and is very well hydrated plus his temps were great. He still had a black beard but had collapsed. I took him straight to vets and they did and xray and a fecal and nothing came up on them or blood tests except he had high white blood cell count. They gave him a shot of antibiotics and kept him overnight, they fed him protein and he still threw that up.

But the next morning he died. Can anyone think of what it could have been. I never got to say goodbye, I miss him so much. We had amazing kisses and cuddles and he always napped with me. I love my little guy.. We just found our Beardie named Goliath in his cahe dead. He has always been picky about what he eats…. For the last 6 months we had been giving him dubia roaches and receny he started acting lethargic. I would put him outside in the sun sometimes and he really loved that.

We always tried to offer him new safe fruits amd veggies but he would only eat bugs. He was well hydrates too and would drink water with no problems also loved to be misted but his beard would intermiytently turn black recently when we touched his right front leg and he was acting lethargic so we took him to the vet.

They took an xray and said there was no injury but also gave him 2 vitamin shots. Since then his beard has stayed black and he became comoletelt lethargic. I gave him a bath and he was breathin but not moving att all which is unusual because he usually triea to crawl up my arm.

I searched everywhere amd thought he may be foing into burmation? So we decided to let him be and just soak him as needed to keep him hudrated. We sis not let his head get into the water. But we just came home to find him dead. I am really mad that the vet did not find out the problem and now he ia dead!!! Just wondering if anyone could help me. Though it is a fairly common issue, it can be life-threatening. Dystocia usually follows poor husbandry, wrong nest sites, inadequate humidity, and malnutrition.

Be careful to check that the clutch of your female dragon has eggs at the end of each breeding season. If you suspect dystocia, get an x-ray to confirm it. The stuck eggs can be removed surgically to save your beloved lizard.

Toxic bugs and plants can cause the quick death of a bearded dragon. Some of the poisonous bugs for your lizard include fireflies, lubber grasshoppers, and box elder bugs. Avocados, daffodils, rhubarbs, and azaleas are some of the toxic plants to your bearded dragon.

Seizure, twitching, lethargy, and turning black are some of the signs of poisoning in your lizard. If you suspect poisoning, give your bearded dragon detoxifying slurry or activated charcoal to cleanse its system. You can do this every hours on your way to a vet. Limb weakness, lethargy, brittle bones, and back or tail kinking are typical signs of metabolic bone disease. There are fat and water-soluble vitamins. Vitamin toxicity is evidenced by bloating, constipation, lethargy, and swelling.

Though uncommon, it can lead to kidney failure and death when severe. Housing bearded dragons with cage mates might seem like a good idea. Even so, these animals are quite territorial and will compete for food, use of the basking or cooling spots, and space, among other things, as they try to gain cage dominance. The bullying often leads to stress that over time destroys the immunity systems of these lizards and increases their risks of deadly infections.

There is also a chance of deadly injuries sustained from the fights between the pet bearded dragons. Have separate housing for bearded dragons if you have more than one.

Moreover, avoid very bright lights, cramped enclosures, poor sanitation, and loud noises when keeping a bearded dragon since these might slowly stress it. Unfortunately, death from an internal organ failure is often sudden and only picked up during a necropsy. Kidney failure often follows excess dietary protein, old age, while fatty liver disease that causes liver failure follows overconsumption of fatty foods.