HELP whats happened [he's tipped on his side]

I got a baby bearded dragon 2 days ago. He's being doing fine up to now.
He's about 6 inches long and eating about 5 crickets a day which are about 1/2 an inch. I don't think they are too big as the owner of the shop we got him from told us to use them. We use sand in his tank also, which was also used in the tank he was in when we got him. I've also been trying to feed him fruit and veg. He hasn't eaten much but i've read he was still be too young and prefer the crickets which he is eating fine.
His cage is around 80F at night and 90F during the day.
The sand is calcium based which i've heard is a huge risk with baby bearded dragons. I haven't seen him drink yet either, but i've given him two baths to encourage him but he doesn't want to know.

This morning i knew straight away something was wrong. He seemed to be tipped over on his right side almost to the point he is going on his side.
& when he walks about his head is always tilted on that same side.
His legs still work but if i put him on my bed he would usually run about a bit and now he stays perfectly still. Also when I put him back in his cage he made the effort to just off but nor more and so fell on his back.
I don't know what could have gone wrong in one night. I'm hoping it's not impaction.
I'm going to take the sand out today and replace it with newspaper.
PLEASE HELP!

Iv'e never heard of anything like that before, just get it to a vet ASAP

The crickets should be no larger than the distance between his eyes, 1/2 inch sounds way too big. If eating the proper sized crickets, he should be eating WAY more then 5 crickets per day.

His basking temp should be around 110 degrees, if 90 is the warmest temp, that is WAY too low.

Calci sand is very dangerous.

He needs to see a vet NOW.

He should be eating crickets no bigger than 1/4 inch in size. Also you should dust them with calcium w/ D3. I've been contacted by several people over the years with these same symptoms and the calcium w/ D3 got them back on their feet. Also he needs paper towell or newspaper for substrate. And something to climb on to get up to the bulbs for the right basking temp of 100 to 105 degrees. Also The uva/uvb bulb is very important.
He also should be eating At least 20 crickets a day at this point, more if he will eat them.

Hello,

Yes, he needs a good visit to the vet first of all. What type of UVB are you currently using? The best flourescents are reptisun 10, reptiglo 8 & reptiglo 10. Or, a mercury vapor bulb is a much better choice if you want a blast of UVB for him.
Supplementation is another important factor. The best calcium here in the US is repcal calcium with D3 when using flourescent bulbs. He will need it 5 times weekly, & some repcal herptivite vitamins 2 times weekly. Do not forget water several times a week, if not daily.
Crickets have a size rule for dragons. They should not be any longer or larger than the space between their eyes. If they are impaction can occur & be quite dangerous. A 6 inch dragon should only be eating crickets that are 1/4th inch. He should be eating at least 50+ daily if conditions are optimal.
Please get him to a vet for x-rays & maybe a bloodtest if warranted.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

curious about whatever happened with this baby....

This is actually quite simple. It is a condition called head tilt. It is caused by one of two things. Trauma to the head, or an ear infection. Any reptile vet should be able to pick up on this and treat it easily.

Hey guys, not to bring this back up to the spotlight, but its related, and definitely interesting.

http://jvdi.org/cgi/content/abstract/14/4/332
http://jvdi.org/cgi/reprint/14/4/332.pdf ( much better info available on this)

Just googling "head tilt in bearded dragons" brought that up.



Hopefully the vet can help you and your dragon out, and you can get to the bottom of this. Antibiotics seem to be the way to go with fixing head tilt, but if its trauma it might not be fixable.

I had a rabbit with an inner ear infection, the vet said he would not recover from the head tilt. (laughs) well, he did, and hes been fine ever since Somtimes it just takes a lil love(cleaning the area, and keeping it clean), and somone to quickly act before it gets worse. Hope you caught it in time!!!!

Hello,

Headtilt can be related to viral or bacterial infections or something simple like severe dehydration as well.
Low humidity can cause the inner ear membrane to dry out to severly that they can have similiar symptoms to this such as balance issues, etc.
I hope your baby will be ok. Maybe you could test for adeno virus as well?

Tracie

Loose the sand, it is harmful to beardies, especially youngin's because they are naturally curious, and eat it, and it causes them to become impacted.

Take it out immediately and put in yesterday's paper or just some paper towels until you can find a better substrate, such as reptile carpet, or tile.

He will definitely need more than five a day.

A juvenile beardie can eat anywhere from 20-100 some odd crickets a day, their stomaches are like gummi bears..

And they should only be about as big as the space between their eyes.