Very Worried

[2tall4this]

Hi guys.

Been a while, hope you are all doing well.
Stubby is definitely not well. We had him at the vets a couple of times, but he is just not improving. He had an infection on his mouth which was treated with antibiotics, but he still is eating next to nothing. He wont eat his crickets at all, so weve switched to silkworms. However, we basically have to force him to eat those as well. He is eating next to no greens, even though we offer him a fresh supply of kale, dandelion greens etc, every day. We have been having issues with his temps, as the higher wattage bulb seems to keep burning out, but we usually have his basking temp at around 115. But he doesnt bask. He rarely wakes up. He has been basically asleep since the end of November, and he is def losing weight. He looks like he has lost more than he actually has, the vet weighed him, and the loss wasnt that significant, but he just looks so thin. He does not have parasites. we are bathing him often, about 4 X a week. No he isnt getting his calcium or vitamins cause he isnt eating. I feel like we are watching him slowly starve to death, and we dont know what to do. The vet says he looks good, but he doesnt seem to know whay he isnt waking up. The other day, we came home and he pooped, the urate was dry and the poo was small, black and dried out. However, we have no way of telling how long it was under the heat lamp. I had heard that sometimes the antibiotics can cause problems with the bacteria in their stomachs, and can cause eating issues? is there something we can try to get him to eat? Trouble is, he just will not wake up long enough to eat anything. Please help, I feel we are going to lose him, and I dont know what to do.....

[Scarloc]

Antibiotics do tend to dehydrate dragons and usually destroys the beneficial bacteria in their digestive track. Try using acidophilus once a day. There is a soy and a dairy based type, use they soy. If you go to the beautiful dragons website (sorry no link because I am at work but if you search it you will find it) you can purchase it in liquid form so you can just squirt it in your beardies mouth with a syringe (squirt from the side to avoid it going into his lungs)

I have heard great things about jumpstart but have not used it yet but have a tube sitting at home.

Add daily baths to the list and get that bulb issue in check and you should be good to go. Is the socket you are putting the higher wattage bulb in rated for that wattage. You could also try just using another lamp.

[2tall4this]

Thanks for the quick reply scarloc. I will increase the baths for sure, and i have a friend coming to look at the bulb situation ( me + electricty = BAD). where can I get the acidophilus? And just to clarify, the antibiotic was a cream smeared on teh lip twice a day, for 7 days. It was a minimal amount, and I cant see him ingesting much because he hasnt eaten anything. The infection started to come back so he had this treatment x2.

[Scarloc]

I got mine from a health supplements store but if you want the one online http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/home.html sells it in liquid form.