# Sudden Death of Bearded Dragon



## justjay (Nov 3, 2010)

It has been a little while now since my dragon Skully died but am still wanting to know what happened if anyone has any ideas.
It was just a normal day, I had put him in a tank to get some sun, checking on him every 15-20 mins and spraying him with water. When I went to him after he was out for a few hours he was acting strange. Just lying with his mouth open a little and his eyes partly open. I was worried instantly and took him straight to the vets. I though he may have had too much sun-although he has been out in hotter weather and for longer than that day. The vet gave him injections to rehydrate him and was to go back the next day for it again.
Unfortunately come 6pm he had passed away. Still pretty much in the same position he had been in for hours. I took his body the next day for a postmortem. I finally managed to get hold of the vet again a few days later and he could find nothing wrong with him at all!
I had him when he was a baby and he was not quite 2 years old. I have recently bought 2 baby dragons-hoping to maybe breed. But I am worried that perhaps the same thing could happen again.

A few years before I had a tortoise that also died suddenly-the vet said he believes he had a heart attack. I don't want anything to happen to my new dragons, could I be doing something wrong??

I have a basking area on one end and a fluorescent strip bulb, they get at least 2 hours of actual sun a week. Fed crickets and assorted green and vegetables. I do keep them on sand-never had any trouble with it when Skully was a baby.
I am paranoid something bad will happen again. 
Please any advice would much appreciated!


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## aman0788 (Jul 22, 2012)

possibly respiritory infection, what was the humidity like inside the viv and outside where you put him?

recently last couple of weeks humidity has been 90% in some areas of the uk.

were his eyes watery or gunky?

was there any discharge from the nose?

just a theory as mine did similar behaviour which turned out to be the above and took to the vets who administerd antibiotics.


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

Without a PM you will never know for certain, it could have been a contribution of many things tbh.


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## Nikkeh (Jun 26, 2010)

Salazare Slytherin said:


> Without a PM you will never know for certain, it could have been a contribution of many things tbh.


I could be mistaken but i think the op said she took the beardie for a PM and the vet found nothing out of the ordinary?


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

Nikkeh said:


> I could be mistaken but i think the op said she took the beardie for a PM and the vet found nothing out of the ordinary?



So they did, I just seen the thread title and thought "oh its one of those threads" skimmed through it and missed that.

It is 2.20 in the morining, I blame that, lol, so yeah sorry.

Tbh, a shot in the dark would be a depressed immune system saying that then, when an animal declines on a mental level, there is nothing or very little anyone can do, even the best vets.


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## justjay (Nov 3, 2010)

Well I do live in Spain but all this happened beginning of May when the humidity was very low. The ventilation in the tank is not the best but to compensate I do move the doors for better circulation.

His eyes and nose were both perfectly clear, no discharge or anything.

I can not see that there was anything wrong on a mental level. He was spoilt rotten! Got to be in the sun, run around the floor (with supervision of course) fed by hand. He was a bit stubborn and lazy but other than that he was seemingly contented.
Would the respiratory infection not have shown up when the vet did the postmortem? With a respiratory infection would that have made him go into such a suspended animation sort of thing-the best description of how he went. And could it have all happened so suddenly? He was fine in the morning until he suddenly wasn't.


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

Just wondering, how hotter a day was it (if you can remember) and what temperature did it reach in his tank?


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## justjay (Nov 3, 2010)

It could not have been more than 25 degrees outside. I believe his tank was no more than perhaps 30 degrees. It was a windy day and part of the tank was in the shade and the lid was open for allowing air to flow.
Previously he had been out in the height of August temperatures and was perfectly fine. Which is why I thought it strange of it was heat stroke. I only said to the vet I thought it was heat/sun stroke as that is all that was different that day. He had not been out for 2-3days before that.


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

was he in his tank outside?... if so it could of got REALLY hot.

like cars for example, you sit them in full sun for around 5 mins, and they are hot enough to kill dogs..

I know yours was a beardie and used to hot temps, but maybe it just got tooo hot?


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## justjay (Nov 3, 2010)

He was in a plastic tank with water at all times. And as I wrote previously I would go out to him every 15-20 minutes and spray him with water. The bottom of the tank was still wet from spraying him each time-so I figure it was not all that hot in there otherwise the water would have evaporated.

Just don't want to have any of the same things happen with the two new ones! ***Still unnamed if anyone has any ideas.***
<Female blood x hipo orange and male het hipo, het trans leatherback.>

Also I do not know the breeding of Skully, just bought him from a pet shop I happened to go into. He was small and not very expensive so I bought him.
Could it have been something genetic? And could have happened when it did or years down the line?


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

justjay said:


> He was in a plastic tank with water at all times. And as I wrote previously I would go out to him every 15-20 minutes and spray him with water. The bottom of the tank was still wet from spraying him each time-so I figure it was not all that hot in there otherwise the water would have evaporated.
> 
> Just don't want to have any of the same things happen with the two new ones! ***Still unnamed if anyone has any ideas.***
> <Female blood x hipo orange and male het hipo, het trans leatherback.>
> ...



i bet it was something to do with being in a viv (basically a green house) in the sun, he probably got to hot/humid. And even if you did go see him every 15 mins, you wouldnt know how he was feeling... (as hes a beardie and cant tell you ;()

either way what ever it was its very sad,


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## MCEE (Aug 8, 2011)

freekygeeky said:


> i bet it was something to do with being in a viv (basically a green house) in the sun, he probably got to hot/humid. And even if you did go see him every 15 mins, you wouldnt know how he was feeling... (as hes a beardie and cant tell you ;()


I'm also going with this. The greenhouse effect in "any" container can be very dangerous to any animal. Even in a shady part of the container, temperatures and humidity can get extremely high, even when outside temeperatures that do not seem that warm. 

Unable to thermoregulate he succumbed. This is why, if you let your lizards outside, and use some kind of containment, it must be "open" like a rabbit/guinea pig type run, with some kind of sun shade.


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