Rescue Beardie w/ Diet Issues

[E. Cricket]

Hey friends! I recently adopted a rather neglected 6-7 year old bearded dragon. The details of his enclosure are sad He was kept in a 40 gal with crushed walnut substrate and red light. I´ve only had him a few days but by changing the substrate and lighting there has been a drastic change in personality. (This was a rather sudden rescue so his new 48x18x18 enclosure is coming soon. I´d prefer something a bit bigger but since he appears to be a bit stunted and size constraints on my reptile shelves not allowing me to go a full 24 inch width, it´ll have to do) He was rather upset with his first bath (soon to be followed by more) to help with some clogged femoral pores, but otherwise he has been fantastic and is in surprisingly good health. The only problem is with his diet. From what I was told and saw, he ate dead, dried mealworms and pellets. I gave him a day to adjust before feeding him since he was held for the first time in years and I imagine that was quite a shock.
However, he doesn´t seem to even recognize veggies as food? I tried to sweeten the deal with crushed blueberries and strawberries, but he wasn´t even interested. I also tried to give him live mealworms since thats what he is used to, but he also wasn´t interested and seemed confused with the tongs. I left his little plate in the enclosure with him overnight, thinking that being out of his enclosure and eating was too much for him. Alas, right now, being able to bask is a novel idea so its all he wants to do. I suppose my next step is using his old bowls to help him recognize it as food, but I´d still love some advice.

I´ll give a preemptive thanks to all of you for the help!

 

[Sadie]

Hey friends! I recently adopted a rather neglected 6-7 year old bearded dragon. The details of his enclosure are sad He was kept in a 40 gal with crushed walnut substrate and red light. I´ve only had him a few days but by changing the substrate and lighting there has been a drastic change in personality. (This was a rather sudden rescue so his new 48x18x18 enclosure is coming soon. I´d prefer something a bit bigger but since he appears to be a bit stunted and size constraints on my reptile shelves not allowing me to go a full 24 inch width, it´ll have to do) He was rather upset with his first bath (soon to be followed by more) to help with some clogged femoral pores, but otherwise he has been fantastic and is in surprisingly good health. The only problem is with his diet. From what I was told and saw, he ate dead, dried mealworms and pellets. I gave him a day to adjust before feeding him since he was held for the first time in years and I imagine that was quite a shock.
However, he doesn´t seem to even recognize veggies as food? I tried to sweeten the deal with crushed blueberries and strawberries, but he wasn´t even interested. I also tried to give him live mealworms since thats what he is used to, but he also wasn´t interested and seemed confused with the tongs. I left his little plate in the enclosure with him overnight, thinking that being out of his enclosure and eating was too much for him. Alas, right now, being able to bask is a novel idea so its all he wants to do. I suppose my next step is using his old bowls to help him recognize it as food, but I´d still love some advice.

I´ll give a preemptive thanks to all of you for the help!

Ok so thank you for taking him and his new tank will be fine for him ---- my guess is hes got MBD w/ no correct lighting and how he survived as long as he did is amazing--- so we need to get him the correct lighting and basking temps ---- what are you using for a basking bulb he needs a CLEAR bright white bulb NO off white No colored and No daytime bulbs they have a neodymium coating on them that are not good for the eyes -- example of what I am talking about is a Exo Terra Intense basking bulb -- petsmart carries them -- next you need a digital probe thermometer like a Zoo Med found at petsmart temps need to be 95-110 that is surface temps not air or ambient temps --- and for the really most crucial is the UVB --- what are you using for a UVB? NO coils please --- once we get this established I can post links for the stuff so you can get it fixed --- as far as diet he probably wont eat much if any at all w/ the relocation stress and the incorrect lighting and temps that is what I find amazing hes still alive given the circumstances he came from ---- once we get this fixed I can give you ideas of how to get him to start eating out of that bowl --- please NO more baths for now its going to cause more stress --- please drop water on his nose or use a eye dropper to give him water -- how he survived w/ NO water w/ no live bugs or salads is beyond me especially for 7 years--------

 

[E. Cricket]

Ok so thank you for taking him and his new tank will be fine for him ---- my guess is hes got MBD w/ no correct lighting and how he survived as long as he did is amazing--- so we need to get him the correct lighting and basking temps ---- what are you using for a basking bulb he needs a CLEAR bright white bulb NO off white No colored and No daytime bulbs they have a neodymium coating on them that are not good for the eyes -- example of what I am talking about is a Exo Terra Intense basking bulb -- petsmart carries them -- next you need a digital probe thermometer like a Zoo Med found at petsmart temps need to be 95-110 that is surface temps not air or ambient temps --- and for the really most crucial is the UVB --- what are you using for a UVB? NO coils please --- once we get this established I can post links for the stuff so you can get it fixed --- as far as diet he probably wont eat much if any at all w/ the relocation stress and the incorrect lighting and temps that is what I find amazing hes still alive given the circumstances he came from ---- once we get this fixed I can give you ideas of how to get him to start eating out of that bowl --- please NO more baths for now its going to cause more stress --- please drop water on his nose or use a eye dropper to give him water -- how he survived w/ NO water w/ no live bugs or salads is beyond me especially for 7 years--------

I forgot to add this in the original post, but he did have a water bowl! He also did have UVB. The problem is that they also had a red light bulb. I´m guessing that they used those awful two-packs from PetSmart. So the issue is not that he didn´t have UVB but rather the damage it could have caused to his eyes. Remarkably, his vision actually seems pretty good. He tracks moving objects and and can see far enough to posture at cars on the highway (i have no clue why he did this, but we eventually moved away from said car and he calmed down). I need to move my thermometer from my ball python enclosure to the beardie to check his temps. (that new enclosure I know that the ball python temps are good, but I´m not so sure for him. Also, I agree. I have no clue how he´s even alive, especially in what seems such good health! My employer (I guess you could call her that), who is a veteran reptile and amphibian owner, said that he is honestly wonderful and that is he wasn´t small and she couldn´t see his pores, that it´d be hard to tell he was mistreated.
What do you suggest for his pores then? His substrate right now is paper towels since I didn´t want to waste anything on a temporary enclosure as well as to monitor his poops. I added some rough items that he can rub against. Would he be okay since the issue that was causing it is no longer there? Right now, he has a regular UVB bulb with no coils. (I believe it is a 10 so I´ll have to upgrade for his larger enclosure)

 

[Sadie]

I forgot to add this in the original post, but he did have a water bowl! He also did have UVB. The problem is that they also had a red light bulb. I´m guessing that they used those awful two-packs from PetSmart. So the issue is not that he didn´t have UVB but rather the damage it could have caused to his eyes. Remarkably, his vision actually seems pretty good. He tracks moving objects and and can see far enough to posture at cars on the highway (i have no clue why he did this, but we eventually moved away from said car and he calmed down). I need to move my thermometer from my ball python enclosure to the beardie to check his temps. (that new enclosure I know that the ball python temps are good, but I´m not so sure for him. Also, I agree. I have no clue how he´s even alive, especially in what seems such good health! My employer (I guess you could call her that), who is a veteran reptile and amphibian owner, said that he is honestly wonderful and that is he wasn´t small and she couldn´t see his pores, that it´d be hard to tell he was mistreated.
What do you suggest for his pores then? His substrate right now is paper towels since I didn´t want to waste anything on a temporary enclosure as well as to monitor his poops. I added some rough items that he can rub against. Would he be okay since the issue that was causing it is no longer there? Right now, he has a regular UVB bulb with no coils. (I believe it is a 10 so I´ll have to upgrade for his larger enclosure)

What brand of uvb and bulb T 8 or T 5? These two bulbs have different placement and distance- depending on what bulb you may not haft to upgrade - just make sure those two things temps and uvb are up to par and the uvb needs to be correctly placed and distance that is imperative for it to be effective

 

[Sadie]

I forgot to add this in the original post, but he did have a water bowl! He also did have UVB. The problem is that they also had a red light bulb. I´m guessing that they used those awful two-packs from PetSmart. So the issue is not that he didn´t have UVB but rather the damage it could have caused to his eyes. Remarkably, his vision actually seems pretty good. He tracks moving objects and and can see far enough to posture at cars on the highway (i have no clue why he did this, but we eventually moved away from said car and he calmed down). I need to move my thermometer from my ball python enclosure to the beardie to check his temps. (that new enclosure I know that the ball python temps are good, but I´m not so sure for him. Also, I agree. I have no clue how he´s even alive, especially in what seems such good health! My employer (I guess you could call her that), who is a veteran reptile and amphibian owner, said that he is honestly wonderful and that is he wasn´t small and she couldn´t see his pores, that it´d be hard to tell he was mistreated.
What do you suggest for his pores then? His substrate right now is paper towels since I didn´t want to waste anything on a temporary enclosure as well as to monitor his poops. I added some rough items that he can rub against. Would he be okay since the issue that was causing it is no longer there? Right now, he has a regular UVB bulb with no coils. (I believe it is a 10 so I´ll have to upgrade for his larger enclosure)

Substrate is good for now - you could get some textured NON adhesive shelf liner cut to the size of the tank from Walmart or your local home improvement store-- post pic of his pores please

 

[E. Cricket]

I

What brand of uvb and bulb T 8 or T 5? These two bulbs have different placement and distance- depending on what bulb you may not haft to upgrade - just make sure those two things temps and uvb are up to par and the uvb needs to be correctly placed and distance that is imperative for it to be effective

I´ll check when I get home. The original owner was my mother´s coworker so when my mother heard how bad he was living, she quickly offered for me to take him. We took away the bad things and added some more stuff for him but I haven´t been able to check the brand.

 

[E. Cricket]

Substrate is good for now - you could get some textured NON adhesive shelf liner cut to the size of the tank from Walmart or your local home improvement store-- post pic of his pores please

That sounds like a good idea! It had never occurred to me to use shelf liner. Thanks for the suggestions! I´ll post one as soon as a get home.

 

[Sadie]

I

I´ll check when I get home. The original owner was my mother´s coworker so when my mother heard how bad he was living, she quickly offered for me to take him. We took away the bad things and added some more stuff for him but I haven´t been able to check the brand.

Ok let me know when you can so we can make sure the husbandry is good we want it good so he benefits

 

[Sadie]

Ok let me know when you can so we can make sure the husbandry is good we want it good so he benefits

And go over the diet-