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Saving a rescued dragon

Mandy Cae

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
5
I was given a bearded dragon by my daughter's stepmom. It was her stepbrother's. When she brought it over it lived in a pathetic tank. It didn't move and hardly ate. After researching I realized they didn't have any lights set up for it!!! So I just went out and spent $350 on a tank and all the things the lizard needs.

Within 5 minutes it started moving around. I fed it mealworms and it ate like 5 of them quickly. But I noticed it is super skinny and has trouble moving and walking. It is wobbling around. :/ I'm scared it has mdb. I've had this bearded dragon for two days and don't know much. Do I take it to a vet? Is it going to die? They've owned it for a year with them like that... so hopefully it is ok.
 

Mom of blazey

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
309
Let me start with shame on them, and a huge thank you to yourself, lights: basking light probably a 75 watt basking bulb, UVB: I use a 10.0 reptisun desert to be put right next to his basking spot, temperature should be btwn 90-100F, cool side 80-85F, should be in a 40-50 gallon tank. Some of the other ppl use a different uvb (tubular), his lighting is 1 of THE most important things, yes he probably has mbd, it can be reversed.
Food: mealworms are not the most beneficial to him, crickets (lg) dusted with calcium powder, or superworms dusted.
Greens: very important to his diet...collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, these may sound exotic but they can be found at your local grocery store. Fruits: stick with the greens.
I'm sure a few of the other folks who are experienced as well will start posting too. Water: these guys are desert dwellers . Your guy is probably dehydrated too. Let's get him eating and basking well. He'll get some fluids with his food, I don't want to shock his system, so get an eye dropper or a mist bottle and drop some water on his head and if he starts licking give him more, not too much at 1st (maybe an eye dropper full) I've been very lucky and have healthy dragons. I know there are some sub forums within this 1, so plz go there as well for Guidance, alot of good info. I hope you find this helpful. Again. ..thank you for rescuing this guy.

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Mom of blazey

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
309
If it were me I'd make a vet appt, plz keep us posted, all of us care☺

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Mandy Cae

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
5
Let me start with shame on them, and a huge thank you to yourself, lights: basking light probably a 75 watt basking bulb, UVB: I use a 10.0 reptisun desert to be put right next to his basking spot, temperature should be btwn 90-100F, cool side 80-85F, should be in a 40-50 gallon tank. Some of the other ppl use a different uvb (tubular), his lighting is 1 of THE most important things, yes he probably has mbd, it can be reversed.
Food: mealworms are not the most beneficial to him, crickets (lg) dusted with calcium powder, or superworms dusted.
Greens: very important to his diet...collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, these may sound exotic but they can be found at your local grocery store. Fruits: stick with the greens.
I'm sure a few of the other folks who are experienced as well will start posting too. Water: these guys are desert dwellers . Your guy is probably dehydrated too. Let's get him eating and basking well. He'll get some fluids with his food, I don't want to shock his system, so get an eye dropper or a mist bottle and drop some water on his head and if he starts licking give him more, not too much at 1st (maybe an eye dropper full) I've been very lucky and have healthy dragons. I know there are some sub forums within this 1, so plz go there as well for Guidance, alot of good info. I hope you find this helpful. Again. ..thank you for rescuing this guy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tapatalk

Thank you for the advice. I gave him water and he drank from the eye dropper. Every hour he seems more active and happy, I'm really hoping to make him healthy again. I feel so bad. I'm going to call the vet this morning.
I need to buy the calcium powder for his crickets and I'll grab some greens while I'm out.

Keep you updated! I named him Reptar!!!!!
 

Mandy Cae

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
5
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Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
Good for you for saving this little one.. If you take a look at the links that you will find below several of our comments you will find all the info that you would need for general care it also has food links that most of us go off of..
He/she looks good considering.... a year they've had him/her? what size tank was he living in? looks pretty small for a year old, could be stunted growth wise but looks to be in good condition.. I don't see any MBD per say...
I would have him checked out by a vet to get a baseline.. I would avoid mealworms as they are hard to digest, crickets, dubia roaches, superworms, silkworms, hornworms, phoenix worms....

Like I said take a look at the links below to help you...and ask whatever
 

Mandy Cae

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
5
Good for you for saving this little one.. If you take a look at the links that you will find below several of our comments you will find all the info that you would need for general care it also has food links that most of us go off of..
He/she looks good considering.... a year they've had him/her? what size tank was he living in? looks pretty small for a year old, could be stunted growth wise but looks to be in good condition.. I don't see any MBD per say...
I would have him checked out by a vet to get a baseline.. I would avoid mealworms as they are hard to digest, crickets, dubia roaches, superworms, silkworms, hornworms, phoenix worms....

Like I said take a look at the links below to help you...and ask whatever

This is what they had him in. It's disgusting. Maybe 5 gallons?
No top and no light.
 

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Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
This is what they had him in. It's disgusting. Maybe 5 gallons?
No top and no light.
OMG :( looks like a 10gal but OMG that poor thing!!! no wonder he's small...
 

Mom of blazey

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
309
That photo of the tank makes me really angry ! One more thing, his substrate should be either paper towels, newspaper or a reptile carpet. The sand/dirt can lead to an impaction and that can be a beardie killer. Either his growth is stunted or he's not as old as they said. You're gonna be a great beardie mom/dad

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Mom of blazey

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
309
You can give him greens a few times a day, crickets as much as he can eat for now. Make sure there are no crickets left in his tank when he's done, they'll nibble on him at night. It looks like he's begun an immediate shed on his head unless it's just the way the light hits him.

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Mandy Cae

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
5
That photo of the tank makes me really angry ! One more thing, his substrate should be either paper towels, newspaper or a reptile carpet. The sand/dirt can lead to an impaction and that can be a beardie killer. Either his growth is stunted or he's not as old as they said. You're gonna be a great beardie mom/dad

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tapatalk

Thank you. I read about the sand and his new tank has carpet. He's active this afternoon. Walking around and enjoying himself.
 

Mom of blazey

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
309
Your post put a big smile on my face, plz share this guy's journey with us☺ we never get tired of pics and updates

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Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
That photo of the tank makes me really angry ! One more thing, his substrate should be either paper towels, newspaper or a reptile carpet. The sand/dirt can lead to an impaction and that can be a beardie killer. Either his growth is stunted or he's not as old as they said. You're gonna be a great beardie mom/dad

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tapatalk
They've already changed that out. Taptalk can be slow

Sent from my RS988 using Tapatalk
 

Mom of blazey

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
309
Understood, am I missing any posts by using tapatalk? I'd hate to miss something that might educate me about my beardies

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PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
As far as lighting goes, you are going to want to play around with different wattages for your heat. Sometimes a 75 watt works well but sometimes a 100 watt is needed. You want his basking temomto be around 107 degrees. A good thing to get is a temp gun to easily monitor temps. Also UVB is important. A tube style bulb is the best. A T5 is smaller and can be put on top of a tank. A T8 is bigger and should be mounted overhead inside the tank. Coil bulbs can hurt their eyes and compact fluorescent bulbs just don't give off enough UVB to penetrate the depth of the tank.
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
Understood, am I missing any posts by using tapatalk? I'd hate to miss something that might educate me about my beardies

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tapatalk
Not really that I know of, just that it can be slower getting updated posts.. and links don't show up
 
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