Possibly dumped

[Hollizard]

Hi everybody! (Not sure if this is the right place to post this... )

The other day, I saw an ad on the local by and sell website for a found bearded dragon. I figured the person who found it might not know anything about bearded dragon care, so I emailed and offered to take care of it while they tried to find its owner. The guy agreed to hand it over to me, so my mom picked it up on her way home! I'm really glad I offered my help because, as much as this guy meant well and really seemed to care about it, he had no idea what he was doing. He was very thankful that I offered and I'm not holding it against him because he did the right thing even though he was getting attached and had thought about keeping it.

Anyway, I got it set up in my spare 40 gallon with a proper basking light and UVB. I'm pretty sure it's a female, but I'm going to wait until tonight when it's dark and try the flashlight trick to confirm. I think she looks a little underweight and dehydrated. Her fat pads aren't very big, her skin is wrinkly, and her eyes seem sunken. She was also very lethargic a floppy when I first saw her. She wasn't eating for the guy in the two days he had her, but the evening I got her, she perked right up after a few hours of basking and ate 1 butterworm, 1 waxworm, and 1 mealworm! I didn't want to overload her system since I didn't know how long she had been without food, so I left it at that for the night. The next morning, (after some basking) I offered her some dubia roaches and she ate 6! She had a good poop around noon, but her urate was very small and dark orange. I hear some people say that is a sign of dehydration? Anyway, since everything seemed to be working in the digestive department, I gave her 4 more dubias in the evening. This morning she ate 3 mealworms, and then I gave her her first bath. She did great! Didn't freak out like my other beardie does. She didn't poop unfortunately, but I massaged her belly and didn't feel any blockages, so maybe she's just not full enough yet. After her bath, I made up some Beardie Buffet since she's not interested in greens at all. She licked at it a bit, (Accidentally bit my finger too!) but wasn't too interested, so I gave her some superworms in a dish of greens. She ate 2 worms and accidentally ate a few pieces of collard greens and arugula, so I've left her alone for the time being.

So, now that you have the whole story, I was wondering if anybody could tell me how healthy you think she looks, how old you think she might be, and whether I could be doing anything else to help her? I measured and weighed her the day I got her and she is about 18 inches long and 275 grams. All in all, I think she's doing pretty well, but I would really like an outside eye to have a look as well.

Chances are she was dumped (Was found off a hiking trail in the woods behind a school), so I have a feeling I won't be hearing from an owner. Because of that, I have decided to name her! Her original finder called her Friday because he found her on Friday, so I'm going to keep that as her middle name. Her new first name, however, is Gypsy!

 

[Hollizard]

Hey kaylynangel, thanks for the reply! It sounds like I'm pretty much doing everything you suggest, so thank you for confirming. I do have another beardie (in my profile pic!), so I have some experience, although he's a bit of a rescue himself and has his own problems (neurological issues and barely eats, but somehow manages to keep his weight on), so it's interesting having a normal one around.

To begin with, insects were the only food she was interested in and I wanted to get something in her belly, but I will be switching her over to more greens as she gets used to them. I managed to get her to eat some collard greens and arugula after posting. I love that website and use it all the time. The best staple greens I can get where I live are collard greens, dandelion leaves, and sometimes mustard greens. I also add a little bit of arugula and cilantro as well as butternut squash and carrot. I use dubias as a staple with some superworms for variety and to coax her to her salad. I don't usually feed mealworms, butterworms, or waxworms, but the guy who found her gave them to me, so I thought I should use them up. I also dust the feeders with calcium with D3 and multivitamins like you said. Her basking temp is around 100F and she has a ceramic heat emitter for overnight, keeping the temp around 70F since my house gets cold. Her UVB bulb is currently a Reptisun T5HO 5.0, which I know is not good enough. Neither of my town's two pet stores had the 10.0, so I have one place ordering it in for me. It will be here on Thursday. She didn't drink in her bath, but did open her mouth a little when I dropped some water on her nose, so I'll do that a few times a day.

Thanks for listening. I don't know anybody else in real life that has experience with beardies, so it's nice to come on here to get advice and share stories.

Also, I know beardies can grow at different rates depending on lots of factors, but from a few growth charts I've found online, is it safe to assume she might be approximately 1 year old?