EmilySanderson
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 24
First of all let me say that I am a newbie to reptiles of any sort. I've done research but it's never enough, is it?
I'm looking after Beardie, a 7 year old male, for 2 months, leaving me with about 5 weeks left at the moment. Let me repeat: THIS IS NOT MY DRAGON, but I'm his temporary carer.
Over the past few days he became incredibly lethargic and wasn't eating so he's lost weight. I came down to see him earlier and found a cricket chewing on his tail, near his left hip. I completely panicked, got Beardie out of his tank (more about the tank in a second), got rid of all the crickets - threw them in the garden - and rushed Beardie to the only reptile vet in my country. Thank goodness for friends who can drive.
Beardie now has two stitches, topical and oral antibiotics, and some "critical care" food in a packet. He also has some calcium drops to go in his water. The vet was shocked at his state of health, even more so when I explained that Beardie has no heat lamp - I wasn't given one when he was delivered - and nor did he come with any calcium to be added to his food.
She examined him completely and said that he is dehydrated, underweight, and most likely has some degree of bone disorder due to the lack of calcium. He is also at risk of getting a bone disease as the injury is quite deep, almost exposing the hip bone. It's also fairly large, I think. An oval, about 1cm X 0.5cm.
He also may not survive.
When I got him home I followed the vet's instructions and had to force Beardie to drink some water with the calcium drops and antibiotics in it, but I think he might have thrown some of it back up again. =(
Tomorrow I am going out to buy a heat lamp and some proper food for him. If anyone can advise on which lamps are possibilities (by the way, how do I work out the size of his tank?) and which foods would be the best to give him I will be eternally grateful.
Other details:
Weight: about 180g right now. =(
Length: 30cm roughly
Light: ReptiGlo something (I can't see properly)
Tank: far too small I think
Substrate: some kind of white sand, but I'm going to swap it for something else if I can
Heat: no lamp, but under-tank heating on the left side, which barely comes through the sand so I've moved all that to one side. I've given him a hot water bottle for now and I'm hoping it's enough for a few hours.
If you need any more info I'm afraid it will have to be tomorrow because it's midnight for me and I've spent three hours crying over Beardie so I'm exhausted. Please, please help?
I'm looking after Beardie, a 7 year old male, for 2 months, leaving me with about 5 weeks left at the moment. Let me repeat: THIS IS NOT MY DRAGON, but I'm his temporary carer.
Over the past few days he became incredibly lethargic and wasn't eating so he's lost weight. I came down to see him earlier and found a cricket chewing on his tail, near his left hip. I completely panicked, got Beardie out of his tank (more about the tank in a second), got rid of all the crickets - threw them in the garden - and rushed Beardie to the only reptile vet in my country. Thank goodness for friends who can drive.
Beardie now has two stitches, topical and oral antibiotics, and some "critical care" food in a packet. He also has some calcium drops to go in his water. The vet was shocked at his state of health, even more so when I explained that Beardie has no heat lamp - I wasn't given one when he was delivered - and nor did he come with any calcium to be added to his food.
She examined him completely and said that he is dehydrated, underweight, and most likely has some degree of bone disorder due to the lack of calcium. He is also at risk of getting a bone disease as the injury is quite deep, almost exposing the hip bone. It's also fairly large, I think. An oval, about 1cm X 0.5cm.
He also may not survive.
When I got him home I followed the vet's instructions and had to force Beardie to drink some water with the calcium drops and antibiotics in it, but I think he might have thrown some of it back up again. =(
Tomorrow I am going out to buy a heat lamp and some proper food for him. If anyone can advise on which lamps are possibilities (by the way, how do I work out the size of his tank?) and which foods would be the best to give him I will be eternally grateful.
Other details:
Weight: about 180g right now. =(
Length: 30cm roughly
Light: ReptiGlo something (I can't see properly)
Tank: far too small I think
Substrate: some kind of white sand, but I'm going to swap it for something else if I can
Heat: no lamp, but under-tank heating on the left side, which barely comes through the sand so I've moved all that to one side. I've given him a hot water bottle for now and I'm hoping it's enough for a few hours.
If you need any more info I'm afraid it will have to be tomorrow because it's midnight for me and I've spent three hours crying over Beardie so I'm exhausted. Please, please help?
He is not being a very cooperative patient though. Any advice on how to best force feed antibiotics in a syringe? He keeps wriggling away, which I see as a good sign if he can do that! I'm most concerned about getting water into him as I've only seen him drink water once in two weeks - in his bath tub. I don't want to accidentally choke him.
