meet my new rescue...

im pretty tired right now but i just wanted to introduce my new rescue.

ill tell you the story but if you wanna skip to the pics theyre at the end of the post .

he's a red-head agama, appearently, and he was in serious need of a good home. no attention was given to him except for the occasional feeding. nobody wanted him and he looked pretty bad. he is clearly suffering from MBD(shrunken skull), there is a serious underbite.

he was given to me all packaged up. when i got him home he looked dead, but when i touched him he jumped :shock: . i suppose he was traumatized by the move.

before packing him up they had him on calcium sand, some of which was still crusted to his mouth :? ... i can only hope he isnt seriously impacted. they said they had a heat light on him but they wanted to keep it for a snake. lucky for me i had a spare hood, heat bulb, fixture and UV-B bulb. the spare equiptment was leftover from my two rescues that died.

he did come with:

one fairly short but AWESOME tank. its got sliding doors just like LG's enclosure. infact, i think its made by the same company. i can only imagine what it cost new.

one bag of calcium sand(which i promptly through away)

one background, which doesnt look half bad actually.

two tank decorations; one a resin stump, the other a resin "half-rock" hide. both decorations are made so a much smaller animal can crawl inside of them but he is too big to use them .

they also gave me the rest of these TINY crickets they had left over for him :? . i cant believe they were feeding him such small feeders.

all together i got a great deal, all of that for free... though i have to admit: i never went looking for this pet, let alone any of my pets :| . i have very little money right now and am losing my job within a month due to economic slowdown.

i really might end up giving this guy to somebody. i like him and all but i just dont make the kind of money someone needs to have a pet(let alone 4 pets with 4 tanks, 8 light fixtures and tons of live feeders). ive brought home six reptiles(two of which have died) in the last couple of years just because im a sucker. i need to SAVE money and instead i keep housing reptiles :roll: .

anyhow, just wanted everyone to see his new home. he had such a crumby, stressfull life. id like to give him some peace and quiet, with a daily showering of crickets of course :mrgreen: .

PICTURES:

this is the way he came. he is in that brown box.



after a little decorating, using the things that came with him and some tile and slate, i came up with this:




here is the one pic i took after introducing him. i didnt want to stress him out too much, i could see he was terrified .



well thats it. hopefully he will have a happy life, i will do my best to see to that. i will take more pics tomorrow on my day off, though i plan on sleeping in and resting most of the day :lol: .


P.S. if anyone has any experience with agamas or knows about them i would love to hear hear from you. just leave a quick message here or PM me :wink: .

Jason... your heart just keeps growing and growing with all these reptiles! The tank looks good - hopefully he will warm up to you quickly.

hi, thanks. i dont mind if he never lets me pick him up, i just want him to be happy.

now that hes off the calci-sand and under proper lighting for the first time in his life, he should be ok.

ill try to take some more pictures today with the lights on. last night i didnt turn on the lights because it was pretty late, so i just took that one pic of him with the flash. it was already his normal bedtime by then so i didnt want to stress him out too much.

thanks again.

p.s. no name yet, but im getting better at that. im sure ill have one by today or tommorow :wink: .

Bless your heart for taking in this guy. How sad that he was 'packaged' in a box for the transport.
Even if you won't be able to keep him, at least he's no longer being neglected.

Sorry to hear that you'll be losing your job. That's my biggest fear.

hello and thank you. yea losing my job again is really stressing me out. its so hard to find work right now with businesses cutting back on employees. i dont know what im going to do besides hit the pavement today :| ...

PICTURES

i woke up this morning excited to turn on his lights for the first time. when i turned the lights on and peered into the tank i couldnt find him :shock: :



after a quick search i found him :lol: :




i take back my previous statement;

both decorations are made so a much smaller animal can crawl inside of them but he is too big to use them

Click to expand...

i guess he can fit in there :roll: .


more pics coming soon. im going to try to get feeding time on video :wink: .

Jason Bless Your Heart! :love5:
Poor little guy. I can't believe the way you received him that's so aweful.
I bet he is already much happier than he has probably ever been. :roll:
You've got his house looking very nice, but that's no surprise.

I'm very sorry to hear that your job is ending. I know just how bad you need the work and money in order to provide for all of these little rescues that your big heart always seems to find. :wink:
I feel I'm in over my head too with so many MVB's running up my PG&E bill.
I'm in need of a job too in order to keep all of mine. Doesn't look to awfully promising with our current economical situation though. I think the last I heard in Fresno alone we have over 500,000 newly unemployeed.
I can only imagine how bad it must be down south.
Anyway best of luck with the job search.

And gratz on your new addition! Or should I say gratz to the Agama for finding his way to you! :wink:

Bless your heart, Jason, did you get him from the same pet store or personal aquaintance? Isn't it unbelievable how people get these animals, and loose interest and begin to neglect them? I'ts hard for me to comprehend. :shock: I'm so glad he found his way into your home........... praying that you'll be able to continue to work and maintain these wonderful babies.
Christine

Jason- once again Hats off to you and your rescue work. I love the picture of him hiding in his sleeping place. Shows what we humans know, huh.
Bummer about the job. I'm thankful we are in no imediate danger. But with the new prez's feelings about those in uniform it may only be a matter of time.
We will keep you in our prayers. And all your wonderful reptile crew. :love5:

Sandy H

i had a whole page typed out and i made a spelling error. when i pressed backspace it took me to my previous page :roll: ...

well i dont feel like typing all that again so long story short:

thanks everyone...

he pooped, it looks healthy.

hes skiddish. he wont let me get near his cage.

he ate some crickets i squished.


PICTURES:

he finally came out of his hiding place to warm up. he was facing his hide so he could shoot back in if need be:


finally he started to drop his guard and he climbed up on the log to bask:


i thought he was warm enough untill i heard a loud noise. i turned around to see this:


i turned off the UV so he didnt damage his eyes and i felt the bulb from about the distance he was(4"), it didnt seem too bad. i let him do that for another 5min untill he jumped down on his own(at which point i turned the UV back on). i guess he knows how to regulate his body temp, and i bet he loved the warmth of the light on his belly.

he has a 50 watt bulb, but i will buy him a 75 or 100watt tommorow. i can tell he is a heat loving creature, i will try to make it so he doesnt feel the need to jump up there.

any comments are welcome :wink: .

Gee Jason I hate when that happens an it always seem that when you loose a post that your
typing that it's an extremely long one. Doesn't it? I have started typing my long
replies up in my word program and then copy and paste it to my post a reply.

That poor guy looks so skinny.
I wasn't expecting the pic with him playing spider agama. He didn't look like he was strong
enough to do that. :shock:

Maybe you should name him Peter Parker the spidey Agama.
I did a little bit of research on Agamas awhile back and there are several different kinds. They are heat loving but not quite as hot as beardies. I believe it said that 95 degree basking spot would be perfect.

He sure is beautiful Jason. I'm sure he'll be doing better in no time, that little monkey!

Wow Jason I cant believe you brought home another stray Thank goodness you did!He looks like he was deperate for a good home.It is a really great thing you've done with all of your rescues and I am thrilled you were able to give this guy a home even if it is only temporary I know whoever he may go to next will be hand picked by you.Altough if I were a betting women I doubt he will go anywhere :wink: I love the hanging pic! I think maybe you should name him Spidey :lol: It suits him!

barbara, yea i usually save my typing every so often but i thought i could get through this one without. that'll learn me .

he is skinny, but very wirey. hopefully he'll calm down abit in the next few weeks.

atreyu917, thanks for the info on heat. i guess i need to do some research :study: . he does have a little monkey face huh :lol: ?

vickson420, yea im a sucker for a reptile in need. if i can afford to, i will keep him but that is still to be determined. thanks again :wink: .


does anyone have any ideas on how to keep him from getting too close to his lights, specifically his UVB tube?

i dont really have money for elaborate light holders, is there something cheap i could make to raise the lights up off the screen(without burning my house down)?

any other suggestions?

Honestly, I think once you get some more weight on him I don't think he'll be able to hang like that anymore.
Did the lamps you have not come with clamps? I know the dome lights are easy to suspend away from the top....but I have NO idea about the UVB tube.

yea its tough. if i suspend the hood and raise the UVB then that will force him to climb up there. if i leave them where their at he might burn himself or damage his eyes.

i suppose i could raise that stump up so its about 4" from the screen then raise the lights so that they are an appropriate distance.

i might just leave the UVB off tommorrow while at work if i cant figure something out...