Tiny Boss!

About 2 months ago a young girl came into my work, and she said she had a 2 month old beardie, free to a good home. About a week later I was told that if he wasn't picked up that day, she was going to leave him outside of petsmart (closed on labour day so it was even worse). I got a hold of him later that day and saw he was missing about 3/4 of his tail, got bit on his head by the other beardie he was kept with, ate maybe 8 crickets a day and his basking temp was 78f.

For about the first week he was eating like a pig and super active, and one night after drinking from his water bowl I noticed he was running funny. He had his head tilted completely to the right and everytime he tried to walk he could only go in a circle to the right, also had almost no balance or strength and couldnt eat on his own. So I started hand feeding and a couple days later he was constantly gaping and gasping for air and would start flailing his body around to the point where he would throw himself on his back and get stuck, similar to a turtle flipped on its shell. He went completely unconcious in my hand twice, to the point i thought i had for sure lost him. Somehow the little guy pulled through and started to slowly recover (all of this happened in about a week/week and a half). For the few days he was running in circles i was feeding him reptaboost mixed with baby food 3 times a day and he was eating fine, once his running straightened out i would slightly disable crickets so he could still hunt they just couldnt jump away.

As of today he acts like a normal baby beardie, he's gaining about 3-5 grams a week and has already shed full body twice since i got him 2 months ago .

If anyone has any idea of what could've happened please let me know, I spent countless hours on google and couldn't find anything other then water in his ear

Also pictures

First meal after i brought him home


Left - 4ish weeks ago Right - November 6


After he finished his 2nd shed November 7

wow! great job!

It's a great thing you came into his life. Not sure what happened the first week you had him, but obviously he is thriving in your care. I read on a few threads those that had similar experiences and with the proper care, such as what you have provided, the beardie doesn't show anymore of the strange symptoms.

Your beardie is awfully cute - tail stump and all. My beardie has a shortened tail too which is fine with me.