Lucy

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I was recently gifted with a sweet bearded dragon, Lucy, who was being rehomed. We jumped at chance to get to know such a wonderful creature. She came with her set up and some remaining food. To my knowledge she was fed crickets, mealworms, fresh greens and fruit, and a dried vegetable mix, as well as given calcium powder. Her 20 gallon tank came with a red heat lamp bulb that was kept on 24/7 and a coil UVB bulb. However at around a year old, she is only as long as my hand plus a little more tail, and thin... not bone protruding thin, but felt like she weighed little. It was mentioned she had gotten "lazy" and stopped hunting. They fed her with tongs.From the research I had done prior to picking her up, warning bells were sounding and I began researching more. She sort of drags her back legs rather than walks on them, she doesn't climb, even to bask. I have had her for three weeks and this is what I've changed... Got rid of the red light and replaced it with a 75 watt basking light. Replaced the coil bulb with a ReptiSun 10.0 tube bulb in a fixture that spans most of the length of the tank. It has an aluminum shield above the bulb, and I removed the plastic cover so nothing would block or diminish the UVB rays. I hung this inside her tank, so it is about 10" from the floor. I got rid of the mealworms and started ordering feeder crickets from backwater reptiles, which I gutload with vegetables, fruits, high protein cat food, and use calcium fortified cricket quencher. I dust them 5 feedings a week with RepCal powder. She gets fed these twice a day, until she stops eating within 10 minutes or ... probably about 15-20. I feed her with the tongs because she won't hunt. But I started dropping them further from her too encourage her to go after them. She will give up if they move too far. I also give her superworms occassionally. I make her a fresh salad every day. I use alfafa, turnip, mustard, collard greens, yellow squash, red peppers, green beans, occassional carrots, cucumber, tomato, strawberries, mango, papaya, grapes, and pears. I mix it up every day, make sure the pieces are small enough, but she never touches it. Even when offered with the tongs she will only take one or two pieces. She gets a soak twice a week. Her substrate for now is paper towels. I remove her feces as soon as she goes, wiping the area down and replacing the towel, which is about once a day now and seems like normal stool and white urate. I clean the whole tank once a week with a diluted 1:10 bleach solution and rinse a few times well. Her water dish is rinsed thoroughly and refilled with a little distilled bottled water daily. Although she doesn't climb, she has a rock cave to bask on. I did have two basking areas, one on each end, but removed one to give her more floor space. I have thermometers on both ends of the tank, not the strip kind. One side stays between 95-100° and the other 75-80°. I turn off her lights for 10-12 hours a night and the temp stays at 75°. I make sure her last feeding its no sooner than 2 hours before lights out and her first is an hour after lights on. I offer her greens in the middle of the day, though I keep them in a dish with her at all times. While she will watch and look around, turn towards us when it's time to eat, she isn't active. I physically move her to her food and water dishes a couple times a day to encourage her. By the way, she does drink from it occasionally. If nothing else, when she goes in I feel a little better. When I pick her up, I can feel she has gained a small amount of weight. I'm afraid she had developed MBD and I am doing all I know to halt it and get her healthier. But this is my first Beardie and if there's anything else I can do, I would greatly appreciate any advice. I would love to see her climb, walk without awkwardness, and hunt.
 
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I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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