onthefritz
Member
Brace yourselves, this is a long one. (you don't have to read it all, there are pictures at the bottom lol)
After months of reading and research, I finally decided around December that I wanted to add a beardie to my family. I got the tank, supplies and everything else set up before I even began to look at potential babies.
About 6 weeks ago a breeder on a local reptile fb page posted pictures about this sad guy that he had just rescued from a negligent home. He was told that the dragon was healthy and ready to breed. What he found upon arriving couldn't have been any further from that. He ended up taking him home just to get him out of the situation knowing that if he ever recovered he would have to find a pet only home. I knew that this was going to be my new baby. If he made it, I wanted to be the one to provide him with the kind of home that he should have had all along. I paid his adoption fee without knowing what his outcome would be.
He was covered in months of stuck shed and abscesses, wouldn't eat and only weighed 340g at 18 months old and 14in long. The breeder took him straight to his local vet and he was given a general topical antibiotic to help treat what also appeared to be a fungal infection. He was de-wormed twice and finally began nibbling at some food about two weeks ago and gained 4g.
Since he had started showing progress and there didn't seem like much else his rescuer could do that I couldn't, I decided to pick him up this past Saturday. After seeing him in person and then learning that the first vet had not done a culture to test for Yellow Fungus, I decided that I wanted to get a more solid opinion from a well-reputed herp vet close to my house.
I took him in this morning and although he's still quite malnourished and still looks a bit homely, he does NOT have yellow fungus, thank god. He actually doesnt have a fungal infection at all. He was an internal infection, similar to a staph infection, from being exposed to poor husbandry for the first 18 months of his life. The topical meds weren't helping because the problem was festering from the inside. After having his abscesses opened and cleaned, he was given a shot of antibiotics and sent home with some oral meds to take over the next two weeks.
It's going to take some more time but he is finally well on his way to being the happy and healthy boy that he should've been all along. The pictures are from Saturday after I got him settled into his new room, except the one of his beard. That one is from this morning after his abscesses were opened and cleaned. Now we wait.
After months of reading and research, I finally decided around December that I wanted to add a beardie to my family. I got the tank, supplies and everything else set up before I even began to look at potential babies.
About 6 weeks ago a breeder on a local reptile fb page posted pictures about this sad guy that he had just rescued from a negligent home. He was told that the dragon was healthy and ready to breed. What he found upon arriving couldn't have been any further from that. He ended up taking him home just to get him out of the situation knowing that if he ever recovered he would have to find a pet only home. I knew that this was going to be my new baby. If he made it, I wanted to be the one to provide him with the kind of home that he should have had all along. I paid his adoption fee without knowing what his outcome would be.
He was covered in months of stuck shed and abscesses, wouldn't eat and only weighed 340g at 18 months old and 14in long. The breeder took him straight to his local vet and he was given a general topical antibiotic to help treat what also appeared to be a fungal infection. He was de-wormed twice and finally began nibbling at some food about two weeks ago and gained 4g.
Since he had started showing progress and there didn't seem like much else his rescuer could do that I couldn't, I decided to pick him up this past Saturday. After seeing him in person and then learning that the first vet had not done a culture to test for Yellow Fungus, I decided that I wanted to get a more solid opinion from a well-reputed herp vet close to my house.
I took him in this morning and although he's still quite malnourished and still looks a bit homely, he does NOT have yellow fungus, thank god. He actually doesnt have a fungal infection at all. He was an internal infection, similar to a staph infection, from being exposed to poor husbandry for the first 18 months of his life. The topical meds weren't helping because the problem was festering from the inside. After having his abscesses opened and cleaned, he was given a shot of antibiotics and sent home with some oral meds to take over the next two weeks.
It's going to take some more time but he is finally well on his way to being the happy and healthy boy that he should've been all along. The pictures are from Saturday after I got him settled into his new room, except the one of his beard. That one is from this morning after his abscesses were opened and cleaned. Now we wait.
If you want to put something on those abcesses you can try raw honey, it's a natural antimicrobial and keeps bacteria from growing while helping new tissue to granulate. It can be mixed with a bit of warm water , half + half.
