Bearded Dragon Rescue

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Alexalas

Member
I have recently rescued a bearded dragon, while i am not the ideal parent for it as honestly I have no experience.

I can assure you that it's in a much better home now that it was before i adopted it.

I do however have some questions that the googling just doesn't seem to be able to answer.

So question one is this a male or a female?

20161106_141703.jpg


Second question it seems to have way to much loose skin is it about to shed and or is this normal?

20161106_134611.jpg


Finally food, if it's alive the dragon will happily chase it down and lick it up but how do you get it to eat vegetables.

I've followed every guide everything from shaking the vegetables to mimic a moving creature to putting it on a paper towel to give it contrast the dragon literaly has no interest in any of the following.

acorn squash
apples
apricot
artichoke heart
asparagus
bell peppers
blackberries
blueberries
bok choy
butternut squash
cabbage
carrots
celery
chayote
cherries
chicory
collard greens
cranberries
cucumber
endive
figs
grapefruit
grapes
guava
kale
kohlrabi
lentils
mangos
melons
mustard greens
nectarine
okra
papayas
parsnips
peaches
pears
pineapple
plum
prunes
pumpkins
radicchio
raisins
spaghetti squash
strawberries
turnip greens
watermelon
yams
yellow squash
zucchini

... and some of these were really hard to get.

Any help welcome.

Alex
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
He's not about to shed..... He is highly DEHYDRATED!! Give him a bath in warm water and see if he will drink during bath time, if not mist him and see if he will lick the water from his nose. If not you may have to drip water on his nose with an eye dropper.
He also looks to be grossly underweight. Offer him collard, mustard and,or turnip greens dusted with calcium supplements with vitamin D3. If he is eating crickets well, dust those as well.
What kind of setup is he housed in?
Give us a rundown on lighting (basking, UVB)
Temps (basking, warm end and cool end)
Size of enclosure
Substrate
Also post a pic of your setup and it will help us, help him.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Welcome to the forum! Can you post some more photos with his tail arched up a bit higher? It's tough to tell gender for sure from the angle posted. This guide may be helpful. https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=204533

Sometimes their skin is wrinkled like that just because it's relatively loose to allow them to puff out or pancake. I agree that it's a good idea to offer him some water by dripping it on his nose or offering him a bath to drink from. That will provide him with extra hydration that he doesn't get from food. If the bugs he is eating are well gutloaded with fresh veges then he should be OK. From the photos you posted it looks like the fat pads on top of his head are OK and his arm and leg muscles are pretty well developed so for a rescue he isn't in bad shape at all and should be able to bounce back easily with good care.

Providing us with details about your setup as mentioned will be helpful so we can go through it and help you fine tune everything to make sure it's optimal for your new buddy.

It can be difficult to get them into veges if they aren't used to it. It's also common for them to ignore salads in favor of bugs when they're younger than about a year because they need the protein from bugs to support growth spurts. Do you have an idea about how old he is? Based on his size I'd guess about 8 months but that's just a rough guess based on the photos. Just keep offering salads every day so they become familiar and be patient with him. Try offering them by hand and moving it around a bit to grab his attention. I've had good luck cutting squash into small worm shapes and offering it that way but every dragon has their own preferences and favorites.
 

Alexalas

Member
Original Poster
So his original setup consisted of:

- wooden vivarium with glass sliding doors
- 60w house light bulb.
- large stone
- plastic plants

I have so far improved this by :

Adding a "Exo Terra PT2133 Daylight Basking Spot, 100 Watt" in place of the 60w house light bulb.

The dragon shows little interest in the basking light to be honest haven't seen it sit under it at any point.

Added a large heat mat "Komodo Advanced Heat Mat 39W (733x274mm)" to his vivarium the size of the vivarium is 92cm x 46cm x 46cm originally i planned to put it the bottom and cover it with sand but i read the instructions and they said not to.

So instead ive nailed it to the back wall of the enclosure it only gets to 32 o C (i wrapped it and a thermometer in a towel for half hour to test this) and i've read dragons like 26 to 43 o C as their temperature so it should keep the vivarium right in the middle (I'm leaving the heat mat always on for now as the dragon was freezing when i got it and its warmed it up slightly since adding the mat.

The light i leave on from around 9am to around 10pm.

I've added some wood and sand (childrens play sand from argos).

I realise that a basking light and a heat mat is not enough so i have purchased the following.

Exo Terra PT2466 Dial Hygrometer
Exo Terra PT2465 Dial Thermometer

Exo Terra PT2172 Repti Glo 10.0 Tube, 25 Watt, 30-inch
Arcadia ACUP30 Vivarium Controller, 25/30 Watt

Inkbird ITC-306UK Dual Relays Plug Digital Temperature Controller (for heat mat)

from amazon as well as some standard timer plugs so i can put the lights on them.

RIP. sending money for this month...

That i *hope* will give everything

But it won't get here until tuesday.

If i'm missing something please let me know.

Also whats "normal" for a light allowance like how long for UVA/UVB bulb per day and how long for basking light and when are these allocations usually given morning mid day night etc?

Thanks

Alex
 

Alexalas

Member
Original Poster
[youtube]https://youtu.be/rKWO9pVpCxE[/youtube]

So after a few hours in a nice warm tank I have had success in getting it to eat i hid all the morio worms under the salad and it's totally eating the salad to get to them .

Tank images here

20161107_014207.jpg


and

20161107_015144_1.jpg


Ill get another picture of its bum tomorrow it doesn't like being handled much its always desperate to run off so poking it at 2am seems unfair.

Yes i know the heat mat is way to big for the tank but my house is cold so i thought bigger and having to turn it off is better than to cold

Also it has a plank see image one so he can sleep off the sand and its trying to dig? the plank basically just scratching the crap out of it with its nails seems odd loads of sand to dig and its trying to dig wood?

Alex
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
OK, now we can start getting thing squared away.
First thing, sand is a bad substrate for beardies, it can cause them to get impacted which in turn can cause paralysis. We don't want that to happen.
That reptiglo 10.0 needs to be within 6” to 8" of your dragon to do him any good. I know that they are less expensive than the reptisun 10.0 t5 ho or, the Arcadia 12% or 14% UVB bulbs, but you get what you pay for. Again it is still better than the coil bulbs.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
I agree with replacing the sand. I suggest using a solid substrate that is easier to sanitize. Non adhesive shelf liner or tiles work well. Are you in the UK? If so, I suggest picking up this UVB setup https://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/arcadia-complete-uv-light-kit-desert-reptiles/ The 22'' should do well. Just put it over the basking area about 30cm above the basking area and you'll be in perfect shape for at least a year UVB wise. I wouldn't use a heat mat as they only heat by contact. It's better to heat via lighting from above. During the day a bright white light (the komodo basking lights are fine as well as your exoterra) is the way to go. Try to imitate sunlight. Shoot for temps of around 40c in the basking area and 24c on the cool side with temps overnight staying above 18 or so. If the temps dip below that use a ceramic heat emitter to provide nighttime heat without visible light. Try to shoot for at least 12hrs on and 12hrs off. During the summer it should be more like 14/10hrs but as long as you're consistent (use timers or a programmable thermostat) it depends on your schedule.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi Alex, good for you and so far you're doing a great job. :) I like that he's going for the salad to get to the worms, a good trick to get extra nutrition in him ! He is a bit underweight but not terribly. And although sand is not ideal [ and it would be good to change it to another type of solid flooring ] I kept many dragons on and in the past and not one ever got sick....just be aware of the potential and do what you think is best.

As long as the Reptiglo uvb is close enough , about 8". he will be fine. One of the top breeders in the U.S uses those bulbs exclusively [ Tamara from Rainbow b.d;s ] Your set up looks good with the large basking logs, much better than hammocks and straight platforms....good job.
 

Alexalas

Member
Original Poster
Ok so now that it's settled and lets me hold it here are the feet they look bad to me.

Back right foot missing two nails:
20161108_003458.jpg


Front right foot missing one nail and the little finger? has a bent nail
20161108_003545.jpg


Back left foot one nail missing and i'm not holding that toe? up with my finger its actualy bent that way:
20161108_003605.jpg


Front left foot one nail missing:
20161108_003640.jpg


My understanding is that the nails will not grow back and this does effect the dragons ability to climb well i see it struggling sometimes climbing up the log.

But can anything be done about the remaining nails they don't look cut they just look broken off.

When i got it it spent most of its time clawing at the side of the vivarium frantically a full belly and a nice warm vivarium has calmed that down but im thinking its a factor in the broken nails.

With how hungry it was i wouldn't be surprised if the previous owner was not feeding it properly.

I on the other hand am probably over feeding it i make sure there's at least one piece of live food in there at all times and keep the salad topped up (it dies out so it's become a daily thing but that's ok changing water is daily to)

So this is the new not wrinkled dragon who actually fits in his skin now:

20161108_003708.jpg


also saw the first poo and to be honest i was like how did he eat a piece of chalk?! but its ok i googled it and its fine lol.

and this is the more tail image (the whole reason its on that towel is because if i touch the tail it digs the claws in my leg)

20161108_003654.jpg


I think its a she.

I may be wrong but i don't see the dots that make it a he.

Alex
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
He's definitely a boy and looks much better already. :) Be careful not to give too many superworms at one time, 5-6 a day is good. Offer other insects like dubia roaches, crickets, silkworms if you can get them.
 

Alexalas

Member
Original Poster
I brought six packs of extra large locusts and placed them into a tank with some fresh vegetables (sprinkled with nutri cal ca:d3) let them devour that and wait till there poo stops being cardboard.

-- i used to have praying mantis and noticed there feeder food would always eat the cardboard they came with after learning to gut load them my mantises where way happier and its working for the dragons food to --

Then place them in the tank one at a time it's funny watching it hunt them slow crawling over.

Alex
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
I agree, he's a boy. It's common for them to have finger and nail damage from nips and from getting them caught up in things. It looks like those are healed over so shouldn't cause any problem down the line. The missing and damaged nails may make it a little more difficult for him to climb but shouldn't pose any big issues.
 
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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.

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