MelissaDufreche
Member
Hello, I am a newbie dragon parent. Here's the story of how we adopted an 8 year old Beardie for my daughter but now he's mine. Never in my life did I think I would love a reptile so much.
So we adopted Hurc last summer (Jun 2019) from a friend of my daughter. My daughter wanted a dragon so much and they were looking to re-home Hurc with his entire set up. It was my understanding that his primary caregiver was teenager and had "lost" interest. My daughter was the expert on bearded dragons as she cared for one at her school and would bring one one on holidays, summers, etc. I bought two books and was reading all the forums and posts about bearded dragons.
The day we brought Hurc home, my daughter said he was pretty thin but he ate everything she gave him. The second day, his eyes were bulging and crusted over from mucous. My oldest daughter is a registered vet tech and luckily there were two vets at her clinic with some exotic experience. The first few images are when he came home after 2 days in the hospital. Hurc was in bad shape he was severely dehydrated, had parasites was only 14 ounces (396g), and had this eye issue. Hurc had been roamer in the previous owners garage and was eating roaches and bugs he caught.
For the next month I fed him through a syringe critical care and gave him daily baths with electrolytes to help with hydration. He bonded to me, and would become active when he heard my voice. By the end of August he was weighing 19.65 ounces (557g) eating on his own and looking so much better. The 4 picture collage shows his progress.
But the eye issue he had continues to plague him. One of his eyes will bulge and ooze, even when he is not shedding, and then it gets better. We take him outside when weather permits and he gets direct sunlight, and he seems to do well on these days. But even when his eye is "doing good" it still doesn't look normal. The close up is of the same eye on the same day. I am hoping someone else has seen something like this or can offer some advice.
Habitat: 40 gallon with a 160 watt mercury UVB and 100 watt basking light (100F temp) and his hammock is on the cool end at 85F. There is ceramic tile and no sand or other substrate. I cut the cord on that hot rock so it is not functional.. its just a rock.
Diet: Super worms and collards, squash, dandelion greens - He is SUPER picky will not eat crickets. I ordered phoenix worms and I am hoping he will like them.
We are in the process of building him a new house with inside dimensions 54 inches x 24 inches with a 48inch T8 UVB light, basking area etc. He gets regular outside sunlight on non rainy days.
So we adopted Hurc last summer (Jun 2019) from a friend of my daughter. My daughter wanted a dragon so much and they were looking to re-home Hurc with his entire set up. It was my understanding that his primary caregiver was teenager and had "lost" interest. My daughter was the expert on bearded dragons as she cared for one at her school and would bring one one on holidays, summers, etc. I bought two books and was reading all the forums and posts about bearded dragons.
The day we brought Hurc home, my daughter said he was pretty thin but he ate everything she gave him. The second day, his eyes were bulging and crusted over from mucous. My oldest daughter is a registered vet tech and luckily there were two vets at her clinic with some exotic experience. The first few images are when he came home after 2 days in the hospital. Hurc was in bad shape he was severely dehydrated, had parasites was only 14 ounces (396g), and had this eye issue. Hurc had been roamer in the previous owners garage and was eating roaches and bugs he caught.
For the next month I fed him through a syringe critical care and gave him daily baths with electrolytes to help with hydration. He bonded to me, and would become active when he heard my voice. By the end of August he was weighing 19.65 ounces (557g) eating on his own and looking so much better. The 4 picture collage shows his progress.
But the eye issue he had continues to plague him. One of his eyes will bulge and ooze, even when he is not shedding, and then it gets better. We take him outside when weather permits and he gets direct sunlight, and he seems to do well on these days. But even when his eye is "doing good" it still doesn't look normal. The close up is of the same eye on the same day. I am hoping someone else has seen something like this or can offer some advice.
Habitat: 40 gallon with a 160 watt mercury UVB and 100 watt basking light (100F temp) and his hammock is on the cool end at 85F. There is ceramic tile and no sand or other substrate. I cut the cord on that hot rock so it is not functional.. its just a rock.
Diet: Super worms and collards, squash, dandelion greens - He is SUPER picky will not eat crickets. I ordered phoenix worms and I am hoping he will like them.
We are in the process of building him a new house with inside dimensions 54 inches x 24 inches with a 48inch T8 UVB light, basking area etc. He gets regular outside sunlight on non rainy days.
