New Owner and Rescued Beardie...

G'day to all,

I wish I would have found this site before we rescued our new spiney friend but at least I have found it now! I have spent the day reading thru so many forums, I now see I made some errors when setting up his new home so quickly. I figured I would share our little rescue story here unstead of the Rescue forum since I'm new here also!

Altho I was considering getting a bearded dragon, I never thought I would get one so soon ....
Cazic (our new family members name) joined us on New Years Eve. We were told he was 6 months but due to his size that can't be right. We are guessing more like a year? He was given to my friend who has a one already but she wasn't able to take on the care of a 2nd one and passed him on to me.
He came to us in a 20 Long tank with carpet (boat maybe?) on the floor... and it was very gross.....only having mealworms to eat his whole life. Not a very happy little guy.... he wouldn't stand up all the way to stretch his legs as there was not much point... 4 steps and he was on the other side of his tank.... Only dish for water he had was a little plastic bowl with no ability to actually climb into it (it's a kitchen bowl so it would knock over)

Last night we got him a new tank (36L 18W 16H) which OVER doubled his living space, got him a nice branch to climb up to bask...
Altho I had opted to use ground english walnut for his substrate, we are going to change it again tonight now that I have read so much on here. I'm sure our lighting set up isn't quite right yet but going to be working on it this weekend.

When placed in his new home he didn't quite know what to do with so much room!! Standing up to stretch his legs there was this wonderful look to him..... as he ran back and forth is this giant (comparatively speaking seeing what he was in) place just for him.
He took to digging a huge hole in the substrate and must have laid in the new water container for about 20 minutes.
Overnight his energy level has increased 50%... Everything in his life that he should have had... greens, fruit, crickets (and actually hunting them) is wonderful to watch him try for the first time.
He hasn't quite got trust in being handled too much yet but even in 4 days that is improving (at least he didn't bite when we got him!)

Well that's the story of Cazic joining our family. Thanks for reading this long post and I'm sure I will be posting with tons of questions soon!


~Meara and Cazic~

Reading your story made me smile. Cazic is so lucky to have joined your family!

Congratulations on your new "owner-child". We would like to see pictures!

I will try to get some actual pictures posted... altho I did figure out how to put a small one on the avatar!

We just had our first bath... just sat where I placed him... until he was ready to get out... at which point he jumped on my arm and proceeded to get me wet too....
He won't let me put him back in his tank tho! I have him on a towel after bath and tried to put him back... he won't let go...

It's been 5 days since he moved in... he was such a dull grey/brown when he got here. This morning the surprise we got was him starting to shed... looks like there are some pretty whites and oranges on his face.

I have been on this site constantly for 3 days now... I can't seem to get enough info from everyone here .... This place is a wonderful resource.

Thanks!

Meara and Cazic

Don't you love the beardie death grip when they don't want to let go of you? It's so sweet. Yay for shedding and pretty colours underneath!!!

I have him scheduled to go to the herp on Wednesday (since there doesn't appear to be any major health issues)
Altho I'm concerned that I think he is still stressed. The tip of his tail is a little dark and so is his beard along with some lines on his stomach. But I guess some stress is to be expected after moving to a new home and shedding at the same time. At least I hope that is all it is..... Plus he keeps pacing the tank and trying to climb the glasss

My concern is him going without the UVB for the next few days... it's already been 2 since it was on him. They had a Reptisun 5.0 Compact Florescent bulb which I read from here was bad for him so I turned it off.
So far there are no eating or pooping issues tho. Kinda hard to learn all of a sudden what this big guy needs... No time to learn gotta get it right the first time.

But his new lights have been ordered... tank is coming along nicely. I think when the lights come in he should be set for a bit.

Any advice on the stress and pacing?

:wave: Hello & Welcome to BD.org!
And........
Congratulations on the New Beardie!
Stess beardies go thru a thing we humans refer to as relocation stress. This is present during the period in which your beardie is adjusting to their new surroundings. This is something that can happen anytime you make any changes to their environment. It can last days to weeks just be patient. :wink:

An yes we require pic's around here. :wink:

Again Gratz & Welcome!