Emaciated Beardie

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I rescued a beardie on Saturday. He is 10.5" long and 34g. The first night I had him he ate 4 superworms. Since then, he's only eaten a couple more and nothing else. You can see his backbone and his skin is loose. So I know one thing that is an issue and I am to blame. I saw him and had to get him out of there because he's so skinny, so I didn't have a proper set up for him. He's in a 76qt tote (20L equivalent) with an uth on a thermostat. Even with that it's only getting up to 90. Yesterday he looked so pitiful I weighed the risks and decided it was worth the risk of switching him into my other beardie's tank overnight. So he get's 12 hours of proper heat and lighting and my other one gets 12 hours too, and they each spend 12 hours in the tote. I really hated doing it, but I was desperate. So I'm picking up a custom cage tomorrow that's 4' long. I have the reptisun 10.0 t8 bulb that I'm mounting in the cage and the 150w basking bulb on a dimmer. I keep them on papertowels and they have the option of superworms, dubias or bsfl. They also are offered veggies daily, but neither one touches them.

So my question is, should I forcefeed critical care or leave him alone and see how he does in his new cage? I'm telling you, he looks really bad. I have the herbivore critical care on hand, but I just ordered the carnivore kind and bee pollen and it'll be here tomorrow. How much should I feed if I should forcefeed? Anything else I'm missing or should do? If he doesn't get better I will take him to my exotic vet. I'm monitoring his weight every morning at the same time and if it keeps dropping, I will take him. He's still active.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
That is terrible I just went thru this in Sept w/ getting a rehome from FB reptile group --- the girl basically starved her to death I had her for 2 weeks and fed her critical care/ herbivore/ omnivore mix- 1 cc 's 3 times per day -- you haft go really slow you dont want to overwhelm her w/ food -- keep her hydrated - my vet wanted me to soak her 2 times per day in a bath -- I made sure the critical care was watered down - one so it would come out of the syringe and it wouldnt plug it up my husband cut the end of the tip off a little so the hole was wider --- I did everything I could to get her back to health sadly she passed - her organs shut down on her -- she bascially was past the point of no return - 2 she was getting water ---- keep her warm like 80 over nite - she will need it to fight off anything - if you have a heat emitter that would be good - CHE --- is he really weak? Is he eating on his own? His poops are going to tell you if he is dehyrated --- chalky and dry white urate is dehydration -- I forgot to mention that the ratio for the critical care was 2 tbls herbivore to 1 tbls omnivore - keep it in the fridge - that is what I did
Karrie
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Good advice from Karrie and I'm also sad to hear about this poor dragon. I also eant to mention that superworms may be very difficult for him to digest [ but at least he had an appetite ] Now just syringe feed + water him but no bath unless he actually drinks. Your heart is in the right place but just an FYI this dragon may pass on a disease to your healthy one. Better to just switch the uvb bulb between the tank + the tote. Don't put this sick one back in your other dragon's tank at all.
 

MugglesMom

Member
Original Poster
Well tomorrow he will have a proper set up, so it won't matter. No more switching. Tonight he was extremely interested in the BSFL I offered him. Actually ate one, but he was very uncomfortable with me sitting there watching him, so I put them in a bowl that they shouldn't be able to escape. I'm going to go down in a little bit and check on him.

Just for reference, my other beardie is 9.5" and weighs 42g. So you don't have to scroll back up, Tango is 10.5" and 34g. Rubix is a nice, healthy weight.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Just make sure he has 2 hrs to bask after eating so he can digest his food --
Karrie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

The poor dragon, I hate to hear how bad of condition your rescue is in.
As Karrie suggested, you absolutely have to go slow with his feeding regime. Since he has
been starved & may not have 100% renal function, too much protein can overwhelm his
system which could cause renal failure. So, initially try to give just a small amount of the
powdered food but make some slurries with blended greens daily.
What type of lighting are you using for him?
I know it's difficult, but pictures would be helpful of him & the tank setup, too.

Tracie.
 

MugglesMom

Member
Original Poster
He's got a Reptisun 10.0 t8 bulb mounted inside the cage, a 150w basking bulb, and at night a che. I am going somewhere this morning, but when I return I will get those pics for you. I have some of Rubix (my healthy dragon) by himself. These were taken a couple of weeks ago. Is it safe to put them together just for a quick pic?
106640-1669487134.jpg
106640-6820699828.jpg
106640-1876388681.jpg
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
I would not-- you really don't know what and if he has anything that can be contracted-- better to be on the safe side and keep them apart
Karrie
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
KarrieRee":2ejwmchi said:
I would not-- you really don't know what and if he has anything that can be contracted-- better to be on the safe side and keep them apart
Karrie

I concur, for all you know one of the other has ADV , so best to house them separately and never let them have contact and be very careful with germ control .
 

MugglesMom

Member
Original Poster
What's ADV? Here's pics of Tango in his New cage. Sorry about the state of the doors. I hadn't had time to clean them before taking these. As soon as I put him in his cage, like within 5 minutes, he started eating BSFL. Um...well, I cant figure out how to upload new images. It isn't prompting me like yesterday....
 
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