We rescued a bearded dragon out of a Florida garage. She was blind, weighed 280g and was severely dehydrated. One eye had a white film and the other eye was completely unable to open. She had a coil UVB bulb of unknown age and a red night bulb. Apparently her lights were on 23 hours per day.
We knew nothing about bearded dragons. But it was obvious that her situation was so bad that we just couldn’t leave her there. We heard from one person that she hadn’t eaten for 6 months at one point. And it was obvious that she hadn’t eaten for a long time again before she came to us. We think she’s about 2 years old. She had a name but we never used it as was a reminder of a bad time. We just started calling her “Baby”.
We took her to the vet. She said, well, I’ll put her down if you want or we can try a series of antibiotic shots. We went with the antibiotic shots and decided to give her a chance. The vet took pictures of her eyes to post in a forum to see if anyone would have a solution because she had never seen this before.
As soon as Baby came to us, I started reading everything I could find about bearded dragons. This website was very helpful in pointing me at the coil bulb and the red bulb. We got her a T5 Reptisun 10 and a ceramic heating element (CHE). This was a good decision because the vet also wanted her warm at night and we could immediately put the CHE to use. We also gave her baths every day, which our little dragon hated.
In the beginning, still blind, she would jump off her basking platform and run until she hit the other side of the aquarium. Then she would flail around. We got her a hammock and a ladder and she loved that. She spent most of her time on the hammock but still would run and hit the wall. We got her more hammocks until every time she ran, she would encounter a hammock and just simply stop and climb on it. That stopped her banging into walls.
Every 3 or 4 days we took her to the vet to get a shot in the arm. And a few days after the Reptisun 10 arrived and after the first couple of shots, she had that one eye open that she couldn’t open before. We also took her outside for at least 30 minutes every day to get some sun. It still took about 3 weeks more until she stopped always putting her arms first while moving, like when she was blind.
We force fed her for the first week but she so completely hated it and we stopped. She didn’t lose any weight and the vet said that’s fine and to just continue to offer salad. We had offered different things from the garden (chard, basil, tomato, etc.) but she didn’t eat. Then I bought some collard greens and offered it to her and she took the leaf! I can’t tell you what a feeling that was. She started eating collard greens and dandelions, but only with hand feeding.
After some time on the antibiotic shots and after the Reptisun 10 had been there for a little while, the eye that had been white became more translucent and it was possible to make out the pupil.
Throughout this time, we also offered different worms and crickets but she completely ignored them. When we finally got a superworm into her mouth, she immediately spat it back out. We also tried different commercial foods but no luck. We were still hand feeding salads when the 6th antibiotics shot came around. That should have been the last shot but the vet decided to extend the shots until she ate on her own. The morning of the 8th shot, she ate by herself and the vet said we could stop at this point unless there was a relapse.
She was at a stable weight of 360g and she still hadn’t eaten any proteins so I decided to try one more commercial product and ordered Repashy Grub Pie. It arrived on the day of the 8th shot and I tried some that night. She was definitely interested but we had to go through some figuring out how she would be able to eat it. Things have to stick to her tongue or she won’t eat them. If I smeared it on a salad leaf, she would eat it. I also got some great feeding ideas from this forum, which will help going forward. But at least now she finally started to gain weight and yesterday, she was over 400g!
We also set up an outside-the-aquarium area for her with towels to soften any jumps, a hammock and a mercury vapor bulb because she hates being in the aquarium. She loves being outside and she needs the exercise because her back-leg muscles are not very strong. A couple of days ago, she took her first 3 real steps, with her belly high off the ground!
She has started to shed, which we're taking as a good sign. Her body is finally healthy enough to produce new skin. Interestingly, the new skin is a much lighter color (see her neck). Right now she looks like she's wearing an orange suit with a white turtle neck.
She can also definitely now see out of the eye that was completely white. It still doesn’t look quite as clear as the other eye, but it’s obvious that she can see. She is starting to get more and more coordinated while moving and climbing and I’m looking forward to many more positive changes.
I wanted to post her story to show that there’s definitely hope, even if things look really bad. In the beginning, I would have never thought such progress possible but she astounded us all.
We knew nothing about bearded dragons. But it was obvious that her situation was so bad that we just couldn’t leave her there. We heard from one person that she hadn’t eaten for 6 months at one point. And it was obvious that she hadn’t eaten for a long time again before she came to us. We think she’s about 2 years old. She had a name but we never used it as was a reminder of a bad time. We just started calling her “Baby”.
We took her to the vet. She said, well, I’ll put her down if you want or we can try a series of antibiotic shots. We went with the antibiotic shots and decided to give her a chance. The vet took pictures of her eyes to post in a forum to see if anyone would have a solution because she had never seen this before.
As soon as Baby came to us, I started reading everything I could find about bearded dragons. This website was very helpful in pointing me at the coil bulb and the red bulb. We got her a T5 Reptisun 10 and a ceramic heating element (CHE). This was a good decision because the vet also wanted her warm at night and we could immediately put the CHE to use. We also gave her baths every day, which our little dragon hated.
In the beginning, still blind, she would jump off her basking platform and run until she hit the other side of the aquarium. Then she would flail around. We got her a hammock and a ladder and she loved that. She spent most of her time on the hammock but still would run and hit the wall. We got her more hammocks until every time she ran, she would encounter a hammock and just simply stop and climb on it. That stopped her banging into walls.
Every 3 or 4 days we took her to the vet to get a shot in the arm. And a few days after the Reptisun 10 arrived and after the first couple of shots, she had that one eye open that she couldn’t open before. We also took her outside for at least 30 minutes every day to get some sun. It still took about 3 weeks more until she stopped always putting her arms first while moving, like when she was blind.
We force fed her for the first week but she so completely hated it and we stopped. She didn’t lose any weight and the vet said that’s fine and to just continue to offer salad. We had offered different things from the garden (chard, basil, tomato, etc.) but she didn’t eat. Then I bought some collard greens and offered it to her and she took the leaf! I can’t tell you what a feeling that was. She started eating collard greens and dandelions, but only with hand feeding.
After some time on the antibiotic shots and after the Reptisun 10 had been there for a little while, the eye that had been white became more translucent and it was possible to make out the pupil.
Throughout this time, we also offered different worms and crickets but she completely ignored them. When we finally got a superworm into her mouth, she immediately spat it back out. We also tried different commercial foods but no luck. We were still hand feeding salads when the 6th antibiotics shot came around. That should have been the last shot but the vet decided to extend the shots until she ate on her own. The morning of the 8th shot, she ate by herself and the vet said we could stop at this point unless there was a relapse.
She was at a stable weight of 360g and she still hadn’t eaten any proteins so I decided to try one more commercial product and ordered Repashy Grub Pie. It arrived on the day of the 8th shot and I tried some that night. She was definitely interested but we had to go through some figuring out how she would be able to eat it. Things have to stick to her tongue or she won’t eat them. If I smeared it on a salad leaf, she would eat it. I also got some great feeding ideas from this forum, which will help going forward. But at least now she finally started to gain weight and yesterday, she was over 400g!
We also set up an outside-the-aquarium area for her with towels to soften any jumps, a hammock and a mercury vapor bulb because she hates being in the aquarium. She loves being outside and she needs the exercise because her back-leg muscles are not very strong. A couple of days ago, she took her first 3 real steps, with her belly high off the ground!
She has started to shed, which we're taking as a good sign. Her body is finally healthy enough to produce new skin. Interestingly, the new skin is a much lighter color (see her neck). Right now she looks like she's wearing an orange suit with a white turtle neck.
She can also definitely now see out of the eye that was completely white. It still doesn’t look quite as clear as the other eye, but it’s obvious that she can see. She is starting to get more and more coordinated while moving and climbing and I’m looking forward to many more positive changes.
I wanted to post her story to show that there’s definitely hope, even if things look really bad. In the beginning, I would have never thought such progress possible but she astounded us all.
