Best care for disabled bearded?

Hello my name is Sydney

I currently have a 10 month old female dragon that my Exotic vet declared "perfect" at the start of brumation, and also a 3 month old that my boyfriend purchased last week.

Over the weekend I found a disabled beardie at a reptile store that is well liked and works with my Exotic Vet. He is missing parts of his back legs. One leg goes down to his ankle, but is missing the foot, and the other has been removed up to his knee. While talking to the manager he told me that he can still get around pretty well and is about 5 months old.

My boyfriend and I agreed to bring him home to make sure he will be loved and took care of. Turns out he is a leatherback beardie (which after research doesn't require different care like a silkback). Upon picking him up he was pretty dirty, I think because he can't lift his butt over poops? And may possibly have slight mouth rot.

*Please note that all dragons are currently separated and being quarantined until I can schedule a vet visit for the 2 new guys

I decided to let him settle into his cage for the night and eat dinner before bathing him because he was a little skittish. On Monday I bathed him in a clean sink with water freshener and an electrolyte mix. He hadn't drunken any water after about 5-8 minutes so I decided to use baby wash and a soft tooth brush to scrub any poop off his trail and back legs.

Now he is clean and eats protein like a champ, but I don't think he was ever offered greens before. I try burrying worms and roaches under salads and omnivore mix as that works with my 10 month old but he will just leave them there or pick them out.

If anyone has any experience with handicapped dragons, please let me know if there is anything specific or special I should be doing for him other than having to bathe him more often and not to have things set as high up? Also, I have been wondering how long I should wait before attempting to give him blended foods? Today is our 2nd full day with him.

Thank you

Also, please provide instructions to upload images

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at top of message box and then click on the pic it should post -- there are a few on here that can help w/ the care of your disabled beardie
Karrie

Thank You!

This is Forrest, who I named after Forrest Gump.

I believe the black spot on his knee is scar tissue, but will ask the vet to be sure.

Poor baby -- looks like hes had it rough---- what are you using for a UVB for him? NO coils --- what are blended foods? He should be fed like a normal dragon-- insects every day and as many as he can eat in a 10 minute time frame- and fresh salads every day -- feed salads first thing in the morning and go figure hes picking the worms out - get some BSFL from here order large www.symtonbsf.com -- you can use as many as you want on top of the salad - that may get him to eat his salad - here is a website for nutrition
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Is he having a hard time climbing anything ?
Karrie

Currently using a t-5 bulb until I can pick him up a repti-sun 10 on Friday.

He will happily eat Dubai roaches, super worms and is the only dragon in the house who will eat calcium worms (bsf). I haven't gone to pick up more food yet but may try crickets.

Also, blended food would just be putting his greens and veggies in the blender, which I would prefer to use as a last resort option if possible. But I can't get him to eat any greens by hand or out of a bowl. He also won't eat them even if that's all he was given

As for climbing, he doesn't do it much in his cage. I've only seen him get on the bottom large part of his branch and won't go any higher. He can however climb up my shirt really well if I'm holding him

What is the Rept sun 10 ? is that a all on one bulb? I would keep the T 5 -- have you tried putting the BSFL in a glass bowl on top of the salad to get him there and let him eat from that bowl for like an hr before adding some dubias to that same bowl - you can take a few of the vegies out and the add them to the bowl -
Karrie

You might want to post some pics of his tank so that AHBD can look at it and she can help w/ the disabled stuff
Karrie

I have been reading on forums that the ZOO Med repti-sun 10.0 Uvb is supposed to be the best for dragons and I have an 18" fixture already so I was just going to buy that bulb on Friday when I get paid.

And his enclosure isn't completely finished yet, but ok thank you for the suggestion. I will post pictures later today

Ooooo k-------- sorry I wasnt looking at the spelling correctly - I spell it Reptisun gotcha -- and yes they are the best on the market now - you will need to get the T 8 bulb and it would need to go into the tank approx 8-10 inches from basking decor
Karrie

He looks pretty healthy and a good appetite is always a positive sign. Just keep his climbing + basking areas low and maybe have a few layers of newspaper on the floor covered with non adhesive shelf liner so his nubs don't get rubbed raw.

He hasn't ate today actually, but that may be because he can see the other dragons in their cages. Mostly been laying on top of his half log hide basking and napping. Although he did want to come and hangout with my boyfriend and I today. Took a little nap with me on my chest.

After letting him explore and do his thing for a while I can say that he gets around without much trouble and is able to do a little climbing.

I know he is still a little young but could someone please provide information on helping him build up muscle? Do I just offer him more dubias and fatty items??

Muscle building idea. You could give supervised swimming a try. Assuming he does not mind the water or have any issue keeping his head up to prevent aspirating water.

A long plastic bin with adhesive shelf liner applied to the inside bottom so he can grip that with his front feet. On one side underneath you can use a small heat mat with a thermometer, I've seen that set up for snakes not dragons, however the method to keep the water warm would still work the a probe thermometer attached to the heat mat secured to the bin so it measures the water temp. A good diet is only one part of building muscle, any creature needs to move to use those nutrients to build muscle. The water should be shallow, maybe an inch or less, to provide support for movements

Today I let him crawl around my bed and set up a bridge to the window for him. Thanks for the swimming idea! I might try that once he gets used to his baths.

Also, he didn't eat today because he needed to poop - which I just found. So I think things are going ok?