My Brothers Malnourished BD *help!*

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orangeansel

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So I had the opportunity to go visit with my brother last week and checked on his beardie. Her name is Zocalo. We suspect she’s around 10 months, 11” long and if we had a scale, she would be VERY underweight. My brother has been giving her very inadequate care, feeding her only iceberg lettuce and the occasional few crickets or mealworms. He feeds her once a day, sometimes with only one piece of lettuce, sometimes he gives her nothing at all. He forgets to turn on her basking light and UVB and never cleans up after her. When asked why she doesn’t get proper nutrition, he responded “Maybe I like her small.” Neglecting a dragon like this is NOT his choice to make.

This dragon was in dire need of help.

Because of this, my husband and I have taken her into our care.

Here is an image of her pre recovery (assuming there will be a recovery):

110572-9886938910.jpg

As you can see, she cannot hold herself up, her ribs are protruding, and her legs and tail are really skinny.

110572-9384267353.jpg

I would love some tips on how to help treat a MALNOURISHED and DEHYDRATED BD and prevent this from happening again.

Thank you, please help us!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Since she has not been fed properly go slow w/ food -- she needs salads every day
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html ignore the kale thing its a great staple feeder
She needs insects dusted w/ calcium D3 once per feeding lightly coat them 5 x per week - vitamins w/ beta carotene 2 x per week once per feeding -- you can hydrate her by dropping water on her nose or giving her a bath to see if she will drink from that but be careful she may start to drink fast and alot you do not want her doing that she will aspirate --- now for the most important things
basking temps should be 95-110 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer- and UVB should be a long tube fixture NO coils - you want a fixture / hood w/ a reflector - do not get one that is the same length of the tank - for a 40 + gallon a 24" fixture would be good w/ a Reptisun 10.0 T 5 bulb 22" -- if you need help w/ any of this stuff please ask we can post websites of where to get -- I would feed her small amounts at first and maybe 3 times a day so she can start to adjust to being fed --- NO heat mats NO colored bulbs - you want a bright white basking bulb --- No sand for substrate -- you can get some textured NON adhesive shelf liner from Home Depot or your local home improvement store -- cut to the size of the tank -- insects cannot get underneath it and clean w/ vinegar/ water 50/50 ---- do not feed her right before lights out --- she needs 2-3 hrs to start to digest her food - please get insects no bigger than the space between her eyes length wise --- and please do not leave crickets in the tank over nite they will come out and bite --
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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