Help needed! Building a home for a disabled dragon.

Hello there,
At the beginning of December I rescued Ruben. A gorgeous little monster missing his right arm and leg.
He still gets around however he is obviously mobility imparied.
He seems to challenge himself everyday and is still getting used to growing up missing limbs.
He is currently in about 90gallons of my 120gallon viv, but he is growing so quickly that I am starting to think about my end goal with his 120gallon.

Ruben
A couple of pictures of Ruben to show his mobility issues, and how very hansome he is!

Very lopsided but seriously smug all the same:

Poor darling hardly even has a stump at his arm as it was ripped right off at the socket.



My aim
Id like to modify my 120gallon to him an exciting home for him to explore and challenge himself with.
Just because he is disabled I dont want to make him live in a bland and bleak enviroment.

His current set up




He has toweling on the floor of his viv as he gets around the best on this. He moves by dragging himself along with his one good arm. The towel ive found gives him the best ease of mobility. Tried sand and tile and he didnt seem anywhere near as confident on it.
Ruben can climb low platforms but he cant manage branches.

He adores his hide and tucks himself right into the corner when he sleeps, so I would like to encorperate this in his new set up or something very similar. He seldom climbs the ramp but does sometimes run down it when he's lept onto it

His basking area is in the foreground. Under the towel is a building stack of dvds to give him gradual height.
He often clambers over his basking brick but prefers to bask laying next to it. Im thinking of moving his hide and making the basking area more central and higher.

The final picture shows him in his favourite spot. He spends most of his day on these little buildingblocks when he's not eating or running a muck!

Money + Materials

Neither are an issue. We have a great amount of building supply shops around and my family own a wood which I can loot to my hearts content.
Im in no rush to get this done as he has a little growing to do before i let him lose on 120gallons, so I dont mind labourious work.

You!

Having 120 gallon may seem a little much for a disabled dragon, but I want him to enjoy it as far as he can.
Im not in a huge rush to come up with a final design but I would deeply appriciate any ideas or suggestions you have for platforms or general layout for Ruben.

Please feel free to post pictures, suggestions, drawings, anything that might help me. Unfortunatly Im just not creative.

You guys have helped me out so much with my dragons health, now Im turning to you to help him have a happy home.

Holly

Maybe keep the wall, but saw/cut a little, well big,lol door in it. Behind it put "toys" and decor.

Have you taken a look at LG's platforms? Jscott has some fab ideas and from what I can remember he posted a few of his plans on there! I would say tho, that Ruben could move into the full space anytime!!! Hes a big boy and his injuries are all healed up arent they?

O and just btw, I sympathise with your desire to challenge him - when Kazi was in his 'hospital' tank (a 10gallon) all he had was paper towel and a tiny rock hide, covered with toweling as a basking spot so he didnt have to climb anywhere and didnt have too far to fall until his foot healed - as soon as it did heal (we were quite surprised that he managed to keep it) I couldnt wait to get him into the 120gallon! O and with the full space, you could make a more gradual ramp and even add some of those vines that you can twist together for him to climb through/over etc.

hello, its nice to hear you rescued this guy. where did you get him from? at what age did it happen and how old is he now?

sorry for all the questions, i guess i need to catch up :roll: .

so you say he likes to climb ledges but he doesnt like ramps so well? how high of a ledge can he safely climb?

id say the best bet is something simple. ill try to find a pic of LGs cage before i took the ramp out...

this was my first attempt at building LG a ramp:





needless to say it was too steep, i needed to make it more gradual. instead of lowering the high end, i raised the low end; that way i didnt reduce the amount of UVB light or heat.

here is the next tank i made for him:





your guy might be able to handle the steep ramp with a ladder, being that he still has half of his nails and fingers. then again, it might be too hard to pull himself all the way up with just one side of his body. maybe he'll learn to slide along the side of the glass as he's ascending to keep him from slumping over.


here is one last configuration. its the setup i have my newest rescue in right now:


this is a very simple one: a sturdy box with a large piece of tile on top as a basking platform, with 6" tiles at a slight angle for the ledge. the angle helps him pull his weight up more easily(hes a big boy).

i use outdoor carpet in some of my tanks(i ran out of tile), you might give it a try. im not sure what your dragon would think of it. i get it at wal-mart for $3.99; thats a big 3'x2' piece. they come in black, green and blue as far as i know. at that price its almost disposable, but i like to just clean up theyre poop a.s.a.p and spot clean the carpet(once it starts to smell i toss it tho). that saves alot of money, ive heard people say you can even put them through the washing machine... heck, i guess even doing it by hand with a stiff brush would do the job(ill have to give that a try).


anyhow, thats all i can think of. if i missed anything, or if you have any questions let me know. i havent been on that much lately because of personal stuff but ive been trying to make myself get on lately.

i just wanted to say one last time how great it is that you chose to bring home this animal instead of a so called "perfect" one :wink: .

I'm not the best with cage designing, but I'll do my best to make a few suggestions...

First of all, I love that little ramp! I'm sure he does prefer to climb up the hard way, but if he gets tired or his legs start to hurt him, he can always walk down the ramp. By the look of the pictures, he seems to really like that spot. Maybe you could make the ramp as the basking spot?

I totally agree with you; even though he's missing legs, he would still love more space to explore.

Best of luck! Can't wait to hear about what you come up with!

Thanks everyone!

MissT:
Im glad you understand. I just dont want him to live in a boring viv just because he has mobility issues.
Yes he's completely healed. I rescued him when his tail was still healing but that has even shed now and everything looks great.

JScott:
Thanks for taking the time to help me out, I know you havent been on much lately and person life is taking its toll.
I rescued Ruben from the RSPCA centre, thats our animal welfare organisation in england, they have a reptile rescue centre near by me where they nurse all kinds of rescued reptiles.
Ruben was seized from a store who were keeping him and his 30 clutchmates in a 10 gallon tank with a light so close to them they could jump up and burn themselves. Alot didnt make it.
Ruben had his arm and leg ripped off by his brothers and sisters when he was about a month old. The rescue centre guesses that he is around 5 months now. He was very skinny when I got him but in a month he's gotten a buddah belly and grown to 13 inches (with large tail nip so withthe tail Id say he was around 15-16 inches) ^_^
I have only had the pleasure of owning two dragons, and they have both been disabled rescues. I dont think I could have loved them more even if they were "proper dragons" (as my annoying family say).

I definatly like your ramp idea. I have a MegaRay which needs to stay 12" away from him so I wouldnt be able to raise that section too much, probably by about 4 inches, but that sounds like a good idea.

Im thinking of moving his ramp/hide down to the centre of the tank, and extending his climbing bricks (socks filled with rice) all thw way along until it meets up with his hide again, as I know he likes to climb up there.

Herpfreak:
You are right, I want to give him the oppertunity to climb, but not force him too. So I think at the cool side I will make a low platform for him out of bricks (possibly wrapped in toweling to give him grip) which he can climb and jump on if he chooses.

Im aiming to convert his home in two weeks time when I have finished my law finals (cries into textbooks).
I think Ive explained what I intend to do reasonably well, but I'll have a go at making a crude drawing aswell.

Thank you all!
Holly

I hate to point this out, but isn't there an issue of him maybe losing his balance and flipping over on a higher ramp/climbing area?
(they cant breathe on their backs)

Hi hayleygirl.
In short, no
I wouldnt build anything steep enough for him to tumble down because he wouldnt be able to pull himself up anyway.

Ethelia":44290 said:

Hi hayleygirl.
In short, no
I wouldnt build anything steep enough for him to tumble down because he wouldnt be able to pull himself up anyway.

Click to expand...

Well, look at me, lol. Im paranoid about your dragon! That shows how wonderful he is! :love5:

After all your imput Ive come up with some very rough plans to show what I think I will do.
(yes I drew it on paint. Dont you mock it! hehe)


A - His current stone ramped hide where he tucks himself in to sleep.
B - Ramped basking platform.
C - A stone platform with a rock stepping stone on one side so he can climb and challenge himself if he wants.
D - Another ramped platform up to the C stone so Ruben can get up there the 'easy way'.
E - A series of socks filled with rice for him to climb on as he has at the moment.


Id love any feedback you can provide for me.
Thanks guys.

You have some fab ideas - and there you were saying you lacked creativity. I might have to make my 2 some of those rice socks...

Hehe Ive just pinched lots of other peoples ideas ^_^
But isnt that what designers do?

I love the rice socks.
The material provides great grip for him and if you pack the rice in tightly they make great climbing blocks.
Also you can pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds so they are warm and snuggley for them :mrgreen:

Well they have 2 'rice pillow' teddy bears at the moment - for bed time lol!!! But socks, like rocks, might be fun for them.... although, no doubt, my Kazi will find something mischievious to do with them!! Haha!!! Good luck with the set up!

T

Hmm, rice socks is a good idea!! I might make one for Budo to keep him warm at night. Thanks for the great idea!