rescued beardy

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Eteda

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I rescued a beardy approx. 1 year old with MBD. It couldn't even crawl to get water and almost died. It has a respiratory infection. I have tylan 50 and baytril 100 injectable on hand for other animals. I just don't know how to dilute it down to his size. he weighs 165 grams, or 0.36 lbs or 5.82 oz. however you want to measure it. he weighed 147 grams last week. he refuses to eat any greens or crickets ( he usta where he was at) so I got him some live food because he needed to gain weight. I can borrow a human nebulizer and I have a box to nebulize him in. I also have other farm related antibiotics and coccidants. I have propylene glycol if I can use that as a duletant, or unflavored pedialyte I have also. I can buy sterile water at the drugstore. I think I have the MBD under control and he's gaining weight and getting stronger every day. it is the RI I need help with before it gets any worse. I had hoped to rehome him to a bearded dragon rescue within 24 hours of buying him to get him out of their but it fell through. The guy just doesn't have room right now. So I guess I am going to learn how to do this myself. I have a heat bulb, and a uvb and uva light also and he eats live food really good. except crickets he don't want them anymore. I have been giving him 0.02ml liquid calcium orally every 7 days cause I scared to over do it.How much liquid cal do I give him a day until I can put it on or in a bug for him to eat. It says 3 drops a day. Im guessing that is about .05 ml? My plans are to order the BSFL and dust them every day. My plate is over run and no one is home to get the worms out of the sun so I have to have them arrive on my day off. I've been driving 35 miles to town to get the other worms for him. he also get to be in the sun for as much as he wants on my days off. humidity is around 20% and temps are 85-105 depending on which light or side of the 40 gallon vivarium he is on. He is having good and normal BM's. I give him a short soak 15 minutes every night and he loves to sit in front of the little heater in the bathroom to dry. he can crawl away if he wants but he likes it it is about 30 inches away. then he is put back in under his lights where he bask for an hour or so.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi there, it sounds like the little guy is very fortunate that you got a hold of him + are taking such care of him. :) It sounds like he's doing MUCH better now so hopefully is past the danger zone. Eating well , calcium + time in the sun have really rejuvenated him.

One of the mods. is usually on in the night , you can p.m Drache613 [ Tracie who may be able to advise on dosing with the antibiotix.
 

Eteda

Member
Original Poster
Thanks AHBD,
I made him a salad this morning again, collards, sweet peppers (yellow and red) cause he likes red. lol. and kale. It's tough eating lizard food myself but it saves money. He gets his raw and I just make a stir fry for me. I'd never thought that sweet potatoes would be good in a stir fry but they are great. I offer him zucchini, yellow squash, baby greens, tomatoes, everything but spicach and the other one that messes with his calcium for right now. when he gets over this RI i'm going to feed a lot less wax worms. which i didn't know were to high in fat for the long run. Im going to try and order some BSFL today and see if they can deliver them on monday. I haven't learned how to PM yet but as soon as I get time i'll learn. I kept researching for the info and put him on the baytril last night. I took a 28 gauge needle and shot in into the wax worm and got him to eat it. later that night at 8 pm I gave him his liquid calcium the same way. He started breathing much better in about 15 minutes after the baytril. though he turned a lot darker. He doesn't make the popping noise when he breathes any more. He is starting to lift up on his front legs. I hope he will be able to walk again and not have to scoot everywhere he wants to go.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Sounds good so far ! Keep him from getting chilled or staying wet for any length of time, limit the baths to about once a week. If the R.I isn't too bad it may clear up on it's own. But I'll p.m. Tracie for you.
 

Eteda

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Original Poster
Ok will limit his baths to once a week. thanks for PMing Tracy for me. I've tried all day to tempt him with a salad and I've lost each time. Lol.
 

Drache613

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Moderator
Hello,

Wow, you are really set up! Which do you want to do, an injection or nebulization?
I can help with either as well as the dosing, too, since you did already provide the
weight of your dragon & the strength of the medications. Let me know which you
would like to start off with & I can get you going on that.
How is he doing today?
Did he ever get any salad eaten? LOL Sometimes they can be so picky can't they?
Your salad for him sounds terrific, too so hopefully he will start eating some soon.

I hope he had a good day today.
Tracie
 

Eteda

Member
Original Poster
thank you for responding with help.
I would rather do injections. but baytril is better orally right? what is best for the dragon? He doesn't like the taste of baytril and knows it in the wax worm. so I put him under the light and when he gets hot and opens his mouth while basking I put the wax worm that i injected the baytril or liquid calcium in. LOL
Can you inject tylan?
I did not get him to eat any salad but I did get 5 red beardie bites in his mouth tonight while he was basking with his mouth open. he is learning to like them. He doesn't look skinny or underweight or dehydrated. Im giving some probiotics daily. Im trying to make sure he eats when taking the baytril.
He looks all brightly colored tonight and well. I think tonight was either 3rd or 4th night I'll have to look on the calendar. He still stays under and between his lights though he moves around between the two. But mostly never goes over to the cool or dark side of the vivarium.
I do see improvements every few days though it usta be daily. hopefully now that I have his calcium going daily it will help a lot.
Since this is my first beardie I don't know what is best for him but leaving him where he was at was certain death. I am willing to do things that are hard for me if it is best for him. If he doesn't make it I don't want to be questioning myself about should haves and could haves. I want to know I did my best honest effort. Even if it means giving him up to someone that can do better.
I've seen him go from a light tan color and only crawling 5-6 inches to a green color and now some bright orange and yellow and crawling almost 3 feet in a few minutes.
And he is lifting up on his front every now and then. So i've done something right. If you will give me your opinion on what you would do, which order and teach me why so I know what to look for since I don't have your experience it would be so helpful and I wouldn't be so confused, LOL. :banghead:
So Im thinking I should finish the baytril orally if he tolerates it ok. AND doesn't stop letting me put the tainted wax worm in his mouth. If he refuses orally then I should move to injecting it to finish up this 10 day cycle.
If the infection is still present I should move to nebulizing him with the tylan 50. So what I would need are the amounts for each type.
Right now Im putting approx 0.02 ml in the worm of baytril at night. I try to get him to eat anything as he is not suposta have a empty stomach.
Approx 0.02 liquid calcium in the worm in the morning.
I will try and put some pictures up of him. He always has his beard out and it's usually got some dark in it though a lot of orange also.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That is great to hear he is actually a little more active now & is basking some.
You can inject tylan, yes. I would right now, finish up his Baytril first to see how he does on
that & if the infection clears up some. If it doesn't then you can consider an injection round
or nebulization for him.
So he figured out the meds were in the worm! LOL They are very smart so I'm not real
surprised he figured that out.
I think he should improve a good amount with added calcium & UVB lighting, absolutely.
I think you are doing everything you can right now. The most important thing is to keep
him hydrated, so his kidneys are not stressed.
I would do the oral medication first since it would be less stressful on him. Monitor his
urates making sure that they are not too hard which would indicate dehydration, or less
urate output means kidney distress if it continued past a day or two.
How much longer does he have until he finishes the baytril?
He is bearding a lot, but not black bearding? Sometimes they beard when they are just
happy or want to show off. LOL
It sounds like overall he is doing pretty well thus far, so keep working with him. Let us
know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Eteda

Member
Original Poster
Today 3/12/18 was day 5 for the baytril and liquid calcium.
I saw no urates in his BM today, usually there is a small amount like their is with chicken poo. It was very moist not hard or dry at all. It was dark green.
Though he doesn't go much, he usually goes every day. Every now and then he will skip one day.
It was cool today so he only got to spend an half hour in the sun. Boy he loves it outside!
He does seem better. He does not make the popping sound anymore when he breathes, doesn't breath really hard or gape with his mouth open all the time.
He was a little thirsty last night. He might be going to shed he looks a little grayish compared to normal. Boy that would be a good sign for me!!
Do you know whether or not an F8 (feeding) catheter would be small enough for his size if it came down to that. The OD is about the size of a pencil led or a smidge smaller.
It surprises me that I already have most of the medicines and tools on hand that I use for the sheep and chickens. I have tube feed newborn lambs that couldn't nurse and one of my roosters too when he was bad off due to an dog attack.
Today about an hour after he came in from basking he actually crawled over to the cool side of the varvium, hid under the tree and is still sleeping. He was up late last night. LOL . If the house is cold I leave his lights on. I feel so bad turning his lights out while he is still under them trying to meet his needs. But he is in the dark now. sleeping like a puppy all sprawled out. LOL
I saw a heating pad that stays around 85-90 degrees that I could put under his tank. wouldn't the big rocks absorb the heat, because heat rises, and would that be a good thing. I plan on getting the arcadia fluorescent tube light, and the black heat bulb for night time. What do you think of that?
Oh about his beard. It is always puffed and colored just like in the picture of my avatar. That is the main reason I chose that one because it shows his beard kinda brown or orange on top and black underneath. Is that just normal and I don't know it.
I have Had him 19 days now and I still can't get him to self feed on vegetables of any kind. All he has had for a year is crickets. Im trying to get him to learn about the right kind of food he is suposta eat. He has quit eating wax worms to cause " he knows they contain baytril". He's not really interested in the super worms. I going to buy him some dubia roaches thursday and I've been raising BSFL for my chickens to 2 years. But it is just a summer thing so I don't have any yet.
Maybe Im trying to feed him too much? He was eating about 10-15 wax worms of med-lg 2 x day befor I started the baytril and liquid cal 5 days ago. Maybe he's getting ready to shed? He has had good food for about 3 weeks and plenty of it. :banghead: :study: [/size][/size]
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Sorry I missed your last update! That's great he loves going outside, a lot of them do.
How is he doing now? I'm glad to hear he seems to be breathing better then, that is progress.
If there wasn't any urates with his stool, then you will need to increase his fluids right now.
The Baytril will dry him out badly.
Yes, shedding would be very good news. If he is starting to get a little grayish in areas, that
is indication of an upcoming shed soon.
An F8 feeding catheter should be fine. I wouldn't tube feed though, as that is tricky & you don't
want to get it into his lungs accidentally. You can use it just to get past the glottis area or just
into his mouth, slowly.
As long as the tank doesn't heat up too badly, to over 80, putting a heating pad underneath of
the tank would be fine if your house gets cold. Usually we don't recommend any colored lights
for nighttime, but, you can use a ceramic heat emitter which is heat only & no light. Which
Arcadia tube fluorescent are you getting, the D3 12% or the 14% in the T5 or the T8 model?
If his beard is a little darkish, then he is probably slightly stressed but hopefully not too bad.
I wouldn't feed too many waxies since they are too fatty. The soldier fly larvae will be good for
him when you have some ready. Did he like the dubias you bought him?
If he is getting ready to shed that can affect their appetites for sure. Getting them to eat their
veggies & greens is hard if they are not used to eating them. Keep trying & rotating different
ones to try & find some he enjoys. Which ones have you tried?
Medications decrease their appetite also. When is he done with the Baytril?

Tracie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Oh that is great! Are you going to build him a whirlpool also? LOL
I hope he had a good day & that he is feeling much better.

Tracie
 

Eteda

Member
Original Poster
Lol. She now has a work pool with running filtered water and a 1 inch water fall. Just trying to figure out how to heat it for her. Don't want it to over heat either. Maybe the little beta one gallon heaters.
 

Eteda

Member
Original Poster
Saturday was the last day for baytril. I don't know which light to get I have a 40 gallon Varian. Which one is best I've tried all kinds of vegetables and greens he will not even eat his strawberries anymore I don't know what to do besides see if he gets hungry enough that he starts eating he didn't like the Dubia roaches either doesn't eat wax worms or super worms or greens or vegetables what to do now seems to be happy loves the hot tub and the whirlpool drinking lots of good water staying hydrated
 

Eteda

Member
Original Poster
I was on a 15 minute break at work when I last responded and was in a hurry.
I am very confused about which light I should get. the arcadia I think is better but if it is not any better than the reptisun 10.0 uvb then i might as well go that way.
I have an old 30 gallon fish tank light that I am trying to utilize so I can spend more money on the good tube bulb that he needs.
All I have to do is match the starter in the hood with the new bulb and get the correct length. I think the acarida is not standard size, I think they are odd sized per the video I watched. So I might just have to go with the repit sun for now.
Poor lil lizard its rained for 3 days and no sun to put him in.
how long, or many days should I go without him eating on his own before I tube feed him. which I did for about 3 days and then decided to wait a day or two and watch to see if he starts eating on his own.
I think my main problem is lighting now. I do not think the all in one is sufficient enough to meet his needs long term, nor the 45 watt flood light I have for heat.
Long term plans to do for him is ( right after I get my taxes done) are a summer cage outside on the south west corner of the porch. A new larger indoor area utilizing the space under the stair case for a better lighted and warmer enclosed area with its own independent heating since I'd like The house to stay cooler during the day. His heat light heat up the house more than I thought.
If I don't run the air it will get to hot in the house for him. His vivarium is too close and right in front of the window unit now. so Im afraid to turn it on if i'm not home.
He finally is starting to move around his tank and is even hiding under his hide tonight. I fix him a nice salad every morning and I just fixed him a fresh one tonight. I am offering wax worms, superworms and dubia roaches twice a day. none have been taken except one waxworm two days ago. I put two pieces of strawberry in his mouth while he was gaping while basking this morning but he backed away so I quit.
So I guess I will get some more crickets and try them again. The last ones eventually died of old age in the tank. It least they at the salad.
 
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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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