KevinsMom33
Hatchling Member
Hi there - I'm KevinsMom - and now Norma's - I've been coming to this site for a while now and never joined/posted until now. Just liked being an observer I guess...
My first beardie is Kevin - he was a rescue that a neighbor just gave me, literally I was over her house and said he was cute, next thing I know, I have a dragon, a 50 gallon tank and lights - the whole set up. Turns out Kevin was a little over a year old, had metabolic bone disease and was a tad underweight. So I did a lot of research, took him to the vet, talked to herpetologists, read up on dragons in the wild, you name it - I looked it up. The only remnants of Kevin not ideal past is his hands, they are twisted inward, so he walks on his wrists. He is a free range dragon. I have a unique set up for him in my dining room - he's got rocks, hanging mercury vapor bulbs and a space heater all set up on a yoga mat. He has total free range of my house and even scratches at the screen door to go outside onto the screened off balcony - I have video. He's very solid now and has very muscular arms like Popeye, because of how he walks.
He goes all over with me in the summer - they should be outside as much as possible in the summer - when I'm working I have an screened enclosure outside so I can watch them while I'm at my desk - He just a bit of surgery last week, he had a couple of weird growths on his belly that the vet didn't like, so she removed them - all is well. Just superficial and skin deep- no abscess underneath.
-Norma is my new rescue since August - her case is heartbreaking. I went to a reptile store near me to get Kevin some horn-worms, and they had just received a very sick, mbd, paralyzed, malnourished, weak, dehydrated dragon that the owner said he was syringe feeding for a year, took her to the vet 10 times, and they could never figure out what was wrong - her body was maybe 4.5 inches from tip to beginning of tail - he said she never ate on her own, he just didn't want her anymore and if they didn't take her, he would just throw her in the trash out back!! The reptile place of course took her ()and to their credit, did not throttle the jerk) and also asked for the vet papers (he never came back with them go figure ) they showed her to me, I took her home. I figured since I work from home, I could care for her her, since she'd need a lot of intense care being paralyzed and all...I sat outside with her in the sunshine for at least an hour a day and sometimes more, I syringe fed her 4 or 5 times a day then started added solid food in when I knew she could handle it, we started off slow with small superworms, phoenix worms, beardie bites, anything that I could mush up and get in her mouth, plus baby food veggie in the syringe. She first started doing an army crawl, then she pushed herself up onto her forewarns the classic dragon pose. A week later she was walking - 2 weeks later - live small Dubai roaches - she hunted on her own. Now, she's about 3 times the size, the vet says she's is healthy and passed the mbd and building muscle daily. She's in Kevin's old 50 gallon tank, plus runs around in Kevin's area when he doesn't start head bobbing at her...her name used to be NoNa (as in No Name) but now is NormaJean - (as in Marilyn Monroe) she does that sexy leg thing all the time. My 2 cats love their dragons - sleep with them, cuddle - the whole thing.
A few things I've learned - not everyone should have any kind of animal, ever.
Fresh air, sunshine and good healthy food are the best medicines for a sick dragon.
GodKing Kevin:
Man About Town Kevin
Kevin and Sofia
Nona in August.
Norma now
Kevin & Norma on blanket
Kevin and Norma
Norma and Lily
Looking forward to hearing back from people and joining the group. Hope I could help others with what I've learned from being Kevin and Norma's mom/human
My first beardie is Kevin - he was a rescue that a neighbor just gave me, literally I was over her house and said he was cute, next thing I know, I have a dragon, a 50 gallon tank and lights - the whole set up. Turns out Kevin was a little over a year old, had metabolic bone disease and was a tad underweight. So I did a lot of research, took him to the vet, talked to herpetologists, read up on dragons in the wild, you name it - I looked it up. The only remnants of Kevin not ideal past is his hands, they are twisted inward, so he walks on his wrists. He is a free range dragon. I have a unique set up for him in my dining room - he's got rocks, hanging mercury vapor bulbs and a space heater all set up on a yoga mat. He has total free range of my house and even scratches at the screen door to go outside onto the screened off balcony - I have video. He's very solid now and has very muscular arms like Popeye, because of how he walks.
He goes all over with me in the summer - they should be outside as much as possible in the summer - when I'm working I have an screened enclosure outside so I can watch them while I'm at my desk - He just a bit of surgery last week, he had a couple of weird growths on his belly that the vet didn't like, so she removed them - all is well. Just superficial and skin deep- no abscess underneath.
-Norma is my new rescue since August - her case is heartbreaking. I went to a reptile store near me to get Kevin some horn-worms, and they had just received a very sick, mbd, paralyzed, malnourished, weak, dehydrated dragon that the owner said he was syringe feeding for a year, took her to the vet 10 times, and they could never figure out what was wrong - her body was maybe 4.5 inches from tip to beginning of tail - he said she never ate on her own, he just didn't want her anymore and if they didn't take her, he would just throw her in the trash out back!! The reptile place of course took her ()and to their credit, did not throttle the jerk) and also asked for the vet papers (he never came back with them go figure ) they showed her to me, I took her home. I figured since I work from home, I could care for her her, since she'd need a lot of intense care being paralyzed and all...I sat outside with her in the sunshine for at least an hour a day and sometimes more, I syringe fed her 4 or 5 times a day then started added solid food in when I knew she could handle it, we started off slow with small superworms, phoenix worms, beardie bites, anything that I could mush up and get in her mouth, plus baby food veggie in the syringe. She first started doing an army crawl, then she pushed herself up onto her forewarns the classic dragon pose. A week later she was walking - 2 weeks later - live small Dubai roaches - she hunted on her own. Now, she's about 3 times the size, the vet says she's is healthy and passed the mbd and building muscle daily. She's in Kevin's old 50 gallon tank, plus runs around in Kevin's area when he doesn't start head bobbing at her...her name used to be NoNa (as in No Name) but now is NormaJean - (as in Marilyn Monroe) she does that sexy leg thing all the time. My 2 cats love their dragons - sleep with them, cuddle - the whole thing.
A few things I've learned - not everyone should have any kind of animal, ever.
Fresh air, sunshine and good healthy food are the best medicines for a sick dragon.
GodKing Kevin:
Looking forward to hearing back from people and joining the group. Hope I could help others with what I've learned from being Kevin and Norma's mom/human