I was at a friend's house yesterday she has a bearded dragon. I had no idea that she had a bearded dragon, she has never mentioned it, but there he was. I asked how old it is, it looked close to the length of mine (who is about 7 months), but he is a lot skinnier than mine. She said he is 3 years old! What?!
There is nothing is right about how they are raising this poor little guy. They do not have the proper lighting, they have no thermometer or any clue what the temps are, they have him on some weird rust colored sand mixed with what looked like gravel, he is housed with a little turtle, he has never gotten a bath, and they never take him out.
I asked if I could hold him and they said he bites and it squirmy. I said I would take my chances. Oh this poor sweet dude, once he realized I wasn't going to hurt him his black beard calmed he snuggled right into the towel I was using and fell asleep on my chest.
If I had space for him I would take him home right now and rehabilitate him. I did tell my friend that everything is all wrong and he is really undersized. She does feel bad and has agreed to to everything that I tell her and to get all of the proper items that I suggest. I sent her links for the 10.0 T5 hood and bulb, for an infrared heat gun, and for non adhesive shelf liner to start. I also told her she needed to get the turtle it's own habitat and to research what is needed for him.
My question is ... How resilient are bearded Dragons? After 3 years of the wrong husbandry can he go on to live a long healthy life if he gets the proper care going forward?
There is nothing is right about how they are raising this poor little guy. They do not have the proper lighting, they have no thermometer or any clue what the temps are, they have him on some weird rust colored sand mixed with what looked like gravel, he is housed with a little turtle, he has never gotten a bath, and they never take him out.
I asked if I could hold him and they said he bites and it squirmy. I said I would take my chances. Oh this poor sweet dude, once he realized I wasn't going to hurt him his black beard calmed he snuggled right into the towel I was using and fell asleep on my chest.
If I had space for him I would take him home right now and rehabilitate him. I did tell my friend that everything is all wrong and he is really undersized. She does feel bad and has agreed to to everything that I tell her and to get all of the proper items that I suggest. I sent her links for the 10.0 T5 hood and bulb, for an infrared heat gun, and for non adhesive shelf liner to start. I also told her she needed to get the turtle it's own habitat and to research what is needed for him.
My question is ... How resilient are bearded Dragons? After 3 years of the wrong husbandry can he go on to live a long healthy life if he gets the proper care going forward?