Friend's Dragon Not Good!

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FoleyFun

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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?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
If he is black bearding that is not good! My guess hes ill and it just depends - hes probably got MBD as well but w/ out the proper lighting hes not getting the nutrients he needs as well --- as for cohabitating a turtle and a reptile seriously one is a tropical creature and one a desert creature --- I am sorry but the woman is dumb!
Karrie
 

FoleyFun

Member
Original Poster
I totally agree with you! Just to clarify, he was not black bearding when he was sitting around in his cage, but black bearded when we took him to hold him. I figured since nobody ever holds him he got scared.

So you think he is going to be ok, with proper care starting now?

Kim
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
If she does what you told her to do --- the proper care he will survive going the route he is going now he will die-- first off you dont house a tropical and desert animal together--- but the care he needs to start the up hill battle begins now -- he needs basking temps of 95-105 and a good UVB starting w/ the Reptison 10 either a T 8 or T 5- and that will need to go into the tank --- inches will determine the bulb - T 5 10-11 inches from basking area T 8 8-10 inches from basking spot- he needs calcium-- that would need to be fed on live bugs crickets or dubia roaches -- D3 calcium and vitamins- alternating between the 2 2-3 times per week - what is she feeding him --- my guess is this is going to be to much work for her and shes not gonna want to do it --- I dont know her but given the info you have written she hasnt done any type of research or back ground on a bearded dragon or she would of known not to keep a turtle and dragon together! If this proves to be true try and get the dragon from her or tell her to surrender it to one of the bearded dragon rescue places -- there is only one place near me that does this and they are like 2 1/2 hrs away --------- it breaks my heart to hear of stories like this as I know the dragon is suffering --- the lighting is crucial to their over all health and behavior
Karrie
 
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