thank you everyone, for your help and caring expressions over my terrible loss. Rescue was worse than I could imagine...one back foot torn off comletely, infected. tail bitten in half, infected...almost all toes and fingers missing at least half. Just gruesome. horrifying.He is supposed to be aroind five years old.
took him to the vet immediatly. He did not advise removing black infected tail, but to give antibiotic a chance...keep wounds clean and dry--no soaking, no ointments until all had a chance to heal over a bit. I placed him in a large plastic bin near my bed, with white paper towels, to keep very clean, a warm light, electric heat pad under half of bin, and a small bright uvb lamp onerhead..it is not adequate uvb for long term, but will keep him stimulated, for now.
He had endured weeks in a cage in fear for his life, not allowed by his cage mate to access water or food dishes easily. But he is determined to survive. She (cagemate) was not being a bad dragon--she had laid eggs, which were kept in the cage, and she was being a good, protective mama. I am sure they both were stessed over the situation neither could control. Why this was allowed to comtinue, I cannot imagine! Even if there was a financial difficulty,a simple plastic bin from dollar store, or even a cardboard box would have been more humane!
But, I am not the queen of the world, ( dang it!) and cannot control others. Also, I have no idea what personal stress this young simgle mom was having. She admitted to many difficulties this year, including a friend with cancer, two children with difficult diagnoses, and a hard breakup, move, job change. So I prefer not to engage in any judgements and offer my prayers and compassion for her family. She was very brave, to give up this beardie, knowing she might be very much judged and dissapproved of. I have offered visiting rights. She and one teen son have visited. The son has a strong relationship with this beardie, who seems quite bonded to him. I think it is good for both boy and lizard to encourage contact. Beardie was in his lap, smiling, relaxed and all attention to each other. Adorable to watch such a tender, intimate interaction.
SO....vet prescribed baytril, which I have used successfully with mammals and birds, but not tried on reptiles. Also, this was the injectible-- I can give IM injections,but vet said give by mouth, twice daily, and did not provide needles. II followed directions. When he came to me, he had a good appetite, Now he stopped eating,
drinking, and was constantly
black bearding, suggesting to me a tummy problem. It smelled like nail polish remover, so I was not surprised that it hurt his tummy. He developed atomic dragon farts, nasty ppoo, confirming my suspicion of a bad intestinal reaction....After four doses, with quite a fight, I stopped . I felt is was doing as much harm as good. I got a dab of Benebac live bacteria in him, and left him alone. God gave animals incredible immune systems, given time and good care, so I saw myself as support. Gave him a clean, warm, low stress environment, offerd food and water but not by force, and waited. The Baytril did help...the black tail end dried up and fell off. I pressed quick stop on it and left it alone. The leg with foot missing has no more redness, less swelling, nice scab. Yesterday, he ate 20 super worms! yay! This is a long term process. I think he is ready for a nice big vivarium. I will set this up in my bedroom, so I can keep an comstant eye on him. He mostly sleeps, now, but that is expected, given the energy required for healing, and his relief to get some peaceful rest. He seems relaxed, but a frowny face and not anxious to be handled. I pet him alot, to establis trust and to comfort him. He likes that.
His name is Odin, as in the Norse god..I may change that, eventually., to Logan, my fave Xman- Wolverine,who has super powers of healing and strength. I have not handled him much, giving him time to adjust to so much change, but he seems very relaxed when I have held him. Whether this is due to illness and exhaustion, I cannot say. When he feels better, his personality will show, and I will know more. Either way, he will be loved, and cared for. He deserves so much more than he has had in his life so far! Bless his heart.
I will eventaully introduce him officially as Logan, the super dragon. He is a very pale reddish fellow, with pretty lemon yellow around his face and eyes. His remaining toe nails are clear white. I tead once that was an indication of a recessive low melatonin skin color? Is this correct? I look forward to seeing what appears after a few good sheds. He was kept in a white sand, and that may be affecting his current coloring.
About Dezilou...I may someday be able to share our last days, with a big Colorado vet hospital that diagnosed him as having true, genetic giantism!, All his growth plates were wide open, at five years old, and should have closed at one year according to the head reptile expert vet.( Dezi was well over two feet long, and still growing as fast as any six month old--huge body, head baseball sized.) The vet had never seen giantism in a reptile. Unfortunately,, this led to heart and liver damage. Enough said. I am devastated. I feel destroyed. I wish there was a support group for such grief, but do not want to go to one for human loved ones, so not to seem to minimize or disrepect others, who may not understand a loss of a lizard could equal any other human loss.
C. King