Advice needed for a Severed Foot

[Gremlin12]

Hi there.
My son is a new owner of 2 young ( few month old) bearded dragons. 1 male and 1 female. He's had them together for about a month now. Tonight he found the female with a bloody foot that was partially severed most likely from being bit I suppose from the male. I rehab injured squirrels, and rodents but not familiar with emergency care for a reptile. He's on his way to an emergency vet clinic an hour away that has only treated reptiles a few times. We'll take her to a local vet tommorow. Can anyone give us some advice on what to do tonight for her care?
I have medications for mammals but not sure of the dosage for a reptile. Also, regarding seperating them, he only has one aquarium with heating lamps etc. How can we temporarily provide her with a safe place to spend the night until the stores open in the morning?
Thank you for any help anyone can provide.

 

[Esther19]

I'm sorry that your girl was attacked. She is the one who should stay in the current enclosure. Moving her will cause additional stress. Your boy can stay in a tall Tupperware/plastic storage box or cardboard box. Just make sure he cannot climb out, and is in a warm place away from drafts. I hope she is okay. Please let us know what the vet says.

 

[Gremlin12]

Thank you so much for your reply. I am not used to this forum. I use one for squirrels so I'm new to this format.
Anyway, he is just arriving at UC Davis Teaching Hospital Emergency Dept. The Emergency vet felt it was too severe for them to just splint it and treat for pain. He is new to reptiles which makes me nervous but he has the willingness to do whatever it takes to care for them.
I've been doing a little research and see that biting injuries happen with dragons? He got her to keep the male company at the suggestion of someone or something he read. These little ones sure do need lots of specialized care. He did get them from a reputable local pet store, not a chain. I see they carry worms of all kinds, susceptable to MBD and coccidia which squirrels are as well. I do have medications for many ailments but I would not know what dosages are used for the dragons. Is there help available for that somewhere?

 

[Gremlin12]

So, she has been admitted to the UC Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital tonight as it's midnight. They have her on antibiotics for the night. She'll be seen in the morning by the staff. Because she is so young they wouldn't be able to splint her foot and it was already turning black from lack of blood supply. They will most likely amputate it and she will be there for a few days to recover. $200.00 to walk in the door. $400.00 estimate for her care. Merry Christmas Son.
I have many wild lizards on my property and have seen a few missing tails and limbs. Does anyone have any experience with a "special needs" Bearded dragon? I suppose he'll need to keep her separate from the male who inflicted this injury. That's too bad. He bought this one to keep him company.

 

[Mistyck]

They will need to stay separate. They are not dragons that need company of other dragons. They are solitary creatures (for the most part) and don't need others in their tank. He attacked her because she was in his territory. So please don't put them back together, ever.

As for the other things...She will need to have her own set up and no sand for substrate. She should do just fine without that foot as well. Most special needs beardies get along just great, just have to get used to their "deformity"

 

[Esther19]

She will be in excellent hands at Davis. I have 2 special needs dragons. They get along without their limbs just fine. More later-work time!

 

[Gremlin12]

Thanks Mystic and Esther for your help. We're still waiting for the call from the Dr. and student that are seeing her. My son emailed photos of the injury. about her left front wrist. Looks like a slice. I think he said two bones were broken. Could a bite do that kind of damage or perhaps she got it caught on something in the cage that has a sharp edge. He bought everything new when he got them. He's using pellets not sand. They look like wood pellets or the pine pellet cat litter. Can I post pictures on this board?

 

[AHBD]

Wow, por little one, but like was mentioned, they can get along just fine with a missing limb. As a matter of fact, most times they will not even become infected. By the way, you should use only paper towels for substrate,,wood chips are just as dangerous as sandy stuff. As for the wound, they can do that much damage. I've raised babies for many years and it can happen . And yes you can post pics, directions are at top of forum under website comments. I'd like to see pics of the foot. Some will heal just fine with antibiotic cream....but if the bones are completely broken, that may need to come off.

 

[Gremlin12]

Update on Sophie.
She has a fracture above her wrist but was trying to climb out of her cage at the hospital and getting around well. She did not mess with the dressing they applied last night. They are going to splint the underside with Superglue to a small splint even though its like working on a barbie doll they said. Because of the shedding cycle and that she's so young, it will most likely need to be replaced as she sheds the skin and the glue will come off with the skin. The wound is not a clean wound it's an open wound that can't be stitched. They will flush it and medicate it daily and will be keeping her there until Saturday to observe. We'll pick her up and video tape the training they'll give us on wound management. If this doesn't work out for her, they will then have to amputate just above the break.
$500.00 through Saturday and estimate of 500.00 more if she needs surgery. Amazing. I'm so frustrated as I adore all animals and want the very best but this is falling on me as he is only working part time. I located a vet in his town that cares for birds and reptiles. Very nice and knowledgeable. She'll help us with the aftercare if needed this weekend and beyond. $40.00 office visits and $15.00 fecal tests and ~200-250 for an amputation if it's necessary.
Do you all have to spend this much money on these adorable critters. Do they require a lot of veterinary intervention initially until you learn how to care for them yourselves? Any suggestions on lowering health care costs for them would be greatly appreciated.
I'll attach a photo later tonite, just heading out to an appt.
Thank you so much for your support and feedback.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....is there any way you could post a pic of her wound ? If she is getting around on it, it can actually heal on it's own usually. Just keep the wound from getting infected. It's good to hear that she is active.

 

[Brittraff]

To be honest, you can avoid major health care issues (and vet visits)by making simple easy choices.

Giving each dragon their own enclosure, keeping them separated takes stress off both dragons and ensures that they will no longer hurt each other. (Huge issue in dragon care is the misconception that they can peacefully cohabit)
Giving them the proper UVB lighting for 12 hours a day (reptisun 10.0 tube or arcadia 12% tube), along with a calcium supplement dusted on feedings 5-6 days a week. (it depends on the age of the dragons)
Ensuring they are getting proper diet of protein (feeder insects) and other vitamins (multivitamins,also found in a pet store, along with fruits and veggies)
Providing a proper basking light, keeping temperatures under the light 100-110 degrees to allow for proper digestion.
Providing a repti-carpet, tile surface, paper towel substrate as opposed to ANY kind of loose substrate. Even if they say they are safe, they can still cause impaction.
Providing baths every other day, once a week etc. to keep them hydrated,
Feeding them foods on this nutritional list, http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
watch for superworms,mealworms etc they sound good and are cheap but can cause impaction. Crickets and pheonix worms are a good choice for a staple bug feeder, so are dubia roaches.
and lastly cleaning their fecal matter out each day, and their cage every 2 weeks to once a month depending.

Really, most ailments can be avoided by keeping up with proper husbandry, really. If you read a lot of the health discussions, or beadie ER they involve someone not having the correct UVB, no basking lights, having sand, etc.

Trust me, the proper care will save you ALOT of money.

 

[Brittraff]

I hope for the best for your beardies.

 

[Lurhstaap]

I am not trying to attack you in saying this, but you are spending this money now because you and your son failed to do basic research. Whatever he read that made him think his male needed 'company' was a VERY unreliable source of information and he should have checked it before going with it. In an OUT OF CAGE, CLOSELY SUPERVISED setting, SOME bearded dragons can get along with each other very well. But they are NOT a social species and violence between them is sadly common. Adult beardies will even cannibalize small ones. That's one of the odd things about them, actually... they are highly social with humans, but not with other dragons.

Beardies, in general, are very inexpensive to keep as far as reptiles go. The most expensive part of caring for them is, by far, the lighting. Other than that, all you need is a cage of appropriate size (minimum 40 gallons for an adult; I prefer 55gal), some newspaper or paper towels for substrate, and rocks and sticks to climb and bask on (which you can get outside and then sterilize by cleansing with a 1-5 solution of bleach-water, then baking them in your oven). You can arrange the rocks and sticks carefully to make a hiding place. As far as feeding is concerned, I prefer to offer as varied a diet as possible, but they do well on a simple diet of crickets, collard greens, and grated squash (I use a mix of spaghetti, butternut, and acorn, sometimes omitting one of the latter two because they are high in vitamin A and beardies are susceptible to hypervitaminosis.) This website will be helpful to you in creating your dragons' diet:

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

All in all, honestly, I have not found beardies to be especially expensive. Even the one I just rescued today won't need any extra trips to the vet, just the norm and some extra TLC. Luckily I already had most of the supplies I needed for the rescue, but, all told, they weren't very expensive -- and that's by my standards as someone who is disabled and living on fixed income, by the way! I am quite certain that you are much better off than I am, financially, so if I find it affordable, you should find it negligible.

 

[snazzyglasses]

Sorry to beat the already-dead cohabitation horse, but if you or your son (or the guy that told your son to get his dragon a friend) want to read about it, here's a really awesome post- viewtopic.php?f=6&t=154908
So far no vet bills here -knock on wood!-, but the fiance and I also did tons of research before we adopted his mom's friend's son's two adults. (We were prepared to get a second setup and correct UVB/basking bulbs if it turned out the dragons were living together or had bad equipment, but luckily they already lived in separate tanks and have good UVB & lighting). Really the only problem I've had with the dragons so far is that they're both currently brumating and I miss them like crazy lol.
Anyways! I'm sorry about your dragons. It's amazing how stressful a lizard can be, not to mention two of them! :shock: Like the other posters mentioned though, dragons can adapt surprisingly well to not having all four limbs. They might need tank furniture that's a little more "handicap-accessible" than a 4-legged dragon would, but it'd be a relatively minor change. Hopefully little miss Sophie gets to keep her foot though! As long as it's kept clean, I'm betting she'll be fine. And the fact that she's active is a great sign

Human and beardie fingers & toes crossed that Sophie (and your wallet) get through everything okay! <3 <3

 

[LLBlue]

I hope she continues to do well. I have one, and luckily I haven't incurred major vet bills. Definitely set up separate enclosures and use flat substrate (I use paper towels). I try to clean up any waste as soon as possible and I sanitize the cage and the stuff in the cage frequently. I feed mainly crickets and sanitize that container frequently as well. I also feed salads, of course, although they are the cheapest part.
The most expensive part is definitely the lighting, although you can often find better deals online than in stores. Feeders (like crickets) are second. If he has the time and inclination, a roach colony would probably be cheapest. I use crickets that I buy from the pet store mainly because it is more convenient. Luckily, they don't need nearly as many feeders once they get to about 18 months old.
They can be a bit expensive, but I think that once you get through this hump things will settle down. Like anything, it is most difficult at first when you are buying a lot of stuff to set up for them, and then you have also had the accident between the two of them. The local pet store that is supposed to be very good recommended a lot of things to me that I have read other places isn't a good idea. They told me that I should keep two together, and that sand is best for them. It is really easy to be misled.