Yesterday I drove the 30 minutes to my hometown to pick-up some emergency Superworms since my online vendor isn't shipping right now due to the weather (I live in central Pennsylvania, it's been in the low teens to the 40's for the past 2 months). There's an independent pet shop there that opened when I was 12, and they specialize in reptiles and fish. They had what looked to be a very old juvenile/very young adult male dragon in a tank, no stickers or any info on the tank, and he was obviously very, very thin, and that dull, all-brown color they get when they haven't shed properly in a long time, with patches of black retained shed on his beard and legs, and some sticky, dark blueish-green stuff all over his beard and his head. He was rough. I asked about him, and I had to bring him home...
Someone found him last Thursday just sitting in a cemetery in State College, just shivering and not moving with a full black beard, but obviously alive and alert. They grabbed him and took him to the Petco in State College, who refused to take him in. So they asked around and were directed to the pet shop in Philipsburg 24 miles away, so they took him in. I know the owners of the pet shop, the employee called them, so yesterday I brought him home. I named him Fender!
After letting him bask under a nice, strong T5 UVB tube in a temporary 99L plastic tub, I gave him a bath, where he turned from a horrible, dirty, dull brown color all over to the most beautiful light gray all over, with a light gray and white striped tail. He almost looks like a Wit Blit. I must have taken off 2 entire layers of retained shed, and whatever the thick, greasy bluish-green stuff is, it's almost all off, it's the consistency of JB Weld, that's what it reminds me of...who knows how long he has been outside or what he's been in. The students left Penn State the middle-end of December, and they are notorious for just releasing Bearded Dragons, Snakes, etc. when the semesters end, and he was found in the cemetery that Joe Paterno is buried in, so I don't think that's a coincidence at all, you'd have to be from here to understand, it's ridiculous and sad...welcome to Happy Valley.
Anyway, he's a sweetheart, he rode home on my shoulder yesterday in the car, and he snuggled last night under the comforter on the couch with me. He accidentally bit my hand today while I was feeding him some BSFL, and I got my first Beardie bite ever that broke the skin...that hurts!
Now we just need to get some weight on him! He's not emaciated, but he's extremely think. He's eating like a machine so far, so hopefully that continues. He pooped both yesterday and today in his bath and then again in his tank today, and it's like black tar. The pet shop said he hadn't really eaten since the people brought him in, and they thought he probably has parasites, we'll see. I'm taking him to my CRV on Monday to get checked-out, but overall I think he's okay health-wise, just been abandoned, starved, and scared. It's literally been in the teens here overnight the past month, so I don't know how he survived it, but he did. He's 17" long with a small tail nip that is completely healed, but I bet he only weighs 200 grams at most, probably closer to 150. Poor little dude, just thrown outside to die...not this Dragon!
I'm going to get some photos up tomorrow once my phone charges, it died in the middle of taking them, lol. Just thought I'd do Fender's introduction. He's now got the blackest beard I've every seen in my life as he got a glance at Izzy while I was feeding her...He's a bobber...
Someone found him last Thursday just sitting in a cemetery in State College, just shivering and not moving with a full black beard, but obviously alive and alert. They grabbed him and took him to the Petco in State College, who refused to take him in. So they asked around and were directed to the pet shop in Philipsburg 24 miles away, so they took him in. I know the owners of the pet shop, the employee called them, so yesterday I brought him home. I named him Fender!
After letting him bask under a nice, strong T5 UVB tube in a temporary 99L plastic tub, I gave him a bath, where he turned from a horrible, dirty, dull brown color all over to the most beautiful light gray all over, with a light gray and white striped tail. He almost looks like a Wit Blit. I must have taken off 2 entire layers of retained shed, and whatever the thick, greasy bluish-green stuff is, it's almost all off, it's the consistency of JB Weld, that's what it reminds me of...who knows how long he has been outside or what he's been in. The students left Penn State the middle-end of December, and they are notorious for just releasing Bearded Dragons, Snakes, etc. when the semesters end, and he was found in the cemetery that Joe Paterno is buried in, so I don't think that's a coincidence at all, you'd have to be from here to understand, it's ridiculous and sad...welcome to Happy Valley.
Anyway, he's a sweetheart, he rode home on my shoulder yesterday in the car, and he snuggled last night under the comforter on the couch with me. He accidentally bit my hand today while I was feeding him some BSFL, and I got my first Beardie bite ever that broke the skin...that hurts!
Now we just need to get some weight on him! He's not emaciated, but he's extremely think. He's eating like a machine so far, so hopefully that continues. He pooped both yesterday and today in his bath and then again in his tank today, and it's like black tar. The pet shop said he hadn't really eaten since the people brought him in, and they thought he probably has parasites, we'll see. I'm taking him to my CRV on Monday to get checked-out, but overall I think he's okay health-wise, just been abandoned, starved, and scared. It's literally been in the teens here overnight the past month, so I don't know how he survived it, but he did. He's 17" long with a small tail nip that is completely healed, but I bet he only weighs 200 grams at most, probably closer to 150. Poor little dude, just thrown outside to die...not this Dragon!
I'm going to get some photos up tomorrow once my phone charges, it died in the middle of taking them, lol. Just thought I'd do Fender's introduction. He's now got the blackest beard I've every seen in my life as he got a glance at Izzy while I was feeding her...He's a bobber...