NavyxWife
Hatchling Member
A friend of my husband's is being deployed so he dropped off his 1 month old bearded dragon for me to try to get him back up on his health. I have my own bearded dragon and have been keeping Beardies since I was young. I have never seen one in this bad of shape and even with all my knowledge and the help of a friend who own's a reptire store and breeds them, nothing is working.
When he was dropped off, yesterday, he was in a 30gal with sand. Being fed crickets and meal worms. He was definitely not being handled correctly either.
I immediately put him in my old 10 gal with reptire carpet, gave him a smaller rock because he couldn't even get off the one he had, and changed his lights. He only had a florescent heat lamp so I changed that out to one of my desert lights and gave him UVB light.
He's extremely thin and very fragile to handle. He rarely ever opens his eyes but he can run and he can turn himself right side up if he is on his back.
His owner was carrying him around on his shoulder and told me that he is a jumper... So hearing that, I checked him for any signs of internal injuries but there were none. He can still use all his legs but is just too weak. He does like warm baths, he perks up a bit when he gets one.
He rarely eats from what I was told and didn't eat for a few days by the time I got him. Last night, I was able to feed him 3 small crickets that were sprayed with a vitamin supplement (same I've been using for my beardie since he was young) but he didn't eat this morning. He has greens in his tank just in case. Heat is now a stable 90 degrees and about 75 at night.
Please, any advice on what to do with this little guy will be greatly appreciated. I have never lost a beardie and I don't wish to start now.
When he was dropped off, yesterday, he was in a 30gal with sand. Being fed crickets and meal worms. He was definitely not being handled correctly either.
I immediately put him in my old 10 gal with reptire carpet, gave him a smaller rock because he couldn't even get off the one he had, and changed his lights. He only had a florescent heat lamp so I changed that out to one of my desert lights and gave him UVB light.
He's extremely thin and very fragile to handle. He rarely ever opens his eyes but he can run and he can turn himself right side up if he is on his back.
His owner was carrying him around on his shoulder and told me that he is a jumper... So hearing that, I checked him for any signs of internal injuries but there were none. He can still use all his legs but is just too weak. He does like warm baths, he perks up a bit when he gets one.
He rarely eats from what I was told and didn't eat for a few days by the time I got him. Last night, I was able to feed him 3 small crickets that were sprayed with a vitamin supplement (same I've been using for my beardie since he was young) but he didn't eat this morning. He has greens in his tank just in case. Heat is now a stable 90 degrees and about 75 at night.
Please, any advice on what to do with this little guy will be greatly appreciated. I have never lost a beardie and I don't wish to start now.