Baby is eating his arm, bleeding and hand is folded in. Hel

[Ryuuandkurt]

Hi. Please help Ryuu. On Saturday night a 3 year old took him out of his tank and was running around with him before we noticed he had Ryuu in his hands. Of course we all freaked out. We don't know for sure if he was dropped. He was fine yesterday but this evening we noticed he seems to be eating his arm off. It looks chewed to the sinew in one spot. He is inactive and doesn't appear to be eating. He has fresh water with calcium drops every day, his UV light and his heat lamp is newer and around 100 degrees. He eats crickets with occasional lettuce.
From the other discussions posted here, i'm going to give him a soak and put some polysporin on it. Can i use a regular band aid or will he chew it off?
I will be phoning for a vet in the morning but i'm very scared that he won't make it through the night!! Please email directly to: [email protected]

 

[zebraflavencs]

Email sent, mom !
Keep us posted !
Janie.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Please let us know how he is doing. It sounds like an injury & that is his way of trying to tell you & that it is bothering him.
You can use gauge to wrap it up at least to keep the elements off of it. Let us know how things go at the vets.

Tracie

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Hello,

I was checking to see how Ryuu is doing. I hope he is doing much better today.

Please let us know what the vet had to say.

 

[zebraflavencs]

No updates yet ?
Janie.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Okay, I emailed Michelle back and here is the update.

Sorry i've been busy taking care of Ryuu and i work full time. Ryuu is still alive. He hasn't eaten anything. I bought him some Phoenix worms. He opens his mouth just enough to drink water and he's been drinking lots of that. His woulds are healing, no smell.
What i'm starting to do tonight is to mash up the worms and put it in a little water seeing as he is willing to drink. I hope this works because there isn't much else i can do. He hasn't pooped since Monday. What are your thoughts on trying to use a q-tip to gently force his mouth open and pop a worm down? Is that safe?

Thanks for your help!

My response was to offer the slurry with pedialyte warmed up, dabbing a bit on the nose.
I also asked if she had a vet appt for this baby.
Janie.

 

[Ryuuandkurt]

I had gotten a hold of a lady who is an expert with Beardies and owns an amputee herself. She is very qualified. She assured me that i was doing everything i could and to keep doing what i have been doing but if things got worse, for me to bring him in. Where i live there is only 1 clinic that treats 'exotic pets', as they call it.
I think i have some good news. I mashed up 3 worms and added a little water. Ryuu didn't like it much but he did take some in. He immediately had his first poop/pee since Monday. I have some questions about it. Part of it was kind of a watery but firm texture and the part i believe was the urine was white with a tinge of yellow. It had a slight odor but not too bad. I mushed it and disected it a little to report anything i could. It really had a gritty, crunchy texture in it. Never disected this stuff before so i'm wondering if it's normal or if it means he has crystals in his urine. He has been drinking tons of water this whole time. He has opened his eyes a bit more too.
His heat is at 82 right now. Is that enough heat?

Thanks again and i'll try to copy and paste this on the forum.

PS- It was the result of a cricket attack. We let way too many in there at one time. Lesson learned the hard way.

 

[msmaui]

I hope your baby is doing better. Actually, that isn't enough heat though. Baby beardies need it to be around 100 to 110. Also, are you leaving uneaten crickets in his cage? They will chew on babies. If possible, you can try to feed him in a separate container or remove any uneaten crickets after he's through eating (about 15 minutes). Good luck with the baby. Let us know if you have any other questions.

 

[Ryuuandkurt]

That's as hot as our bulb goes so maybe i can put another towel under him to bring him closer to the lamp. It's a coil one. On our warmer summer days it's been closer to the 100 but it's rather cold and damp right now. I better upgrade to a 100 watt though.
We were leaving crickets in there for him to eat at his leisure but we are no longer doing that. He won't eat right now anyways and i won't be surprised if he will be too scared to eat crickets again.
Any words on his poop/pee?

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

I would recommend changing the bulb from a coil to a bright white flood light.

What size enclosure do you have?
What are you measuring temps with? digital thermometer w/wire and probe, dial, stick on or temp gun?

The poop sounds good for the most part. If the white part(urates) is chalky...that is generally a sign of dehydration. Are you bathing/soaking your beardie?

 

[Ryuuandkurt]

Yes, he gets bath every day now. We have 2 thermometers in there, one at each end and they are the stick on type. His lamp is the black round with the coil bulb. I was told to avoid flourescents. The heat lamp is red and the uvb is white. He seems to be more 'lively' this morning, moving around a bit and has his eyes open more. Still not feeding himself yet though.
So the gritty poop is normal? I can't recall what the size is exactly but it's about 3 feet X 1.5 feet?? I know it's small for now but as he grows, he'll get upgraded.

Thanks

 

[msmaui]

There are a couple of issues that I notice. Like Dawn stated, bright white flood light would be much better. They need the bright white light instead of the red bulb.

Also, the stick-on thermometers can be off as much as 20 degrees. Walmart sells a good outdoor probe model for around $12. The brand is Acu-Rite and you are able to check the temps of both ends of the viv at once. I actually bought mine at OSH.

I don't know who gave you the information about the UVB bulbs but none of the coils are good for the dragons. The best UVB you can get is the ReptiSUN 10 (not ReptiGLO). They are available online at petmountain.com. It is a tube bulb and you can buy the fixture at any hardware store. Just be sure to remove the plastic undercover.

I don't know if it was mentioned but for his bites, you can bathe him in a weak Betadine solution (the color of weak tea) and then put Neosporin on the bites.

I hope that these recommendations help.

Nancy

 

[Ryuuandkurt]

Hi everyone! I'm so thrilled to report that Ryuu seems to be making a full recovery. He's gulping down worms and veggies now and has good energy. He's still gimpy with his arm but i'm sure within a few weeks, he'll be 100% again.

Thanks so much for this forum and for all your advice! Lifesavers!!

 

[zebraflavencs]

That is just awesome ! Now we need pictures ! lol
keep me posted here on email
Janie

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

That is wonderful that Ryuu is doing so much better!