badly neglected

[ray26]

So some friends bought a beardie for there son it's about 9 months old but the size of a 2 month old part of the tail is broken off and it won't open its eyes. Very under weight I'm thinking it's about two months past death but I want to try and save it. I've got its brother and sister and they are healthy and free range most of the time. I've been very lucky and ain't had any medical problems with mine I'm afraid this might be more than I'm ready to take on but willing to try and save the poor thing. I need ALL suggestions to do this so please HELP. It would be very appreciated

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....sorry to hear about this poor creature. Can you post pics ? To do so, upload to a site like Photobucket, then copy/paste the img/url here. For nutrition, go easy on protein....his kidneys may not be able to handle it, especially if he's dehydrated. Try some baby food....chicken, squash, green bean or if you can make similar smoothies that would be good with turnip, mustard, collard greens. Add a bit of extra water to any of those combos including the baby food. Dab some on his nose to see if he'll begin licking. Use a feeding syringe/ eyedropper if you can. If he doesn't seem to like it, add some pure grape or other fruit juice to the baby food/smoothie mixture to see if he'll go for that. If he still doesn't, try to get him to open his mouth [ VERY carefully ] with a credit card or plastic playing card. A thin piece of cardboard such as from the top flap of a cereal box will also work. You can also dribble water on his snout to see if he'll drink. Hopefully you can help the poor thing. A qualified vet may be of help, but even some " exotic vets" can do more harm than good if they don't have lots of experience with beardies.

 

[ray26]

So we've been getting it to drink,mixed a little pedilight mixed in,got it to lock at a little baby food going to try to load a picture next to her sister from the same hatchling

 

[ray26]

http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o743/rayblowers26/Mobile%20Uploads/20150704_154355-1_zps5haitbpl.jpeg

These bearded dragons are from the same litter roughly 9 months later.

 

[AHBD]

Wow, your'e positive that theyr'e clutchmates ? I know it's possible, there have been threads with similarly stunted dragons. He's actually not proportionately very thin, but just simply the size of a 2 - 3 month old, as you mentioned. It's great that he took some water+ Pedialyte [ be sure it's mostly water, not just the Pedialyte ] and good that he licked some baby food. Just keep that up, get some calcium mixed in and some good lights.

A side note, your big dragon [ which is beautiful and a picture of health by the way ] can easily and quickly snap that baby in his jaws, please don't even put him near the baby because it can happen in a second.

But keep up the good work. Don't do anything besides light feeding several times a day and hydration for a while to give him a chance to gain some strength.

 

[ray26]

That was my thoughts when my wife showed me the little one. I'm not happy about this at all and feel very upset about the hole thing. But yes definitely from same clutch. Just ignorence and stupidity beardies are not for kids that dont have close suppervision. The bigger one is my female and VERY docile it's there brother or my seven year old that I wouldn't let near the little one it has been through enough. I really want this little one to recover but I fear it will be blind from this. It's eye move behind the eyelids but not able to open them and I'm afraid to try as to hurt it

 

[AHBD]

Poor little guy. You might try getting a Q-tip with cool water on it to very gently wipe across his eye in case they are matted shut by build up of gunk....or maybe the wet, cool feeling will prompt him to open them.

And I'm sure that your large beardie is a sweetie like most of them, but it's not about being docile at all. To a large dragon a baby is seen just as another food item and is not differentiated from a roach, cricket or other insect. Beardies do not have any maternal/paternal instinct whatsoever but we know they have a strong feeding response as can be seen in some distasteful videos of beardies eating anoles, mice + other creatures. They are not mean, they just like to eat.

 

[ray26]

Didn't think about using a qtip will try that in the morning it's responding to my daughter and she keeps heating up a corn pillow to lay it on while feeding and watering. It looks like the one eye might be matted but not sure a b out the other. It's so sad I really think it got so hungry that it ate part of its own tail doesn't appear to be infected and seems to like having water sprayed on it my other three roam freely during the day when I'm home. And loves the water bottle so I hope this is helping not hurting the situation I really want to thank you for all the advice and help my other three ain't never had any issues the one even thinks he has priority of the dry cat food (had to put it out of his reach lol) you have really helped us thank you again and I hope we can save the little guy

 

[AHBD]

That's good...your'e doing a good job and giving him a chance. Hopefully he will have a chance to recupe a bit, only time will tell.

 

[ray26]

It did have a small bowl movement runny little white clump very small but at least I hope that's a good start my other three seem regular to me mostly green sometimes a little white clump. I'm still waiting for my young male to poop a hot wheel lol he eats everything we ain't got nailed down. We are still worried about the little one but we are seeing more movement and loves the corn pillow

 

[ray26]

So the little guy is able to open his eyes but only one at a time. The one eye has a slight film on it but looks like it might be paling off a little at a time he is eating pretty good and loves being in the water. I think he might pull through just won't ever get his size like his clutch mates. I think he will be stunted from the neglect

 

[AHBD]

Well that sounds like a bit of progress....poor little guy, I agree that he will be stunted but only time will tell how well he does. One day at a time but hopefully he'll keep improving.