Broly the new super saiyan beardie

Picture coming up!

I can't turn upwards!!! But there he is!

 

[SHBailey]

Happy to hear it isn't cancer. I would agree surgery might not be necessary to remove a cyst as long as it's not causing him any pain.

It's probably not going to be much fun cleaning up after him when he poops...

He looks good in the picture.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Haha. Nope it will be pure hell, it’s fine though. Whatever is best is what I’ll do. I better clean the other carpet before he does crap all over it and will be hard to pick up. I have two so no problem.
He actually opened his mouth for water calcium he knew what he needed to do. I dropped one to two drops at a time. Swallow and reopen his mouth. Tomorrow is baby food carrots and since the food is reddish orange Im expecting red stools once I use it. He’s actually trying to sit up right now knowing he really can’t but he tries. He’s a good kid. He’s fine overall and thanks for the reassurance I never had a dragon with a cyst. It’s all very new to me. Fat pads are slowly going back up, I noticed the back of the fat pad is going up. I hope that makes sense. Im gonna spend time with him before hamster time. Bye for now.

 

[SHBailey]

Always nice to have a spare. We had two sets of towels for Puff too so we could have one set in the tank and one in the wash.

Glad to hear that you can get calcium into Broly so he won't get MBD. Puff used to have red poop and I was told it was some sort of chemical reaction and nothing to worry about. Scared me at first because it looked like blood. At least you will know it came from carrots in your case.

It's got to be a good thing that he's getting his fat pads back and at least trying to move.

 

[BlueDragon09]

He already has MBD it just made life a bit harder as he grew up. Sure, reversible but it’s still there. That’s where arthritis came from, maybe not from MBD directly. It definitely came on with age. MBD is on the back burner for now it can and will show up if Im not up on UVB changes or have a new fixture just in case it dies out. It’s always so aggressive when you hear healthy dragons can go 2 weeks fine without it. You got mine who gets it aggressively in 4 days without. Now he’s just special needs at 8 years old (last year problems were showing with walking) and a year later, now he can’t point is head down to grab food or if he tries he misses. Im fine if he needs purée food going forward in his life I can do that for him.
He does get crabby and tries to get away though he flops on his underside.
It’s warm today so he went outside in his hutch to absorb natural UVB. The other dragons did too as they just woke up from brumation. They’re fine at least don’t have to worry about them too much. Kane and Jamie just don’t have issues. Kane will be 8 in July with Jamie being 11 in September. Everyone will get serrapeptase even though Broly needs it more. I mean it can’t hurt...

 

[SHBailey]

Wow -- Jamie's getting up there. She's already outlived Puff. Our vet said that beardies are usually getting pretty geriatric by the time they get into the double digits. I think Puff had arthritis too in the last year or two in his life. He dragged himself around by his hands but didn't seem to be able to get up and walk on his back legs like he did when he was younger. He was getting kind of shaky too. He never got MBD though. We were lucky there. His little skeleton always looked good on XRays, except he did develop a curve in his spine to one side when he was older -- not severe, but definitely noticeable. We knew about it but there was nothing much we could do. There was never really any explanation for it. The result of old age probably.

I can tell from all your previous posts that you've done a very good job keeping Broly's MBD at bay. It can't be easy with the supplements and constantly having to watch the lamps to make sure they're putting out enough UVB. Do you have a UV meter? We did and it was very helpful since we found out there was a lot of variation in the UV tubes even when they were new.

I'm sure it's nice when it's warm enough to take all the beardies out for some natural sunlight. It's rarely warm enough here, even in the middle of the summer, and Puff didn't seem to like being outside. I think it was just too strange for him -- too many things going on (cars, birds, etc) and he had no idea what they were. He never got used to it since it was usually too cold to take him out very often. But with your guys you get to take advantage of a warmer climate

 

[BlueDragon09]

Life is just crazy!
Cyst is still not back since it’s been drained.
Broly is been eating on his own since about 2 weeks now. He’s been checked for everything once we got a stool sample and he’s clean. He then took a 2 week brumation after all that, came out of it lost 46g in the process...he didn’t wake up at all. We gave him a lot of food as much as he wanted. We still did many bugs in 15 min and he ate about 30 in the time limit. He loves his squash again and apples and blueberries. Man the blueberries...he’s crazy for them. He tries to chase them of course his legs don’t cooperate so he flops onto his stomach. He does get up and eats them, bless him for trying. Black beard less these days it still shows up most days but it isn’t constant anymore. Sometimes his blackbeard is there for a full 24 hours but gone next day. He won’t eat greens...haha I don’t understand. Ive given salads ever since I got him, I always offered. It’s like Vash give salad as a baby alongside bugs and he’ll eat the favorites. Ive tried all the tricks now that he’s 9 years old, you can’t try anymore. He moves greens out of the way for the favorites. Ive even didn’t offer the favorites and he just sat there and the greens dried up.

Fat pads are coming back slowly. I guess that’s all for now.

 

[SHBailey]

It sounds like Broly is doing better a little at a time. I guess he likes "sweets" (apples and blueberries). Not unlike me. I don't like greens either so I guess I didn't have any right to expect Puff to like them

Puff used to get a lump on his wrist -- it wasn't a cyst or cancer -- some sort of a wad of blood vessels, and every once in a while we had to have it drained. The vet thought it might be from an old injury, and I figured he must have banged his wrist on something in his tank, maybe before we filled it up with soft things to keep the little klutz from hurting himself. It wasn't painful -- I could touch it and he wouldn't react. I hope Broly's cyst doesn't come back so you don't have to worry about it anymore.

It's snowing here today. Winter is not over, and it won't be for a while even after the equinox only a couple of weeks away now. That's life in Alaska -- summers are short and sweet. And we're back on daylight savings time as of today. You'll probably think I'm crazy, but I like the time change. All of a sudden it's lighter in the evenings and to me that means summer is on the way

 

[Rue ✩]

Picture coming up!

I can't turn upwards!!! But there he is!

SUPER SAIYAN

 

[SHBailey]

Cute little thing -- he looks small in the tank. Looks like he has a nice big one with lots of space.

 

[BlueDragon09]

It’s been a month wow.

He’s still eating on his own. Greens are still a no go but he’ll eat bellpepper well unfortunately for him that’s a twice a week food. I need to give a bath only for his tail though..it’s messy. Since he doesn’t thrash around in the bath maybe he can stay for 10 minutes. The last 5 mins left in bath can be scrubbing his tail. He honestly used to thrash about telling me he hates baths and it was always a 5 minute deal just to clean him. Nowadays he doesn’t really care anymore. I got him a soft plush towel to dry him off maybe he’ll like that because honestly he doesn’t really want me lifting his limbs to dry like armpits better and under the beard. Don’t want him wet in his tank don’t want any fungi growing on him. I already dealt with yellow and black fungus (he came this way RIP Alucard) and honestly don’t wanna deal with it again so I dry him off the best I can. I really am just exhausted these days. I take care of my other dragons and Broly being the special needs dragon and yeah it’s exhausting. He needs more attention and Im fine with it as long as he’s happy. Some days his arthritis is messing with him even with serrapeptase other days he’s completely happy.
Other than the arthritis, he’s healthy he doesn’t have any major health problems. I got to sleep now just thought an update was needed. I almost forgot about the cyst. It’s still being monitored so far so good it hasn’t came back.

Oh that picture was Broly as a baby. Lol

 

[SHBailey]

Glad to hear Broly is still doing well, and that you're not having any more problems with the cyst. And even though they say that bearded dragons are supposed to eat greens, I don't think it's the end of the world if they don't. Puff would rarely eat any greens and he lived to be 10 years old even with adenovirus. The vet was pretty impressed with that. At least we could get him to eat squash (usually) and it was good for hydration too.

I hope not eating greens is not a big deal after all for humans either, otherwise I'm in deep doo-doo

Puff's baths were mostly to keep him hydrated and not so much to get him clean, except on those occasions when he didn't have enough sense to stay out of his own poop. He got one every day and we soaked him for about 20 minutes -- and that's about how long it took for the water to start cooling off too. After his bath my husband would wrap him in a towel and give him to me to cuddle while he got his dinner ready. That seemed to be all the drying off he needed or it would have defeated the whole purpose. Never had a problem with fungus but he probably dried off really fast once we put him back in his tank under the heat lamps. We had a real problem with keeping the humidity anything but really really DRY for him. You're in a different climate with Broly so in his case maybe baths are more about keeping him clean than about keeping him hydrated, so drying him off with a soft towel as much as you can (if he puts up with it) is probably a good idea.

We had a hard time getting Puff to drink water too, but at least he got to where he would tolerate the bath. He went through a time when he would freak out and scramble up my arm, but he finally got to where he was more like Broly and didn't seem to care anymore. I think he could take it or leave it but mostly leave it.

Some people think beardies don't need water because they're desert critters. Good thing we know better, you and me.

My husband has a new job now. Computer stuff, of course. That's his thing. He gets to work from home over the internet. And it's finally starting to get "warmer" here -- 40s. Lots of snow still, only starting to melt. Happy Spring...

 

[BlueDragon09]

It’s been a while.

Broly’s doin ok but being old has certainly caught up to him on top of arthritis (started at age 8). I had to give him a bath some days are so painful (even with serrapeptase) he craps himself and it’s all over his vent and tail. He hasn’t really shed since turning 9 years old and that was back in January. Hmm who knows maybe he doesn’t grow anymore...he’s 19 1/2” long I don’t know...
In other news, he’s gaining weight unless his appetite dropped (arthritis related why he drops off food) he doesn’t lose much it was 16g from just a couple days off food. He’s already been checked for parasites/worms and he’s clear so they’re not a problem. He loved sitting in the hutch he really didn’t wanna be bothered and just enjoy the natural UVB. It was 73F today so everyone loved it including him! Tomorrow is supposed to 78 but knowing how this works it will probably be 82 LOL. The dragons will love it either way. I will be opening windows, doors (they have screens) and fans to keep cool. Lights will be off in the afternoon probably through the rest of the day as the house will be warm enough even with my attempts to keep the temperature down. Oh well..

I tended to the garden with my dog tagging along. I can see the bunny hutches with the dragons inside from where the garden is. Squash is growing well Ive been putting snail/slug bait down or else they’ll eat the plant, well any plant. I have collards growing under lights they just don’t like our climate and that’s ok Im doing well this way. I did an experiment I didn’t think this would work but it did.

Anyway, I better go apparently Broly is giving me stink eye. Anything keeps him awake these days honestly it’s the stupid arthritis again ugh.. he didn’t sleep well the night before. Im thinking some roaches after he warms up from wake up time. I feel so bad there’s only so much I can do..if there was a way to take the pain so he’s comfortable I’d take it for him. He’s happy otherwise at least there’s that.

 

[SHBailey]

Sounds like Broly is doing pretty good for his age. And I've noticed that they seem to do a better job staying out of their own poop when they're younger. I think our snake did a better job at that than the beardie did too.

As I understand it, most reptiles keep growing throughout their life, unlike other animals who stop getting any bigger (except sideways) once they reach "maturity" (whatever that is). But they probably slow down when they get older, so it makes sense that they wouldn't shed as often, except when their old skin wears out even if it hasn't gotten too small.

It's rarely warm enough here to take reptiles outside, even in the summer, and there were rarely times when I had to turn the heat lamps off to keep them from getting too hot, although it does get warmer in the house than it is outside, even with the heater off. I guess it's from the sun shining on the outside of the house.

My husband is responsible for the yard these days, and sometimes he tries to do a little gardening. Otherwise we get apples from the trees, and he likes dandelion greens too. We fed them to Puff (when he would eat them, which wasn't often), and my husband got in the habit of eating them himself. I don't like dandelion greens myself -- they're too bitter for my taste. The bottom line is we get stuff out of the yard without having to plant anything. But I don't know if my husband plans to try to grow anything else this year. The frost danger usually isn't over until June, so we have to plant stuff that grows fast. Summers are short here. It's just now beginning to warm up here. We had snow yesterday, believe it or not. But at least it did melt fast.

I remember the "stink eye." I called it "The Look." But same thing. Puff was pretty good at it too. Funny -- I miss it now, and I do enjoy reading about your beardies. Brings back fond memories.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Well he finally did a BM. Blue/purplish tint to urate that might be the blueberries Im not sure. He’s not too good looking. The stool itself wasn’t dry at all. This has been going on since late winter. He still eats when he wants other days he doesn’t care. No meds so that’s not causing any of this. He’s lost weight but he’s still responsive. We’re starting to think kidney failure is coming into play. He did eat some roaches...Ive tried to get him healthy. We’re going to do a blood test to confirm something just isn’t right. Stool already tested and it’s not parasites/worms. If he does pass on, I probably won’t bother getting another. He’s got something goin on and it can’t just be arthritis like we’ve been thinking. Something else is at play here as he eats whenever and yet weight is dropping. He reminds me of my cat who had kidney failure, eating but still losing weight eventually she had to be put down.

I’ll keep watching hopefully he’s just dehydrated (though I give water twice a day about 8 full syringes worth) he drinks not a lot he runs off like he’s done with me messing with him. I get it I would not like people messing with pulling my lip down to force feed water very slowly. He won’t lick it off his nose. He used to do that though. I’ll try water a 3rd time today and see if that helps anything. Like I said he doesn’t seem thirsty since he rather go off somewhere. I’ll keep anyone who reads this updated but it’s not looking good.

 

[SHBailey]

Sorry to hear that Broly's not doing well. I never heard of purple poop/urate -- I suppose it could be from blueberries like you're thinking. Urate seems to come in all different colors. Since it's normally white, just about anything would show up. At least he hasn't quit eating all together, but apparently whatever he's eating is not enough to keep him from losing weight. I know you take good care of all your critters so I'm sure you're doing everything you can to keep him healthy.