I saw a beardie for sale for $25, including the tank. I contacted the person and found out the tank was a 10 gallon and she had only had a heat bulb her entire life, which had burnt out "a while ago". She's 1 1/2 years old. I also found out she was on sand, and when I picked her up I found out she had never been fed crickets or any live food, instead she had been eating lettuce and pellets (that appeared to have been just dropped in the sand).
I brought her home and switched her to a temporary 29 gallon long tank until this morning when I could get to the pet store for a 40gal breeder, with a 10.0 reptisun and proper heat bulbs while my husband is building her crossfire , he is sealing today so it will be ready soon. I gave her reptile carpet and bathed her after she'd heated up, because she looked to be impacted with several retained sheds. No poop yesterday, but she did eat 9 small reptiworms (thankfully I have a bowl of them on hand!! I would have hated to feed her any shelled bug) and some very small turnip greens. She had some issues with gulping/licking/general discomfort after eating, so I made sure her temps stayed warm overnight and when I got up this morning she looked much better than when I brought her home, but she still wasn't moving around and she just seemed uncomfortable. After I fed my other beardies their salads, I decided to give her a bath and made it a little bit warmer. Seconds into the bath she started straining to push and I yelled for my husband because he's the tummy rub master, but by the time he got here she had started on her own. I've never seen anything like it, I took a picture because I'm 90% sure most of it is sand but since I've never housed a beardie on sand I don't know if this means we are out of the woods as far as impaction goes or not. She is much more energetic and is actually moving around now that she got all of it out of her. It was so sad to see her pushing like that--I don't even know how she's still alive if that is the care she received. It was very hard for me to bite my tongue when I was picking her up but I didn't want to jeopardize the lady letting me have her.
She is super sweet, and now that she is active she is showing off great personality. Her beard has some orange in it and under the retained sheds you can see a little more orange on her arms. She is tiny for her age, I'm hoping that it's not too late for her to get some growth in. I fed her reptiworms after her bath and she didn't have any issues eating, she's also munched some on her salad today and the gulping/scary breathing hasn't happened.
I am glad to have such a strong beardie as part of our family. I just hope that the worst is over.
Pictures below, I will update as things progress. The first two pictures are from last night and the third one is from today. she's still a little bit tired and her nails need trimmed (we are doing that tonight once she's asleep), but she's holding her head up and actually moving around the tank. I haven't named her yet..
And the poop pictures, in case if some people viewing the thread don't want to see them.
http://s10.postimage.org/rk6vec5bt/IMG_20121008_162228.jpg
http://s15.postimage.org/akcx6v60r/IMG_20121008_162223.jpg
I brought her home and switched her to a temporary 29 gallon long tank until this morning when I could get to the pet store for a 40gal breeder, with a 10.0 reptisun and proper heat bulbs while my husband is building her crossfire , he is sealing today so it will be ready soon. I gave her reptile carpet and bathed her after she'd heated up, because she looked to be impacted with several retained sheds. No poop yesterday, but she did eat 9 small reptiworms (thankfully I have a bowl of them on hand!! I would have hated to feed her any shelled bug) and some very small turnip greens. She had some issues with gulping/licking/general discomfort after eating, so I made sure her temps stayed warm overnight and when I got up this morning she looked much better than when I brought her home, but she still wasn't moving around and she just seemed uncomfortable. After I fed my other beardies their salads, I decided to give her a bath and made it a little bit warmer. Seconds into the bath she started straining to push and I yelled for my husband because he's the tummy rub master, but by the time he got here she had started on her own. I've never seen anything like it, I took a picture because I'm 90% sure most of it is sand but since I've never housed a beardie on sand I don't know if this means we are out of the woods as far as impaction goes or not. She is much more energetic and is actually moving around now that she got all of it out of her. It was so sad to see her pushing like that--I don't even know how she's still alive if that is the care she received. It was very hard for me to bite my tongue when I was picking her up but I didn't want to jeopardize the lady letting me have her.
She is super sweet, and now that she is active she is showing off great personality. Her beard has some orange in it and under the retained sheds you can see a little more orange on her arms. She is tiny for her age, I'm hoping that it's not too late for her to get some growth in. I fed her reptiworms after her bath and she didn't have any issues eating, she's also munched some on her salad today and the gulping/scary breathing hasn't happened.
I am glad to have such a strong beardie as part of our family. I just hope that the worst is over.
Pictures below, I will update as things progress. The first two pictures are from last night and the third one is from today. she's still a little bit tired and her nails need trimmed (we are doing that tonight once she's asleep), but she's holding her head up and actually moving around the tank. I haven't named her yet..
And the poop pictures, in case if some people viewing the thread don't want to see them.
http://s10.postimage.org/rk6vec5bt/IMG_20121008_162228.jpg
http://s15.postimage.org/akcx6v60r/IMG_20121008_162223.jpg
I just don't understand some people.
