Darwin

[CooperDragon]

Forgot to note that he enjoyed his annual trip to the lake in northern MN earlier this month. He swam a little bit, but didn't have a ton of interest this year. He did go out on a short paddleboard ride and seemed to enjoy that. Otherwise he was pretty low key and roamed around the cabin and spent some time outside basking on the porch and the dock.

 

[CooperDragon]

Another long break between posts here. Darwin is still doing well. He skipped his usual brumation period this fall and was alert and active the whole time, which is great. He settled right in to his new house and still loves looking out the sliding glass door to the balcony and basking by it. He was spending the last week asleep in his tank, but woke up yesterday and was awake again today. Ate his whole salad yesterday so his appetite is still up, to an extent. Took out a few black soldier flies too. He might be slowing down or just having a short break, not sure yet. Weighed him at 590g (!) last week, which is the highest he's weighed so far. I take that as a good sign. I was able to get a local source for hornworms and BSFL for Christmas which was nice. Don't have to rely on shipping during the cold season. Coming up on his 7th birthday/6th adoption day in a couple of weeks =).

 

[Heyimbrit]

I'm so glad to hear he's still doing well. I don't have beardies anymore but I was thinking about you and Darwin not too long ago.

 

[CooperDragon]

It's good to hear from you! How have you been?

 

[CooperDragon]

Darwin is back up after a fairly long brumation this year. He is up very early in the morning (saw him basking under his IR in the living room one morning at around 6) so I adjusted his lights a bit. He is darting all over the house as he usually does after brumation, but has more of an appetite this time around. He has been eating plenty of squash and collards and has been digging into his new stash of hornworms. Getting ready for another move over the weekend. Trying to figure out how to beardie proof some areas (no door in front of basement stairs etc). Hopefully he'll like his new home. There are lots of garden space available so I'll have to see what pops up and make sure there isn't anything harmful before letting him dig in.

 

[Peach]

Good luck with the move. Bleu had a rather long brumation this year too. Add to that a move in February but he's adjusted well, though it took a little while. I'm glad to hear you and Darwin are doing well

 

[CooperDragon]

Darwin has been energetic and doing well so far this summer. Weight is a little lower than I'd like (490ish) at this point, but has been stable overall since the typical post brumation dropoff. I've been noticing that his (slightly) cloudy eye appears to be losing vision. It started to cloud up a little bit at least a year or two ago and he seemed to be less able to track from that side. Now he doesn't seem to be able to track at all from that side. He seems OK otherwise, but I got him a vet appointment to check it out anyway in case it can be treated and to make sure the other eye is OK. Fortunately we are now in a town with a veterinary teaching hospital so I am hopeful that he will continue to get the best care possible with the new vet.

 

[Betty53218]

Darwin has been energetic and doing well so far this summer. Weight is a little lower than I'd like (490ish) at this point, but has been stable overall since the typical post brumation dropoff. I've been noticing that his (slightly) cloudy eye appears to be losing vision. It started to cloud up a little bit at least a year or two ago and he seemed to be less able to track from that side. Now he doesn't seem to be able to track at all from that side. He seems OK otherwise, but I got him a vet appointment to check it out anyway in case it can be treated and to make sure the other eye is OK. Fortunately we are now in a town with a veterinary teaching hospital so I am hopeful that he will continue to get the best care possible with the new vet.

Take good care of that little guy! I believe that he and Smaug were very close in age, and they looked very much alike. I lost Smaug to bone cancer back in March, and miss him terribly. Smaug always had tons of energy when he woke up from brumation. There were times that he tore up his tank decor. It was hilarious to watch him! Once he was hanging off of the tank cover by his front toes. Don't know how in the world he managed that!

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm saddened to hear you lost Smaug. Not a whole lot to be done about bone cancer, unfortunately =(. Your description sounds just like how Darwin is with the crazy antics after waking up.

 

[xp29]

I started reading this thread earlier not realizing its several years and 33 pages long lol. These are the stories i like best, the ones where beardies find a great home. But for the life of me i can never understand how people can neglect these little guys the way they do. There is ALWAYS something they can do, rehome, surrender ect. It makes my blood boil. But then i see threads like this one and it restores my faith in humanity. I keep saying, anyone the rescues them is a hero.

 

[CooperDragon]

I brought Darwin over to the vet yesterday. He was overdue for a checkup and I wanted to get his eyes looked at. The ophthalmologist confirmed my suspicion that he has cataracts. It is bad enough in his left eye that it's preventing him from seeing effectively. Since he is still able to see pretty well out of his right eye, we decided to just observe and check back at his next visit. They mentioned that surgery is a possibility, but it is very rarely performed and they don't have good data about outcomes for bearded dragons. I'd be willing to let them give it a try and gather more data which may help others down the road, but not until his vision has degraded to the point that it's affecting his quality of life.

They also noted that his teeth are starting to show signs of tartar buildup and gingivitis, so I'll cut the fruit treats out of his diet and try offering some of the cleaner crew beetles with harder shells than the dubia and see if that helps a bit.

 

[CooperDragon]

Darwin is back up and about after a pretty solid brumation this fall. Weight is nice and stable and he is acting healthy. He is still having trouble tracking food and I'm not optimistic that his vision in the left eye will return. I'll keep monitoring his right eye for signs of the cataracts advancing and consult with the vet if I see changes. Reached the 7th anniversary of his rescue on Friday, so he's about 8 years old now. Hopefully many more good years ahead.

 

[xp29]

Sending best wishes Darwins way!!!!
Is eye sight something beardies have trouble with chronically?
The reason i ask, my male Zen had a ton of trouble eating on his own as a baby, he missed probably 75-80% of the strikes at food, then he would give up. He is 4 now and i still hand feed him. He absolutely won't even strike at an insect unless I'm holding it, and even like that he misses 25% of the time. I've noticed my new male is similar just not as bad.
I was talking to my girlfriend just this weekend about, so now I'm curious.

 

[Betty53218]

Happy 8th Birthday, Darwin! I don't get on here much now that I don't have Smaug anymore, but your message came up in my email. Smaug was terrible at catching bugs and worms too. He couldn't eat his salads alone for the life of him. I hand feed him since he was 7 mo. old until he passed last March. Sometimes I wonder if it was the lighting we had for him when my son first got him. We had it all wrong (At the advice of the pet store). He had a spiral UVB. My son had it on top of the mesh, but I put it inside the tank near his basking spot. I finally figured things out eventually, and got a T8 in there. He could run around on the floor and navigate pretty well, so maybe he was just lazy. I guess I'll never know for sure.
I hope Darwin has a very good year, and you can figure his eye issue out. He sure has come along way since you first rescued him. He's a very lucky little guy.

 

[NickAVD]

If you finish reading your favorite book, you will start to miss it and will re-read it again and again.
I have read your thread 4 times already and every time I find somthing new! Thank you for what you do for your dragon! Thanks for telling about it!
You love Darwin very much. He is very lucky to have you!

PS: Sorry for possible errors, my English is not very good, but I should have written to you!