Deformed Beardie

[lauraj1055]

Yes you are!! And I think you are absolutely awesome for taking such good care of him!! I wish my daughter was more like you!

 

[Skymall007]

Can't wait to hear more! Thank you for taking in this little beardie. She is adorable and in a good home. Keep us updated =)

 

[diamc]

I agree that you ARE adorable. How is your girl doing?

 

[Sonador]

I was surprised to receive an email telling me that this topic received a new post!

Lyra is doing well. For her condition, anyway. She is taking her medicine, though she has learned that by jerking her head away she can avoid it for a few seconds! She is moving though it is an obvious it's a struggle for her. She has been eating her veggies, but has figured out that by tipping over her bowl she can eat her pellets at the bottom first!

I got that Calci-Blast stuff for her. She likes it decently I think, but I don't see any improvement in her health -yet-. I can't say I was expecting it to fix all her problems immediately, but I just want to see her get better, so I think I had my hopes really high on this. xD

 

[lauraj1055]

I'm glad she is doing good. She will never be 100% because of her previous living conditions but you keeping her alive is the best thing she could ever ask for.

 

[snazzyglasses]

Reptiles do take a long time to heal, so keep at it! You're doing so great! Sounds like Lyra is a quick learner too. Cute little smartypants
And I agree with Lauraj1055. I bet Lyra feels like the luckiest dragon in the world <3

 

[Skymall007]

What a cute and smart little dragon! Keep us updated -=)

 

[ohmybandit]

I've been thinking about this dragon lately, I'm glad someone bumped this thread.
I hope all is well with you two Posting any pictures of her soon?

 

[Sonador]

Lyra worried me absolutely sick last night. I walked in the room and she didn't even open her eyes. I turned off her lights, and she didn't lift her head as she always does. I opened her cage. No reaction. I gently stroked her back with the back of my finger and she didn't even tense. She was so cold. Besides that, she was in the same place she was the night before. I knew she died and just started sobbing. She opened her eyes weakly to look at me and I just kept crying. I carefully picked her up and set her on my lap. About this time my mom came in and-yes-I was still crying.

I told her that I thought Lyra was dying. I made this big speech about how I tried and how she doesn't deserve to die. Well, mom left and I decided to make Lyra's last night comfortable. I found the greenest veggies, the healthiest waxworms, and then put a bit more pellets in her bowl then usual. I have her a longish soak and then gently wrapped her up in a towel, which she poked her little head out of. I set her down and she pooped, then started running around her enclosure.

I woke up this morning and she was awake. She looked at me and I saw more light in her eyes. Hopefully she's okay for now.

 

[diamc]

Oh, that must have been SO scary for you. I'm glad to hear that she perked up and I'm sure the bath and cuddling helped. She knew you were worried about her. :love5: Hopefully she will get stronger every day. You're doing a great job with her.

 

[Lurhstaap]

How did she get so cold? You may want to provide her with a small, WEAK heating pad. I emphasize small and weak because large, powerful heating pads and heated rocks can burn them and, if they're large, the damage is over more of the body and harder for the animal to get away. But I have as part of my setup for Sunset a very small (about five or six inches long and three or four inches wide), low-temperature heating pad. I keep it on the cool side of his cage, but in the 'warm zone' close to the middle where he'll go when he wants to warm up at night but not be too warm. It puts off less heat than my computer monitor does, but even if something should happen to plunge his cage below an acceptable temperature he can cuddle up on his pad and stay warm enough to be okay, at least for a few hours in the night until I discover the problem and rescue him. I've noticed he likes to sleep on it even when the cage is at proper temperatures; I suspect it improves his digestion to rest on the warm but not hot pad while he sleeps. His crickets climb the cord sometimes but I blocked the hole so it's not a big deal (and my cats invariably eat any that get out anyway.)

Just a thought. You'd need a larger version for Lyra, as she's so much bigger than my Sunset (he's a juvenile still) but something like that may be useful for her if she has trouble staying warm enough at night.

It is also possible that feeling cold triggered her to decide to brumate, but your response to her behavior woke her up, and then the warmer temperatures in the morning changed her mind. In any event my gut feeling based on what you said is that her cage may be too cold at night.Then again brumation is quite normal behavior for this time of year. Perhaps it'd be best to make her a nice warm hide and let her take her naps?

 

[Sonador]

Her heat lamp just burned out. None of my local stores had the kind she needed, so we had to order one. It should be here today or maybe tomorrow.

But she's usually warm whenever her heat lamp is off, which is why it concerned me that she was cold. I thought she might be dead.

 

[Esther19]

You can use a regular clear household bulb for heat. Not the soft white or the reveal, though. Just a plain clear one. Faster, and cheaper. Good luck!

 

[Lurhstaap]

Well, reptiles are cold-blooded, so what happened was that she stayed cold for long enough that her body temperature dropped. It's not great for them, but it won't kill them instantly either and just being cold to the touch is definitely not a sign that she is dying or dead. I took my boy with me Trick-or-Treating, tucked into my costume against my body so he'd stay warm. That worked perfectly... until it started to rain on the way home. I got home as quickly as I could but my poor baby was a soaking wet dragon icicle. He even shivered! But I immediately put him in a nice hot bath and let him soak until the shivers went away, his body felt warm, and he wanted out. Then I took him and put him on my computer monitor (which is as hot as a normal cage basking spot, 105-110), and moved his UV lamp over. He was back to normal pretty much immediately. I was very worried he would become ill because of that experience, but it's been over two weeks since Halloween and he is doing just fine, so I can safely say that while I will never allow him to get that cold again, it doesn't seem to have done him any real harm, long-term.

As to the bulb burning out, that's exactly the sort of contingency that I have Sunset's heaty pad for. And the other poster is right -- ordinary clear household bulbs put out a LOT of heat so they'll work fine in a pinch for cage warming. Good luck! You're doing a great job with her and she's very lucky to have you.

 

[Sonador]

Update!

I watched Frosty the Snowman and Frosty the Snowman 2 with Link on my lap. He just sat there for the first movie, and then when the second one started he ran over to my dad and crawled onto him. He started licking my dad. :3 Then I set him back on me and we watched the rest of Frosty the Snowman 2 and then I put him back in his tank. What a cutie.

Uh, yeah. Which reminds me. "Lyra" wasn't a girl, so I renamed him "Link". xD