Dexter... 3 years old and never knew what heat was.

[ChellyBeans]

You guys are just purely amazing!!

PLEASE let me know if you need anything. He is SUCH a trooper and SO lucky to have you!!

 

[Goonie]

That's great that Dexter is climbing up to the basking spot all by himself. He definitely has learned that heat is good for him and that he needs it. What a smart boy!

I can't wait to see what he'll look like after all that gunk is off of him.

 

[landoflor]

the world needs more people like you guys ^^

 

[MeatHead]

This evenings update:

When Ken got home from work Dexter wasn't on his basking spot and was cold and unresponsive. It took a while to get him warmed up again and get him alert. He tried to eat some baby food and he had one small hornworm. The thing is, when he is trying to eat the slurry some will come out his nose. Does anyone know what that means?

He had his bath and soaked up some water. He fortunately didn't squirm a lot this time. He wanted to walk around for a min or two afterwards then we went and put him back in his viv. Right now he is all warm and cozy getting some rest.

Erika

 

[fez09]

Poor Dexter!! Can't help on your question about his slurry coming out his nose (poss resp issue) but I wanted to say Good luck, my beardie prayers are with you!

 

[Goonie]

One of two things could be wrong: 1) too much slurry was going into his mouth and not enough time for him to swallow, thus coming out of his nose (sort of like when you drink too much too fast and end up snorting the drink up/out of your nose), or 2) his esophagus isn't working up to par, thus not able to swallow as much down his throat.

Either case, try giving him little droplets of the slurry, slowly, and see how he does.

 

[MeatHead]

That's what we are doing, giving it to him very slowly letting him take it in at his own pace. I did get this info from Cheryl this morning:

"I do know that the air and food passages in the mouth are not separated very well and it would be very easy for food or water to come back up through the nose, especially if it isn't solid and difficult to control. Normally the tongue would push solid food back through the throat area ,but with slurry he may have pushed it up through the nostrils, they come right through into the roof of the mouth. It's the trachea you have to worry about not getting anything into, but as long as you don't force the slurry, he will be able to manage swallowing it himself. Even if he does have a respiratory problem, the food coming out his nose shouldn't have anything to do with it. "

I hope it is nothing to worry about. I have noticed he tries to eat fast, guessing cause of how starving he is. We try out best to get him to take his time. I put him partially up on his basking spot this morning and he climbed the rest of the way up. Right now he is getting warmed up and looking around. Breakfast soon, then bath after a while.

Erika

 

[LuvMyHerps]

Morning update:

He thankfully survived the night. We were both so worried we had trouble falling asleep. We put the proper lighting in and he is just itching to get up to his new temporary basking spot. With all his energy and strength he made it. We covered one of those log hides with a towel to make it more comfortable for him. After warming up for a while we will give him another bath and try some baby food maybe. We didnt try to feed him last night because we didnt want to stress him out anymore than he was already. So far so good.

We are naming him Dexter.

Erika and Ken

You guys are awesome...Thank you for saving him from the terrible life he had....How is he doing today? I adopted my first rescue last summer...what a rewarding feeling to know that you saved a little life. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of the little guy!

 

[MeatHead]

You guys are awesome...Thank you for saving him from the terrible life he had....How is he doing today? I adopted my first rescue last summer...what a rewarding feeling to know that you saved a little life. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of the little guy!

I decided it was more important to get Dexter to the Vet ASAP rather then wait till Monday so we went in at 9:45 this morning. I just want to say I'm lucky as hell to be living 6 mins from one of the best well known and highly recommended Reptile and Exotic pet vets in our STATE. The bad news on his condition is that he has a sore in his mouth that is similar to human scabies. He has a very high calcium deficiency, and almost no muscle mass in his back legs, hence why he drags himself everywhere. The jaw deformation that we showed in earlier pictures is actually bone. He grew that way because he was unable to lift his head up on his own. Constantly laying down on his chin like that caused the bone to grow odd like that. So he will have his little Jay Leno chin for the rest of his life, which is perfectly fine since I know its not causing him any pain now. The good news is his mouth is clean and clear of any rot (besides the sore on his mouth causing most of his pain) and no abscesses. His eyes and ears are fine. While he does have a high calcium deficiency the best news of all was that he does not have metabolic bone disease.... yet. But with all the medicine and care he will get, it should be prevented without any problems.

Dexter was given high concentrate calcium gluconate, which I have to give him twice a day until out, and then switch to an over the counter pet store brand after its gone. He was giving the antibiotic Baytril for his mouth sore, which he must be on for 20 days. The Vet tech made sure I did not leave until I knew how to give these two medicines though I already had a good idea thanks to the books and wonderful people on this site. We are to continue with the pedialyte and baby food, and introduce 1 softbody worm with each meal, and should not exceed more then 2 hornworms/silkworms a day for the first 10 days. He recommended that Dexter should be offered fresh veggies everyday. 20 min baths with the pedialyte should continue, but he recommended that while in the warm water we try to message his rear legs.

We told the vet about his current home set up. Right now Dexter is in a 40 gallon breeder tank. He has a UV bulb running the length of his tank, and a basking light. Its 82-85 degrees on his cool side. At night we put a human heat pad under his tank and build up towels so it stays about 80-85 at night with no lights on. His basking spot is 95F-101F and he does move to the cool side of the tank when he needs to. Monday his Megaray comes in. I had an extra powersun mvb but I'm not taking any chances, especially since he has a clean bill of health on his eyes. Once the mega ray is here I will start fabrication on Dexter's new 4x2x2 viv. I'm going to design it to be open on the top (since I live and breath MVB bulbs now) but also will put in the sliding front doors.

The vet told me he was in good hands and everything we were doing is spot on, which reassured me a bit. (And again I can't thank you guys enough for all of your help. Especially Cheryl who took the time out of her extremely busy day to help us and check in on us every day.) He said our knowledge of the species and proper care was impressive and see's no reason why Dexter wouldn't make a full recovery. Here is looking to the future Dexter!

Thank you everyone for your support and comments. It truly does mean a lot!

 

[landoflor]

WOOT grats guys ^^

 

[RioReptiles]

I'm sure you feel much better after going to the vet, I know I do! I just thougt I'd check in and had a huge sigh of relief after reading your post. Thank you so much for the kind words! We'll talk soon, Cheryl

 

[puffwhizzcrooke]

With all the love and care you are giving him I am sure he will be fine.....big hugs to all

 

[LuvMyHerps]

YEAH!!!! Here's to a long and happy life Dex!!!!!!!

 

[MeatHead]

Well, Dexter is doing good today. Its kinda hard to get his medicine in him as we really don't like the idea of forcing his mouth open ect. We have been lucky and snuck up on him while he was venting. He is still going fairly steady eating wise. I think he was just really worn out from his vet visit, getting poked, prodded and turned upside down. However he is still eating, he instantly went after a phoenix worm. He wants the live feeders more than anything but we know we have to keep with the baby food slurry for a while before he can have more of the live food. So its the baby food slurry and one to three worms a day. Like one at each feeding.

I would like to keep track of his weight gain progress and everything with a digital scale. I don't even know how much the poor thing weighs now. I was told at one point that Walmart has them but wanted to know where some of you guy's got yours from?

Erika

 

[Jasper's Mom]

Walmart is probably the cheapest place to get a scale from. It's great to have one so that you can track any changes in his weight. When I look back at the weight charts for my three, especially Chloe, I can clearly see where she was dealing with parasites and where she started to get healthy, just by her weight.

Once Dexter has stabilized a bit more and his mouth sore is cleared up, you might consider swimming as a way to help him regain use of his legs. You would start with shallow water and gradually make it deeper as he gets stronger. My first beardie, Jasper, was a rescue who couldn't use his back legs either, but through swimming he eventually became strong enough to pick himself up and walk!

Dexter is so lucky that you came along and took him in. Thank you so much for what you've done for him!