Neromom39
Gray-bearded Member
Well, where to start??? First of all, as you can tell by the title, our new little man's name is Zilla (not short for Godzilla, just Zilla).
My sister and I arrived in Valencia around 11:30 am and when we walked in the door, the entire enclosure had alrady been broken down and was sitting in entry way with him still in it. I had already made up my mind that no matter what I was going to see, the only reaction I was going to display was happiness to be getting this dragon. When she handed him to me he was ice cold :shock: . I have no idea how long he had been sitting in that torn down enclosure waiting for me to get there. And I could immediately tell she had no attachment to him. Because I was in the house less than a minute before she handed him to me and showed no emotion about relinquishing her pet to a total stranger. So I took him outside and placed him in the carrier I had set up with the rice sock and fleecie while my sister and the previous owner loaded the enclosure in my truck. Once I had paid her she went into her house and before I left her driveway I did an inventory of what I had just bought for $100:
1 36x18x18 enclosure (which by the way had about 1/4 inch of Calci-Sand
and crickets in it)
1 Deep dome light fixture with a 100 watt blue incadescent aquarium bulb
1 smaller light fixture with a CHE
1 non-treated log
1 huge half log used for his hide
1 flat dish used for his salad
1 huge deep pet bowl filled with water
I have to tell you that out of all of the rescue dragons that have ever been posted on this site, in his current state, Zilla has to be the most prehistoric thing I have ever seen. Now I will fill you in on his condition as I see it:
He is GRAY!!!! I pretty much confirmed that this poor dragon has not had any UVBs for the past year and a half.
There are claws missing on at least two of his feet. The toes on his right rear foot have been shortened and his tail is severely nipped.
It appears that there are loose scales on him however I can't be sure that this is case and I am not going to pull at them to see if they come off. I don't think he has ever had a decent shed.
I am not going to rule out MBD however he does walk fine but there are times when he will just freeze. Sometimes I think he just might be scared, but I have read enough on this site to know that that is probably wishful thinking.
He is severly dehydrated. I gave him what was probably his first bath ever last night and the skin near his vent is so droopy and saggy I was almost in tears.
I had to wipe some goo away from his eyes as well after his bath last night. They look better today, however he seems to close the left one more often so we may need to have that one looked into when we take our trip to the vet (next Saturday was the earliest I could get him in).
He is extremely skinny :? .. at the age of 1 and a half years + he is just slightly bigger than Nero who is almost 9 months old.
This is what we have done for him since we got him home:
He is currently quarantined upstairs in one of our spare bedrooms. (I kind of like the one on one time with him)
We cleaned out the enclosure that he came with because it is slightly larger than the one I had waiting for him.
The bottom of the enclosure is lined with tile and paper towels for now until we can see the vet.
He now has an MVB bulb with his basking spot at 104 and his cool side at 81 (Accurite thermometer)
The non-treated log has been discarded and replaced with a treated one and the huge half log has been sawed in half so it doesn't take up 3/4 of the enclosure yet still provides him with a hide (although at the moment he has chosen to snuggle up underneath one of the paper towels to sleep)
And in all of my preparedness for relocation stress, the little bugger has decided that he will not be defeated and he ate the 20 or so crickets he was offered (dusted with extra calcium, because I don't think he has EVER had any). Let me tell you he is a hunter, he doesn't wait for them to come to him. By the way, like the others, we feed him outside of his viv. He didn't touch his salad all day, however the crickets must have stimulated his appetite because we went back upsatirs and not only was most of his mustard greens and acorn squash gone but there was POO
What I find most interesting is that I wonder if anyone ever talked to him, because when I do, he tilts his head as if it's the sweetest thing he's ever heard.
I have taken several pictures so everyone can see what this little guy has been through. I would post them tonight however my husband is currently playing Guitar Hero-Metallica and can't be bothered to download them from my camera. So I PROMISE I will post them tomorrow.
I'm glad he's here. He needs me and I intend to do right by him.
Until tomorrow with pics.
Robin
My sister and I arrived in Valencia around 11:30 am and when we walked in the door, the entire enclosure had alrady been broken down and was sitting in entry way with him still in it. I had already made up my mind that no matter what I was going to see, the only reaction I was going to display was happiness to be getting this dragon. When she handed him to me he was ice cold :shock: . I have no idea how long he had been sitting in that torn down enclosure waiting for me to get there. And I could immediately tell she had no attachment to him. Because I was in the house less than a minute before she handed him to me and showed no emotion about relinquishing her pet to a total stranger. So I took him outside and placed him in the carrier I had set up with the rice sock and fleecie while my sister and the previous owner loaded the enclosure in my truck. Once I had paid her she went into her house and before I left her driveway I did an inventory of what I had just bought for $100:
1 36x18x18 enclosure (which by the way had about 1/4 inch of Calci-Sand
and crickets in it)1 Deep dome light fixture with a 100 watt blue incadescent aquarium bulb
1 smaller light fixture with a CHE
1 non-treated log
1 huge half log used for his hide
1 flat dish used for his salad
1 huge deep pet bowl filled with water
I have to tell you that out of all of the rescue dragons that have ever been posted on this site, in his current state, Zilla has to be the most prehistoric thing I have ever seen. Now I will fill you in on his condition as I see it:
He is GRAY!!!! I pretty much confirmed that this poor dragon has not had any UVBs for the past year and a half.
There are claws missing on at least two of his feet. The toes on his right rear foot have been shortened and his tail is severely nipped.
It appears that there are loose scales on him however I can't be sure that this is case and I am not going to pull at them to see if they come off. I don't think he has ever had a decent shed.
I am not going to rule out MBD however he does walk fine but there are times when he will just freeze. Sometimes I think he just might be scared, but I have read enough on this site to know that that is probably wishful thinking.
He is severly dehydrated. I gave him what was probably his first bath ever last night and the skin near his vent is so droopy and saggy I was almost in tears.
I had to wipe some goo away from his eyes as well after his bath last night. They look better today, however he seems to close the left one more often so we may need to have that one looked into when we take our trip to the vet (next Saturday was the earliest I could get him in).
He is extremely skinny :? .. at the age of 1 and a half years + he is just slightly bigger than Nero who is almost 9 months old.
This is what we have done for him since we got him home:
He is currently quarantined upstairs in one of our spare bedrooms. (I kind of like the one on one time with him)
We cleaned out the enclosure that he came with because it is slightly larger than the one I had waiting for him.
The bottom of the enclosure is lined with tile and paper towels for now until we can see the vet.
He now has an MVB bulb with his basking spot at 104 and his cool side at 81 (Accurite thermometer)
The non-treated log has been discarded and replaced with a treated one and the huge half log has been sawed in half so it doesn't take up 3/4 of the enclosure yet still provides him with a hide (although at the moment he has chosen to snuggle up underneath one of the paper towels to sleep)
And in all of my preparedness for relocation stress, the little bugger has decided that he will not be defeated and he ate the 20 or so crickets he was offered (dusted with extra calcium, because I don't think he has EVER had any). Let me tell you he is a hunter, he doesn't wait for them to come to him. By the way, like the others, we feed him outside of his viv. He didn't touch his salad all day, however the crickets must have stimulated his appetite because we went back upsatirs and not only was most of his mustard greens and acorn squash gone but there was POO
What I find most interesting is that I wonder if anyone ever talked to him, because when I do, he tilts his head as if it's the sweetest thing he's ever heard.
I have taken several pictures so everyone can see what this little guy has been through. I would post them tonight however my husband is currently playing Guitar Hero-Metallica and can't be bothered to download them from my camera. So I PROMISE I will post them tomorrow.
I'm glad he's here. He needs me and I intend to do right by him.
Until tomorrow with pics.
Robin
. I hope that he doesn't have MBD, but he may have a calcium deficiency. I would suggest feeding him silkworms (don't know what you usually feed your beardies), since they have the enzyme serrapeptase that helps absorb calcium. Plus, they're like delicious lizard burritos!
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