Help!

[karlrebeck]

Hey guys! So I’ve got a 5 year old beardie that’s doing great! One of our friends was cleaning out a rental property that they own and the crappy tenants left a beard to die. They gave us a call to try to rescue him/her ive never done it before so should I go about doing this? I just gave him a bath, should I try to feed him? put him near a basking spot? Put him in a hide basically any advice on this journey would be really really helpful!

 

[CooperDragon]

Oh man, it's heartbreaking to rescue the abandoned ones. What kind of condition is he in? Can you post some photos of him? You can upload them here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them using the XIMG button when you reply.

Key to rescues is to go easy at first. Make them warm and comfortable. Offer water and see if they'll drink either from a dish or from dripping a bit on their nose. Try to hydrate them. Depending on what they've been through, too much food (especially protein) can overwhelm their system so small amounts of water at a time over several feedings is best. Once their condition is determined you can move from there to veges fresh or pureed, it depends on the situation. Let's start with photos though and I'll do my best to help you.

 

[karlrebeck]

 

[karlrebeck]

 

[CooperDragon]

That poor little one is wasting away I would go very easy at first. Like I said keep him warm and comfortable and offer some water. If he licks at the water, that's a good sign. Repeat that several times per day for the first couple of days. If he holds the water down and shows interest, try doing the same thing with some baby food (squash, green bean, and sweet potato have worked well for me in the past). Just a little bit at a time.

 

[karlrebeck]

He seems like all things considered he’s in pretty good shape, I have him a few baths yesterday and dribbled water on his snout and he took the water, I gave him some more today, I have him under light and he’s trying to absorb as much of it as possible. He doesn’t have sunken eyes and no blackness and all of his limbs are moving; and he’s moving around at night so that’s good! That’s a great idea about the baby food!! I’ll get some tonight and feed it to him with a syringe.

 

[CooperDragon]

Those are encouraging signs. Especially him drinking some water. Please let me know how the baby food goes over and keep me up to date on his progress.

 

[saraho]

I'm rooting for you and the little guy! I hope all goes well and I can't wait for updates.