Hello, I'm here specifically because I'm worried about the welfare of the animals in my house. I'm an animal lover and it hurts me to see animals being mistreated. Please keep in mind that these lizards do NOT belong to me or I would know a lot more about their proper care and they wouldn't be in this situation. I'm begging for any advice you have for me to help them even a little. This is going to be a long post as I want to describe the situation of the lizards in detail, as I don't know too much about lizards (or reptiles in general, I'm an amateur with snakes but have extremely little experience with any other reptiles).
My roommate has always painted herself as a reptile expert, and for several reasons it's come to light that this is extremely untrue. She has two lizards, one male maui uromastyx that she's had since childhood and one female orange phase bearded dragon that she got within the last year. If anyone knows anything about uromastyx I would love your help as well, but it's the beardie that I and others have become concerned about.
The beardie was supposedly almost a year old when my roommate got her. Since then, she has barely grown at all and she is absolutely tiny compared to beardies I've seen on the internet and TV. I just measured her with a sewing tape and she's only 6" from nose to tail with an additional 10" of tail length. The widest part of her back/belly is a scant three inches across (when she's slightly 'puffed out') and she used to be noticably thinner with almost no roundness at all to the sides of her belly. A friend pointed out that her hipbones are visible. Her claws are in some cases curling over, which when I asked about it and offered to trim/file them my roommate told me was normal because bearded dragons climb. I have 4+ years of experience working at kennels and dog groomers and it doesn't seem normal to me for any animal's claws to be curling over.
Lately, the beardie who I've seen before to be a pretty bright orange has turned a very dark brown. She's recently shed her back so it isn't discolored dead skin. A friend with some knowledge of lizards (though not beardies) pointed out that she's starting to get two very small kinks in her tail which he heard can indicate illness in beardies.
Her behaviour has always been somewhat strange but has gotten worse. She's very sluggish and at times seems like she can't even keep her eyes open. She has a weird habit of pushing herself up to sit vertically against things (usually the wall of the tank) by putting her front feet on it and pressing up against it to make her body a sort of 'L' shape. Recently she's begun pressing herself up against the glass more, making herself completely vertical with only her tail and her back feet on the ground. She rests like this for long periods of time, I'd even say the majority of the time.
Her diet was for a very long time almost exclusively crickets fed weekly or more often biweekly. Finally my roommate purchased a type of beardie kibble and feeding her this seems to have increased her appetite. I have no idea if this kibble has any nutritional value (I know a great many dog kibbles don't) but it now makes up her entire diet. It's called repti-cal adult bearded dragon food with fruit. She's only ever really gotten vegetables when I fed them to her while feeding my boyfriend's pet rabbit.
The living situation is... the uromastyx and beardie are in the same tank. I know that's probably terrible. They're living on orange 'calcium sand' which I've heard is a huge no no. My boyfriend has said he's seen both lizards eat the sand. The tank is one of the ones with the sliding doors. I haven't measured it but it seems a pretty adequate size, it's quite big. There is nothing to measure temperature or humidity. I wish I could tell you those things, but unfortunately I can't. On the hot end of the tank there's a heat lamp resting on the mesh with a huge desert bulb in it which (my roommate says) is the kind of bulb the uromastyx needs. I think it's too hot for a beardie because she's always all the way on the other end of the tank pressed up against the glass. There's a log propped up so the lizards can climb right up and sit directly under the light, close enough that I wonder if they can get burned. The waste is never cleaned out of the tank (I've only seen it done maybe 3 times and I've lived with this girl for two years). There are hides provided but I've never seen the beardie use them.
Please ask me any questions you need. I'd love to tell you more about the uromastyx's condition or get any pictures you need. My roommate also owns a turtle, if anyone wants to talk about proper turtle care. I'm really concerned about all of her pets and I want to help them. Thank you so much for your time.
David
My roommate has always painted herself as a reptile expert, and for several reasons it's come to light that this is extremely untrue. She has two lizards, one male maui uromastyx that she's had since childhood and one female orange phase bearded dragon that she got within the last year. If anyone knows anything about uromastyx I would love your help as well, but it's the beardie that I and others have become concerned about.
The beardie was supposedly almost a year old when my roommate got her. Since then, she has barely grown at all and she is absolutely tiny compared to beardies I've seen on the internet and TV. I just measured her with a sewing tape and she's only 6" from nose to tail with an additional 10" of tail length. The widest part of her back/belly is a scant three inches across (when she's slightly 'puffed out') and she used to be noticably thinner with almost no roundness at all to the sides of her belly. A friend pointed out that her hipbones are visible. Her claws are in some cases curling over, which when I asked about it and offered to trim/file them my roommate told me was normal because bearded dragons climb. I have 4+ years of experience working at kennels and dog groomers and it doesn't seem normal to me for any animal's claws to be curling over.
Lately, the beardie who I've seen before to be a pretty bright orange has turned a very dark brown. She's recently shed her back so it isn't discolored dead skin. A friend with some knowledge of lizards (though not beardies) pointed out that she's starting to get two very small kinks in her tail which he heard can indicate illness in beardies.
Her behaviour has always been somewhat strange but has gotten worse. She's very sluggish and at times seems like she can't even keep her eyes open. She has a weird habit of pushing herself up to sit vertically against things (usually the wall of the tank) by putting her front feet on it and pressing up against it to make her body a sort of 'L' shape. Recently she's begun pressing herself up against the glass more, making herself completely vertical with only her tail and her back feet on the ground. She rests like this for long periods of time, I'd even say the majority of the time.
Her diet was for a very long time almost exclusively crickets fed weekly or more often biweekly. Finally my roommate purchased a type of beardie kibble and feeding her this seems to have increased her appetite. I have no idea if this kibble has any nutritional value (I know a great many dog kibbles don't) but it now makes up her entire diet. It's called repti-cal adult bearded dragon food with fruit. She's only ever really gotten vegetables when I fed them to her while feeding my boyfriend's pet rabbit.
The living situation is... the uromastyx and beardie are in the same tank. I know that's probably terrible. They're living on orange 'calcium sand' which I've heard is a huge no no. My boyfriend has said he's seen both lizards eat the sand. The tank is one of the ones with the sliding doors. I haven't measured it but it seems a pretty adequate size, it's quite big. There is nothing to measure temperature or humidity. I wish I could tell you those things, but unfortunately I can't. On the hot end of the tank there's a heat lamp resting on the mesh with a huge desert bulb in it which (my roommate says) is the kind of bulb the uromastyx needs. I think it's too hot for a beardie because she's always all the way on the other end of the tank pressed up against the glass. There's a log propped up so the lizards can climb right up and sit directly under the light, close enough that I wonder if they can get burned. The waste is never cleaned out of the tank (I've only seen it done maybe 3 times and I've lived with this girl for two years). There are hides provided but I've never seen the beardie use them.
Please ask me any questions you need. I'd love to tell you more about the uromastyx's condition or get any pictures you need. My roommate also owns a turtle, if anyone wants to talk about proper turtle care. I'm really concerned about all of her pets and I want to help them. Thank you so much for your time.
David
