RolandKyramere
Sub-Adult Member
So, I've been posting a bit in the Beardie Tales section about my three, but I felt that Kana deserved a little bit of extra attention.
Our story begins on an average Sunday. I work in a pet store, and was in charge of doing the opening duties. Well, I went into the back where we keep all of our extra animals, and there, in one of the cages, was an adult bearded dragon. I looked at it, and, it being about 2 hours before I normally wake up, it took a few moments for my brain to actually comprehend the data. Yes, indeed, there was a full-grown bearded dragon in our store, which I have never seen one there before aside from the rare customer owned beardie. And, it being Sunday, the only reason we would have an adult beardie in the store would be because a customer surrendered it. So, I walk over to the cage and realize that this poor beardie is in horrific shape. I've seen some on the forums that are worse, but this beardie had definately had a rough life up until that point. Her body was so emaciated you could see all of her ribs, and some of those ribs were very twisted. Well, of course, I freaked out and went to my manager, asking what was up with the beardie in the back. He told me that apparently some customers had brought it in the day before in a TEN GALLON TANK. For the record, she is 17.5 inches long. I decided that instant to take her home.
So, that night, I got quarantine tank and set it up, and thus began Kana's new shot at life.
Over the past three weeks, Kana has been progressively getting better (I have had to check multiple times, and I'm pretty sure she's female
). For the first two weeks, we had to do daily baths, and I spent many hours trying to clean her scales (betadine is wonderful!) because she must have been in such horrific conditions that she had dried feces all over her vent area, tail, and right fore and hind claws. There is still some left, just because there was so much that I couldn't get all of it, but the worst is gone. She is also no longer pooping every day (squash baby food and soy yogurt are an amazing combo!) and it isn't the really runny stuff that it was originally. And is she ever hyper (which, believe me, is a good turn around).
At first, she would just lie there, only showing activity or excitement when there were crickets around. Now, she is my most explorative beardie, and loves to romp around the house. She has a full supply of crickets and greens, which I'm pretty sure she was never fed, so I've been giving her mostly squash baby food until I can coerce her into eating those nasty green things. I've had many dogs in my life, and often equate having bearded dragons to having dogs, because they are often quite alike in their mannerisms. Well, Kana is definately more of an attention begger than my dogs have ever been! If she isn't the center of attention, the universe implodes. I brought out Oz today (who is still bruminating) and Kana acted like a poor attention starved creature that had never been looked at, even though I had just had her out half an hour ago!
I think that she is finally going to shed, too! Some of her scales are looking really shiny, and the spikes on her sides are starting to get transparent tips on them. I think she is going to be quite the looker after she sheds, her beard is a bright red-orange. Right now, she is a kinda dull burnt orange over most of her body, but her sides are really pretty red orange, just like her beard.
Although this pic doesn't do much justice to her coloration, it does show off her attitude. "Salad? What is that and why did you put my nummy worms in there?!"
So, now I get to upgrade my terrariums and finally put in slate tiles (Christmas money!) and figure out if I'm going to stick with crickets or start a roach colony (I have three girls for roommates who hate the crickets, so I figure if I can convince them that the roaches won't escape, I should be good).
Our story begins on an average Sunday. I work in a pet store, and was in charge of doing the opening duties. Well, I went into the back where we keep all of our extra animals, and there, in one of the cages, was an adult bearded dragon. I looked at it, and, it being about 2 hours before I normally wake up, it took a few moments for my brain to actually comprehend the data. Yes, indeed, there was a full-grown bearded dragon in our store, which I have never seen one there before aside from the rare customer owned beardie. And, it being Sunday, the only reason we would have an adult beardie in the store would be because a customer surrendered it. So, I walk over to the cage and realize that this poor beardie is in horrific shape. I've seen some on the forums that are worse, but this beardie had definately had a rough life up until that point. Her body was so emaciated you could see all of her ribs, and some of those ribs were very twisted. Well, of course, I freaked out and went to my manager, asking what was up with the beardie in the back. He told me that apparently some customers had brought it in the day before in a TEN GALLON TANK. For the record, she is 17.5 inches long. I decided that instant to take her home.
So, that night, I got quarantine tank and set it up, and thus began Kana's new shot at life.
Over the past three weeks, Kana has been progressively getting better (I have had to check multiple times, and I'm pretty sure she's female
). For the first two weeks, we had to do daily baths, and I spent many hours trying to clean her scales (betadine is wonderful!) because she must have been in such horrific conditions that she had dried feces all over her vent area, tail, and right fore and hind claws. There is still some left, just because there was so much that I couldn't get all of it, but the worst is gone. She is also no longer pooping every day (squash baby food and soy yogurt are an amazing combo!) and it isn't the really runny stuff that it was originally. And is she ever hyper (which, believe me, is a good turn around).At first, she would just lie there, only showing activity or excitement when there were crickets around. Now, she is my most explorative beardie, and loves to romp around the house. She has a full supply of crickets and greens, which I'm pretty sure she was never fed, so I've been giving her mostly squash baby food until I can coerce her into eating those nasty green things. I've had many dogs in my life, and often equate having bearded dragons to having dogs, because they are often quite alike in their mannerisms. Well, Kana is definately more of an attention begger than my dogs have ever been! If she isn't the center of attention, the universe implodes. I brought out Oz today (who is still bruminating) and Kana acted like a poor attention starved creature that had never been looked at, even though I had just had her out half an hour ago!
I think that she is finally going to shed, too! Some of her scales are looking really shiny, and the spikes on her sides are starting to get transparent tips on them. I think she is going to be quite the looker after she sheds, her beard is a bright red-orange. Right now, she is a kinda dull burnt orange over most of her body, but her sides are really pretty red orange, just like her beard.
Although this pic doesn't do much justice to her coloration, it does show off her attitude. "Salad? What is that and why did you put my nummy worms in there?!"
So, now I get to upgrade my terrariums and finally put in slate tiles (Christmas money!) and figure out if I'm going to stick with crickets or start a roach colony (I have three girls for roommates who hate the crickets, so I figure if I can convince them that the roaches won't escape, I should be good).
