rottnbull02
Hatchling Member
I guess mine isn't an emergency more of a question. I aquired a very very sick baby beardie from Craigslist (swore my husband off that darn thing we keep rescuing sick pets!). She had advanced stages of mbd (not vet checked as I dont have the $$ for a reptile vet bill). Spine was very crooked, hips almost looked out of alignment, tail crooked, head shrunken in and her eyes were buggy. It was very sad. She was bone thin, I doubt they had fed her in weeks. They said she was 6 months old. Her bones just looked terrible. She didn't have the strenght to lift her weight off the bottom of the tank, head was barley off the bottom. If she were straight and not crooked I would say she is about 11 inches. You can tell by the size of her head (even though it is shrunken in) that she is not a baby.
Stats:
uvb: reptiglow 10.0 she can get withing 10 inches (reptisun on order, waiting for megarays to be available again)
temp: basking 105-115, cool end 82 (75w spot light checked daily with a temp gun)
sub: newspaper, cleaned once a day as she poops so much it is necessary
calcium: liquid once a day and dusting crickets
That was 2 weeks ago. She has since put on weight. Just started lifting her weight off the bottom of the cage. Is trying to jump. Chases crickets to feed (eats about 10-12 now at a time!). Is eating greens voraciosly now. Basks between warm and cool side. Her spine looks as thought it is straightening out, and so is her tail. Her head is filling in and her eyes now look clear. I gave her a bath last week and she loved it. She is very active, and loves attention. Oh and her chin just shed! Her colors are amazing...reds and golds and we can finally see some blue tiger stripes on her sides now that she is filling out.
My question is are we out of the woods? Obviously I will continue to do what we are doing, but I really want someone to say what we are doing is the right thing. Also, how long do we continue with the liquid calcium? I sort of thought since it has been 2 weeks we should start to ween her off and just do the dusting. Is that right? I know we can overdose her and surely dont want to do that either. I am terrified of handling her too much as I read her bones are fragile and will break easy, but she loves being held. She runs to the side of the cage, well hobbles to the side of the cage when we enter the room. How often should I bath her? She really enjoyed it the last time.
Stats:
uvb: reptiglow 10.0 she can get withing 10 inches (reptisun on order, waiting for megarays to be available again)
temp: basking 105-115, cool end 82 (75w spot light checked daily with a temp gun)
sub: newspaper, cleaned once a day as she poops so much it is necessary
calcium: liquid once a day and dusting crickets
That was 2 weeks ago. She has since put on weight. Just started lifting her weight off the bottom of the cage. Is trying to jump. Chases crickets to feed (eats about 10-12 now at a time!). Is eating greens voraciosly now. Basks between warm and cool side. Her spine looks as thought it is straightening out, and so is her tail. Her head is filling in and her eyes now look clear. I gave her a bath last week and she loved it. She is very active, and loves attention. Oh and her chin just shed! Her colors are amazing...reds and golds and we can finally see some blue tiger stripes on her sides now that she is filling out.
My question is are we out of the woods? Obviously I will continue to do what we are doing, but I really want someone to say what we are doing is the right thing. Also, how long do we continue with the liquid calcium? I sort of thought since it has been 2 weeks we should start to ween her off and just do the dusting. Is that right? I know we can overdose her and surely dont want to do that either. I am terrified of handling her too much as I read her bones are fragile and will break easy, but she loves being held. She runs to the side of the cage, well hobbles to the side of the cage when we enter the room. How often should I bath her? She really enjoyed it the last time.