My New Little One =) I have a few questions...

[ubergnomie]

Its just a few days short of having Rambo a month and I have my 2nd beardie. It was kind of... fate I guess. I'm not the type that lets dieing animals die when they have a good chance.

So I go to my local pet shop a few times a week for crickets, they had bearded dragons there and I pretty much fell in love. I did some research and got one at Petsmart (please don't scold me). Well the ones at the pet store in town were deffinitely a bit bigger than Rambo when I got him. I checked up on the beardies in town every time I went in there. Things just kept getting worse. Well this week there were two left. One much bigger than Rambo, missing a few toes, missing part of its tail. Not so good. And then even worse, my little one. Half the size of its brother/sister. Much smaller than Rambo, and sickly thin. I honestly don't think my little one would have made it much longer living like that. I don't know when Rambo or the little guy were born exactly, but I know its around the same time.

With the new one is there anything I should be watching for?
My little one (who still needs a name) is like a twig, anything extra I should be feeding it? Things to avoid?

I'll have pictures as soon as I find the cable for my camera... heh

 

[Trickseedog]

I don't know about rehabilitating a sickly dragon. My Breyas came from our local Petsmart, and he is very healthy. There are several "Lizard People" working there, and they recommended him to me because he was already eating a varied diet and growing well. Everything that they have told me about caring for him matches up with things that I have learned on this website.

I'd recommend repeating your post on the Beardie ER Board. It seems to be monitored more closely by experts and you will get a quicker response.

One last thing: Are you keeping your BD's in separate cages? Your larger beardie could attack the baby if they are in the same enclosure. That is why you saw some missing toes and damaged tales. Even if they seem to be getting along fine, eventually something bad will happen if they are housed together.

My prayers are with you on your little one! (How about Twiggy?)

Kelly

 

[ubergnomie]

Yup, they're in seperate cages. Thats the main reason I had to rescue this little guy. He was in a cage with one double his size =/ And the other one was big bully who wouldn't let this little guy eat.

Hehe Twiggy is a cute name.

 

[LJean]

Make sure the temperatures and lighting is correct.
Keep the dragon hydrated by giving warm baths daily (at least until the dragon is doing better)
Start off feeding slowly appropriate size bugs/worms. (not too many at once)

That is all I can think of to help.

Good for you for getting the dragon.

 

[zebraflavencs]

To offer added nutrients, you can use Stage 1 baby food, the chix, green beans, and pumpkin. You can suck some up in a needleless syringe, and place a tiny bit on his snout, not covering his nostrils. He/she may also try to lick some from a spoon, but I would try the syringe first.
Janie.

 

[ubergnomie]

Thanks! =) Just about to go to the store, heh.

Hmmm, any suggestions to make the bath less dreadful? I tried one yesterday and I had one very unhappy little baby.

Heres the little one...

After first big meal...

The lighting is correct, so are the temps. I do have climbing things in the tank, I just took them out so I could get some pictures without the little guy hiding behind something.
All I have as far as bugs go are crickets. Small ones, and I feed as many as he's interested in 10-15 minutes.

 

[3cherries]

"the little one" is precious, but super slim like you said.. is he/she eating a lot? I've read posts where people feed them baby food w/ a syringe if they will not eat... good luck!

 

[Jasper's Mom]

Oh he is so skinny! Poor little thing. I would start out with mostly veggie baby food - squash is a good one for helping to put on weight. You don't want to overload his little system with too much protein. Keeping him well hydrated is also going to be very important. You can bathe him daily and give water orally using a plastic syringe. The amount of water depends on his weight. The formula my vet gave me is 10 ml/kg. So for example, Campbell weighs 270g (0.27 kg), so she gets 2.7 ml of water daily. You don't have to give the full amount orally - he will get some water from the food and also from the baths. Try bathing him in a very small container and see if that helps with his stress level during baths.

 

[ubergnomie]

I took the little one out for an hour and gave him(her?) a bath a little bit ago. Not one of its favorite things. I noticed one of its toes is really dark and the nail is really weird... I'll try to get a picture... It doesn't seem to bother at all.

He's eating okay. I've been hand feeding quite a bit. Even crickets because the chase wares the little one out.
I'm probably going to get some baby food tomorrow. This little one needs some more weight. I think bath time would be more enjoyable if the tinyist bit of water didn't make em float too.

Besides the toe thing he does one other strange thing. When he lays he usually hold up all his legs. Is that normal? I'll try to capture a picture of that too.

 

[Freeie]

Use a plastic see thru pot drainer its tall enought the crickets cant get out of and the little one can catch them easy. I had to do that with Lexi(6weeks old) she has a leg that dosnt work and has a hard time getting food on her own it was to hard for her. I used a eyedropper for water for a few days. She HATES baths with a passion too i keep her front feet on my fingers to make sure she dosnt go under.I give her 2 a day for only 5 mins each she gives me the most pitiful looks I think she will bond with my hubby because im the mean bath lady :shock: I hope this helps.

 

[Freeie]

Hows the little one doing this morning?

 

[ubergnomie]

The little one is doing okay. Sleeping a lot, but If I was that tiny I probably would be too.
Bath time wasn't quite as horrible lastnight, but I had it set up a little better too.
It won't drink from baths or misting so today its time for the dropper and baby food.
As far as the little one's weight goes, I have no idea how much he weighed, or weighs, but theres deffinitely some weight gain.

 

[FATBOYDADRAGON]

I hope the little one gets better soon,
Sound like you are doing all the things necessary to make that happen.
As far as baths Try putting a wash cloth in the bottom of tub.
Fatboy hated baths when he was small.
We tried the wash cloth for him to cling to and within 2 weeks he
started to relax and now he act's like a sea lion in his tub of water.
Good luck on the little one and thanks to YOU this little baby will probably
pull out of this and live a long normal beardie life
Fatboy loves Squash and chicken baby food.
We gave him this when he was being medicated for pin worms and
wouldn't eat anythin else.
Good luck

 

[ubergnomie]

Thanks!
Well, I started with the washcloth, still a little un happy but we'll see how it goes...
The little one is in love with squash baby food!
Is it normal for beardies to pancake while eating?