My newest Craigslist rescue

[saleen89559]

I was browsing Craigslist this morning and found a person wanting to sell their bearded dragon, cage and equipment for $150. I called them up and went to see it.

This person didn't know what sex it is or how old it is. When I got to his place, he was feeding it iceberg lettuce and carrots, and once a week, 12 crickets absolutely caked in calcium powder. He claimed it was only about 2 years old, but upon inspection, it has to be at least 5-8 years old. It is only 14 inches long and weighs less than 150 grams. All of its skin is flappy and empty like it was once fat and lost it rapidly. This dragon is completely filthy, covered in its own feces and has retained sheds in some spots.

The good news is, I convinced him to let me have the dragon without the setup because I explained to him why it was in bad condition. I told him it would be better to adopt it to me so I could rehabilitate it and find it a permanent home. He gave in and gave the dragon to me on the spot.

I got it home and immediately got it into a 20 Long tank for tonight. Gave it a dozen dubias lightly coated with multi-vitamins and it wolfed them down.

I am leaning towards its sex being MALE, but not sure. Tonight it gets a good bath and a better look.

Here are some pics.

 

[Beardednoob]

From the shape of the head and stance the dragon is taking (demeanor) I would guess male to. Skinny, has the appearance that the dragon is starting to feed on the fat stores.
I wanted to tell you I checked out your site, I wanted to say... it is a great thing you are doing. I respect this of you. :wink:

 

[Charlos101]

Thank-god you rescued him (Or her) I bet he will enjoy that nice bath

 

[saleen89559]

From the shape of the head and stance the dragon is taking (demeanor) I would guess male to. Skinny, has the appearance that the dragon is starting to feed on the fat stores.
I wanted to tell you I checked out your site, I wanted to say... it is a great thing you are doing. I respect this of you. :wink:

That is the same thing I was thinking about the fat stores. The dragon is soaking in a 45 minute bath right now so I can try and remove the caking around its vent, tail and stomach area. Its gonna get another dozen dubias tonight before its lights out as well.

Thank you for the compliment on my new rescue operation. My wife and I decided that we are good enough at handling reptiles that the least we could do would be to adopt and re-home reptiles that are no longer wanted by their previous owners.

 

[saleen89559]

UPDATED: The rescue dragon has been eating consistently even though I have limited it intake as not to over-do his digestive system. Roughly eating 12-15 Dubia's a day with some collards all very lightly dusted in multi-vitamins. Very friendly dragon, is also VERY alert, always noticing when you're looking at it in the tank. Its first poo with us was extremely nasty and runny, whatever he was being fed, it had no nutritional content. When it eats, you can watch its fat stores on its head move like muscles. I am glad we got it when we did because it was on the brink of starvation.


Here is a picture of it on day 3 with me. It has some nice coloration, yellows, oranges, and even some lavender tiger stripes.

 

[Beardednoob]

Awesome, have you been able to tell gender?

 

[saleen89559]

Yeah, I actually found that out about an hour after I posted last when I gave him a bath and cleaned him up.

ITS A BOY! LOL. Now knowing that its a male, I KNOW for a fact that he is pretty thin. He has almost no muscles in his arms and legs.

 

[Beardednoob]

Looking at him, this is kind of how I imagine my dragon Thor will turn out coloration wise.
He is somewhat skinny, but, remember it is best to have a healthy diet, feeders every other day and a nutritional salad.
Might get some hornworms for the feeding days as well.
Bringing back up his weight in a healthy manner will help ensure things go better for his health.
Too much protein to him can damage his liver on cut down his life expectancy. Do you think he is an adult as he looks to be?
How long is he and what information do you have?

 

[saleen89559]

I rescued him from some people who were being evicted, they were in a hurry to send him off, so that is when I went to work convincing him to just let me adopt him.

The guy I got him from claims he came from a local pet shop at our local mall. He also claimed this dragon is no more than 2.5 years old. Problem with that claim, is the pet store he claims he got him from, closed in 2004. (Our local mall went downhill since about then and is now empty). He also claimed he was about 10 inches long when they got him. I highly doubt this dragon is 7-8 years old and still alive in this condition.

In reality, either the guy was on drugs, or this dragon is really that old. Not sure either way. My only goal is to get him healthy and re-home him to someone that will take care of him properly no matter how long he will live.


I have been including 2 Wax worms per day in his diet to add fat along with no more than 12 small-medium dubia's coated in Multi-Vitamins each day. Also always having a fresh salad in his cage at all times for him to nibble on.

As of right now, he is 15" long and not much more than 150 grams. He looks filled out, but he's got quite a bit of loose skin and when you pick him up, he is at least 1/4" the weight of my 16" female.

 

[Beardednoob]

I am just concerned he doesn't get too much protein in a short amount of time, if the dragon is as old as the guy claims it isn't as bad but, if the dragon is older then you may want to take it easier on the roaches. offering them every other day is the best option in my opinion.

I would suggest to beef up the salads on non feeder days and go from there.

How is he doing? Has he put on weight? How are his activity levels?

 

[saleen89559]

Activity is high, he moves around quite a bit and is completely alert except for when sleeping obviously.

I will cut down on the dubia's some, but when he does have something that moves in his bowl, he acts like he hasn't been fed in weeks.

If he has put on weight, its a small amount, he has only pooped once since I got him so I assume his digestion is working on every bit of the protein and fat he has absorbed from his food. His next bath is tomorrow so I assume he will poop there. He was receptive to a bath and pooping the first time around.

 

[Beardednoob]

Awesome. I would be interested in seeing weight charts.
And more pictures :wink:

 

[saleen89559]

I am going to dig my digital food scale out of storage tomorrow so I can weigh him.

My dad is also delivering my 2 new 4x2x2 cages tomorrow so I have a busy day.


PIctures will come as I take them, I am trying to stress him out as little as possible.

 

[Beardednoob]

Understandable :wink:

 

[saleen89559]

Good update,

We nicknamed our rescue "Gus" today. We felt it wasn't right to have him here without a name to call him.


He weighs 167 grams as of today at 7 PM. He did however take a very healthy poo tonight which FINALLY was solid with some clear liquids with it.