MY TWO NEW RESCUES

[william488]

I found a ad on my local craigslist that a guy is giving away his two bearded dragons for free, and selling two tanks, (one is 60" and the other is 48" long two 36" Light fixtures, 6 reptisun lights (two in the fixtures now, all the tube style, and 4 new units in boxes, he got them in bulk) two heat lights, lots of hides, food dishes, and sand (im throwing out the sand) and a meal worm colony (great for my geckos, even though my geckos hardly eat them anymore, they get roaches now, will not use the meal worms for my beardies). They both look really healthy, but I feel I can provide alot better then what they have. He says he has never had an issue with them since he got them, but one does sound like he has had mbd from before he got them, he says it has a weird limp and his jaw is little deformed, but a nice guy and he said cool personality. I am getting it all for 125.00 Sad thing is that he said he has forgotten about them a couple of times for a few days, says he doesn't take good enough care of them. My daughter is excited because she will get one in her room, the other will go in our computer room and our original two will stay in the livingroom. not sure why I am doing this, I have enough but I got the reptile (especially bearded dragon) bug. he named them Spike and Gimpy. I will mostlikely re-name them after I have seen their personalities, and he thinks they are male but not sure. here is some of the pictures he sent me of them.

this is spike's cage

this is Spike

this is Gimpy

this is gimpy's cage

we are supper excited.

 

[jackiesmama]

aw how cute, that is so awesome, i know u will take good care of them

 

[Esther19]

Congratulations!

 

[william488]

thanks, only bad thing, is its going to be harder to give them one on one time and time out of the cages for free roam fun. I don't want any fighting, my male yesterday, jumped off my couch when he saw the female at the end of her cage, when she climbed out onto the ground, he jumped off the BACK of the couch and ran over to her, fastest I have ever seen him run. he ran so fast that he ran over her, then slid another two feet past her on the linoleum floor. lol. I was able to get to him before he decided to try and make some babies. I don't need that.

 

[william488]

scared the crap out of my little girl. My daughter wants to put the girl in her room, as she loves my daughter, barely tolerates me. lol.

 

[jackiesmama]

lol i know what u mean , when i take my girl out of her cage, my boy goes CRAZY he starts jumping around, running real fast in his cage lol, with his beard sooo black even his chest is black

 

[william488]

sometimes I tell you. People who treat their animals wrong, grrr!

I went and got the two beardies, they are about 12-13 months, last owner had them for the last 6 months, never used calcium, or vitamins, used reptisun 5.0 bulbs, and cages were FULL of poop and sand and stunk sooo bad. First, she said she got them both from the previous owner, who bought them from a petco, and that the previous owner before her, treated them really bad. She said they have been living seperated then the lady put them back together and the bigger guy, "spike" name might change, had his tail bitten off, the last 1" or so. she also said the owner before her let him get too close to his heat source and he has a bad burn that is still healing, on his back. this suposedly happened 7 months ago. It is actually looking better but still is no looking right. It currently looks like really bad shed, there are some new areas around it that are getting their color back. He is just a normal beardie, some yellows in him but mostly just tan and blacks. very active and currently trying to stay as far away from us as he can, snipped at me when I put my hand into his cage, and black beard up on me, going to let him settle in for a bit before I try to socialize him more. At their house, they both were very alert, friendly and LOVED their legs and beard rubbed.

Onto the second one, called "Gimpy" name to be changed after I get to know him, He is missing all his fingers on his left front leg and one toe on his right front leg. He is missing part of his upper jaw near his nose, and looks like he has yellow fungus too. I'll try to get some photos of after I post this if he will let me. He is little unusual in coloring, He is very light in color, lots and lots of white when he is happy. only questions I have on the yellow fungus thing, is that it gets brighter when he lighten's up, I am hoping its not fungus but its just tooo yellow, you know what I mean?

Only bad thing is I have no local vet, closest vet who can do more then take my fecal tests is 120 mile round trip. I am planning on taking them both down to the vet but it will not be until January 16-19ish.

I plan on taking photos of them both, after they settle down, I will post sizes and weight, etc of them in the next few days/week. my guess is that Spike is around 15-16 inches , and Gimpy is 14-15 inches.

She did not know what she was doing and even admitted it, she said she loved them, she knew she was doing better then the woman before her and will miss them, but is glad they are going to someone who knows what they are doing. I hope they are going to have a better life now. She gave them to me for free and I bought their cages, and lights and fixtures from her, First thing I did when I got home was order reptisun 10.0 lights. Her fixtures are very nice! the one tube light, is an expensive one. I got a 80 gal acrylic(very foggy, she used sand in it, so its scratched bad), and a 55ish gal, hand made, glass cage, with neat old wood corners and that is like breeder tank, wide deep and not too tall.

Oh, she also said before she got them, they have never had a UVB light, she said the previous owner did not know they needed it.


Gimpy is eating greens allready in his tank so thats good. I am excited and glad that I can hopefully make a better life for them.

**edit, Gimpy had a 30" fish light, not a uvb light. still upsets me thinking of it.

 

[wmwelch]

Poor fellas, glad you are going to improve their lives.

Wendy

 

[Irwinshealth]

I'm happy for your family It sounds like the two of them needed you guys. I'm sure it won't be long and you will have them in tip top shape again. That and they will have you properly trained. :lol: Looking forward to more pictures when you get them settled in more at your place

 

[snazzyglasses]

Poor dears I'm so glad they're with you and getting love and proper care now!!!!!

 

[william488]

update, Gimpy is now named Buddy, Bud for short, he is doing great, supper happy friendly guy, always running in his tank to see me better. I think his damaged nose is sensitive, touching it, he flinches, but his other side of his nose, he doesn't flinch. He loves getting his beard rubbed, he will shut both eyes open his mouth, and then just sit there, I stop, he will open his eye's and sometimes move back over to my hand that was petting him.

Spike has that old burn on his back, I have been soaking him daily, and then putting mineral oil on it. Today's bath, 3/4 of what was left now flaked off, his skin under is looking really good. I am sure it will be a bad shed spot, (I really think most of the remaining burn area is now just bad sheds that they did not help take care of). His personallity is getting better, he still tries to bite me when I go get him out of his cage, but stops once he is out. he climbs and loves to sit on my shoulder. Now, I have a question for all, both beardies have been seperated from eachother for the last 6 months (atleast that was what I was told) but both have issues with their left eye's. They both keep their left eye closed most of the time. Their light that they have had in their cages have been reptisun 5.0's 36" tubes. I have on order some 10.0's should have them in a few days. Is their eye issue possibly caused by the 5.0's? I hear the 5.0's were just not as strong as the 10.0's and thats about all the difference. Is there more to the difference between them? I don't plan on using the 5.0's but just wanted to know what makes the 10.0 better/safer for beardies then the 5.0

 

[Esther19]

The 5.0 are for tropical animals, different wavelength, I believe; and not nearly strong enough for beardies.
The bulbs could have been bothering their eyes. Have you washed them with sterile saline? What fortunate little dragons they are!

 

[william488]

no I have not flushed out their eyes yet, I will do that tomorrow. I hope my lights come in soon, for now, just making sure when dusting with calcium, I am using the calcium with d3. Thanks for the info on the lights, was not sure what the difference was, I figured that they were the reason for the eyes, so I never turned them on when I brought them home, The lady gave me two more brand new 5.0 bulbs, going to hold on to them if I end up needing them for another animal in the future.

 

[william488]

flushed out their eyes, and turning off the lights seem to help a little, but they both still keep their left eye's closed almost all the time. here is a picture of Spike aka Grumpy (still no sure name yet.

you can see the damage on the back of him, just below his head on his back those three black areas are what is left of the unshedded areas of the burn. the yellow areas right close to those dark areas are the new skin under the old shed that I helped get it off.. Its alot better then it use to be, lots of layers of old shed that was not properly removed. daily baths and soft rubbing from my hands and a soft toothbrush has removed most of it. He is not really eating and its cocerns me. I am hoping he is adjusting and will soon start eating. Since he came here, he has eaten a total of 15-20 roaches and supers total. He is 16.5 inches from his tip of his head to the end of his stubbed tail.

Gimpy --renamed Buddy is doing great! his appointment for the suspected yellow fungus is on the 12th. in the mean time I am using Lamisil for the last few days, seeing a little bit of lightning but could be wishful thinking, lol. He is full of energy and loves being out and about, just scared to have him anywhere where my other beardies hang out, not sure how contagious or how easy the yellow fungus is. He is eating lots and is getting a little belly quickly lol. He is eating around 8-14 supers a day and 5-10 mid size roaches a day and one small plate to two plates of greens a day. Ill try to get a photo in the next few days. He is almost 17 inches long and is a cool very light white and black. The only color he seems to have is what I think is yellow fungus but hoping I am wrong. Ill take pictures of that too tomorrow hopefully.

 

[Esther19]

How fortunate they are to be with you. You are doing a great job! I would be careful with the suspected yellow fungus. Most folks quarantine new beardies for a bit, though I know it is so tempting to have them out in the same places as the others. Someone with more experience on the matter might have an opinion.

You might try giving the one some baby food to get him back eating. Stage one foods-turkey, chicken, squash, green beans-can be fed via dropper or syringe, watered down if necessary. I'm sure you are keeping them well-hydrated by offering water orally.