Need opinions on condition of this rescue I took in

[lisa127]

This beardie was brought to me 2 days ago. I need your opinions because though I have been keeping herps for almost 20 years I have never kept beardies at all. This little guy is very alert, very active, and very curious. But also very skinny. His owner was a 16 year old boy and lately the boy's parents have been doing the feeding and care. This dragon is 4 years old and has been owned by this boy since he was a hatchling. Here are pics. Please tell me what you think. He does have a good appetite, btw. Wants mostly live food, just takes about 3 or 4 bites of salad at the most.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. He does look a little thin, but it also looks like from the back around his legs he has a lump probably mbd. Do you know if he ever had a uvb light or calcium and vitamins?

 

[CooperDragon]

Does look a bit small for 4 based on the pictures. How much does he weigh? Being alert and curious is a good sign. Regular normal looking poops? At that age they should be about 80%veggies vs 20%live/protein or so. You can use this as a guide for putting salads together http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
They love variety and they all tend to have different preferences so it's trial and error and depends on their mood.

 

[lisa127]

Hi. He does look a little thin, but it also looks like from the back around his legs he has a lump probably mbd. Do you know if he ever had a uvb light or calcium and vitamins?

If you see him in person you do not see a lump there. I see where in the pic it looks that way, but not in person. You can however see his spine and hip bones a little bit in person. He did have a UVB light and calcium and vitamins. They did try to do the right things. But there were a couple of problems. They sent over all his stuff with him. The calcium and vitamins had both expired a couple of years ago. The UVB light is a Reptisun 10.0 tube. So that was good, and they even sent over extras they bought so they must have known about changing them. However, they sent over a big expensive hood they had bought. In the hood the manufacturer put a screen over the bulbs so the animal can't touch the bulbs. The screen is a wider mesh which is ok. But they put the hood over top of that fine mesh screen top that comes with the critter cages. So between the two screens I'm sure not much UVB was getting through. But again, in person I see no bump by his legs. However, his lower jaw sticks out past his upper jaw slightly. I believe that may be a sign of some slight MBd. I don't think it's too bad as he is active and strong and moves good.

 

[lisa127]

Does look a bit small for 4 based on the pictures. How much does he weigh? Being alert and curious is a good sign. Regular normal looking poops? At that age they should be about 80%veggies vs 20%live/protein or so. You can use this as a guide for putting salads together http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
They love variety and they all tend to have different preferences so it's trial and error and depends on their mood.

I'm not sure how much he weighs. I have a gram scale that I use for box turtles and geckos, but it is too small to put a container large enough for the beardie on to weigh him. I don't trust him to sit on it without taking off right now. It's also too small for weighing my blue tongued skink. I really need to get a bigger one. Length wise he appears to be about maybe 19 to 20 inches snout to tail tip. As for poops, he has only been here 48 hours. I soaked him the night he came and he pooped in the water but has not pooped since then. So far, I have fed him superworms which he loves, mustard greens, shredded carrots, peas, chopped green beans and chopped hard boiled egg. He takes just about 3 bites of salad and that is it. He loves the dusted superworms. Since their supplements were expired I used one I had here. Reptivite with D3. The only other supplements I have on hand are repashy leopard gecko dust and cuttlefish bones for my box turtles. What is best for beardies as far as supplements go?

 

[destiny1998]

Yeah sounds like he does have mbd do to the plastic and screen being between him and the uvb light. His uvb needs to be mounted in the tank with nothing between him and light and you may want to replace that bulb as those are suppose to be changed every 6 months. I use repashy calcium plus it has the vitamins in with it. I dust my adults food 3x a week you may want to do more because of the mbd.

 

[lisa127]

Yeah sounds like he does have mbd do to the plastic and screen being between him and the uvb light. His uvb needs to be mounted in the tank with nothing between him and light and you may want to replace that bulb as those are suppose to be changed every 6 months. I use repashy calcium plus it has the vitamins in with it. I dust my adults food 3x a week you may want to do more because of the mbd.

There was no plastic blocking the UVB. There was two screens. One wider gauge one that was on the fixture itself and then that fine mesh one that is on those sliding tops on critter cages. Of course, I removed both screens so that his UVB is now totally unobstructed. And I changed the bulb. I know all about that. I'm new to beardies but far from new to reptiles. Though I will say I believe they were changing the bulbs as they should. As for MBD, I believe he may have it but if he does it is mild. I was able to measure and weigh him yesterday finally. Length was more difficult to get, but he looks to be about 19 inches from snout to tip of tail. His weight is low. He is only 262 grams. Having never kept beardies I'm not positive but I think he should be over 400 grams for his length and age. I'm going to weigh him every weekend and if he doesn't gain weight I will have a fecal check done. Oh, and he did poop the last two days. Poops looked good.
I'm attaching a couple more pics, these taken this morning. Five days after arrival.

 

[destiny1998]

He is a thin little guy, but with proper husbandry and diet he should gain weight. Are those round gauges how you're taking the temps? If you are those are very in accurate. I would give him liquid calcium to help with the mbd.

 

[lisa127]

He is a thin little guy, but with proper husbandry and diet he should gain weight. Are those round gauges how you're taking the temps? If you are those are very in accurate. I would give him liquid calcium to help with the mbd.

Umm, no those are not how I take temps. I've used infrared temp guns for years and couldn't ever live without them. Again, almost 20 years of herpkeeping experience here. Not saying I know everything, especially about beardies. But how to care for herps and rehabilitate them? Been doing it for a couple decades now. Those gauges are from the previous owner. I really am not sure how much MBD is going on here. There are no bumps in person. Not sure why the first pics look like that.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how he's doing. Very curious, alert, active. And a great eater. He kept bugging me for attention today. when I took him out he spent a couple minutes on my shoulder. Then moved down to my lap, layed his belly down on my leg, and just was happy to sit there and take in the world...lol.

 

[CooperDragon]

when I took him out he spent a couple minutes on my shoulder. Then moved down to my lap, layed his belly down on my leg, and just was happy to sit there and take in the world...lol.

Good stuff. Sounds like he's happy in his new home.

 

[lisa127]

when I took him out he spent a couple minutes on my shoulder. Then moved down to my lap, layed his belly down on my leg, and just was happy to sit there and take in the world...lol.

Good stuff. Sounds like he's happy in his new home.

I sure hope so!

If it weren't for my two dogs he could be my TV watching buddy. Maybe I need a TV in the reptile room...lol!