Possible to Rescue?-Updated with pictures

[beardielovers]

This is the story as we know it. The local pet store in town has a young dragon. When they first got him (for lack of sexing ability right now) he had really nice color, but had a crusted eye. They received him that way and assumed it was sand (bad practices from parent store as well as their store) in the eye. They bathed him everyday to see if that would clear it up. It did clear it up, but now is getting crusty again but is also still on sand. The store owner refuses to change it because he says it would look stupid without sand. We have a friend (owns a leopard gecko and really cares about the animals) that works there and he's been keeping us updated on how the beardie is doing. He (the beardie, not our friend ) sleeps almost all the time, just outside the basking area (temps are not monitored) and only perks up when they feed him. They don't have ANY UVB lighting either. We don't know exactly how much he is eating, but we know he does eat. Basically, the WORST possible living arrangements for the little guy! Anyway...what we were wondering is this; if we were to take this beardie into our care and just treat him proper (food/supplements, temps, UVB) would he "bounce back?" We think he's been at the store since just before Christmas and his colors have faded. We would have took him sooner, but didn't have our viv setup and ready yet. Actually, it still needs lighting! Anyway...what do you think? Is it possible? This will be our first beardie and we're not sure our kids would be able to handle it if he died real quick. We're hoping we can convince the store owner to let us nurse him back and then buy him I don't think ANYONE would buy this beardie and I'm expecting it will die at the petshop soon as well. Really sad, but I also realize we can't buy all their beardies.

 

[Jasper's Mom]

There's no way to know for sure what will happen if you take him in - that's one of the pitfalls of doing rescue. However, I can tell you that the rewards of nursing a sick beardie back to health far outweigh the negative aspects. It can be expensive, time consuming, and heartbreaking, but there is no better feeling in the world than watching an animal that you saved get better, day by day. Beardies are very resilient and have bounced back from worse conditions than what you're describing, so I wouldn't think he was a lost cause.

 

[naomithealien]

There's no way to know for sure what will happen if you take him in - that's one of the pitfalls of doing rescue. However, I can tell you that the rewards of nursing a sick beardie back to health far outweigh the negative aspects. It can be expensive, time consuming, and heartbreaking, but there is no better feeling in the world than watching an animal that you saved get better, day by day. Beardies are very resilient and have bounced back from worse conditions than what you're describing, so I wouldn't think he was a lost cause.

Quoted for truth.

Beardies have indeed been rescued from worse conditions. I would encourage you to rescue him.
He is eating, which is a good sign despite the conditions.

 

[Ethelia]

Jaspersmom is quite right, rescuing can end in tears after alot of hard work and persistance.
But as its been mentioned Ive seen dragons rescued from much worse conditions and seen them live happy healthy lives after appropriate care.

If you rescue a sick dragon you need to understand that it will take alot of work and patience to get him healthy. You will need the correct lighting for one, which can be confusing as there are SO many dreadful lighting brands out there which can actually damage dragons. If you get the dragon do make sure to check on these forums about the lighting you intend to buy.

Personally I would rescue him! I have had two beardies in my life, both have been rescues. They both took work but turned out to be glorious pets. There is nothing more rewarding than giving them a second chance at life.

As for your children I would rescue him and tell your children that he is a poorly little dragon, and that you are going to try to make him better. Id see that as a great exerience for your children. I wouldnt bring him home and pretend everything is ok.

Keep us updated

Holly

 

[beardielovers]

We have been floating around this forum quite often since Christmas and have a pretty good handle on the basic care - such as proper lighting, temps, thermometers, substrate, etc. We are thinking we will be able to finish our viv very quickly now and might give this beardie a chance. Since he doesn't look really healthy would you recommed a fecal testing ASAP? What do you learn from the fecal testing - just different diseases and/or parasites that are too high? Thanks for all the replies - they sure do make it seem like he's way better than he looks!

 

[Ethelia]

A faecal will be screened for paracites and is a great starting point when you rescue a dragon.
Luckily they are not expensive at all aswell. Just call up your local vets and ask to drop a sample in for a full paracites screening.
You should get your results in a few days and it cuts out the cost of an office visit.

If this little one if eating and pooping those are good signs. The majority of the damage I would imagine will be from the lack of proper lighting and I would really hope that with proper nutrition, suppliments and lighting that you can save this little guy.

Best of luck

Holly

 

[beardielovers]

OK. We are SOOO close to having our viv ready now. Just need to get the glass in and we'll be ready to go. Anyway...we have asked our friend a few more questions. They thought Reptivite was all they needed to dust their crickets with so they have been dusting their 5 crickets with reptivite every day. Our friend removed the calci-sand, corrected the viv temps and is trying to help out as much as he can. He's taking a bit of flack from the manager but he says it's fine. Our biggest concern is that he hasn't had calcium or UVB for 3 weeks. He definitly needs more food but that is an easy fix. Would being without calcium and UVB for that long create a risk for MBD? Another thing we are concerned about is his eye. They think it is sand in his eye, but we think it looks a bit infected. We've read that saline solution can help with some eye issues so we were wondering what you think. We posted a couple pictures to try and show what he looks like. They aren't the best as we had to try to clean them up at home. Our camera wasn't focusing very good and the lighting was the pits! His eye is puffy and looks dark from the top. Any other issues you may see would be great to know about. We will hopefully get this dragon within a week and would like to have some good ideas on how to treat him when we bring him home. Thanks for any suggestions.
edited to add: What worm do you recommend? They have hornworms at the shop, but we would be able to go into the city to get others if they are not good.

We had to hold his head up to try for this picture of his eye.

He came to life for a bit and here is another shot.

One just to show him off a bit!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello Kevin & Melissa,

Good that you went & decided to take him in. It sounds like he is a lucky little guy now. He has had a rough start to life, poor guy.
That eye does not look very good. Did they keep crickets in the tank with him overnight? That is a possibility that a cricket may have bitten him on the eye, it is hard to tell from that picture.
You mentioned that they did not have a UVB light on him then? So it couldn't be bad UVB lighting.
Is his other eye being affected any yet?
What about retained shed possibly?
If his temps are not optimal he could have a respiratory issue affecting his upper body which can cause swelling of the eyes with discharge as well.
If he has not been eating well I would start very slow with protein intake. Start with greens & veggies along with some appetite stimulant such as jumpstart if you can get that up there. If not, you can look for some bee pollen at a healthfood store or in the pharmacy or supplement area in the grocery store or drug store.
Once he has had several normal stools with a good amount of urates, then you can begin to give more protein for him. He doesn't appear to be dehydrated by the pictures but it is good to make sure his kidneys are working well initially when taking in a poorly dragon.
Have you decided on the lighting you will be using?

Tracie

 

[beardielovers]

Hello Kevin & Melissa,

Good that you went & decided to take him in. It sounds like he is a lucky little guy now. He has had a rough start to life, poor guy.
That eye does not look very good. Did they keep crickets in the tank with him overnight? That is a possibility that a cricket may have bitten him on the eye, it is hard to tell from that picture.

I'm not sure if they always take extra crickets out. I know our friend does, but the store manager doesn't seem to take as good care of the reptiles. Our friend is a gecko owner so is learning a lot more about proper care and is using his knowledge.

You mentioned that they did not have a UVB light on him then? So it couldn't be bad UVB lighting.
Is his other eye being affected any yet?

The other eye seems perfectly fine to us. He has had this eye open once but I'm not sure how long it was either. Also, not sure what the breeder was using for UVB, but I think the store got him at 4 weeks old.

What about retained shed possibly?

How do you help with that? Just lots of good long baths?

If his temps are not optimal he could have a respiratory issue affecting his upper body which can cause swelling of the eyes with discharge as well.

His temps are better now, but it's been about 3 weeks of really low temps.

If he has not been eating well I would start very slow with protein intake. Start with greens & veggies along with some appetite stimulant such as jumpstart if you can get that up there. If not, you can look for some bee pollen at a healthfood store or in the pharmacy or supplement area in the grocery store or drug store.
Once he has had several normal stools with a good amount of urates, then you can begin to give more protein for him. He doesn't appear to be dehydrated by the pictures but it is good to make sure his kidneys are working well initially when taking in a poorly dragon.

Thanks for these suggestions. We will look for the jumpstart (is this a reptile product?) as well as bee pollen.

Have you decided on the lighting you will be using?

We will be using a SolarGlo MVB for heat and everything as well as we added a 24" fluorescent tube to add some extra white light for him. We have a crossfire enclosure that is 4x2x2 - we are prepared to make it smaller for feeding time if he's having a hard time catching the crickets.

Thanks for the detailed reply. We will refer back to this a few times I'm sure!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Good, the Solar Glo MVB will be a nice light for him. The extra flourescent tube bulb for brightness is awesome. That will be great for him.
I think the eye issue could be a combination of a few things. I hope he does not have any respiratory issues. Taking care of shed that has stuck on the eye would simply be bathing & maintaining proper humidity levels around 45% or so. If his temps are too low, that is one thing that can bring on respiratory issues.
The jumpstart is specifically designed for Reptiles, yes. Here is a link for you:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+10442+19702&pcatid=19702

Reptile supply was out this time.
You will need to watch that eye closely. You can get some turtle eye wash or regular saline solution to wash the eye out, if needed.

Tracie