Reptile Room

[szubelak]

I was just thinking about you today Andi and those poor dragons - any updates this week?

 

[dragonlover3]

Hi Andi,
Have you heard or found out anything yet?

Amanda

 

[Evergreen]

Hey, thanks everyone for the support

It's been an incredibly crazy week and I've hardly had time to check my email let alone get an update from the head guy so I don't have any news to share with you. I quickly walked by the bio room yesterday and their tanks weren't there but that doesn't necessarily mean nothing been done about it yet. I've got a ASL exam tonight along with a speech and exam tomorrow so it looks like I'll have to wait until Friday to see if he's found anything out. That mean's he's had a whole week to investigate though so I figure that's enough time to expect him to have some information.

 

[sweetiepie9]

We'll all be waiting to hear from you on the weekend. Good luck with your exams & speech.
Deb

 

[dragonlover3]

Thank you Andi, I'll be anxiously awaiting your update!......and much luck on your exams and speech!
Amanda

 

[RandyMarsh]

*signs good luck in ASL*

 

[YavannaV]

I just ran across this thread and am really curious what the resolution is... where are the missing beardies?!?

 

[Evergreen]

Thanks, this week flew by which was nice. I actually think I ran into the guy that takes care of the animals today too. He was cleaning the tanks and I didn't actually ask him if he was in charge but they way he talked it sounded like he was in charge of them. For what it counts he seemed very nice (friendly as in he was happy to answer my questions about the different animals even though he was clearly in the middle of something).

But I've got good news and bad news. The black one that was really underweight isn't at the school anymore (this is from the head bio guy who I talked to last week). Since he's not at the school there really isn't anything more he can do but when I talked to the person after lab today he said the dark dragon hadn't been very active and had been loosing weight so it was taken home to keep a better eye on it. I'm thinking it's probably on the last leg of it's life but neither guy mentioned anything about euthanasia.

The lighter dragon had been moved to another room, well more of an office but it's still in the school so that's good! It looked like a whole new dragon but the picture isn't very good, I cropped it and made it a little bigger but it didn't help much. The right eye that you can see looks clear but the other one was still kinda closed, no crusty stuff though so that's good. His mouth on the left looks raw but there wasn't any sand stuck to it. Its claws had been cut, maybe a little too short though but they weren't bleeding and its better then them being overgrown. I'm thinking someone took everyone's advice and gave it a few long soaks because it's skin looks much better then it had. The tail had a tiny sore on the left (I think left, can't remember...) but it looked like it had already been healing and didn't appear to be infected.

Saying all that you can still tell it's not doing great. It looked up for the picture because I took the cover off the tank but otherwise it just seemed uninterested. He opened its mouth a couple times like it was yawning or something and there was a weird bump thing on the inside left of its mouth. He didn't have any stress marks though so I'd consider that a good thing. Another thing I'm sure there are a lot of people will frown upon is that it's back on sand. I didn't say anything about that to the person sense I think it's a personal choice and it was laying on that log instead of in the sand. Probably still better to have him on paper towels or something but it's not my dragon so as long as it doesn't start getting worse again I figure its up to him.

Cant think of anything else relevant to the topic... fell free to ask questions and I'll either answer them if I know or add them to my list of things to ask. The guy said he's in there every day usually in the early morning but he said there was no class in there Friday and I was welcome to come in and look around. He said not many bio majors even know about the animals since its a classroom for nonmajors. he also said a lot of the people who do have class in there really dont seem to care about them. (possibly why no one has ever said anything about their condition in the past?)

 

[saleen89559]

If that is one of the first 2 dragons, then that is a big improvement compared to the first pictures you posted here. I would guess that he got the hint and went and did extra research either on here or other herp websites and got that dragon some help. As to the other one, I might have been too far gone to make it and he could be keeping it at home to live out its final days in peace instead of being a display. I can understand that, even though euthanasia would be the best option so it doesn't suffer, if infact it is too sick to save.


Great work keeping on them about the whole matter though. Many people would not have cared regardless. You should talk to them about allowing you to be an assistant care taker of the reptiles or something. It would be a win/win situation considering they could possible never see anything bad about having someone more experienced in reptile husbandry than them on board. And the fact that you would have that peace of mind knowing you have made a difference in their program and the reptile collection's lives.


Speaking of peace of mind, my big male Spike is giving me a piece of his and is trying to walk on my keyboard right now cause he sees a small picture of a dragon on the menu bar of the site LOL.

Once again, great work!

 

[Evergreen]

haha, he sounds adorable! I played youtube videos of other Beardies for my boy but he showed 0 interest. Guess his hormones haven't kicked in yet!

And the picture does make him/her look better then she does in person. She does look SO much better then before but she still has a sore on the side of her mouth, her other eye is still squinting and her skin on her tail and back belly still look sore. Now she had made progress but I don't want to lead anyone to believe she's completely turned around because she still is in pretty bad shape, better then before but still not healthy and alert like your Spike or any of our other healthy dragons. I'll keep checking up on her though it probably wont be more then once a week since the room is for faculty and not for students but I'm sure I can still get in there to see how she's doing.

Again thanks for all the support through this, couldn't have done any of it without y'all. If I hear any news on the other dragon I'll let you know and I'll try to get more pictures of the other animals again.

 

[dragonlover3]

Hi Andi,
YOU are amazing :headbang: and it's wonderful you stuck with and tried to make a difference! Kudos to you :notworthy: and you can be very proud of what you did!
I'm not sure many will agree with me but here goes. I still have some great concerns. Although you say there is some small improvement in the beardie, possibly from a long soak, from what you describe not much has really changed except, unfortunately, more sand and clipped nails. You say the little one is still in bad shape with the mouth sore, eye issue, and sore appearance to the skin on the back, belly and tail, so I have to wonder what, if anything, was done. Did a vet visit occur?....was a fecal done?.....were soaks or creams prescribed for the sore areas on the tail, belly and back?.....or the sore on the tail?....or the sore on the side of the mouth?.....were there any oral meds prescribed?.....is someone available to administer them?....is there any treatment for the mouth? You describe a weird bump inside the mouth on the left, same side as the sore on the mouth, ....can the beardie eat well or does the bump and sore interfere.....is it causing pain?.....has the vet assessed it?....does it need surgery? It seems if the beardie was taken to the vet there would be at least some indication that the above was addressed.
.....and that beardie needs to be removed from the sand, especially to prevent sand from continuing to get into that open mouth wound and the eye with an issue. Beardies don't live in sand in the wild, they live in trees, scrub, woodlands and on rocks. A bit of research will verify this. If they did any research at all they would already know this. Sand really isn't a personal issue. Although some people do use sand it doesn't make it a correct thing to do.
And I'm wondering how the other little one is being cared for and if it's been assessed and treated by a vet. Regardless of age it should be fed and taken care of or euthanized if it's suffering and beyond help per a vet. If taken home to be cared for, how is it doing?

These questions are asked, not for you to get the answers too, I doubt you can, but are in my mind and highlight the reasons I'm not patting their back! I'm disappointed, I expected more than a soak, more sand and nails clipped. If there were vet visits and assessments were done then I apologize but I don't see any indication of it. This is only my opinion but they still need to be rescued, need a vet visit for assessment, treatments and possible surgery on the mouth and someone willing to provide the care they need!

Amanda