Rescue Dragons New Dragon owner looking for help and advice

[Dragon14106]

So recently I received 2 beautiful bearded dragons! I was told before I got them that they had everything they needed and that all I had to do is come pick them up! I was informed that they had been rescued from someone else and were on a strong path to recovery! Me being a person who had all ready rescued and saved a fellow reptile before from neglect and care ( our ball python Zoe ), decided that my wife and I should get them and take care of them! WELL it wasn't quite what I expected! Trust me I did a lot of reading and research in the few days it took us to make the decision. I know full well the time I would have to give them every day! But what we walked into was a Nightmare!! When we got there to pick them up I was told that the poor Girl and Boy dragon had been left in a car for a month in December when there owners became homeless! I LIVE IN WISCONSIN IT WAS BELOW 24 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT MOST OF DECEMBER ! The real problem was that the person caring for them in between us had NO IDEA of what she was doing! There was no UVB, no heat lam just a Walmart 24" fixture and a standard florescent bulb! The were dusting crickets but also feeding frozen greens...... I didn't say a word I didn't blink an eye I loaded everything into our car cranked the heat all the way up ( this was the end of January) and stopped at a pet store to get the basics till I could get to our local reptile specific pet-store Reptile Rapture in the morning! Fast forward to now our male B.D. has been doing alright except his poop smells horrible and has recently had yellow at the end of his urates which I think is because I have been giving him a little to much calcium but I'm not sure! I have dropped back to 5 days a week for dusting his crickets or roaches as of this week. Will see if this helps. The female on the other hand was emaciated when we got her and is still showing this. The heat and UVB seemed to have perked her up but it's been a month and she still doesn't eat much she will have days where she will not eat greens of protein and then she has days where she will eat most of her greens and 5-6 crickets or Roaches. For the most part she just nibbles at her greens and has one or 2 of what ever protein I am trying to give her! the problem I fear is a bout a week after we got her she started having troubles in her left eye to where she could not open it unless I gave her a bath or put water on a cotton ball and dabbed her eye to get rid of the clear film that had developed keeping it shut. I have started doing this everyday and it only seems to last for a little while! My 1st though was UVB but I started with a 10.0 Reptisun 24 inch bulb about 10-12 inches away from her basking spot when her eyes gave her trouble I moved it up 3 inches to the top of there wooden enclosure (to no avail)! As of the beginning of the week and advice from the Owner of Reptile Rapture I Moved her into one of my 40 gallon Breeders tanks and put a MVB on her (Powersun 160w @ 17 inches from basking site) which for a few days she perked up, ate more and became more active. Even her eye seemed better for a day or two! Unfortunately the last few days it has come back again! She still seems to be ok! She moves around and eats but sometimes she becomes lethargic for a little bit then pops out of it and seems fine again( this has actually happened since we got her just less and less)! I am at a loss here unfortunately i can not take her to a vet right now! I have already spent around 300 buck on these guys and it would cost me around 200 to get her into a vet and have her examined (not including medicine or blood work)! This is money I won't have for a month or two and I am trying to make sure she isn't going to die on me! She does have yellow under neath on her bearded but she is also a yellow dragon (sunburst or something like that). I will post some pictures but I am asking for advice or tips or any input to steer me in the right direction! I had a theory that maybe because they went almost a month without UVB that she might be getting to much all at once but I don't know! PLEASE HELP

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, it's great that you've taken them in and it's amazing that they survived what they did ! It sounds like you're doing a good job with them. Here's how to post pics :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to attach pics

A good natural antimicrobial to use in her eye is raw, unpasteurized honey [ from a health store, but not the whipped kind ] Just dilute a small amount with a tiny bit of warmed water and apply with a syringe /eyedropper directly in to the eye 2X a day.

As for her appetite, she may benefit from home made smoothies....blend some good greens like turnip, mustard, collard, arugula, dandelion and add a bit of plain applejuice or blueberries or whatever she might like. Try different soft feeder insects if you can get them , silkworms are one of the best, hornworms are also good. There will be other folks here to offer advice as well, best wishes for a good outcome !

 

[ghostarcherbeardie]

for bugs, you should research how to breed crickets, crickets are way more expensive than they need to be, if you don't, buy them in bulk. check out the website you are on right now, thebeardeddragon.orghttps://www.beardeddragon.org after that you should know everything you need to know

 

[SpacialCoogs]

I would get them checked for parasites too, the smelly poo might be a sign of that. There are some fecal tests you can get done through at home kits you send to a lab, i think bugdelite.com has some (?)

 

[CooperDragon]

What is the temperature in the basking area with the PowerSun? The 160w should sit in the range between about 11-16'' above the basking spot for optimal UVB output. I agree that a fecal check is a good idea as well. It may be parasites causing an issue. Who knows what the poor things were exposed to before you took them in.

 

[Dragon14106]

I will post pictures when I get my phone cord from my wife when she gets home.

I planned on trying getting the honey tonight and trying it but I have to drive aways to get it so it was going to be either tonight or in the morning tomorrow! Our local reptile store has silkworms and hornworms. I get Hornworms every other week and the 1st time i tried giving them to her she at 4 of them but i haven't had her eat more then 1 or 2 since but i read the silk worms have good enzymes or something in them that helps a BD fight infections so i was going to try some of those this week! Do i just put the blended greens in her food bowl ? I generally put a layer of dry BD food on the bottom of her dish and the greens on top it.

I actually do not plan to stay with crickets I plan on breading a Dubia roach colony as I have heard they are much better to feed BD and much easier to breed! Also the reptile shop sells them for about 5 dollars for 100 crickets so its not to bad and I can order 500 for 13 bucks through them!

I plan to have both of their poos checked but the local reptile vet wont do it without seeing them 1st! This will cost me 300 for each dragon for there 1st visit the like 40 for each visit after the initial one! They told me as long as she is still eating and pooping every once in a while she doesn't sound like she is going to kick the dust! I still have read a lot of different things both on here and other places and it worries me in tell I can get them in! I will have to check on the send in tests but if they come back saying she has them then i still need to take her to the vet for the meds so that would just be wasted money when the 1st exam includes it. I plan on putting her on probiotics this weeked

Her basking spot temp is 105-108 degrees with the 100 watt CHE pretty much on top of the screen and the Powersun at 17". The reason I put it higher is because I have read that the Powersuns have a very power full UVB output and can harm the dragons if they are to close and it seems that UVB makes her eyes worse faster and again I had her under a Reptisun 10.0 when this all started (Should be noted that originally they where in the same tank together with a divider sharing the UVB light and the male is fine so im almost positive the bulbs was not the issue! Also if she where to climb up on to the wall of the tank she could get closer to 13-16 inches! As of the last 2 days I am keeping the tank in the high 80's to low 90's at night because as i have read and understood if she is fighting an infection/ parasites its best to always keep them warm to try and get there immune system to kick on! I don't know if this is effective or not but her cold side is in the high 60's to low 70's at night so she does have the option to go to the cooler side if needed!

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

Welcome to the forums and greetings from Wisconsin!

I am so glad you were able to take them in and I can't believe they are not in worse shape...
Please keep us posted on their progress, and I definitely second the dubia colony. Many users here have a colony going, including myself, and it's super easy.

 

[Shannonc]

I have no advice only to say I am so happy you rescued these poor babies! Credits to you! Can't wait to see pics!

 

[CooperDragon]

OK that sounds good. You don't need to go as high as the 90s overnight, just don't let it get too cold. If she has options, that's always best. Same with the UVB. If she can get closer if she want's to, that's fine. She can sense what the output is and what she needs.

$300 for a vet visit seems incredibly high. My vet charges about $40 for an exam and fecal tests cost about $25-30. It's good that the vet wants to do an exam and won't do a fecal test without seeing the dragons first though. That's the proper way to go. With proper lighting and a good diet they can often fight down the parasites on their own after a while. Stress can cause (often temporary) higher levels of parasites than normal.

For the veg slurry, I usually blend the veges up with water until it's smoothie consistency. I'll run that through a fine mesh sieve and discard the solids (or use them in a smoothie myself) and then run the rest through some cheesecloth or other fine fabric like a pillowcase etc. to drain excess water. I do this until the mix is about the same consistency as baby food. This makes it easy to load it into a plastic syringe and drip it on the dragon's nose from there.

 

[Dragon14106]

1st off I am sorry everyone for posting so late its been a hectic evening! Cooper It is only 200 dollars for the 1st visit that includes them checking the waste and after that it is 40 dollars a visit! I miss typed earlier! I think i was wrong about blood work as well because from what I wrote down they would do the blood work at the visit. I will have to call again Monday and find out!

Alright now for pictures... Sorry if some are sideways or upside down... they where fine before they where uploaded on to the site and I tried redoing it several times!

This is right after we got them home!

This is what both of them where in minus the decorations, food bowls, etc....

1st bath with us again sorry its upside down.

Good top look of the original setup!

This is about two weeks into her being at her new home!

Last week getting ready to move into her new tank!

5 days ago introduction to new tank!

I will get a better picture of this tomorrow but her tail and back legs are also darker I don't know if its incomplete shed but she had it when she came home with us! She has had a bath or misting every other day!

her setup three things i would like to point out
1 she doesn't have the CHE sitting on the screen anymore it was just temporary till I got my stand.
2 there is now a sheet covering the back and right side of the tank until I get a background (its green btw)
3 I know a saltine box as a hide.... but it was only temporary till i go to the reptile store tomorrow.... I mean today. :shock:

The Boy

He now has that whole cage to himself yes that's a dial thermometer in the back but i know it doesn't work and its no longer in there a hide replaced it!

Proof that a temporary solution will work

Black and orange beard kind of hard to tell in the lighting! Was told the black was apart of this color and not mouth rot but will have the vet look at it anyway.

The yellow urate in the males poop as of the last 2 times.

Her two days ago! She is awake and alert just can't open her eye! Will get a better picture in the morning!

This kind of worried me I thought it was yellow fungus. I am 95% sure its not. It's hard to see it in this picture but there is orange in it as well as well as on her belly but if anyone else know different please let me know.

She has become much brighter since she has been here !

Alright everyone that is all I have for tonight enjoy the pictures and if you see anything let me know or if you need more pictures of something let me know and I will try to get them.I have more of both of them when they first came home they are just on an SD card somewhere. Also it should be noted each tank has its own pair of digital thermometers now and share a hydrometer for the time being!

 

[AHBD]

Lol, yes they will use a sheet of newspaper for a cozy hide if that's all you have. The male does look healthier, it may be that she has laid eggs in the past and the owner never gave her enough food during those times to get her weight back up. No need to rush them to a vet, you might want to let them settle in + get some good food + supplements in before taking them. Drawing blood on a skinny, stressed dragon may not give you proper readings and would be very uncomfortable for her. I'd give them at least 4-6 weeks to settle in + see if they gain some weight + health improves. The yellow is hopefully natural color, many beardies have yellow or orange/red beards. Just keep an eye on it to see that it doesn't look crusty or spread. The male's beard looks normal. The mercury vapor bulb can be moved over to the left a bit so it covers more than that spot at the very end. Best wishes with these two !