RESCUED BEARDIE

[amyemiline]

Hello, Im just posting this here as well to reach as many people as I can.
We have rescued a Bearded Dragon off a craigslist ad.
She was in very poor living conditions, no uvb light for over a year and a half, no sufficient heat source. She was as cold as ice when I picked her up.

They named her pancake because all she would do was lay around flat sprawled out on the floor of her tank, not very cute when its because of lack of proper lighting.
she is also very malnourished because as the lady told me she was a picky eater and wouldnt eat bugs. Well that is also because she wasnt providing proper lighting conditions for her as im sure most of you on here know that can effect appetite immensley.

her tail is kinked in multiple places because of lighting issues again and her nails are so over grown.
I had to pay this Woman $150 just to get her out of there as fast as I could.

We have scheduled a vet appointment for her tomorrow at the same vet I take my other bearded dragon too.

anyways I am posting this because I know she is going to need a lot of medical attention. So I have created a go fund me.

If anyone on here could take the time to share the link with friends and/or donate I would greatly appreciate it, she deserves a second chance!

here is the link.
https://www.gofundme.com/2su7ze4k
I will post updates and vet receipts to my go fund my as they come for proof.
thanks for your time!

 

[AHBD]

Hi Amy....you're a caring person with a generous heart to take in a beardie in need. I think that once Pancake gets some proper uvb, hydration + nutrition she should do alright. Go slow on the food at first, but she's not emaciated so you don't have to go to that extreme where people will say not to feed her protein , just DO take it slow. Hydration via short baths, every other day if she's not too stressed by it, or via syringe. The tail kinks will always be there and she can live perfectly well like that. I myself would have waited a few weeks to let her begin eating and to get settled, but as long as the vet doesn't do a whole lot of things to stress her at first she should be O.K

Does she move around any ? Showing interest in food ? I know she's lethargic.....that may last for a while but who knows how quickly she might gain energy with proper care.

 

[amyemiline]

Hi! Well as soon as we got her home and under some proper light and heat she perked right up, I was worried cause she resembled her name pancake when we picked her up.

She is now holding herself up basking, is quite active wanting to explore, seems to be really eager for attention. She will glass surf after she's been basking for a while and then will just sit on your lap afterwards and look around.

She is interested in food she ate a few butterworms and wax worms last night. And a few more today, calcium coated of course.

I gave her a short warm bath last night and tried to wash some of the caked feces off her underside. She dossnt seem to be too stressed by us looking at her a checking her body and bathing her. She's quite calm. I was even able to pull the sides of her lips down to check her gums and mouth out without any fuss, where my other dragon will make more of a big deal lol. I think she's knows were just trying to help.

I wanted to get her into the vet quickly because she does have some discolouration around the sides of her mouth that concerns me and if it's fungal I would like to get it under control as quickly as I can.
Our vet is very good and doesn't push to much if she sees the animal in distress.

This is my first rescue and so far I have been doing everything you suggested above. If there's anything else you would suggest please let me know. I want her to be as Comfortable as possible.

Thanks so much for the reply

 

[AHBD]

Amy, that's great....so far so good ! Eating AND perking up, all good signs. Offer some veggies as well, turnip, mustard, collard greens, squash along with some medium dubias or crickets. Hopefully her mouth is just crusted a bit from dirt/food and there will be no major problems. So sounds good so far, but easy on the bugs. Happy to hear that she already is at home with you .

 

[amyemiline]

Ok awesome I'm glad to hear that these are good signs and that I'm doing everything right so far.
I'm going to go make her a Squash and Collard Green salad, and ok no more bugs for today!
Hers some pictures of her basking right now.

 

[CooperDragon]

It looks like she's actually in pretty good shape, especially considering the conditions she came from. I wouldn't be surprised if she makes a pretty quick recovery with some proper care and love.

 

[amyemiline]

Ahh that's so good to hear Thank you for that.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

She is so cute! She is in better condition than I thought she would be in.
Go slowly with her & she should be able to recover nicely.
Did she enjoy her greens too?
It sounds like she is enjoying her new home & is active also, that's great!
Keep us posted on her progress.

Tracie

 

[amyemiline]

Thats good to hear, im glad everyones saying she looks some what good considering her circumstances. And yeah she's super cute!

We had her vet appointment today and it went as well as it probably could have.
The vet said she has some infection around her eyes and a respitory infection, and some metabolic bone disease in her past.

So she was prescribed some antibiotics along with daily carnivore care. I also have a probiotic that she said to give her 6 hours after the antibiotics.
She's happy that we have her as she knows my other Bearded Dragon and how well cared for he is and says she thinks she's going to do well with us.
She was also really great with all the fees and gave me 40% off the vet bill. So now I can go get her a really good t5 UVB light tomorrow instead of this mvb and coil, I know both of those are not the best but it was the only spare lights I had for the time being and I figured it was better than what she had before which was nothing, and it would only be for a few days.

Also getting a good thermometer/hygrometer, and have silkworms coming in tomorrow as well but will be going slow with live food.

As for the greens Tracy, she wasn't too interested in them yesterday but I will keep offering them daily.

I hope she makes a good recovery from this, I hate seeing her in pain.

I will definitely keep you all posted!

 

[CooperDragon]

A good T5 is worth every cent. They last longer so it pays off in the end but they produce UVB levels much closer to sunlight than the T8 or coils. Makes a huge difference. I use an Arcadia and it's great. Still producing high UVB levels over a year after installing it. http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/

 

[amyemiline]

That's great!
I plan on getting the repti sun t5 10.0
Which is the same one we have for our other Bearded Dragon, which is still putting out lots of uvb. I compulsively check daily with our solar meter always to make sure. I'm not sure if our reptile store carries Arcadia, I have heard good things though. I will definitely check tomorrow when we go.

 

[CooperDragon]

The ReptiSun 10 is a very good bulb too. With a good fixture w/reflector you can't go wrong.

 

[amyemiline]

Ok awesome! Thanks so much for all the input everyone.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

It does take them time to recognize greens as food especially if they are not accustomed to them. LOL Eventually she will most likely but it may take awhile.
I hope she continues to do well, I am sure she is very happy now!
Which UVB light did you end up getting?
That's great they gave you a discount on vet services, too that really helps out.

Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

 

[amyemiline]

I looked for the Arcadia lights but they don't supply them at our local store. So we stuck with t5 repti sun 10.0

And yes we will keep offering the greens, also gave her a silkworm today, she was very excited about that, but will keep going slow on the live food.

Will keep you updated