Rocky - Papa Smurf's brother & the rest of the Rescues!

We finally have Rocky...! I am so excited and relieved to have this little guy in my home for some TLC and rehab time. Here is a back story for those of you who don't know:

Six months ago we took in a little blue rescue bearded dragon and named him Papa Smurf for his blueness, small size and grey beard. He was surrendered to the owner of our local reptile shop by two pre-teen girls in a cookie tin, unable to walk due to severe MBD, neglect and starvation. They tried to surrender both of their beardies, but one of them ran off into the woods and escaped. This was the first week of December 2011. The second beardie was found in a shed unexpectedly, 5 months after he disappeared and the girls surrendered him to the same shop. We got the call that Papa Smurf's long lost brother was found, and we were in disbelief, to be honest. Just blows my mind that a dragon can be lost outdoors all winter and survive. I know this is Florida but we have a wet and cold winter here, as we live in the Northern part.

We picked Rocky up today from the store, brought him home, and showed him to Sleepy Smurf. Smurf opened his eye, narrowed it and gave a tired, calculated stare as if to say, "When my nap's over ima get you." :lol: I whisked Rocky off to the bath, scrubbed him up, and let him explore the couch and living room floor.

He is alert and curious, but has severe mobility issues in his front legs, neck, shoulder and head. It will be interesting to watch him recover and gain strength. He walks with a very stiff, jerky movement, and looks to have some spasm or intermittent contracture of the right arm. I'm going to treat it as a vitamin B deficiency, because it's the easiest thing to rule out. Normal gut flora plays a key role in the synthesis of B vitamins, so I will be giving him liquid B vitamins and AcidolphiLiz, a probiotic that will increase the numbers of good gut flora, allowing the B vitamins to be synthesized and absorbed, and hopefully the spasms and contracture will stop. Wish me (and Rocky) luck!

The reptile shop has had him for the last month or so, and they have been doing a good job of putting weight on him, so he looks pretty good. He needs to gain muscle mass, and since he isn't malnourished, I will be giving him plenty of silkworms, since they are high in protein. They also have natural serrapeptase, an enzyme found in the silkworm, which they excrete to break down their cocoon when they become a moth. The serrapeptase breaks down inflamed tissue and helps with stiffness and pain. It is a natural anti-inflammatory that has been used in human medicine in Europe for the last 25+ years. It really helped Papa Smurf, so I am sure it will help Rocky.

Well, enough talking. Here is our newest boy, Rocky:

Here he is right when we got him home. Notice how his front legs are held close and almost underneath him. He has limited range of motion.

Here is a close up of his sweet face. The reptile shop really worked to get him to a healthy weight and he looks pretty good.

" I close my eyes and pretend I am not sitting in water...me no likey."

He finally did relax and begin to enjoy the warm water and my attention. I keep saying his name over and over so he can learn it.
He almost looks like Papa Smurf in this picture. :shock:

King of the couch! It's uncanny how they settle in when they look around and see they are in a home and not the reptile shop. Papa did the same thing, but it took longer because Papa was so critical and sickly. Papa lived in a daze for several days before he seemed to notice his surroundings. At least Rocky is able to move a bit and explore.

I feels really good to have them both now, as I have felt like a piece of the story was left out, and we constantly talked about "the one that got away." I'm so glad to share the good news with all my friends here.

 

[morphmom]

So between Papa fighting me and Rocky fighting me...well, I'm going to have to toughen up a little bit.

Tuff love is still love. You have an amazing heart. Give yourself more credit for the work that you've done. My goodness, they're lucky beardie babies!

 

[sweetiepie9]

You just have to be firm, just treat them like toddlers, what Mom says goes & that's it. I have to be firm with my bunch with it comes time to eat. Didi wouldn't ever eat if I didn't sit him down & refuse to back off. I swear, he'd just lost & get back down to 300g if I let him. He's gotten so much better since I've had him, but still, he is a diva!

You just do to Rocky what you did to Papa, he'll get so much better, you'll see. I'm rooting for the two of you!
Deb

 

[ShannyBeard]

So between Papa fighting me and Rocky fighting me...well, I'm going to have to toughen up a little bit.

Tuff love is still love. You have an amazing heart. Give yourself more credit for the work that you've done. My goodness, they're lucky beardie babies!

Awww thanks. Tuff love has worked - since Hubby had me feed more carnivore care to Papa he has started eating his silkworms again. He hate 5 mediums for me this morning.

 

[ShannyBeard]

This is why Rocky gets a bath every day when I get home from work:

 

[Menolly07]

Oh yikes! Rocky! Have you tried giving him a bath first thing in the AM? Odahviing started pooping in her water and rarely goes in the tank now. Maybe that would be neater, less stressful for you both. No time to dry into spikes, less scrubbing him. Just a thought. Poor thing.

 

[ShannyBeard]

OMG there is just no time to bathe him in the morning, I hate to say. I get to work between 6-7am and since I got Rocky I have been lucky to get there by 7:30am. :? I'm hoping if I just keep cleaning it up when I get home that he will somehow start liking it clean and going to the bathroom in a more discrete place. LOL (wishful thinking!!)

 

[Menolly07]

Silly lizard. Hope he catches on soon. Obviously he doesn't like it. So he's got that going for him.

 

[ShannyBeard]

LOL he hates to be poopy, he hates his bath, he hates me to feed him. It's all a bit negative right now, but I remember Papa was like that, too. I forget because that was a while ago, but Papa was difficult at first until he started to love me back. And I posted the same angst and everyone told me to keep at it, and I did. It's just hard right now!!! But it will get better!! :mrgreen:

 

[Kalyn876]

The poopy pic made me smile because it reminds me of my boys when I get home, they not only finger paint but body paint the glass everyday :roll:
I think Hoodoo likes being covered in his own muck, Tyrus is just so active poop piles do not stand a chance LOL

With all the change Rocky is going through I can bet hes grumpy about it. Comfort is a matter of familiarity, soon his new routine will become familiar and he will hate any changes made from that point :shock: lol

 

[ShannyBeard]

The poopy pic made me smile because it reminds me of my boys when I get home, they not only finger paint but body paint the glass everyday :roll:
I think Hoodoo likes being covered in his own muck, Tyrus is just so active poop piles do not stand a chance LOL

With all the change Rocky is going through I can bet hes grumpy about it. Comfort is a matter of familiarity, soon his new routine will become familiar and he will hate any changes made from that point :shock: lol

Kalyn, thank you for that. You're right and that was great insight and perspective, I really needed my head put back in the right place. It is easier to be left alone and not force fed, and the path to wellness and recovery is painful. I wish I could just 'make' him better, but it is not a matter of my will, it's more a matter of my persistence.

I remember your stories of poopy palaces at your house. LOL!!! Most of my dragons are fairly neat, but I do have a few disgusting creatures. Brutis destroyed and painted his viv terribly and then went into his hide for some brumation, and it was so horrible I didn't have the heart to clean it. As bad as this sounds, he has been in his hide on the floor in front of his viv for the last few days. :shock: Tomorrow I clean his viv and wake him up to bathe him. He is getting shelf liner, too - that Repticarpet is the worst!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Stick to shelf liner for all of them, I hated the carpeting, it was so difficult to keep it clean. I decided to switch to newspaper & have been using it ever since. They like the newspaper because they can shred it if they want, gives them something to do when they're bored! As for the poopy palace, Rubio is the only one who's ever done that. When I'm not home, he seems to like to run through it & get it over all the newspaper, funny, though, he never gets it on any of his furniture, just himself & the newspaper, so makes for easy cleanup.

 

[beardie parents]

I'm glad I finally got to read this thread. Rocky will do really good under your care, I would be careful about bringing too many more reptiles into your house, eventually it can get to be too much, which isn't good for you or them.

 

[ShannyBeard]

I'm glad I finally got to read this thread. Rocky will do really good under your care, I would be careful about bringing too many more reptiles into your house, eventually it can get to be too much, which isn't good for you or them.

LOL!! There is no way I could handle all of our scaly children alone! That is why I have a super-awesome better half. We are each responsible for certain reptiles, so it makes it much easier to keep track of when they each have their baths and what/when they eat. We also have a supplement schedule, so we know when it is vitamin day versus calcium day. We have just implemented a spreadsheet for each herp so we can check off what they got to eat, etc, on each day so we know at a glance and can review. We also not only write on the bulb, but we record it in a notebook, of when they got their new UVB and when it needs to be replaced. Can't wait until we get our solar meter!

I think we are in a good place with how many reptiles that we have, and I am sure more will come in and out of our house as we take in rescues and then rehome them. We have strict quarantine protocols and they will be even stricter when we get our new home next week, since the rooms are spaced out better than where we are now. I try very hard to keep my sanitization is up to hospital standards, and I constantly clean and disinfect. We spend a lot of money on those Viva papertowels that are like cloth, so it keeps us from worrying about contaminating towels that need to be washed and reused. I do not have children and we don't have much of a social life as we live in a small town, so it is good for our souls to have the animals that we have.

 

[sweetiepie9]

So you move next week? Finally, the time has come to get more space for all of you!

You and your hubby are awesome, you're doing what I would have loved to do, take care of all your babies and rescues as they come in. They're all so lucky to have you & that you and your hubby as so dedicated to your crew is awesome. It's amazing that you're able to be organized to keep track of waht each of your babies need what & that you keep track of all the food they eat. I know you sanitize all their tanks so well, so nothing can possibly be passed along if one of them has parasites, for example.

I'm always glad to read your posts, they are always educational & fun. And love all the pics you put on your threads.

Did you get an appointment for Rocky yet? I'm very concerned about Lonzo's lung, it keeps working, then stops, then works a bit, then stops. I see the vet on July 19, so I'll let you know what she says. It's a bit disturbing for Lonzo, he injured it by flipping over back in April, so it's been 4 months I've been waiting to see what would happen. I'll let you know when the time comes.

Gabriel has decided that he would like to eat Didi, just like Didi would like to eat him. Lonzo & Rubio haven't tried to attach him, but Leo would eat him in a second and Gabriel & Didi spent some time together (I was right there, leaning over them). First Gabriel started arm waving from a distance, then he jumped over to the ramp & they started nudging each other (Gabriel & Didi), so that was the end of that. My little Gabriel can start a fight with the best of them :lol: I put on some pics on my thread if you have a minute to look.

How's Rocky doing, still wobbly? I still can't get over that he was on his own in a shed for 5 months, and that he was found and ended up with you That is just more than co-incidence!

Thanks for keeping me posted on what's going on with all your babies,
Deb

 

[Menolly07]

Notes! Notes! Charts! And notes! It makes sense. We're the same, with mammals. We have one beardie, but it's the cats. I have to be conscientious about how much one eats (hyperthyroid), meds twice a day. Another's meds and injections. She's got bilateral osteoarthritis in her hips with large spurs. Another has other issues. All rescues. Two were bottle raised.

It's the notes of what each gets and when they got it that keeps them healthy. It also keeps them safe because then we have a record to check so we don't accidentally double dose. Like the oral paid med, if Pooka seems uncomfortable then Wayne can look and see I gave her a dose 12 hours ago and he has the option to give her another.

Keeping it like a hospital setting is invaluable, not just in terms of sterility but your record keeping too. What seems like a lot of work and clinical at the outset but becomes habit and rote later on proves to be invaluable later. To have records like that for a vet? Or yourself? Or Otto? That's awesome.

I'm an information junkie. I love charts and spreadsheets and times and quantities and dates. I like to know the why behind them too, but give me a clean, simple chart to write in a date, weight and length and then let me look back at it? That's hard evidence of progress to me.