Stressed or excited?

[lunasalix]

I rescued a 2 year old male beardie 4 days ago. He did not have proper heat (it was only 80F on the warm side), no UV, diet (he was fed entirely on commercial diet and freeze-dried insects), or enclosure set-up (there were 2 large decorations that were meant for juvenile beardies and were unusable for him). I fixed the lighting issues and started giving him fresh vegetables and live insects immediately, but gave him 2 days to settle before making additional changes.
Yesterday, I took him out for the first time and gave him a warm bath while I cleaned his filthy enclosure. He fought me when I went to set him in the bath, but seemed to relax once he was in. He stayed in one spot and looked around while licking his lips. After about 10 minutes, he yawned once and started closing his eyes. I took him out after another 10 minutes, toweled him off on my shoulder, and let him run around the house for an additional 10 minutes.
Late last night, after he was deeply asleep, I took out the useless decorations and added a half round hide and a hammock in their place, leaving him far more room to move about. He woke up gently this morning. I put some fresh food in, which he jumped off his perch to gobble down. However, immediately after eating, he set to marching back and forth through the enclosure, repeatedly climbing on things and jumping down and occasionally stopping to scratch at the glass or take another few bites of food. I thought he might want to come out to run for a bit, but when I went to pick him up, he flinched away from me.
He has been at this for over an hour now. I don't see any stress marks or other signs of illness. I'm not sure whether to interpret today's behavior as stress or excitement and whether to interpret yesterday's bath-time behavior as stress or relaxation. What do you think?

 

[CooperDragon]

There may be a bit of stress but it sounds like he's settling in well considering the conditions he came from. The pacing is probably him trying to figure out his new environment and may be more curiosity than anything. I'd give him time to roam around and maybe even set up a portable basking lamp for him in the house if you have a safe space for him to explore. If he acts scared or defensive, put him back in his tank, but otherwise roaming around is probably good for him. I'd go easy on food at first, especially bugs, so you don't wind up overwhelming his system. It sounds like he's a good eater though, which is encouraging. I'd give him nice big salads every day and vary the items you offer depending on what is fresh at the store each week. I like to reference this list for ideas http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html. I'd hold off on bugs for a week or two and even then only offer a bug meal once or twice per week if he's into his salads. Veges should make up a big part of his overall diet at that age. Can you post some photos of him? I'd like to see your new buddy. You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button.

 

[lunasalix]

This is the best picture I've taken of him so far. This was as he was waking up this morning.
He has all his toes and his entire tail intact, so he wasn't completely mistreated.

 

[lunasalix]

I've determined that he definitely hates baths. He fought me again when I went to put him in the water and got visibly nervous when I was scrubbing him with the tooth brush, but he stank!
Yesterday, he dozed off in my arms while I was petting him. I think we're bonding well.
He had about an hour today of running around the room, and I put a few dusted hornworms down for him to chase. He loved it!

 

[kingofnobbys]

Well , that's that, no more baths for him UNLESS HE REALLY NEEDS to be bathed, it's not worth stressing him.

 

[lunasalix]

Update:
I've been taking him out daily and letting him run around a safe area of the house for about an hour at a time. I feed him a bowl of fresh, calcium dusted vegetables each morning and it usually lasts him until early evening. He basks in the early morning and late evening, then for brief periods throughout the day. The rest of his time is filled with running back and forth across his tank, stopping occasionally to scratch at the glass or dig at his log hide.
Whether he is in or out of the cage, he flinches from me when I reach to pick him up, but settles once he's in my arms. He usually doesn't stay for long unless I'm petting him and seems more intent on running around.
Is it normal for him to be so active? Could this be the result of finally having a proper diet and proper temperature and lighting after 2 years going without those things?
Once I have a bit more money, I'm going to add some seagrass ladders and ledges to increase the usable space of his terrarium since he seems to like climbing so much. I'm also going to add a magnetic ledge with a water dish for him to drink out of since he won't be getting his hydration from baths and hates being sprayed as well. Currently, I'm just spraying his salads before I give them to him to make sure he gets a bit of extra hydration from his food.

 

[lunasalix]

Update: I have noticed some troubling symptoms in my sweet boy. Every once in a while, when he is on his perch, his back leg with shake as if he might be trying to reposition himself, but sometimes it just shakes in the air and seems pointless.

I didn't think too much of it until tonight when he was curled up on my chest sleeping while I watched television and his leg shook so badly that he awoke and moved, but the shaking continued for several seconds as if it was not under his control. He also had a couple of brief full-body tremors.

These symptoms have led me to conclude that he has the beginnings of MBD. Until in my care, he had insufficient diet and heat and I have no idea what the bulb is that was being used as a UV source.

He now gets no fewer than 6 different vegetables in his calcium-dusted salad every day and mutli-vitamin-dusted roaches or superworms twice each week. His basking area temperatures reach 110 F at the highest point on his perch, which is also 6 inches from his Reptisun 10.0 bulb. The cool side of his terrarium ranges from 80-85 F depending on how warm the rest of the house is that day. At night, his terrarium temperature drops to 75-78 F to match the rest of the house.

Is there anything more I can do to lessen the effects of his MBD? I knew there was a good chance of this when I adopted him, but it still makes me sad to see his discomfort.

 

[CooperDragon]

Your setup sounds good. Do the tremors only happen while he's sleeping? Sometimes I see that and attribute it to them dreaming. It may take him a while to get used to a balanced, healthy diet so keep offering him lots of variety. I would save the supplement for bugs as a good salad will have plenty of nutrients in it. If you want to add calcium I would offer collard greens on a regular basis as they are calcium rich. Rotating in watercress and bok choy will add calcium to the mix as well.

 

[lunasalix]

Thank you! The tremors happen both when he is awake and when he is asleep. Some days he seems to have more than others. I don't have a job at the moment, so I'm home with him all day to watch.
I'll keep an eye out for some collard greens next time I go shopping.