taking on another beardie ... choices choice ahhh.

[blue11]

and

 

[blue11]

so yup ... :| :|

but there are good things about these x-rays that make me happy.
you can see that she has some "meat" on her legs bones.
none of that was there before.
honestly guys, i dont know if i would have wanted to see x-rays of her back in July. yikes.

so, i was kind of just like "dang, wow, that looks crazy" when i saw these for the first time. the only thing i could think of was ... what the heck must she have looked like on an xray before???
her ribs you can see are quite twisty like waves, and you can see a dislocation/fracture in her tailbone, her jaw is just a wreck and swollen and the bones are ... i dont even know how to dig into that topic, and Lexi's front legs just speak for themselves. its hard to look at bone that has curved itself.

the pros are!!! ... the "muscle/fat/meat" on thos back legs. that is MAJOR considering what they looked like before.
and even some on her front legs, which is great. and things are showing up more white/defined, so her bones density may be increasing?

so, this is Lexi now, 7 months later from when i adopted her! Things have changed im sure!!

her abcess keeps filling up so what i have been doing is pushing on it myself, she lets me, the ooze/puss comes out, i try to wipe it out real quick, and then rinse her mouth. i dont let it get really full, if i notice even a small buldge i just go ahead and lightly press up on it, and out through the hole it comes back up.
shes really good about it.
i got her a cheetah print ferret hamock today :shock: teeehee. i know its sounds weird, but it works well!!
... sooooooooo fuzzy and cute!!! well, 2 actually, she deserved something cool in her (still 30 gallon) tank.
she seems to love it!!! its so cute and soft and its fun.

i know that i probably will get slammed for having her in a 30g still ... but with her vet bills (massive by now) ... and the new house, and everything, im REALLY working on it.
Lexi get outside run around tank time everyday, she gets baths every other day, and she loves to bask and sleep and sleep and bask in her "spot", she has a bed, and she has some floor space, then her basking spot.
Lexi is really happy i think yall, i mean i really really do think she is. at least i hope.
she gets lots of roam time, and ive never seen a dragon bask the way she does!!! its like she is a heat/sun worshiper. BlueBelle never basks the way Lexi does. Blue is cracking me up lately ... i keep finding her the funniest positions. i love my Blue girl
so i hope i dont make anyone upset when i say she is still in her 30.
but its one day at a time ... we are gettting there *fingers crossed*

 

[Esther19]

Yes, Emily, there are some real positives there. That's what we'll hang on to, okay? She has made incredible progress in 7 months, thanks to your dedication and love. She's a lucky girl.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Yes, she sure is and if she gets out for run around every day, being in a 30 is fine for her, plus she's used to it and it's home to her, so no worries there. I sure feel about having a new house and large vet bills and I'm glad you're able to keep the infection down in that abcess, hopefully the vet comes up with something that will close it off permanently. She's a happy girl with you, Em, so don't worry about her tank, it's the least of your concerns at this point. She's doing FINE and that's all that matters! Love that you took her in and you nursed her back to such great health in comparison, so just pat yourself on the back, k? :love5:

So I got a juvie today, he's been at the pet shop for about 3 months, no-one wanted him, so I got him, for too much $, but he's been haunting me; his head was badly burned by his previous owners, it's now healed but the left side of his face & the top still looks awful. I bought him a tank, it's in my car right now, need some help to get it upstairs, but no lights yet, may move the lights on the ramp but them what would Didi do all day? :lol: So instead I've put him in Didi's tank until I get all I need for his, and Didi will be sleeping on the ramp for now (like he'll mind :lol: ) So here are a couple of pics I took, doesn't do justice to his colours, he's turning bright orangy red with black sidebars.

I haven't got a name but a friend suggested Casanova, so maybe that, I'm still pondering. He's supposed to be about 6 mo old, but he's small, I think, for that age, but it's been 4 years since I've had a 6 mo old. I'm going to measure & weigh him tomorrow, so will let you know.

So chin up, Em, you're doing the very best you can, which is VERY VERY good, I'm astonished that Lexi has thicked her bones and her muscles in only 7 mo, it's awesome to see!

Take care
Deb

 

[blue11]

thanks Esther!!!!!

Yes, she sure is and if she gets out for run around every day, being in a 30 is fine for her, plus she's used to it and it's home to her, so no worries there. I sure feel about having a new house and large vet bills and I'm glad you're able to keep the infection down in that abcess, hopefully the vet comes up with something that will close it off permanently. She's a happy girl with you, Em, so don't worry about her tank, it's the least of your concerns at this point. She's doing FINE and that's all that matters! Love that you took her in and you nursed her back to such great health in comparison, so just pat yourself on the back, k? :love5:

So I got a juvie today, he's been at the pet shop for about 3 months, no-one wanted him, so I got him, for too much $, but he's been haunting me; his head was badly burned by his previous owners, it's now healed but the left side of his face & the top still looks awful. I bought him a tank, it's in my car right now, need some help to get it upstairs, but no lights yet, may move the lights on the ramp but them what would Didi do all day? :lol: So instead I've put him in Didi's tank until I get all I need for his, and Didi will be sleeping on the ramp for now (like he'll mind :lol: ) So here are a couple of pics I took, doesn't do justice to his colours, he's turning bright orangy red with black sidebars.

I haven't got a name but a friend suggested Casanova, so maybe that, I'm still pondering. He's supposed to be about 6 mo old, but he's small, I think, for that age, but it's been 4 years since I've had a 6 mo old. I'm going to measure & weigh him tomorrow, so will let you know.

So chin up, Em, you're doing the very best you can, which is VERY VERY good, I'm astonished that Lexi has thicked her bones and her muscles in only 7 mo, it's awesome to see!

Take care
Deb

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the colours look EXACTLY like Lexis!!! she is yellow, orange, justt patterend like that, ~ with blue sides though, WOW. i love him!!!
DEB, im so glad you rescued him!!!

ok ... name suggestions ... i have an idea
you know the broadway show Phantom of the Opera, 9the book Gaston Leroux?
half his face was badly burned, like your little man ... and his name in the book/show is Erik

you could name him one of those names if you like them? Erik, Gaston, Leroux ... half of Eriks face was scarred up really badly. IDK just a thought.

im sitting her in shock, why/what did they burn his head with??
Looks like he's got a jaw problem on the left side, is it looking similar to Lexis or am i seeing it wrong?
what going on with him as far as issues or problems?
he looks a good weight and his bones look straight .... from what im seeing, which is REALLY good like thank goodness *whew*
THANK YOU FOR TAKING HIM IN wow. just wow. thats a massive area to burn.
im sitting here thinking of some terrible ways that could happen .... let me know when you can ???
i cant wait to hear more about this guy!! i really cant!!!

 

[sweetiepie9]

I have no idea how he got burned, his prev owners just dropped him off at the petshop almost 3 mo ago. It's actually healed, even though it looks terrible, it's nothing like it was when I first saw him. There's a burn on his lip, but his jaw is fine, his bones are fine and he gets around well. I was concerned with the eye on the burned side, but he a great hunter, so I guess that's not affected. I don't think his ear has been affected either. So I think he's been lucky & I still haven't figure out how you burn the head of a beardie, the tummy I can understand if you're using under tank heaters and they get too hot, but the head? I'm as confused as you are about that. I cut his nails this morning, they were like 10 little needles, and he was great, sat on my knee the whole time, without any problems.

So I did pick a name, he'll be known as Titan, I picked it because he's gone all through all this with good humour and good health. So Titan, it is.

So he's the same colours as Lexi, that's awesome!

Take care
Deb

 

[Esther19]

Titan is a perfect name. I'm glad he held still for his mani-pedi.

 

[PADsMommy]

Wow! I can totally see a difference in her from her xrays!! It is so weird looking at beardie xrays....Im used to looking at people xrays....lol. But you can definitely see the meat on her bones! Yay!! I am glad she is doing so well. You have done a fantastic job with her.

 

[blue11]

THANKS!!!

she just went through another head/mouth/some of her beard shed, and is looking like she doing a belly/side/and latter half of tail shed (which she has never shed that part of her tail since ive had her. its pretty solid black)

she has one has a loose scale on the rip of her mouth, not sure if was part of the shed on her mouth that didnt come off, or it needs some neosporin on it, or what. i'll give it a few days,

i JUST realized that you can see the big ol hole in her mouth in the X-rays. Why did i not notice that before? ha.
but thaaaaaaank you so much!!!!

shes sleeping on my arm now. my beautiful girl

 

[blue11]

hi everyone!!!!

i just wanted to give a littel Lexi Lou update

Lexi just finushed anotherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr shed ...
she shed her whole head, her sides and her whole belly. she also is currently shedding bottom of half her tail, (the black part) half of her tail is black ... she has never shed that since ive had her, it looks like it might be a tough shed, but i noticed the morning some pieces at the tip were crunching off. she'll get a bath later and we'll see what happens. i never thought she would have a shed on that area of her tail!!!

her appetite is ferocious as ever, i forgot to order roaches this week, and the shops were out of supers, and so i *shiver* have been dealing with crickets this week ... i know it sounds pathetic but GOD crickets give me the heebie jeebies. shes loves them. ive been hand feeding them b/c those crickets are way to hoppy and fast for her. she has been loving them, she just loves to eat period ... anything that moves, she's all about it. and alot of it. She just went through 35 crickets just now, and she is basking with a big ol beard ready to digest those little suckers.

She did lose another nail sometimes last week, i just looked down and it was gone. her nails are kinda dodgy, they are just so thick and twisted, and this particular one was pretty much laying flat sideways when i got her, just a trouble nail, maybe its best that is gone. idk.

she needs a nail trim but in all honesty, its NOTHING like trimming Blue's nails. Blue, she is a piece of cake. Her nails are sooooo clip-able. Lexi's are almost impossible, the way they grew her whole life, all weird and strange. Im going to run her by the vet today to get them clipped.
well ... idk what he does, remember last time they were cauterized? and she smelled like burnt hair? yea. that was so strange to me!!!

but she is doing SO GOOD!!! i drain her abscess/pocket in her jaw everyday, it come up through that hole in her mouth. i just put the end of q-tips over the hole and lightly push up, and it comes up. its just a thick kind of substance, and to avoid her having to swallow much of it, i keep a switching out q-tips to soak it up. its a pretty quick process, and she is realllllllllllllly good about it.

I think im going to start rubbing raw honey on that area inside her mouth right there. i might order the Maluka Honey from Tracie, or use honey that a family down the road harvests from their own bees. i *think* it might help with trying to heal some of that gum damage, and its such a great natural healing and antiseptic too. I stopped using that ointment in her mouth the vet gave me, it wasnt doing what we hoped it would do ... BUT, thats ok. we tried. and im just going to try the honey route now. the upside is it will taste good for her at the very least!!!

Lexi has been sleeping in my room on the floor under pillows lately, mostly on weekends.
Her colours are almost unbelievable these days, im just blown away by how BRIGHT her yellow is, and how blue and purple those side bars are.
i swear it just blows me away, so so so beautiful.

She is just a social butterfly and and an endless explorer. here, there, everywhere, on ya, off ya, on the cat, on the floor, army crawling everywhere.
there has been like 3 or 4 very warm and sunny days this May that ive taken her out for. She loves to perk up and bask in the sun. she did last summer, i cant wait to get her out this summer too

lets seeeeee ... i think thats about it, OH!! Lexi is quite the water drinker these days. not always, but sometimes she just dips that head almost all the below the water in the sink and drinks and drinks and drinksssssssss. Im not used to that ... Blue is SO the opposite. Blue loves her baths more than life itself, but she is not a drinker. at all. the only time ive seen Blue drink is when she comes out Brumation. They are so opposite in EVERY way its sooooooo funny. I have the BEST of both worlds with them. My girls ROCK!!!

but i think thats about it ... if i think of anything else i will post, and im going to tranfer some pics to my computer and post them for yall

just called the vet and Lori said for her to come in for a pedicure at 10:15 ... so i gotta take my little squeeeee cutie for her pedicure now...
MUCH LOVE TO EVERYONE and i hope everyones dragons and healthy, wealthy, and wise I hope everyone is doing good?!?

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Em, it's great to get an update on Lexi, sounds as if she's getting better every day and 2 sheds in such a short time is great news. I'm so glad she's eating well and that you're keeping that abcess under control, must help her feel better, too.

Everyone's good here, Titan eats and eats and eats, my scale broke I need to get another one, so will look into that this weekend, as he must be over 260g by now. He's a cutie, the burns on the top of his head and along the sides are shedding off bit by bit and he's getting colour around his left eye again. He still has his eyelid, but it's a bit damaged and the spikes on that side of his face are still grey, but shedding off bit by bit too. He's full of energy, very curious and has decided he's the BOSS, so he spends his time with a black beard, does lots of bobbing and stamps his feet, too! It's so cute to see this little guy bobbing and blackbeardiing Rubio, who's 3 x his size and considers him a snack. Didi is still living on the ramp, mr KING OF THE RAMP and is loving it, don't know how he'll feel when he eventually has a tank, he sure won't be in it often!

Lonzo is still haning in, the serrepetase if really doing him a lot of good, he loves to be out in the living room, running around, checking out everything and basking at the top. When he's out, Didi goes into his tank, which he doesn't mind as it's not for long.

Leo still has mouth rot, he's still on oral meds every morning, you can imagine he doesn't like it, but I still manage to get it into his mouth every morning, it's Norvaldent (I think) and I soak a qtip and rub it along his gums & teeth every am.

Gabriel is huge, he's well over 550g and is still my snuggle bug. He also loves to get into the living room, but ever since he managed to climb the couch & jump into Rubio's tank, I have to watch him every minute!

Rubio is his usual active self. Having a 75 gallon tank, he loves to run along the side, staring at the dragon in the glass. He gets a lot of exercise every day without even getting out of his tank! He's still my big boy.

Give Lexi a but hug from all of us and tell her how proud we are of her. And Blue, too, can't forget Blue!!!
Hugs to you, too, Em for having the courage to take Lexi in and doing what she needed to have a great life :love5:

 

[blue11]

Hi Em, it's great to get an update on Lexi, sounds as if she's getting better every day and 2 sheds in such a short time is great news. I'm so glad she's eating well and that you're keeping that abcess under control, must help her feel better, too.

Everyone's good here, Titan eats and eats and eats, my scale broke I need to get another one, so will look into that this weekend, as he must be over 260g by now. He's a cutie, the burns on the top of his head and along the sides are shedding off bit by bit and he's getting colour around his left eye again. He still has his eyelid, but it's a bit damaged and the spikes on that side of his face are still grey, but shedding off bit by bit too. He's full of energy, very curious and has decided he's the BOSS, so he spends his time with a black beard, does lots of bobbing and stamps his feet, too! It's so cute to see this little guy bobbing and blackbeardiing Rubio, who's 3 x his size and considers him a snack. Didi is still living on the ramp, mr KING OF THE RAMP and is loving it, don't know how he'll feel when he eventually has a tank, he sure won't be in it often!

Lonzo is still haning in, the serrepetase if really doing him a lot of good, he loves to be out in the living room, running around, checking out everything and basking at the top. When he's out, Didi goes into his tank, which he doesn't mind as it's not for long.

Leo still has mouth rot, he's still on oral meds every morning, you can imagine he doesn't like it, but I still manage to get it into his mouth every morning, it's Norvaldent (I think) and I soak a qtip and rub it along his gums & teeth every am.

Gabriel is huge, he's well over 550g and is still my snuggle bug. He also loves to get into the living room, but ever since he managed to climb the couch & jump into Rubio's tank, I have to watch him every minute!

Rubio is his usual active self. Having a 75 gallon tank, he loves to run along the side, staring at the dragon in the glass. He gets a lot of exercise every day without even getting out of his tank! He's still my big boy.

Give Lexi a but hug from all of us and tell her how proud we are of her. And Blue, too, can't forget Blue!!!
Hugs to you, too, Em for having the courage to take Lexi in and doing what she needed to have a great life :love5:

HEY!!!
i know right about the shedding? Now she has started another back leg shed as of 2 days ago. Everytime i see that dulling over i get SO excited. She had ALOT of room to grow, and its happening. And im just like, WOW.

SUCH good news about TItan! DO you have any up to date pics of him?? Id LOVE to see them. Im so glad he is eating ans eating and eating!!

isnt it just the best feeling??? and thats really neat and awesome that you can literally watch the sheds sloth of some of the burnt scales. Must be an amazing thing to see. Im so glad he is with you!!! When i read your reply to this, i couldnt help busting out laughing. You ended up with all boys and its just hilarious the way they black beard and bob around. mwahahahahaha. Youve got your hands full lady!

Gabriel IS big. wow. He was so skinny in the beginning. Go Gabriel Go! (ive got this weird soft spot for Gabriel, i have NO idea why, when we first starting sharing stories about your dragons, i think it was one a Gabriels face pictures that got me) BUT I LOVE ALL YOUR BOYS! Rubio is probaly one the most handsome dragons ive ever seen.
Is DiDi keeping the weight on?
Im glad Lozno is doing well ... What a trooper. Hows the lung function?
ooooooooh man, still mouth rot for Leo? DANG. i tell ya, that is one thing that is tough to beat. Its such a strong infection. I suppose Lex will always have a form of it. Please let me know when his goes away!!! Poor Leo.
Im interested in Norvadent (sp?) ... something that you rub on the gums? I wonder id you can buy that online? i need SOMETHING to rub on her gums (or what little gum she has left in mouth) ... i was going to start doing honey, but how does Leo's medication work for him?

Deb, isnt it funny how a rescue that is basically emaciated and so malnourished can flourish into a larger dragon than an existing healthy one you already have in the home?
I mean, Lex has actually grown an inch in length, she is now 18.5 inches. i NEVER thought she would grow in length at her age. She has a stronger and thicker tail than Blue now, which is crazy considering how her tail was basically just ... nothing. I mean the limitations are certainly there, but size-wise, its crazy. Dragons, the big mystery eh? Blue is a shory :mrgreen: ... she has a HUGE body but such a short tail. teeeheheheheheee. BIG BLUE! Lover of baths and sleep.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I took both of them into the school i teach at this week!!!
The kids LOVED them.
Lexi ate for them, and was army crawling all over the place around the kids. Blue walked some, but mostly sat on one my students lap who has seen Blue and wached her grow since she was a teeeeeny baby, he is REALLY great with Blue.

So he helped me, he "manned" Blue while i "manned" "little miss run around and explore everything"
At the i took a vote on which dragon they felt more of a bond with, and Lexi "won" but Blue came in a strong second!!!
lol, its easy to tell which one the kids were going to pick ... the one that gave them some action. I think it was her colour too.

Some of the kids voted Blue bc she is soooooooooo laid back and they loved that about her, they felt safer holding her b/c she didnt try to crawl away like Lexi ... up the arms, over the shoulder, around the neck, down the leg, lol. She would sit there in ther hands so still and close her eyes on and off while they stroked her head Blue was soooooooooo SWEET with them.

They were both a HIT! They got to learn just about everything i could think of about dragons. They were sooooooooo amazed.

Deb, keep up the uber awesome job your are doing with your boys!!!
Something tells me ... if you see another dragon in distress ... you might end up with another :laughhard: :laughhard:
Maybe it would be a girl!!! lol.
I can just see it now ... teeeeeeeeheeeeeeee. youre a great beardie momma. With a heart of gold.
Its just SO SO hard to NOT take a dragon with needs, health needs, in.
I often wonder what i would do if another Lexi situation happened in my life. My roomie would FLIP.
BUT, im so glad you and the boys are doing good
its always something i love to hear

 

[blue11]

hanging out

watching Alice in Wonderland!

chilling with my best-friend ever!!!

CUTE FACE SMOOSHY GIRL!

 

[sweetiepie9]

WOW! She's changed so much & check out that tail base! What a difference! Good for you Lexi girl, you sure have improved, if we didn't know what she was like at the beginning, you could hardly ever know how many issues she has! So she likes watching TV, too? That's great, mine all love TV, too.

Titan is doing really well, but he still has parasites, so he's to the vet with Leo next Saturday. Otherwise he eats really well and loves his greens, which is great and I don't have to hand feed him like the others, which is great, too.

First day home, you can see the damange and this is 3 months after he was left off at the pet shop! The lump on his lip turned out to be an abcess and the vet just popped it out, and now it's healing up well. He has trouble with the eyelashes around his left eye, he shed and a lot of the shed on the eyelashes, so that's another thing that I need the vet to help with.

Resting on the table beside the computer:

He jumped out of the sink when he pooped and hung onto those wires with a death grip, I'd just left him in the sink for a minute! I'm just glad he didn't jump off the counter!

A view of his head a month later, some yuck had shed off his head, so he's slowly getting rid of the dark grey, hopefully a few more sheds will do the trick. The damage on his left eye will probably always be there, even though the orange surrounding the eye is slowly growing back. I bought a flat of impatient plants and Titan is checking them out

And here he is with a nice belly, he's on his favourite rock. I put him in Didi's tank and Didi's been living on the ramp. So Titan will stay in this tank and the new tank setup will be Didi's. I'm low on room, so the new set up is on the dining room table, Didi will be able to see Rubio, so may have to block off that side, but we'll see how they react to each other. Didi is mostly in there for sleeping anyway :lol: :


And here are pics of the rest of the crew with the impatient plants:
Rubio just loves them, when he saw them he started chomping on them right away :lol:

Gabriel, I can see how you feel about him, I feel the same, he's so unique and special. Rubio will always be my baby, but Gabriel is my snuggle buddy (being in my bedroom helps )

Didi just jumped right on top of them:

Leo got offered a bouquet in his tank, I don't let him out with mouth rot, but he didn't care for them:

I didn't get a pic of Lonzo with the flowers, but here he is relaxing in his tank. He's really starting to show his age, not getting around as well as he used to, but he still runs around the living room doing his security checks, he's still my Security Chief :lol: His right lung will never work, but he's still healthy enough, hope to have him for many years to come


So there's the update. As for Leo's mouth rot, he was on the med for a month in Feb but it came back, so this time he'll have the Nolvadent until it's gone. He fights me every morning, but has to be done. I soak 2 q-tips in the meds, then rub the med along his upper and lower gum and teeth. So I'm hoping this try will get rid of it for good. I know you're fighting it all the time with Lexi, so try this stuff. It takes like peppermint. I get it from my vet, not sure if you can get it online, though. It's not very expensive, either.

I'm glad Lexi's doing so well, it was great to hear that you had them both in your class & Lexi was very curious and into everything. Blue sounds like Leo, he's a very laid back beardie until he sees one of his brothers, then the black beard and bobbing starts. It's fun to watch them all going at the same time! The joys of having boys!

Oh & the white stuff on Titan's head in one of the pics is Polysporin, my vet said to put it on his head a few times a week, will help to soften the yuck on his head.

Thanks for keeping us all update. I love seeing pics of Lexi and when you have a minute put some pics of Blue on here, too.
Take care Em,
Deb

 

[Oriheme]

This post had me in tears. I am so glad you took her in and gave her a better life!! Poor baby girl! I just couldnt imagine looking at that everyday and thinking she looks just fine. Thank you for helping her out! I know thanks is not needed and a lot of us would do anything to help out( recently tried to help a dragon from my neighbor~he didnt make it overnight, i think the stress of moving was too much for him~) a dragon in need. I just dont know how someone could do this...