the proper doctor

[belladonnamini]

I have a beautiful baby boy named Puck, who is approximately 3yrs old now. He came from a rescue so do not have an excite age on Him. i live in a very rural area and so the selections of vets in the area are slim picking, and there are no reptile specialist. the closes reptile Dr. I've found is about 2.5hr away. I'd love to take him to the reptile vet but i simply can't afford that. we do have some extreamly good small animal vets a few of whom I've talked to and they said yes they would see my puck. right now puck is healthy when i got him he had just had a full check-up and had a clean bill of health but i've had him right at a year now and think it is time for another check-up. so what questions should i ask the vets in order to pick the best one for my baby? if anyone has a list of questions or any advice i could use to interview and pick one of the vets that are an option to take my baby to i'd be very thankful. i only want the best for my baby, and even though i've had him a full year i still have new mom syndrome
--thank you very much
bella

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi Bella,

Really the only reason to go into the vet would be to get a fecal sample done. If your dragon is acting fine and your husbandry is perfect, and the diet you are providing is perfect, chances are, your dragon will be perfect too.

A good way to test the vet though would be firstly asking how much experience they have with not just exotic pets, but beardies in general. If they seem to have a decent amount of experience, then I would ask them a few questions just to test their knowledge on husbandry and diet.

Such as:

What temperature should I be keeping in my tanks?
What uvb bulb do you recommend?
Are the coil bulbs any good?
What is a good substrate for my dragon?
What greens should I feed my dragon?
What bugs should I feed my dragon? How many and how often?

Those questions should give a pretty good idea on whether your vet knows his/her stuff, or if he/she got her information out of a petco handbook.

If I was satisfied with those questions being answered to my liking, I would go on to asking more technical questions, such as what meds he/she would prescribe for certain parasites, the dosage, ETC. That line of questioning isn't really necessary, for just dealing with a normal checkup, but if anything serious would need to be done, I would definitely be asking these questions to get a better sense of the vets knowledge of the more technical side of things.

-Brandon

 

[belladonnamini]

right now my baby seems to be in perfect health, he eats like a champ, he is regular on his poo's, his behavior is great, and my cage settings have been spot on. but after reading your message i also realized it would be good to go ahead and find a vet for the "what if" situation by getting him a check up, that way id be able to see how the vet handles Him when it is just a check up and know that i can trust them if god forbid something where to happen, and if i do not like how they treat my baby at the check up then i know i need to interview and find a different vet, because if i don't like how they treat my baby for a simple check up i sure don't want them in a more serious situation. also the vet having a record of him healthy could be a good thing for them to have to compare to as well.(maybe im just an over planner...) thank you very much for the questions though, if the vet can't answer those then ya, they do not need to handle my baby.
-bella