unexpexted adult beardie rescue HORRFIC

[mayuso001]

Hi all, Im new to the site. We have a very healthy adult male beardie, 1lb 11oz.He is NOT anywhere near the one we just rescued, not even in the same room.

I drove 2 hrs after a 24hr shift at the hospital to what I thought was going to be a gift from a coworker who said she simply didnt want her 6yrold female beardie anymore since the kids had grown and left. I had NO IDEA this would be a rescue! This female had ONLY been exposed to red heat lamps 24hrs a day! No white basking light and a uvb that has NEVER BEEN CHANGED since the beardie was a juvenile!The substrate was sand from the back yard mixed with walnut sand. It contained dead roaches, live pill bugs snail shells and what looked like years worth was dried uneaten dead meal worms and super worms.She says everything she fed the beardie was sprinkled with Ca powder at least 3x a week but I dont believe it. She is so light I can barely feel her in my hand. She is 18in long. Tail diameter less than 1/2inch. Her eyes are bulging, her skin is completely dry and wrinkled and her face is so sunk in she looks like she has a deformity. Maybe from lack of Ca & proper UVB? Her little mouth remains slightly open at all times, even cool. I literally cried the entire 2 and 1/2 hr drive home. I decontaminated her tank, changed everything, corrected her lighting to Repti Bulbs. I CANT get an appt with my exotic vet for 3 weeks! Im afraid giving her a normal environment is going to kill her. I want to wait to start the UVB because of her eye swelling but Im not sure what to do. Im only experienced with raising a 16week old beardie who never had a health issue because, GEE, I FOLLOW DIRECTIONS! Any feedback would be appreciated. Hell Im willing to give anyone my phone number if it merits!

 

[Esther19]

I would bathe her and offer her water to help start re-hydrating her. Can you take her outside for UVB?
I would feed her stage 1 baby food-turkey or chicken and squash. If you have greens for your other beardie you can put them in the blender to liquefy them or make a paste. No live feeders for a while. Keep her basking temps at the minimum until she gets used to the normal heat-95 is the minimum for digestion. This will get you started. If she makes a pooper, please be ready to give us a detailed description. Others with more experience will jump in to help soon. Know that whatever happens she will be better off than where she was. Thank you for taking her in.
Edit: If you can post a picture, that would help, as well.

 

[dragonlover3]

Hi,
Esther has given great advice as usual! Bathing/soaking her will help hydrate her. If you can get some Pedialyte, {I use generic everything,} you can add some to the soak water. I'd add about 1/2 cup to a soak, don't really need to measure just spill some in, she may take a drink from her baths. If she has any wounds you can allow her time to soak and drink then the last 5 minutes of the soak add enough Betadine to the water to look like weak tea. It will help disinfect any wounds. You can apply a dab of triple antibiotic ointment daily til it heals or she can see the vet. You can dilute the Pedialyte 1:1 with water for oral hydration and mixing with food. I juice collard stalks and few leaves and mustard green stalks and few leaves. I do mine in a blender and add the 1:1 diluted Pedialyte to liquefy. Use the liquid green juice for mixing in foods and for oral hydration. Malnutrition and/or any illness causes the body to become acidic The liquid green juice is an alkaline food which can help balance the body pH. Baby food squash is a good base. You can add the liquid green juice which already has the electrolytes added, and supplements. I used calcium carbonate and liquid calcium glubionate, Bee Pollen and Acidophilus daily. I use vits. with beta carotene rather than Vit. A but wouldn't give the vits. daily as beardies don't process vits. well. 2-3 times weekly is better. If possible feeding 2 or 3 times daily is better than one larger meal.

Is there any drainage or crusts around the eyes. Living in that sub would be a risk for eye irritations and infections. Another possibility is when they are underweight and malnourished they can be seen with what could be called swollen eyes. A photo would help. I'd keep her warm at night too, at least 80*F. If you have a ceramic heat emitter, CHE, you can use that but if not you can leave the light on but cover over the top of her head to block the light so she can sleep. Be sure to leave a breathing hole near her snout. It's best not to have a light at night because of the parietal eye or third eye on top of the head. It "sees" light and dark.It needs to be dark for bearded dragons to rest properly. Slowly building up to proper temp is good. When proper temps for digestion is reached absorption of the nutrition and supplements will increase.
Hope this helped.
Amanda

 

[Lauram63110]

Thank you for rescuing her! I am amazed that your co-worker had the nerve to look you in the eye when she gave you that poor mistreated animal in that horrible filthy tank, that she and her family tortured for 6 years! That takes a whole other kind of boldness.

 

[Esther19]

Thanks, Amanda, for helping out with that informative post!
How is your girl tonight, mayuso?

 

[YoshisMom1031]

How is she doing now? I applaud you for rescuing her! Please keep us updated on her!

 

[kelii]

Great job rescuing her! I can't believe how cruel some people can be

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....poor thing sounds like it's in critical condition. I just wanted to add one thing concerning the soaking that Dragonlover mentioned. Be sure the water is warm-lukewarm and shallow so as not to shock her, keep it shallow [ no more than 2" and stay with her to be sure that in her weakened state that her head just doesn't flop in the water ] Some beardies in that condition may flail, others just lay there, others try to drink and gulp the water down quickly. If she does this , don't let her guzzle TOO much,gently lift her head back up after about 20 seconds at a time or she may throw the water back up. Then pat her dry very gently and put her back in the warm part of the tank. I hope she can be helped, good for you for trying !

 

[mayuso001]

 

[Lauram63110]

Hi, you replied to me and I got your message. The fact that this person (and I use that term REALLY liberally) allowed this animal to be treated (or untreated) so callously while trapped in the tank for so long is shocking. The only thing she did right was give her to you. Poor Beardie's life is truly on the upswing now!
The others are giving you great tips on care, and I dont think it was crazy to put the crickets nearby- now she knows food is on it's way.
To post pics, upload them to photobucket.com and then copy the IMG code into your reply.

I keep thinking about that nasty dirty tank. Beardies are really clean animals that HATE being near their poop. My girl, Big Bertha waits for her daily bath so she can do it out of the tank. My first Beardie, Lizzy was the same way. Beardies are such clever little creatures and are so easily potty trained, that there was no justification for what she did. Bless you.

 

[mayuso001]

Photo bucket is not compatible with my iPhone 4S. It stinks. I will email all of you pics If you have a pic already feel free to post it. My email is [email protected]. In dont care about privacy at this point. Im going to give her 2hrs of UVB now and monitor her eyes. I swear the swelling went down but it could just be wishful thinking.

 

[mayuso001]

Thanks, Amanda, for helping out with that informative post!
How is your girl tonight, mayuso?

I think well. She ate 6oz of chicken with green beans and had a 10 minute pedialyte soak earlier. 15 mins outside and right not im giveing her 2 hrs of UVB in tank while monitoring her eyes. She poops where she stands and doesnt even move away from it which is so sad. You know how clean they are when healthy. My big boy wont get off his basking rock until I pick up his poop. I text pics of her to some big wig specialist in Lake Wales Fla. He said she doesnt have much hope especially with her facial deformity which he thinks is due to lack of UVB but obviously she needs lots of tests. He is sending me the name of another exotic vet in my area who can work with the vet I already have. We will see. Im not giving up but im not sure how i will react to my coworker tomorrow. Im so upset over this. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[mayuso001]

Hi there....poor thing sounds like it's in critical condition. I just wanted to add one thing concerning the soaking that Dragonlover mentioned. Be sure the water is warm-lukewarm and shallow so as not to shock her, keep it shallow [ no more than 2" and stay with her to be sure that in her weakened state that her head just doesn't flop in the water ] Some beardies in that condition may flail, others just lay there, others try to drink and gulp the water down quickly. If she does this , don't let her guzzle TOO much,gently lift her head back up after about 20 seconds at a time or she may throw the water back up. Then pat her dry very gently and put her back in the warm part of the tank. I hope she can be helped, good for you for trying !

Thank you for that advice. I read your post earlier and thats exactly what I did. She didnt move at all. She didnt even attempt to drink. The water was lukewarm. Im sure that was her first bath ever. I kept a finger under her chin because she fell asleep within minutes in the water.

 

[AHBD]

Hi Mayuso......it's good to hear that she is taking in a little baby food ! She will receive some hydration that way as well, so add a little extra water + a few drops of Pedialye to the mixture. As far as the vet's words of doubting that she will make it, I'm sure that you are aware that in her condition that he may be correct.....but as long as you can get a little something in her it's worth a try, and the less stress she has right now the better. It's good that you kept the bath short, 10 minutes is plenty. And as long as she will take in a little nutrition, the only thing a vet can do for her is to give you additional supplements. In her condition it may be best to just offer supportive care + nutrition at home. Keep up the good work, I wish the best for you !

 

[ohmybandit]

That's awesome that you rescued her! She's so lucky to have you!


You could download the app. I use the photobucket app for my 4s and it works. The site doesn't, it's weird.