Very Sad

[cwj93]

I went with my brother today over to his friends house, and his friend had a bearded dragon. I asked if I could hold him so my brothers friend got him out of his cage. First of all, there was absolutely no lights on his cage at all. When I asked him where the lights were he said that he doesn't use any lights until its winter. I'm not really sure how this dragon has even survived this long. I'm guessing he is probably 1 or 2 years old and has never had a UV or basking light his entire life. The owner also told me that he only feeds him earth worms. The really sad part was seeing how unhealthy this poor dragon really was. He never once opened his eyes, and he never took a single step. He just lied flat on his stomach with his head up and his eyes closed. He felt very cold to the touch and was very skinny. I actually thought he was dead at first because he wouldn't open his eyes and you couldn't see him breathing. I actually felt very angry when I seen how unhealthy he was. When I told the owner that he needed a UV and a basking light year round he blew it off and said he is fine. My question is can anything be done now to give him a better quality of life or is he too far gone? If there is anything I could do to help him I think I could convince my brothers friend to give him to me. Honestly it seems to me that the most humane thing to do is have him put to sleep but I hope I am wrong. Sorry for the rant but it really bothered me to see that today, and I wanted to see what you guys thought.

 

[diamc]

Oh, that's terrible and it makes me feel sick to my stomach, can't imagine what you must have gone through. The beardie is probably so very cold that he can't move.
At such a young age, he certainly needs to have a chance at getting healthy. That would be great if you could talk that person into giving him to you. The temps would have to be started out cooler then slowly increased and his diet the same way. We would all certainly help, do you think he will go for it?

 

[ColoradoRiverRafter]

That's completely horrible. People like that just disgust me. People like that deserve to die.

 

[cwj93]

I'm going to try really hard to convince him to let me take him. He doesn't seem like the kind of person that would care whether or not he had him. I'm just glad that I found this site because if I do end up rescuing him I would definitely need everyone's help to get him back to health. I just really feel like I need to do something to help him.

 

[diamc]

It sounds like that poor beardie needs your help, we are here for you and him, will help in any way we can.

 

[dragonxxxx]

sounds like your brothers friend is a *****, and your brother could use better friends.

 

[darknezz]

wow, that even makes me sad. if he cant afford lights than he needs to get rid of it. If hes just ignorant than thats pathetic. I'm not rich but I still try to take car of mine :|

 

[cwj93]

wow, that even makes me sad. if he cant afford lights than he needs to get rid of it. If hes just ignorant than thats pathetic. I'm not rich but I still try to take car of mine :|

sounds like your brothers friend is a *****, and your brother could use better friends.

I completely agree.

It sounds like that poor beardie needs your help, we are here for you and him, will help in any way we can.

I'm going to talk to him today and see if I can have the beardie. Thank you for the support. If I am able to rescue him I'm sure I'll need a lot of help, but it would all be worth it if I can help him become a healthier and happier beardie. Unfortunately, I have a feeling there are a lot more beardies in this same situation than most of us realize because of ignorant owners, but we can't save them all.

 

[spyder79]

sounds like your brothers friend is a *****, and your brother could use better friends.

This really is not a fair assesment of the person. If you had your way you had been told to take care of an animal and the animal was alive you would think (not knowing anything about dragons) that everything was fine. Now put yourself in this guys shoes. Some person whom you barely know, and probably could care less about their opinions, comes in and says "your care is all wrong you need to fix this your animal is sick and dying." Would you just accept this person's advice? A person with no real training or information other than what they practice and what they have read on the internet. I sincerely doubt it.

My suggestion to the OP is get the guy information. Give him some care sheets from various breeders and sites. Give him the links to this forum and any others you use. Give him the tools to learn from his mistakes.

 

[PuffMagic]

sounds like your brothers friend is a *****, and your brother could use better friends.

This really is not a fair assesment of the person. If you had your way you had been told to take care of an animal and the animal was alive you would think (not knowing anything about dragons) that everything was fine. Now put yourself in this guys shoes. Some person whom you barely know, and probably could care less about their opinions, comes in and says "your care is all wrong you need to fix this your animal is sick and dying." Would you just accept this person's advice? A person with no real training or information other than what they practice and what they have read on the internet. I sincerely doubt it.

My suggestion to the OP is get the guy information. Give him some care sheets from various breeders and sites. Give him the links to this forum and any others you use. Give him the tools to learn from his mistakes.

I agree with you to an extent. That we should give this fellow a chance to get the info to correct his mistakes if he cares enough to do so otherwise he should give it up. If we just gives it away there is a good chance he will just buy another one later on and have the same thing happen to it. But why don't people do their research before buying an exotic pet? I think the same way with buying a cat or a dog.....research so you can give them the best care - most people wouldn't have a child without making sure they were feeding it properly...I feel the same with buying pets. Be responsible as a person when you taking care of another life. To me it is just common sense - but apparently common sense is overrated.

 

[spyder79]

sounds like your brothers friend is a *****, and your brother could use better friends.

This really is not a fair assesment of the person. If you had your way you had been told to take care of an animal and the animal was alive you would think (not knowing anything about dragons) that everything was fine. Now put yourself in this guys shoes. Some person whom you barely know, and probably could care less about their opinions, comes in and says "your care is all wrong you need to fix this your animal is sick and dying." Would you just accept this person's advice? A person with no real training or information other than what they practice and what they have read on the internet. I sincerely doubt it.

My suggestion to the OP is get the guy information. Give him some care sheets from various breeders and sites. Give him the links to this forum and any others you use. Give him the tools to learn from his mistakes.

I agree with you to an extent. That we should give this fellow a chance to get the info to correct his mistakes if he cares enough to do so otherwise he should give it up. If we just gives it away there is a good chance he will just buy another one later on and have the same thing happen to it. But why don't people do their research before buying an exotic pet? I think the same way with buying a cat or a dog.....research so you can give them the best care - most people wouldn't have a child without making sure they were feeding it properly...I feel the same with buying pets. Be responsible as a person when you taking care of another life. To me it is just common sense - but apparently common sense is overrated.

Why?
Simple answer. People over-estimate the knowledge base of the employees at a pet store. They think that since a person is the pet stores "reptile specialist" that the person has to know what they are talking about. So if you have faith in the persons info and have no healthy problems that you know of with your animal, why research it. Not everyone is born with the need to know more.

The other thing I just thought of is that there is a possibility the animal is in brumation right now. My adult dragons will brumate from 4-6 months out of the year, during this time their lights are off completely except for 1 day a week when I force them awake for a soak and then I leave their lights on until they dissappear into their sleeping sights and then the lights go back off.

 

[DoDaMAn]

Call animal control!!

 

[spyder79]

Call animal control!!

because reptile care varries so much animal control wouldnt be able to do much

 

[cwj93]

sounds like your brothers friend is a *****, and your brother could use better friends.

This really is not a fair assesment of the person. If you had your way you had been told to take care of an animal and the animal was alive you would think (not knowing anything about dragons) that everything was fine. Now put yourself in this guys shoes. Some person whom you barely know, and probably could care less about their opinions, comes in and says "your care is all wrong you need to fix this your animal is sick and dying." Would you just accept this person's advice? A person with no real training or information other than what they practice and what they have read on the internet. I sincerely doubt it.

My suggestion to the OP is get the guy information. Give him some care sheets from various breeders and sites. Give him the links to this forum and any others you use. Give him the tools to learn from his mistakes.

I agree with you to an extent. That we should give this fellow a chance to get the info to correct his mistakes if he cares enough to do so otherwise he should give it up. If we just gives it away there is a good chance he will just buy another one later on and have the same thing happen to it. But why don't people do their research before buying an exotic pet? I think the same way with buying a cat or a dog.....research so you can give them the best care - most people wouldn't have a child without making sure they were feeding it properly...I feel the same with buying pets. Be responsible as a person when you taking care of another life. To me it is just common sense - but apparently common sense is overrated.

Why?
Simple answer. People over-estimate the knowledge base of the employees at a pet store. They think that since a person is the pet stores "reptile specialist" that the person has to know what they are talking about. So if you have faith in the persons info and have no healthy problems that you know of with your animal, why research it. Not everyone is born with the need to know more.

The other thing I just thought of is that there is a possibility the animal is in brumation right now. My adult dragons will brumate from 4-6 months out of the year, during this time their lights are off completely except for 1 day a week when I force them awake for a soak and then I leave their lights on until they dissappear into their sleeping sights and then the lights go back off.

I do understand what you mean about how he was probably never told how to properly care for a bearded dragon. If I went by what the pet store told me when I bought my beardie he would be miserable, and I probably wouldn't know any different. But I don't think that ignorance is a good excuse. I explained everything to him and told him that I have done loads of research on bearded dragons and he completely blew it off. I even told him about this site and suggested that he do some research of his own and he just said that the dragon is fine and hes not worried about it. I also do not think he is in brumation. He still eats daily and was awake, he just wouldn't move or open his eyes. But when you picked him up he would squirm a little. I was blown away when he made the comment that the only reason he doesn't move is because he gets him high all the time. That was when I decided to leave before I blew up on him. I really don't believe this guy deserves a second chance.

 

[Sardonyx]

Well, if you've offered your knowledge, and passed on the existance of this forum to back up what you were saying, then I believe you have already given the guy his 'second chance'. It is often easy to see if someone is willing or not to take on board what you have to say, and if this guy cared for his dragon, you'd think he would be mortified over what you were telling him, as he was obviously putting his dragon's health at serious risk. I know if you'd turned up and told me that I'd be so upset I'd be on my PC immediately trying to correct everything I was doing wrong!!!

Therefore, I think it would be better for the little dude to have a chance with you If you can persuade this guy to give up his dragon, then do so, BUT, why not see if he would like to come round and see the beardie in his new home, with everything as it should be, so he can see for himself the difference it makes? This way, at least he might have to acknowledge his mistakes, and he would also be more aware for any beardies he may purchase in the future!

I wish you the BEST of luck in trying to give this beardie new lease of life! <3

- Emma