Vet rant.. I am so frustrated**update**

[Izzythelizzy13]

Okay so I took Izzy to the vet today for a checkup since his appetite has decreased a bit this past week, still eating just not as much.. I'm not sure how to take the info this guy gave me.. Pretty much everything I learned on here I was told to do the opposite!!! I was Bearded Dragons do not need a basking light and the temp in the tank should be one temp at about 80-85f.. I was told to get this even temp to get an under the tank heater.. I was told to take out the tile in my tank and not use tile but only newspaper.. I was told not to feed daily and minimal greens as Beardeds don't eat much vegitation.. I am seriously frustrated right now.. I trust what I have learned from this site.. I am on the hunt for another vet for Izzy I will not go back to this guy!!! He didn't seem like a reptile fan, said all reptiles are mean and are meant to be mean and when they are as docile as Izzy it wasn't a good sign, that they are at that point just hanging on!!!

 

[Goonie]

Oh my goodness! Where did you find this vet?? Did he claim to be a herp vet??

Given the fact that he said all reptiles are mean, he obviously has no clue on what he's talking about.
Time to find a new vet, pronto.

Believe what you had learned from this site, please.

 

[SkeptiBee]

I'm not sure how to take the info this guy gave me..

Do a mind dump of that "information" and go find a better herp vet. He's sadly misinformed about reptiles and it's possible has only had negative experiences which make him bias against them. What a shame. :/ I hate to think how many people he's given this advice to.

Do you live in an area where there are good options? If so, I'm sure you'll be able to find someone with more experience and a better attitude.

 

[aegillesp]

Sooo glad I found a good doctor in my area that's only 10-15mind away. Really knows his stuff about reptiles! If anyone is in the Phoenix area Dr. Mangone with Palm Glen is excellent! The staff is incredibly nice and I always have a pleasant trip despite whatever it is I'm going for.

 

[Izzythelizzy13]

Mind dump completed! I walked out of there feeling like a horrible person.. I really wanted to cuss this guy out and just walk out, lol.. He does claim to be a herp vet, I haven't found anyone local but am searching.. I don't mind making a drive for my Izzy at all.. I have learned so much from this site and will continue to trust what I've learned from fellow Beardie lovers..

He even told me my Izzy was fat, he's 16.5" and I believe they weighed him at 260 grams, at that point my mind went into shutdown after everything else I was told :? We'll I thought he was fat, lol, and ugly at least my Izzy is cute! :lol:

 

[label]

How old is Izzy? He could be thinking "brumation" up north, as the days get shorter. Our girl Shayvele never brumated but her food intake really dropped off over winter, with poos maybe once every 3 weeks. Come the longer days of September and she's started to look less and less like a paperweight.

This board and the Aussie one http://www.australianbeardies.net/index.php both have excellent care sheets, actually written by people who know which end of a lizard eats and which end poos. That vet sounded unsure about either. We're lucky in the Melbourne area to have some very good herp vets; I hope you can find one wherever you are in Ohio.

The substrate question seems to be as much theological as anything else, at least for adults. Here most keepers use washed play sand from a big box hardware store, whereas you'll be told up there to avoid sand at all costs. We use a bit of fake turf (from the same hardware store) and keep a couple pieces, so that one can always be clean. It provides good traction and looks decent. If she really seemed to want to dig we'd go with sand but she doesn't. But newspaper give no traction for their claws, which can grow long and turn in.

Good luck finding a competent vet!

 

[Izzythelizzy13]

How old is Izzy? He could be thinking "brumation" up north, as the days get shorter. Our girl Shayvele never brumated but her food intake really dropped off over winter, with poos maybe once every 3 weeks. Come the longer days of September and she's started to look less and less like a paperweight.

This board and the Aussie one http://www.australianbeardies.net/index.php both have excellent care sheets, actually written by people who know which end of a lizard eats and which end poos. That vet sounded unsure about either. We're lucky in the Melbourne area to have some very good herp vets; I hope you can find one wherever you are in Ohio.

The substrate question seems to be as much theological as anything else, at least for adults. Here most keepers use washed play sand from a big box hardware store, whereas you'll be told up there to avoid sand at all costs. We use a bit of fake turf (from the same hardware store) and keep a couple pieces, so that one can always be clean. It provides good traction and looks decent. If she really seemed to want to dig we'd go with sand but she doesn't. But newspaper give no traction for their claws, which can grow long and turn in.

Good luck finding a competent vet!

I brought Izzy home in April and am unsure of his age at that time, he was 7" when we brought him home.. I've seen some vets in the Columbus and Dayton area, now just need to do my research on them.. I have noticed the slower eating came on when the weather cooled down and stayed down and we are losing daylight as well.. I am on a mission to find the best vet for Izzy I can find.. This vets assistants wouldn't even touch Izzy :roll:

 

[SkeptiBee]

Mind dump completed! I walked out of there feeling like a horrible person.. I really wanted to cuss this guy out and just walk out, lol.. He does claim to be a herp vet, I haven't found anyone local but am searching.. I don't mind making a drive for my Izzy at all.. I have learned so much from this site and will continue to trust what I've learned from fellow Beardie lovers..

He even told me my Izzy was fat, he's 16.5" and I believe they weighed him at 260 grams, at that point my mind went into shutdown after everything else I was told :? We'll I thought he was fat, lol, and ugly at least my Izzy is cute! :lol:

If I hear someone giving bad advice, I start asking questions on where they got that info. Sometimes they reference herpetological sites or networks they establish with other herp vets. I note names and go look them up. If a bad vet drops names of other bad herp vets, at least you know who to avoid (if they are local).

You might want to check your area and ask reptile shops who they take their sick animals to. That's how I found my current vet (the clinic was also recommended by a friend who took her birds there). First thing she did was ask me about my set up and when I told her all that I did, based off what I learned on these boards, she said, "Wow, you really did your homework. I can't really give you any advice since you got it all covered." She's been phenomenal!

I'm sure you'll be able to find someone! If you can't and are forced to go back to that other vet, you could try and slide the info you know at him and see what he does with it. There's a chance he might investigate your claims and find out his information was wrong and change his mind. If his experience with reptiles is limited to a few bad tempered ones, he might have come to bad decisions this way. But any way, that's a last resort.

 

[bunnyrut]

Oh, I would have turned on him real fast and give him a piece of my mind.

Starting with 'how can you claim to be a herp vet when you obviously know NOTHING about reptiles' and ran from there. Go to any site that allows reviews and share your experience. I look through all of them when trying to find a vet.

 

[LLLReptile]

How old is Izzy? He could be thinking "brumation" up north, as the days get shorter. Our girl Shayvele never brumated but her food intake really dropped off over winter, with poos maybe once every 3 weeks. Come the longer days of September and she's started to look less and less like a paperweight.

This board and the Aussie one http://www.australianbeardies.net/index.php both have excellent care sheets, actually written by people who know which end of a lizard eats and which end poos. That vet sounded unsure about either. We're lucky in the Melbourne area to have some very good herp vets; I hope you can find one wherever you are in Ohio.

The substrate question seems to be as much theological as anything else, at least for adults. Here most keepers use washed play sand from a big box hardware store, whereas you'll be told up there to avoid sand at all costs. We use a bit of fake turf (from the same hardware store) and keep a couple pieces, so that one can always be clean. It provides good traction and looks decent. If she really seemed to want to dig we'd go with sand but she doesn't. But newspaper give no traction for their claws, which can grow long and turn in.

Good luck finding a competent vet!

Thanks with chiming in with information from "downunder"

OP, you may find the ARAV website helpful - it's the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Vets. http://arav.com/

Good luck finding a good vet in the area! The one you may have visited probably meant well, but was unfortunately misinformed. It may be more helpful to instead ask polite questions, and suggest (again, politely) that the vet may be out of date on his husbandry knowledge. It is tough to talk to vets; it's important to keep in mind they went to school at least as long as a doctor, if not longer, to become a veterinarian. While they may not be knowledgeable about our particular pets, they DO have a wealth of animal knowledge, and being respectful never hurts.

-Jen

 

[Goonie]

260 grams is considered fat?!?!?! :shock:

I wish you luck in finding a new vet, one who truly is a herp specialist.
If the vet hospital has a website, they should list their doctors' bio about how many years they'd been treating animals and what medical degrees or specialty training they have.

 

[Izzythelizzy13]

Thanks for the responses, I was extremely frustrated when I posted yesterday.. I found a vet a lady from one of our local vet offices takes her lizards to.. She said they are extremely knowledgeable and have a herp vet in their office.. I called and was able to get an appointment for Izzy next Wednesday.. I'm hoping this visit goes better than the last.. I appreciate and respect all that the last vet I seen does for animals and was in no way disrespectful to him, I listened to what he had to say and then disregarded it.. The impression I got from him was that reptiles were not meant to be pets, I mean he came right out and said that.. He said "reptiles are not puppies and kittens and are meant to be looked at not played with, they were not meant to be pets".. It was just an overall bad experience and I'm looking forward to this next visit..

And yes he said Izzy was a "fat one".. I'm not sure of Izzy's age, I brought him home 4/21/13 and he was about 7-7.5".. I didn't measure him right away The weather here has cooled off a lot and the nights are getting shorter so brumation is possible, I don't know the signs with this being my first Beardie and all, other than what I have read.. He's acting fine just not eating as much.. Still eating crickets and his greens.. His poos are still normal.. Maybe I'm being paranoid but better safe than sorry..

Thanks again for the info.

 

[Goonie]

How big was Izzy, body width wise? If 7.5" included his tail, I'd say he was approximately 2 months old.
He's too young to be brumating, as beardies younger than 1 year old typically don't go exhibit signs of brumation, but that doesn't mean that yours couldn't.

Does this hospital have a website where you can check on the vets' qualifications or even patient testimonials?

 

[Claudiusx]

I would love to run into a vet like this one day :twisted: :study:

-Brandon

 

[Goonie]

I would love to run into a vet like this one day :twisted: :study:

Me too. If I had a supposed herp vet that said "all reptiles are mean and are meant to be mean" and "reptiles are not puppies and kittens and are meant to be looked at not played with, they were not meant to be pets" to me, I probably would've given him/her a few choice words then demanded to not pay for the visit.