Would love your input on an aggressive rescue!

[darlingdragon]

Hello everyone!
I am a newbie on the site (been lurking for a long time, but first post). I have a one year female and a 6 month old female as well so I know a fair amount about proper husbandry. However, a dear friend of mine has given me her 4-5 month old male beardie in order to "work" with him. So here is the scoop.
He seems to be somewhat aggressive, or defensive rather.. I put my hand down into the enclosure to the side of him so that he sees me and he automatically puffs up and darkens his beard, gapes his mouth to bite, and hisses (more like forced exhalation) which is a bit concerning because I had planned to breed mine with his next year or so and also because when I first saw him a month ago, he was calm and friendly. Is it just his age or is it something more? Some things that flew up red flags for me when I picked him up from my friends house today was that she did not have him under any sort of UVB light!! :shock: I just brought him home this evening but that is the first thing I will be doing tomorrow. I have put my other UVB light over his tank and his temps are about 105 F over his basking spot. Also, his tank was dirty and he was being fed exclusively mealworms.. the poor guy. He is 11 inches and 90 grams and is in a 30 gal tank I believe. I gave him a nice shallow lukewarm bath in the sink and he just loved it, as he is in shed. My question for you guys is if I am doing everything OK? I will be buying a proper UVB bulb tomorrow along with turnip greens and crickets and maybe a small thing of waxworms as treats. I would prefer to feed dubia roaches but I am still getting my colony established. But ANY input is very welcome, I'd love to hear your suggestions and opinions. I am hoping that it will be a permanent investment as I just love the little guy and not a temporary one. He is a gorgeous red/orange hypo trans and I hope I can help him reach his potential! I can take pictures tomorrow if anyone is interested in his setup or what he looks like. If I missed anything important, let me know. Alright, enough rambling lol. Thanks in advance.
-Alexis

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Glad you took him in. He's probably having some relocation stress. I would put a lightly worn t shirt so he gets use to your sent. I would love to see pictures

 

[darlingdragon]

Hi! thank you for replying and to those who viewed this post. destiny, I followed your advice to put a tshirt of mine in his enclosure with him. I hope it helps my effort. I am extremely disheartened right now because my friend and I have some major disagreements about the use of UVB lighting. There is no doubt in my heart and mine that this little guy NEEDS UVB as do ALL beardies. It helps them absorb calcium. I thought it was common knowledge but unfortuantely not. She claims she had many in the past who have been under only *cringe* regular light bulbs. Her argument is that D3 in the calcium helps them absorb calcium and not the UV. D3 aids absorbtion, I said, but without UVB it is USELESS. :? I'm really caught between a rock and a hard place right now. This is HER dragon, and I am not going to take that away from her.. but he is in trouble having been without proper heat and lighting, improper diet, and clearly stunted growth. I just feel bad. Also, he's growing on me just a little..ok! a lot. maybe. He is no longer puffing out his beard and I can honestly say he is perfectly tame and calm. He's a doll, really which is very different from how he acted when I saw him a couple of days ago.

Anyway, the good part I suppose is that I went out and spent $160 on the guy. I got him good food, a proper light and fixture that is not faulty and old and going to burn my house down.. a proper size hide and basking spot. I cleaned his tank with hot water and bleach. His tank was absolutely filthy. worms and old caked on poo from who knows how long all over the floor. I just want to cry. I am an undergrad pre-vet and I just can't wait to get a PhD so people will listen and take me seriously and I will be able to educate pet owners to be the best they can be so that their pets may thrive and be the best that THEY can be. Ahh, alright rant over.

I do have pictures and I am currently uploading them to my computer. I will put them up ASAP. Thanks again. Again, any comments are welcome.

-Alexis

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Your friend should read a thread on here called this is what a bad case of mbd looks like. Also there was another thread put on here to day called bump on babies back and unfortunately the owner had no idea that she needed a uvb or supplements it in the er section. Sad really how people just buy pets furry or non and don't realize what kind and how much care it needs. Also there is a article to the right called newbies guide what to buy that has lots of good information for your friend. Can't wait to see pictures

 

[darlingdragon]

Picture Heavy!

Alright I am attempting to post pictures from imgur so bear with me haha I've never used an image site before to post images on a forum but it cant be that hard

This is the rescue that I've been referring to. His name is Riddle and he is a red hypo trans, 90 g, 11 inches. Taken earlier today on his new basking spot.

This is a picture I was sent from my friend and after hearing about his behavior, I offered to work with him because she is busy between nursing school, work, and her horses.

This is his 20 long tank which I got a cover for today. This was before I cleaned it and got him a new basking spot. It's a little hard to tell but you can see him in there and you can tell he has far outgrown his little bitty hiding cave.

Me holding Riddle. He puffed up a little here but this was yesterday and he was a bit stressed.

And just for fun, this is one of my girls Lola. She is a hypo leatherback with lines from draggintails and jabberwocky. bred by trinitydragons.

And this is my second dragon, Penny. She is just an adult standard that I fell in love with at an exotic reptile store! Just a doll

 

[darlingdragon]

It really is heartbreaking. I did a lot of research and also made sure my parents and my brother understood what they needed to be properly cared for. It's a huge investment but it is my passion so I made sure that I was well educated before buying the setup and then my first dragon.

 

[destiny1998]

They are all very beautiful! Lola her colors are awesome I hope my next one is like her. I have 3 and husband said no more but I'm a beardie addict. :lol:

 

[darlingdragon]

Destiny, it is really hard not to be an addict! lol. And thank you! Lola was quite an investment haha but well worth it. She has soo much personality and potential

 

[Bwalter]

I have the beardie that is on a thread here about what bad MBD looks like. My little girl Cassie, and I agree with you , if he doesn't get any UVB light he will end up like my girl. If you need to let her read about Cassie please do. Cassie will never be 100% but she is doing so well now. I don't like people who don't do their research on the care they need. I hope you can talk her into getting the right UVB bulb and clean the tank out, that was a gross picture and I don't think he likes living in that. I know I wouldn't. Good luck.