your list of Questions answered for Dexter

[BeardieGrandma]

I agree with ABHD - these little guys will worry you to death!

Mine gets a bath every 2-3 days, sometimes she drinks sometimes she doesn't. Her skin is wrinkly when she moves a certain way, othertimes, she looks all fat. I do not keep a water bowl in the tank, as the water keeps evaporating, the bowl can harbor germs, etc.

I would make sure his basking temps are high enough and that he basks regularly throughout the day - he needs the heat to digest his food properly. Undigested food in his poop may mean he needs to bask more or the temps aren't high enough. A nice variety of bugs is good, if they eat the same thing all the time they may get tired of it and stop eating it altogether. Mine ate crickets like they were going out of style for 8 months straight, then abruptly stopped eating them for another 8 months. (she's eating them again).

The problem with the web is that there are so many opinions out there about how to care for beardies. I get a different story everytime I go into a pet shop. I've relied on the actual experiences of this board, people who have had beardies for years. Even then, I've learned every beardie is a little different, and the important thing is to have a good routine about things so if something's off with your beardie you will notice it better (IMO).

 

[AtlasStrike]

Just to clarify one thing, white urates are a good thing: small and hard can mean dehydration, but white is always a good sign. Colors, yellow, orange, etc is usually a symptom of parasites. If that appears, get a fecal done.

 

[CaptainVimes]

My Fiancé took a photo of me GENTLY (I WAS SOFTER THAN I WOULD BE WITH ONE OF MY CHILDREN AS BAIRNS!) holding (NOT PINCHING) his skin between my fingers, I did not PULL his skin, nor did I hold it tightly, I didn't need to, this really is how slack and excess the skin is... The left side also had about 1/4" of excess skin WHILST I was holding the 1/2" excess skin on his right side.

Please click on both images to see what I mean about excessive skin:



We just weighed him, he's 281g on my digital kitchen scales with flat disk top, sanitised kitchen board sitting on top of that, (for chopping lizards' veg) and Dexter sitting fully and completely still, on top of the board. (my Fiancé has looked at a beardie weight thread over on the reptile forum he frequents, and they're all at least 100g more than Dexter, apart from those that are months in age.)

Do Leatherback Beardies grow as long as other Beardies? Just wondering if he'll grow longer than 18"? My friend said he was guesstimated to be 3 years old.

My fiancé also looked at the photographs of a breeder of leatherbacks, they ALL have wrinkles, BUT they all look like they have a lot more weight on them than Dexter.

On the reptile forum my Fiancé frequents, he has read that they gauge underweight dragons by their pelvic girth, whether they have a ridge in their tail, and whether there is a noticeable ridge along the spine. Going by that, Dexter is quite narrow around his pelvic girth, but he doesn't have either of the two ridges, his tail isn't as chunky as a lot of the photos I've seen, but from what I can tell, it seems in proportion, it doesn't look like a twig, but it doesn't look like a trunk. (of a tree)

However, when he basks, and flattens himself onto the rock, he looks "perfectly plump!"

The basking photo:

Now allow me to explain a little bit behind my constant worrying...

I am very poorly and have not had much luck in my life, so when I worry about one of my babies, (humans or reptiles, or tarantula, or cat) it almost becomes an obsession. I see it as "it would be just my luck for "so and so" to get poorly". I know you think that I should concentrate on enjoying what I HAVE got. To a large extent, I actually do! Simply because I don't have much of a life, being stuck in the bedroom all day, so good things are always most excellent things!

I'm not pessimistic, far from it! There are FAR worse people out there than me, I'm not "terminal" for a start! 

However, because I rely so heavily on things going right, when I THINK things are going wrong, I obsess over them until they go right again.

Dexter means the world to me, I now have a pet that will snuggle up with me for ages and sit and listen to me waffling forever, without a care in the world.

(obviously I only have him out when he WANTS to come out, and it's only so long because our room never gets below 24°C, with the door shut. (door shut to keep Oscar cat out, I wouldn't trust him anywhere near Dexter, he likes to play with critters by batting at them)

I hope that my explanation will enlighten you, and enable you all to not get so annoyed with me being so "anal" with regard to his weight/hydration. If it doesn't, then I must apologise for my obsession.

Best wishes

Beo x

 

[AHBD]

Hi Beo....no one would be annoyed at your obsessing about your beardie. You just want what's best for him, and are trying to fine tune your care of him. My replies are not in any way meant with any annoyance, but just to put your mind at ease. To me, he looks quite healthy and alert. Now that you've weighed him, he could stand to gain 25 - 50 grams, but from looking at him , I wonder if your gram scale is correct ? He looks heavier. By the way, there are some overweight beardies on these sites , but very seldom does anyone advise against that. Some people seem to feel " the fatter, the better" but a fat beardie is not really a healthy beardie. Just like with people. As for his wrinkly skin, he can fill out a bit, but he is certainly in no danger. They survive in a rough habitat in the wild, they are used to going for long periods without food and water, and pics of wild beardies are always on the slim side. Feed him the medium locusts, superworms, as much veggies as he wants and very little fruit. I'm glad that he likes to snuggle with you, he looks very well cared for already and he looks like he will be a happy addition to your family and your very fave reptile buddy.

 

[CaptainVimes]

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE MOVE THIS FROM ER, I DON'T WANT AN URGENT THREAD TO BE MISSED BECAUSE OF MY THREAD.

a weekly bath and [ 1-2 times a week is fine for adult] along with lots of wet veggies will do him good.

We are currently giving him daily baths because he is shedding. Also the urate was that small and VERY hard.

We have now taken his water bowl out of his viv, my Fiancé lightly misted his veg which put the humidity up by a few percent again, BUT that was one of the ideas of how to get him to eat his veg.

(he ate VERY little veg today, but because I have been so worried about weight AND hydration, I fed him his morios AS WELL AS HIS VEG to get some water in him (as you all know, morios hold 68% water BEFORE being gut loaded, according to the nutrition guide that this forum heartily recommends)

I MUST REMEMBER, HE'S ONLY BEEN WITH US SINCE THURSDAY LUNCHTIME, HE MIGHT BE EATING LESS UNTIL HE SETTLES....

The hottest his basking spot gets is 36°C (96.8°F) , I am aware this may need increasing.. yet the coolest the "cold end" of his viv gets is 32°C. (89.6°F)

His viv sits on the hot end of my Fiancé's boa viv, (6ft x 3ft x 3ft) there is NOWHERE else he can go.

We COULD swap him with my Arizona, but at the moment 1ft x 2ft (2ftSq) of Dexter's viv (HIS COLD END) is directly on the hot end, but about 4" away from the cable of the boa's ceramic bulb. (therefore about 3" away from the centre of the bulb)

However IF we were to swap him with my Arizona, his hot end, AND 6" towards the middle of his viv would sit on the hot end of the boa viv. (meaning 3ftSq of his viv would be heated from underneath, leaving POSSIBLY 3ftSq of non-heated viv)

My Fiancé has put a thermometer probe ON TOP of the ceramic bulb - out of interest, he wanted to see how hot it got. (through the viv, not directly!) And it reached a whopping 58°C! (136.4°F!)

As I KNEW I was going to have to put Dexter on top of the boa viv, and I knew how hot the viv got for my python.. I made the following attempts at blocking the heat...

There are 5 layers of household radiator reflector material (the stuff you put behind radiators to reflect the heat OFF the wall, into the room) at the bottom of the viv, then the 6 x 1ftSq, 2-3/8" thick slate tiles put on top of that. (obviously cut to size)

I WANTED to use car engine bay reflective heat material, (but this was £40+) to get the temp down, I may have to get some of this, OR install 2 fans on the top, creating a suck/blow airflow - however, if I DO decide to upgrade his viv to the viv exotic 3ft cube, I don't want loads of holes in the viv, as no-one will buy it.

I am fully aware that 32°C (89.6°F) IS TOO HOT for the cold end, but with my Fiancé's boa viv kicking out 58°C (136.4°F) I can't see how I can reduce it.

I had thought of getting one of those vent pieces that go in the runners of the glass doors, but our room never gets less than 50% humidity, even with the radiator on. Or in the middle of Summer. I've already said somewhere else, why we can't use a dehumidifier in our bedroom.

Moving Dexter downstairs is NOT an option because:

1. Downstairs gets as cool as 15°C (59°F).

2. I LITERALLY live in the bedroom, unless I'm going out of the house for any reason, and then I HAVE TO struggle downstairs. Obviously if Dexter moved downstairs, there would be no point in me having him as a pet as I would hardly ever see him.

3. With all Simon's pets downstairs, there is NO ROOM for Dexter's viv anyway.

(I also go downstairs on a school morning for about 1.5 hours, but this is the MAXIMUM I can spend downstairs, (for many reasons that I do not wish to divulge) I can only do ONE up and down (or vice versa) trip of the stairs in any 12 hour period. (less frequently if I do not get to sleep the effects off) Unless I take so many painkillers, but then it would render me unconscious!)

Hi Beo....no one would be annoyed at your obsessing about your beardie. You just want what's best for him, and are trying to fine tune your care of him. My replies are not in any way meant with any annoyance, but just to put your mind at ease. To me, he looks quite healthy and alert. Now that you've weighed him, he could stand to gain 25 - 50 grams, but from looking at him , I wonder if your gram scale is correct ? He looks heavier. By the way, there are some overweight beardies on these sites , but very seldom does anyone advise against that. Some people seem to feel " the fatter, the better" but a fat beardie is not really a healthy beardie. Just like with people. As for his wrinkly skin, he can fill out a bit, but he is certainly in no danger. They survive in a rough habitat in the wild, they are used to going for long periods without food and water, and pics of wild beardies are always on the slim side. Feed him the medium locusts, superworms, as much veggies as he wants and very little fruit. I'm glad that he likes to snuggle with you, he looks very well cared for already and he looks like he will be a happy addition to your family and your very fave reptile buddy.

Hello

Thank you very much for your reply

I will order some medium locusts in.. (I might have missed the Christmas delivery now) and go from there.

As I have said earlier in this reply, I must remember he is STILL settling in, so he might not eat as much anyway.

My kitchen scales are extremely *RELIABLE*, I paid for the accuracy! lol

Will carry on as we are, add medium locusts to his diet, give plenty of veg, and VERY LITTLE fruit and see how we go.

As I am specifically checking on his weight, how often should we weigh him to ensure that I don't go over that "up to 50g heavier"?

Thank you so much for all your help

Best wishes

Beo x

PS. Edited to replace "telltale" with "reliable" stupid Swype & predictive text! lol

 

[AHBD]

Hi Beo....I wasn't aware that his urates were hard [ the pic looked wet, plus I'm notorious for not catching at least one thing that seems pertinent to any post !]....this would indicate that he needs a little extra hydration, so the daily baths for a while that allanonswrath suggested would help out for now. Still, don't get too upset or worried. And yes, his hot end is near perfect for an adult [ 100ish] but the " cool end " should be 75 - 85 tops. I hope you can figure a way to swing it, I'm sure that you can. Also want to say that I'm sorry that your condition keeps you from getting around the way you would like to, and I can't imagine how distressing that would be. You sure seem to keep a cheery spirit about it, and your love for your creatures , I'm sure, is a great source of and contentment and happiness. As for weight gain, he should be fine. If he eats veggies regularly and is fed the insects that he wants, he will fill out at a rate that you can manage if you weigh him every couple of weeks. He may gain more muscle and be fine with an extra 50grams, and may grow a little more and gain more than that with no problem.

 

[CaptainVimes]

Sounds like you are doing everything right. Based on the pics in your other threads, I would say Dexter might be a little dehydrated. You can give him a soak in some warm water to help rehydrate him. Also, if he is actually eating his whole salad, you can try giving him more. Most people (myself included) just leave salad in the viv throughout the day so they can munch whenever they want.    I know in another thread, you mentioned being worried about his weight, but from what I can see, he has excellent body mass, and doesn't appear to be under fed at all.

Hi,

I'm giving him a daily bath to aid hydration, his bowl movement yesterday showed that he had had a minor blockage but managed to finally clear it in the bath after playing in the bath. (day one of having him home I forgot about the size rule and gave him four adult locusts) - this caused a mild blockage, but then when he finally cleared it yesterday in the bath- there was a WHOLE adult locust mushed up inside two of the three "sausages", so I've now been told that is what the problem was with him being off his food etc.

Urate today is about 1/2" wide by 3/4" long and very soft and squishy (so relieved!)

There were NO undigested greens today, but I firmly believe the veg content in his poop yesterday was because of the locust blockage.

I am no longer "worried sick about him", because the last two days, he's pooped in the bath, we've dissected it, and today, the locust is all gone, plus I've witnessed him drinking whilst my Fiancé trickles water down his nose. Yesterday was quite a bit, today considerably more. (perhaps because he no longer has a water bowl - he did use the water bowl now and again, he certainly enjoyed splashing through it! But it made the humidity range between 50 - 60%)

(water trickled onto the bottom half of his mouth, away from eyes and ears, it actually goes down his chin and beard back into the bath, not over his head into orifices it shouldn't)

My only concern is that he's not eating anywhere near enough veg, he had about 5 x 1/8th" chunks when it was put in this morning, and then went to bask. He didn't touch it AT ALL yesterday. (might POSSIBLY be because he doesn't like calcium on his veg (my Fiancé put a couple of pinches on it yesterday and today) though, he might not have eaten yesterday because he was all blocked up, then again he didn't eat AFTER he was cleared either)

He gets a huge bowl of fresh finely chopped (1/8th" cubes or same size squares for leafy) veg every morning, which stays in his viv until bedtime. Which is 7pm

According to my friend, he hardly ate greens with her either.

(not sure how to combat this - my Fiancé misted his veg yesterday as told on reptile forum, (it raised humidity by 4%!) Dexter licked the water off, and left the veg! Lol... We have tried hand feeding but he's not interested, (even if I wiggle it like a wormy) I've even put his insects in it, (morios) but he is so deadly accurate with that tongue of his, he doesn't "accidentally get a mouthfull of veg" )

He COULD still be settling in though... He's only lived here since Thursday lunch.

EVERYTHING has changed for him, (viv, house, people, different veg offered, play times and bath times, for the last two - neither of which he had every day before... so I'm not surprised he's not quite eating properly yet. 

Though, I had hoped that he would take an interest in his veg as he only had greens at his old house, (she says she followed Fire & Ice advice) whereas he gets a variety which changes every day here. (all on the nutrition list apart from greens - we are still not sure about those )

He's got greens, butternut squash, a tiny tiny bit of cucumber (for hydration) and a tinsy tiny bit of mushy papaya today, still no interest. He's obviously not got a "sweet tooth" like his Mummy has lol

I have created a spreadsheet on my mobile to record his weekly weight check, veg given on what day & time, and what supplement is on them, and live food given on what day & time, and what supplement is on them... So if anything ever does go horribly wrong, I know EXACTLY what he has eaten, and WHEN it was offered.

I will find the four different photos...

1. + 2. Show how much extra skin he has on him. (as detailed in another post, I was holding 1/2" excess skin down his right side AND there was still 1/4" excess skin "holdable", down his left side.
3. Shows a rear pic to show his back, not puffed or flattened.
4. Shows him flattened out to bask, where he looks completely fine lol.

1+2 are thumbnails.. Click to enlarge (pls )



3. Chilling out and sitting watching me lol

4. Basking - he's flattened himself in this one, so looks quite normal