Need a little help/suggestions

[Ironhead]

Yesterday I get a knock at my door. There stands a lady with a 20gal breeder tank and a Bearded Dragon inside. She says to me "I hear you might be able to take this off of my hands" Well, I dont know where she got that Idea other than everyone around knows that I have 2 Ball pythons. I am pretty stunned to say the least. She says "If I cant find a home for it today, I'm gonna just have to toss it out" WTF!! Well needless to say, I now have a bearded dragon, there was no way I was going to let her leave with it after telling me that.
So....
He/she looks healthy to me. Aprrox: 14-16 inches long. It is in aspen bedding filled with feces, he/she stinks really bad, cage probably not cleaned in months.
Heres is what she left: The Beardie, 20 gallon breeder tank with screen lid, water bowl, Heat lamp with regular light bulb, piece of fake wood with leaves sticking out of it (that he loves to hang out on while basking) Jar of Dragon Dust, Juvenile Bearded Dragon Food, canned stinky crickets that look more like caviar, meal worms and some very very stinky aspen bedding (in cage).
I am reading the cares sheets and trying to research but would much appreciate any help and opinions.
Is it ok to just put paper towels down after I clean the cage? And what about a bath? Just luke warm water to get the stink off of him? Or is there something I can do to kill the stink on him.
Im sure there are many more things I need to ask, but am just dumbfounded right now..
Oh, he is very friendly and likes to be held.

Thanks

[littleindiangirl]

Aprrox: 14-16 inches long. It is in aspen bedding filled with feces, he/she stinks really bad, cage probably not cleaned in months.

Is it ok to just put paper towels down after I clean the cage? And what about a bath? Just luke warm water to get the stink off of him? Or is there something I can do to kill the stink on him.

I'm not really good at Beardies, but I believe that soaking to get him rehydrated is recommended,
paper towels is a perfectly fine substrate for ease of cleaning.
Make sure he has a really hot basking spot, and a hide.
Dust gut loaded crickets, offer greens, etc. Sorry I cant be of more help, I know next to nothing about rescued Beardies.

[SoCaliSon]

You got Lucky!!! Not to mention so did the Beadie!... I can just imagine how nasty the cage was... to keep an adult beardie.. Or any animal and not maintain their environment I consider cruelty. This is actually my first post in this forum So HELLO!!!
I actually got my first BP the same way just last night. Came with Bedding, lighting, heat and all the nececities, But the Best part was the 2 year old beautiful female Ball Python. She is awesome!

Anyway.. I keep two adult Beardies and would love to give you some quick tips.
First off... You should consider trying to find a bigger tank for him. The ideal size enclosure for an adult beardie is around 4'x2'x2'. A 20 Gal breeder is not really big enough to get the high low temp range that a beardie needs to regulate their temp.
Yes Paper towels are fine. If you want it to look a little bit nicer you can lay some kind of ceramic or slate tile down over the paper towels. These provide for a nice looking easy to clean substrate that your beardie cannot ingest. (Beardie crap is a pain to clean out of any kind of particle substrate and eventually will reak)

One thing I noticed that you didn't mention her leaving was a UV light. This is one of the most important things when Keeping a Beardie and it important to do your research on these before purchasing one as the are very expensive and you might just waist 40 bucks. DO NOT use compact coil Bulbs that provide UV and heat... These things will ruin your Beardies retinas. Best are the UV tubes that fit into the longer flourecent fixtures... You can find the best deals online. Without a UV source your Beardie cannot absorb the vital vitamins and nutrients he gets from his food.

I bathe mine about 2wice a week in luke warm water and that helps keep there Dragon Crap stench away. Just put them in the bath with water levl up to their middle back. I'm not sure about using soap or anything... I doubt a little bit of hand soap would be harmfull in any way as long as it is diluted. If I can find an answer to this I will let you know.

Well congrats on your new buddy... I'm glad he won't be thrown out into the wild where he would be helpless. They are really great pets and if you keep them happy ... they will love you forever. Hope I was able to help.