Rhaegal, My New Rescue *PICS*

[Archimedes]

Well, as a first-time beardie owner, I've sure got my hands full with this one.

Rhaegal is 1 year old last month, and I knew she was on the small side before I picked her up, but I was unprepared for how far gone she seemed when I arrived to pick her up on Tuesday. Her former owner obviously meant well, but she'd been sitting in his garage with the door wide open, with no light at all on her, while he waited for me to come get her. For who knows how long. That was my first red flag.

When he handed me to her, he described her as "very docile". Lethargic is more like it. She barely even opened her eyes when he took her off her driftwood. She felt like bone and skin. I kept my mouth shut as he explained her setup and reached for her lamps, saying that at least one of the bulbs was broken. (When I got home, I found out it wasn't just one bulb, but all three-- UVB, Daytime, and Nighttime.) She had some stuck shed on the top of her head, and he'd been misting her rather than giving her a couple of short soaks a week.

I had to keep her at work with me until that evening, as he'd forgotten to provide her screen lid for her vivarium (unacceptable if I didn't want the cats to get her, not to mention there was nothing to set her lamps on. She stayed in the shoebox by my feet, barely stirring, breathing labored. I didn't think I'd have a dragon by the end of that shift, and it passed agonizingly slowly.



As soon as I got her home finally, I scrambled to get her set up. I had to borrow the ambient UVB from Magnus' tank, as the lamp her last owner had given me didn't work. Luckily, I had a clamp-lamp already set up, so her basking light wasn't an issue. I gave her tank a very quick spritz, and like that she came to life, scrambling to drink the water dropping from the nozzle of the mister. I quickly set her in front of her water dish and she drank from it for several minutes. So dehydration was on the table now too.

I left the UVB on overnight to make up for the light she hadn't gotten all day. By the next morning, she seemed a little more energized, moving around the driftwood on her own.





I felt a little more hopeful at this point, so I ran out for some baby food and collard greens, blended them together with some Zilla fortified kibble and Fluker's Calcium with D3. I want to keep her on a liquid diet until I see her first stool passage. Luckily, it only took one taste from the syringe to have her clamoring for more, so I gave her a little bowlful and she went to town:



She's got a little bit of a belly on her as of this morning, I am relieved to report, as opposed to the ribcage under skin that I felt when I first got her. I even took her outside for some natural sunlight, and she perked up a lot, looking around at some blowing leaves and even examining me carefully. I don't think she knows quite what to expect from me yet, but she's willing to sit in my hand and see how things progress.

I'll be running out this weekend for butterworms if I can find them to add some protein and fat to her diet, superworms if I can't find butterworms. I don't think she's up for chasing crickets yet, but hopefully in the next week or two!

[Annarose15]

Congratulations and good job, Ava! She's a very pretty girl.

[Archimedes]

She is, and hopefully even more pretty once she gets proper nutrition! She has a slight underbite, probably the onset of mild MBD, but hopefully it won't get any worse with proper supplementation.

[Dracoluna]

Looks like she's doing well now that she has a loving home. Beardies are a lot hardier than people give them credit for so with the right conditions, she'll give you many years of companionship.

[MisterKyte]

Speaking from rescuing a Beardie of my own, I would say you should start to see a lot more activity in the next couple of days just with the added lighting alone.
It's lucky that she's willing to eat on her own though! My guy wouldn't eat without an hour of coaxing and he continues to only feed sparingly to this day which is incredibly unhelpful since he already has old age working against him. I'm sure you'll see a lot of great progress from this girl with a little TLC, good luck and good job! (:

[Archimedes]

Speaking from rescuing a Beardie of my own, I would say you should start to see a lot more activity in the next couple of days just with the added lighting alone.
It's lucky that she's willing to eat on her own though! My guy wouldn't eat without an hour of coaxing and he continues to only feed sparingly to this day which is incredibly unhelpful since he already has old age working against him. I'm sure you'll see a lot of great progress from this girl with a little TLC, good luck and good job! (:

I really do hope so. She's under a compact bulb for now, because that's all I had in the time crunch, but I will be ordering an 18" ReptiSun 10.0 to put in my Zilla striplight for her. It's just a relief to see her moving on her own, honestly.

I don't know if she ate any today, I didn't catch her in the act. I may try to coax her to eat a little tonight, but I also don't want to mess with her light schedule too much, so it may wait til tomorrow.

Anyone who's followed my many threads about Magnus and his behaviors knows that I'm the most anxious herp mommy out there at times, so bear with me as I fret endlessly

[Dracoluna]

I really do hope so. She's under a compact bulb for now, because that's all I had in the time crunch, but I will be ordering an 18" ReptiSun 10.0 to put in my Zilla striplight for her. It's just a relief to see her moving on her own, honestly.

I don't know if she ate any today, I didn't catch her in the act. I may try to coax her to eat a little tonight, but I also don't want to mess with her light schedule too much, so it may wait til tomorrow.

Anyone who's followed my many threads about Magnus and his behaviors knows that I'm the most anxious herp mommy out there at times, so bear with me as I fret endlessly

She'll eat when she's hungry and is probably so thankful for the correct light that she won't care about it being a compact bulb. Besides, that's all my girl's ever had and at 12 y/o, she's still kicking so don't worry about it. They do fine with them. Beardies are one of the hardiest herps I've ever found so have a little faith in her. She'll be fine.

[Archimedes]

Gave her a quick soak this morning to try to get rid of the pesky stuck shed on her head. She was definitely more sassy this morning, and got fiesty when I tried to take her out because she'd decided that she likes drinking bathwater more than the water in her dish. She's got some WEIGHT to her, which is so nice to feel. I'm gonna take her outside this afternoon when it's nice and warm, let her sit on my shoulder and soak up some rays. =]

[Willie76]

Love to hear the happy endings. It's always the bad few that give the rest of us who do things right a bad name. Animals don't have a choice when they're in captivity. People do and when I see a neglected animal I see a person who chose to do this and it breaks my heart. I have never owned a beardie, but am in love with them none the less. I applaud you for giving this animal a proper home and am sure he will return the effort you put into him. I have rescued a number of pythons in the past and the rescues almost always seem "grateful" for giving them a proper home.

Congratulations and am sure he will do very well for you. And since he can't say it directly...THANK YOU.

[Herpenthusiast3]

First off congrats on your decision to get a Beardie. I have a little girl name Mushu and I love her to death. I have read hundreds of different articles and care sheets pertaining to Beardies but the most comprehensive care sheet I was able to find was here:

http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-care.php

Young Beardies will eat a lot of insects and they should be offered them dusted with calcium without d3 if you have powerful enough lighting and with d3 if you think that your Beardie is having troubles digesting. Another thing people don't realize is that Beardies don't naturally drink from a water dish so often this is somthing that you have to teach them to do. I like to use a water dropper or spray bottle and squirt it into the water dish. The Beardie will often get excited pertaining to the movement, explore, and once he realizes it is water will begin to drink. You sometimes have to do this several times to get them into the habit of using it themselves. Also I like to dust the insect with a vitamin supplement 2 days out of the week along with the calcium supplement. Heat and lighting (uvb and uva) are extremely important to the growth and digestive system if your Beardie. Without it your Beardie will become lethargic, can get sick (MBD metabolic bone disease) , may become malnourished and even die. Getting your mini dragon to eat insects typically won't be a problem. Growing beardies have a veracious appetite and seem to love chasing insects.... Not so much eating greens. Soooo if you do get a Beardie that will be the real challenge. To get he/she to eat greens throughout the entire growing process and into adult hood. Here is a video on a way that I decided was the easiest route to go when providing greens. It also provides some other info on bearded dragons. <---canned message

http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=GC5eruXzbKE

Hope this helps!
Best regards from
Mushu and myself!


I read through this thread and it seems like you have a pretty good handle on caring for your new little buddy so I'm sure you know the majority of what was is in that message but I shared it anyways because I wanted to pro IDE you with one of the most comprehensive Beardie care sheets that I have found. One again congratulations to you and him.