Reptile & Amphibian Forums

took a 1.5 year old dragon today from a guy. He told me all he
had fed it for the past 3-4 months was iceberg lettuce. It has
diarrea and was covered in feces. He kept in in two inches of kitty
litter and the bottom 1 inch was all wet and gooey because he never
cleaned the cage out. So I cleaned out the tank, scrubbed it and
bleached it and put in newspaper for now. My question is, if I
start feeding him crickets and normal greens(peppers, mustard
greens, beans, etc.) can I feed him too much and will he get sick,
or impacted; or should I let him chow down as much as he can? I fed
him crickets today and he ate about 25 large ones in under 5 minutes
and I didn't dare give him any more. Any advice would be
appreciated-
Thanks
Craig

ps I gave him a bath and as soon as he hit the water he freaked out
and started trying to bite me for about 3 min, then he finally
calmed down and I scrubbed him down with a soft toothbrush and he
closed his eyes and just laid there and relaxed for almost 1/2 an
hour. He was a perfect gentleman after that! All because of a good
bath, who knew?

First of, im glad to see people like yourself taking in abused or mistreated beardeds. I currently have 3 rescued/adopted beardeds and i love them more then any dragon i have or could purchase.
second, i wouls seek out a vet and have him checked for parasites and what not.

other then that, goodluck! it sounds like hes in heaven now. I hope he lives a long and happy life.
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0.1.0 Yellow/German Giant Beardie (Helga)
1.1.0 Senegal Chameleons (Francois & Fifi)
1.0.0 15 year old Eastern Box Turtles (Radar)
0.1.0 Brown Basilisk (Leroy, I know shes a girl!)
0.0.1 Marbled Gecko (Chalmers)
0.1.0 Adopted Beardie (Sissy)
0.1.0 Rescued Beardie missing limb (Lefty)

Too many leos to count.....

The diarrea is caused, probably, from the ice berg lettuce. I would take a fecal to your vet to have him checked for parasites. I would also have them check the calcium levels in the blood, make sure everything internal is coming along good.

Other than that, just treat him with some TLC and he should be good!
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1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
1.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Snow Corn-Unnamed
1.0 Hypo Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Motley Okeetee-Unnamed
1.0 Western Hoggie-Wyrm
0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

Congratulations on your new dragon. I am very happy to hear you saved him from an abusive owner/home.

Ice burg lettuce is probably the cause of diarrhea (I know it causes diarrhea in people, as well as dogs).

I advise you to take him to a vet and get him checked out. After 3 months of non nutritioned food maybe you should have all of his levels checked. It might not hurt to give him some escarole or endive with a little calcium sprinkled on top.

Good luck and congratulations again!

(P.S.)
do you have a name for the little guy/gal yet?
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1.1 mali uro's-Ares and Apollo
1.saharan uro- Iris
1.2 bearded dragon-Hades and Draco
0.2 leo gecko-Kalypso
0.3 tokaye gecko-Sid Vicious
1.0 tarantula-Peter Parker
0.2 dog-cheeka
0.2 zebra finch-beeps
0.2 african gray parrot-keya
1.0 red headed parrot-pancho
0.3 Fish (sorry no names for them)

RIP Orion

I let my wife name him so maybe she would like him a little more and she chose "Bob". I think it is kinda funny, but it fits him well enough.