from what I already knew about my dragon, and what you just told me, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be a struggle for the rest of his life.



Yes, he was very unhealthy and very small when I got him. He started at 14-15". When he basically became addicted to crickets (that's what I'd call it), he put on another inch or two in length, but never any better.



It's really my fault in a number of ways. Number one, I made a really bad choice getting him from the place I did. I definately should have known better. At the time, he was being kept in a 20 gallon long tank with 2 other dragons his size, one that was much larger (and unhealthy looking), and two small monitors (maybe ackies). I saw all that, but of course I was younger at the time, he was my first lizard, and I didn't realize what kind of problems it would cause. I think after 2 years of battling parasites (at least 2 years, looking back), and now this, I'm definately going to make a better choice with my next beardie...if I ever get another beardie (like you said, they're a lot of work for what they are).



But I won't give up on Sydney. He's not doing too bad with the sort of forced hand feedings of greens. Basically getting him to open his mouth the first time is the hard part, but then once you get some greens in his mouth it's more or less the woodchipper affect (keeps pulling greens in). He doesn't seem to happy about this, but I figure I'll try this until I get the repcal pellets out of his system completely, and see if then he's more eager to eat his greens and crickets.



One of my other lizards is a mali uromastyx that I rescued from a guy that kept her in a 10 gallon tank, fed her nothing but iceburg lettuce, and gave her nothing to heat herself except a heat rock (and keep in mind everything hadn't been cleaned in ages). Apparently she did have a heat lamp at one point though, before it fell on her and gave her third degree burns. That was almost two years ago that I got her. After putting her in an appropriate setup and giving her lots of heat and food, she has been thriving (for the most part).





Thanks for the info Shvar and Frank. I like to come here as opposed to the bearded dragon forums because there seems to be a better understanding of reptiles.

[ Hide Replies ]

• Question for Shvar.... - -ryan-, Wed Oct 12 05:56:41 2005
• Just realized.... - -ryan-, Wed Oct 12 05:57:39 2005
• RE: Heres what you don't want to hear/read, maybe - FR, Wed Oct 12 13:39:10 2005
• RE: Heres what you don't want to hear/read, maybe - -ryan-, Wed Oct 12 14:08:01 2005
• Beardeds I recieved that were healthy, or those I hatched.. - SHvar, Thu Oct 13 00:32:27 2005
• It's sad to say.... - -ryan-, Thu Oct 13 05:21:12 2005
• Something to think about, not pleasant - aaahbiteme, Thu Oct 13 08:33:25 2005
• I'm sad to say that I know that's probably the main problem.... - -ryan-, Thu Oct 13 13:11:19 2005