Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need some advice PLEASE!!
I have 2 beardies of my own who ive never had any problems with other than fighting with eachother -
Ive just 'rescued' another male beardie from a kid that wasnt feeding him proply and stuff. The only thing is he should be the same size(ish) as my female - tallulah (there from the same batch) but he is really really small!! He looks kinda out of proportion - he is so skinny. i got him yesterday adn fed him and he was full after 3 crickets and seemed to have trouble swallowing the last one, hes quite vicious (understandable if hes been mistreated) - that im not to worried about cuz im hoping he'll be better with lots of love and attention im just worried about his size and how im going to get him to eat more. Iv left fresh greens in his viv at the mo. I no its not going to happen over night but is there any long term damage than can be caused from not growing properly as a youngster?
Also his mouth is a bit weird its like crooked? And ive looked at his teeth and there are no teeth on one side of his mouth (its kind like a cleft lip - the bit with the over bite the other side has no teeth) could this be affecting his eating also?
Sorry for the essay but i want to make sure lil zebadee is ok and starts growing at a good rate even if hes never going to catch up entirely. He has his own viv didnt want to risk him sharing as the other 2 are so much bigger. Can you please give me some advice? i would be most grateful.

I also have a king snake that im have trouble taming if any one could offer advise for him id be most grateful.

Cheers

Sorry can't help you with the snake.

But the Beardie I can as I have taken rescues myself.

First it would be helpful if you said how old he was since you know from one of yours. Plus his size and the size of yours from the same batch as you say.

As far as the crickets go I'd feed him twice a day at the same times. One I took in, would only eat them every other day at first because that was what she was used to. But, within a week she was eating a good amount of crickets at both feedings. She was only 8" and over six months old. But at the time I also had 2 from a breeder that were 10" and only 2 months old so she was way behind. Just to let you know how it worked out she is now the biggest in length and weight dragon I have.

I would recommend feeding him smaller crickets then you normally would at first if possible. I would also make sure that he is well hydrated. Use an eyedropper to drip water on his nose once or twice a day if he licks it continue until he stops. Also you could consider silkworms. They are soft bodied and the dragons really don't chew them much anyway.

My first concern is always Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). This may be the cause of the missing teeth and deformed jaw. First I would make sure he has a good supply of UVB. A Zoo Med 10.0 running the length of his enclosure would be best. Second, I would supplement all of his meals with Calcium w/D3 (No Phosphorus or Vitamin A) and one live feeding a week with a multivitamin. I feel RepCal has the best products for this. I would even lightly dust his salad until he starts eating a larger volume of crickets. Keep in mind that MBD affects all of the dragons systems including digestion etc. You might consider taking him to the vet and discussing calcium injections if he does not respond quickly. You should also consider having a vet do a fecal as the stress of a bad environment can cause normal parasite loads to dramatically increase.

Here is some reading on MBD.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/MBD.html

Here is a list of good greens and vegs. I'd stick with the green items for now and maybe a little fruit for the sugar content.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

It would be helpful if you could post a pic.

If he's under a year I'll bet he'll catch up if he aclimates well in the next few weeks to a month. No way to know about life span, time will tell.

Without knowing the age of the dragon, it is hard to say how much longer it will grow. If it is already over two years old, it probably won't grow much in length but will of course fill out properly. Lack of protein during the crucial growing period of a dragon's life often leaves it stunted. Some will still grow a few inches but others will never 'catch up' to siblings from the same clutch.

The crocked jaw sounds like 'rubber jaw' which is a sign of metabolic bone disease, most likely due to improper care and insufficient UVB and/or calcium. This may be correctable, depending on how bad. If bad, the jaw bone will harden as normal but will not straighten out. If not so bad, it should straighten up to normal. Unless the crocked jaw is really misaligned..it shouldn't cause any problems in the long run.
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PHLdyPayne

How's the newbie doing? We just had another beardie surrendered a the place I work who was just the opposite of yours...so spoiled she was used to being hand fed baby food from a syringe.

As far as the snake goes, the best advice I can give is the three P's: Patience, Persistance, and a Pair of gloves

Snakes don't want to trust people. Period. We're big, scary, and we grab them from their nice warm hiding places. So find a pair of gloves that are just thick enough so the little bugger can't get it's teeth through them and start touching him/her once and a while. Just start out by running a finger along their back, stay away from it's head, but make sure the snake sees you. Don't sneak up on it... you're already scary to it, don't become terrifying!

Try and do this every day (except for the few days after feeding, you don't want to stress him/her into vomiting), it won't take long until the snake tolerates you.

Once you've gotten that far try gently picking it up and letting it crawl through your fingers. I wouldn't take it too far off the ground until you're comfortable together, you don't want to drop it and hurt it.

Just have some patience and don't leave your snake for too long without contact with you, even if it's just for a few minutes.

I'm writing with a little experience on this one. I adopted a ratsnake in February that was so bitey at times, that I nicknamed her Gator (her name's Gatorade aka Aida). Now, I can pick her up out of her tank (her last stronghold, she's very defensive of her hide box) without gloves on and hold her for a decent amount of time with no problems, the glove gets put back on when I have to take her out of her feeding bucket...then she gets snappy and very scared.

A last note to mention, don't feed your kingsnake in the same enclosure it lives in. Snakes start to associate food with fingers or your scent even if you feed them with tongs. You're better off putting them in a seperate tank or a small lidded bucket (that it can't escape from) at feeding time.

Good Luck!
Sarah