Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was at the Carolina Reptile show today and noticed one dealer had some Mountain Horned Dragons for sale. After speaking with the guy for several minutes and examining the animal I decided to purchase it. I had to convince myself at the time that even though the animal was wild caught, it appeared healthy.
After purchasing the animal and making my way to the car, which was a hot walk, I removed the dragon from the box and let him wander around the car while I let the AC cool the car off.
Not long after leaving the show I noticed that he had gotten really still, so I decided to stop by the store to get him some water and that's when I noticed that he had passed away.
I called the guy who sold me the animal and after returning to the show and discussing what happened, he reluctantly refunded my money. I wanted to get another dragon in exchange, but wasn't willing to take the chance.

Is there any way that the dragon could have been really unhealthy and the added stress of being kept in a small container and my few minutes of handling killed him or do you think it was the heat? And if the heat was the case, was that my fault? I feel really bad what happened to the guy, but I did everything that I felt was right for his trip home.

He was such a pretty little guy, with good color and still had his horns. This upsets me a great amount because I feel that it was somehow my fault. I just don't know what else I could have done to prepare for the trip home. I still want one of these little guys, but I'm just not willing to take the chance on a wild caught reptile again and am also reluctant about having one shipped since the guy seems to think he passed away due to heat exhaustion in the 15 minutes after I left the show with him.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or such for future reference would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance,
spec

I brought my MHD, Pandora, home during a heat wave (it's been very hot here in MA) and she was fine. It's possible that your MHD was very stressed, maybe it was repeatedly handled at the expo. Plus, being wild caught, it could have had some form of parasite and was already sick. I understand your hesitation in getting another one. My Pandora just died yesterday, and I too, feel like it's my fault. My boyfriend wants to get another MHD but I just feel like I don't want to take the chance again, because I got very attached to her and now she's gone. I'm sorry about your experience, Spec. I'm sure it wasn't your fault.

Kali

It is really hard to say what might have happened here. I do know from past experience that it doesn't take long for heat stroke to kill a small animal. When they were little my kids had a rabbit. One really hot day I check on him and noted that looked fine when I checked him. I covered half of his cage with a wet sheet to cool the hutch and provide some shade for him. I also gave him cold water to keep him cool. When I went back less than half an hour later and he was stiff as a board.

This is not, however, to say that this is what happened to your MHD. Only you know how hot the car was. If he was left in the car while you were still seeing the show or while you stopped for lunch then the heat could well be the cause. If you and the new MHD got in the car and you started the air he should not have been exposed to the heat long enough for it to have killed him.

A newly purchased WC MHD is almost always sick. If he was handled a lot at the show he probably was just too stressed. They are pretty mellow animals but you have to figure that these guys were packed up and taken to the show where they were surrounded by excessive activity and subjected to constant handling. Then he was shoved in a little box and carried off to a hot car. I would guess from this scenario that stress was most likely the culprit.

I hate to see everyone shy away from WC as a possible choice when getting a MHD. I would instead suggest that you look for signs of a healthy looking individual and follow up with a visit to a good vet as soon as you get it home. I have quite a group of WC animals and the number I have lost is less than 1/3 of all that I have purchased. Sometimes even a healthy MHD will not make it. I have to think that stress is a huge factor in these cases though without a necropsy it is not really possible to confirm this. It will be a while before there are enough CB MHDs to be available to satisfy the potential market. Until that time we need to make an effort to establish and breed what we have available or there will continue to be disappointed potential MHD keepers who shy away from these great animals because of one that didn’t make it.

Forgive my ramble but as you can tell I am very passionate about these little guys.

My condolences to the two of you for your recent MHD loss.

Marcia

setting up a breeding colony. As of now I'm not sure of the guy. I believe he's only in it to make money. Originally after talking to him for awhile I had felt good about him like he cared. But now I'm not so sure.

Anyway, the real reason for this post was to inform you that he mentioned he held a few back to set up a breeding colony. If you'd be interested in contacting him about this I could give you the email address. Maybe you could help him out and make sure he's going about it the right way.

spec