Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Back in April 2003 (Thought it was August but was corrected).. I sold a young dragon to a 13 year old boy and his father. I went through the usual care methods and gave them a care sheet, business card, etc. Never heard anything back from them and assumed everything was fine.

Until....

Sunday night....

I got a phone call from the boy and he was asking what could have possibly caused the "lump" on his dragon's back. Said he won't eat, etc. Straight away I started thinking injury or MBD. I asked him to bring the dragon over ASAP and also to bring any and all sups he was using.

Well, he showed up with the dragon and when I removed him from the box he was almost dead. It is an orange dragon, but was white as a ghost and his skin was just hanging off him. He was light as a feather and 1/2 the size I expected for a dragon that age. I noticed he had a rather large "lump" on his back, a twist at the base of his tail, swollen joints and couldn't shut his mouth due to his tongue tip sticking out. I put him on the floor to see if he could move around and the poor lil guy just tried to drag himself around on his belly I then asked to see the calcium sups, etc.... He pulled out two jars of freeze dried mealies and I was dumbstruck!!!!
I asked when they first noticed the lump and when his appetite had stopped, etc and they said 1st week of January... well DUH.... we are now mid February!!!!

Needless to say, I read both him and his father the riot act and I have kept the dragon here in hopes of giving him a fair chance at survival. His jaw is so tender and weak that he can not eat. I am syringe feeding him baby food, pedialite and his sups.

He has regained some of his orange and brown coloring and doesn't look so "snow white" now, but he has a long road ahead of him. That is "IF" he makes it. Oh and he is only 82 grams as of this morning ... This dragon is just about a year old now and is the size of a 5 month old

Wish me luck everyone!!!

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Lisa
Cricket free babies!
www.beginnersbasics.com

Prayers to you and the little one

It's amazing what people will do to living, breathing creatures! But you have him now and hopefully it isn't too late for him! I admire your courage after everything you've been through recently. You're taking on a very sick dragon and you've got a tough road ahead of you. Please keep us updated on his condition. I've seen worse and they have recovered. So don't lose hope! And I hope he NEVER goes back to those people again! Thanks for rescuing such a beautiful dragon. He really is beautiful, despite his deformities.

Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

82 grams? eep...

That is very sad, I saw that photo and nearly cried, looks like he doesn't have any bones....

Can they even recover from that? (don't have a beardie yet)

I wish people would learn to care for their animals...They aren't disposable

i don't post all that often, mostly read other's posts. but oh my goodness. that poor baby. i wish you the best of luck, and you are a saint for not doing more that reading them the riot act!

when i was young, my mother instilled a strong sense of responsibility for animals, explaining that they can't talk, so we have to do it for them. we're the people that have our dog tested for allergies at Michigan State vet school, and spend thousands on a cat that no one ever figured out what was wrong. we just knew that the steriods he was on helped. you give a cat a pill a day for two years!

i just do not understand a parent allowing this to happen to any animal. or anyone allowing it for that matter. it just makes me so angry & sad...

please keep us posted. us lurkers keep tabs, too. thank you, and i wish you the best of everything!

maxwells

BTW - neither my brother nor i ever got tested for allergies! but mishka was the light of our lives for a good long time growing up.

My first beardie Irwin looked very similar when he was brought to my clinic to be euthanized. I adopted him and he lived to be nine years old. He never looked right and wasn't as big as a full grown dragon, but they are amazingly resiliant with proper care. Irwin instilled my love of dragons and started me on the road to educating myself about reptile medicine. It is these special guys that change your life.

You may want to consider a trip to the vet for a Calcium injection and some subcutaneous fluids to help jump start him. Not to repeat what everyone else said but Thank God he is with you now! I am horrified that the child and parent let this happen to him.
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Stacey

Poor little guy. I remember waiting for a dragon of mine that is about 13 months old to pass 100 grams many months ago. I probably have records of when he was about 80 grams. I should go see how old he was then.
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4.0.0 Bearded Dragons (Yusuke- Fat Lazy type , Woodrow- Dragon with an attitude, asleep for the winter, Tehko- The baby, little dirt ball, Dexter- just a brat, also asleep for the winter)
1.0.0 Rankins Dragons (Erik-a midget)
1.0.0 Cat- the regular variety (Dominic- fat cat)
0.1.0 Dog- Lab mix(Betty- escape artist extraordinaire)
1.0.0 Beta - I can't remeber his name (just swims around)
0.0.1 Guinea Pig (Timothy)
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider (Franklin)

Heartbreaking

He couldn't be with a better caretaker now. I hope he pulls through. Please keep us updated.
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1.0.1 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

I know how you feel. I am the manager of a pet store (Not like the nasty pet store you go to "rescue" animals from!!) We are actually part of Veterinary Centers of America, so we have a herp vet in the same building. We go the extra mile when it comes to reptiles, giving the client all the info about diet, UVB, housing and everything. Well back before Christmas, we had a lady and her son bring in a dragon they had gotten from a friend for our herp vet to see. It looked to be a juvi. They had had it over 6 months and had not used ANY UVB or calcium supplementation. I have seen ALOT of MBD working so closely with our herp vet, but I had NEVER in my life seen one as bad as this. Usually we see the worst cases in iguanas. Well this dragon was much worse. It was sooooo bad that one of my employees walked up and asked what it was. They couldn't even tell it was a beardie!! This ones bottom jaw was allready broken and jutted probably an entire inch past the top jaw. All 4 legs were like jelly. The tail had at least 5 curves in it that extended up its back. Our vet politely told the owner that the best thing to do would be to euthanize it because it would have been cruel to try to sustain it at that point. The thing that bothered me the most was this little guy HAD to have been this way for a very long time. I just don't get how people can look at an animal everyday and think that all that is normal. If she had only brought him in earlier, we could have helped. If she had only called us when she got him, bought a book, searched the net for info!! Well, I took a picture of the poor thing and hung it up in our reptile section with an information sign about MBD, so MAYBE people will believe us when we say they HAVE to buy full spectrum!! The bright side of your story, is at least he is at a point you may be able to save him!! Good luck!! We'll be pulling for ya!!

kb

>>Back in April 2003 (Thought it was August but was corrected).. I sold a young dragon to a 13 year old boy and his father. I went through the usual care methods and gave them a care sheet, business card, etc. Never heard anything back from them and assumed everything was fine.
>>
>>Until....
>>
>>Sunday night....
>>
>>I got a phone call from the boy and he was asking what could have possibly caused the "lump" on his dragon's back. Said he won't eat, etc. Straight away I started thinking injury or MBD. I asked him to bring the dragon over ASAP and also to bring any and all sups he was using.
>>
>>Well, he showed up with the dragon and when I removed him from the box he was almost dead. It is an orange dragon, but was white as a ghost and his skin was just hanging off him. He was light as a feather and 1/2 the size I expected for a dragon that age. I noticed he had a rather large "lump" on his back, a twist at the base of his tail, swollen joints and couldn't shut his mouth due to his tongue tip sticking out. I put him on the floor to see if he could move around and the poor lil guy just tried to drag himself around on his belly I then asked to see the calcium sups, etc.... He pulled out two jars of freeze dried mealies and I was dumbstruck!!!!
>>I asked when they first noticed the lump and when his appetite had stopped, etc and they said 1st week of January... well DUH.... we are now mid February!!!!
>>
>>Needless to say, I read both him and his father the riot act and I have kept the dragon here in hopes of giving him a fair chance at survival. His jaw is so tender and weak that he can not eat. I am syringe feeding him baby food, pedialite and his sups.
>>
>>He has regained some of his orange and brown coloring and doesn't look so "snow white" now, but he has a long road ahead of him. That is "IF" he makes it. Oh and he is only 82 grams as of this morning ... This dragon is just about a year old now and is the size of a 5 month old
>>
>>Wish me luck everyone!!!
>>
>>
>>
>>-----
>>Lisa
>>Cricket free babies!
>>www.beginnersbasics.com
>>
>>
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Rob Talkington

I could understand if you were just selling the dragon to the boy and that happened(of course it is still unacceptible) but if i were ever to come face to face with the father of the boy who bought the dragon i think i would take a swing at him. Even with caresheets in hand he couldnt properly care for the dragon this story makes me mad...... n e ways theres my 2 cents i wish you the best of luck and hope the lil guy recovers.
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My Pets Include: 1 Holland Lop Eared Rabbit, 2 Leoperd Geckos, 1 Veiled Chameleon, 1 Red Eared Slider, 1 Whites Tree Frog(I've owned many others in the past)

Sometimes people are just so dumb... This makes me worry for all of my babies..
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Kelly Affonce
DeKeaff Exotics

AIM: DekeaffGrrl

I hope with such a bad case, you do decide to get UVB on him???

I think he'll need it, along with the sup's.

Good luck & keep us updated.
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Joel R

Coming Soon!
www.SpikesAndScales.com