Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

Well this is my first post on kingsnake, and it's a horrible one.

A guy I work with came home from vacation Mon. to find that his father-in-law who was looking over his house while he was away, had found an adult bearded dragon in his front yard. He put the Dragon in their little girls sandbox(one of those portable ones with a lid and left it in their for a couple of days without any food or water and the lid closed. It is getting into the 90's during the day and the 50's 60's at night here so I imagine it was quite hot/cold extremes in that sandbox. Tuesday my co-worker gave it tap water and his daughter fed him 4 leaf clovers from the yard(he says he gobbled them down) He gave th edragon to me today and I gave him giant gut-loaded/dusted mealworms and he at elike 20-25 of them, I have yet to see him drink. He hasn't pooped since at least Saturday. He looks like he was in shed recently(flaky tail) and some of his tail is missing. He also has dark brown bumps on his skin on the rear underside of his upper legs and on either side of where he poops from. At first I thought the might be ticks but they are pretty symetrical. I just know my beardie(died a year ago) didn't have these bumps.

He was active yet calm when I held him, but when I went to put him in the aquarium he didn't want to go, and when I finally got him in he just laid in the exact position I put him in(half on a log, half on the sand. and closed his eyes. he opens them every so often to peak at what I'm doing.

What do you think his chances are of living? I know I should take him to a vet but I can't afford it. I live in Utah if there is anyone out there who knows a local vet who would at least just look him over externally for reduced price/free. I also thought about taking him to a pet store to see if they could tell me if anything is obviously wrong.

The guy I work with asked aroud his cul-de-sac but noone claims him.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Steve

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AlphaDragonZ
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

if you cant get him to a vet (which you REALLY should) i would say get him on a sound with extra vitamin suplements, make sure his temps and uv levels are good, and try misting him with a spray bottle(ive got a few who only drink when it "rains". if the misting doesnt work try a bath.these little guys are tuff if made comfortable hes probably got a good shot at makin it.

Betty
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Heart Mountain Herps

Yea... give him lots of TLC and unless he is really messed up he will snap out of it.

just read a story of a Cham. that got lose in an area where it gets too cold and when found the guy was big and fat and looked great. all our lizards are tougher than we may think...

a vet would be a *VERY GOOD THING* as the BD may have parasites that will keep him from doing well and will be hard to detect without a fecal test.

but give him lots of chances to get watter... and crickets.

also I understand that you can make a kind of "Dragon pickme-up" by using a combo of baby food pedialite and crickets
take the plain turkey mash and blend it with crickets and some pedialite and feed with a large bore syringe.
you can go to any vet or drugstore and get one, just explain that it needs to have a tube end with *NO NEEDLE*
you may not even need that though if he will take greens then dab some of this mix on his snout and he should try to lick it off, if he does and likes it (many do) then just start dabing it and he may just open his mouth and let you spoon feed him.

the idea here is that the protine from the turkey and crickets and the vital trace elements in pedia lite will give him a fast enegy boost, by blending the cricks and turkey it will digest easy and not block his gut,...

also at a pet shop get acidopholus or at a drugstore...
this is a digestive enzime that we can lizards booth need to have .... a few drops mixed with the rest of this will help him fight off any mild parasites he has and also digest his food.

Hth, if you need more info search on the key of emergency food for sick dragons, this has been posted here by folks more up on this than me.
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This space reserved for future use...

Thanks guys,

The main source for my worries was because of when I finally got him home and put him in the aquarium how he instantly(within seconds) closed his eyes an fell asleep without adjusting himself or exploring. He had his butt on a log and his face in the sand. But from the way he is acting this morning He must have just been DEAD TIRED! I don't have any crickets, I will pick some up today and start gut-loading them. He ade about 15-20 more giant mealworms this morning and he pooped. I still haven't seen him drink but he got up before I did and was near the water bowl so he may have.

I think he will be alright.

This poop got all mashed up in the sand so when he goes again I will take the sample to a vet and have it checked.

Thanks,
Steve

n/p
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Joel R

Coming Soon!
www.SpikesAndScales.com

Utah

>>The main source for my worries was because of when I finally got him home and put him in the aquarium how he instantly(within seconds) closed his eyes an fell asleep without adjusting himself or exploring.

Oolong did much the same thing when we set him up in his new home (he was found in someone's yard, too).

>>I still haven't seen him drink but he got up before I did and was near the water bowl so he may have.

You may never see him drink. :} Beardies get most of their water from the food they eat. The only time Oolong drank was while he was bathing the day after we got him... he was really dehydrated. Since then, Oolong gets baths every other day (he loves bathing), & he's never had another drink.

You should really, really get him to the vet as soon as you're able. We couldn't afford to take Oolong to the vet right away, but were forced to within a week when his eye got badly infected. Since then, we've spent over $800 trying to get the resulting abscesses under control (hooray for CareCredit). If we'd gotten him vetted immediately after finding him, vet bills probably would've been closer to $150-$200 for antibiotics & parasite treatment.

Trust me, if your new beardie has any sort of medical issue, it's better to find it sooner rather than later.

Good luck! :}

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~Alice

1.0 Bearded Dragon (Oolong)
0.1 ferret (Lil' Guy)
7.4 cats (Angel, Goblin, Hush, Kirin, Sammy, Squee, Toes, Feets, Gypsy, Kana, Raisen)