Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought my first bearded dragon about a couple of months ago from LLL Reptile. He was doing fine, I had a twenty gallon with lighting and a hide. In the last week however he got a peice of lettuce stuck in his mouth and has become very skinny. I talked to one of the people at a local pet store and he said he is probably dehydrated and to soak him for ten minutes. I did like he asked but he is still skinny and he deosn't seem to be using his rear legs. Any help please!

Justin

Probably is dehydrated... could possibly be impacted if it's not using its back legs. Buy an oral syrringe, some pedialyte & chicken or turkey w/vegetable baby food (I usually buy Gerber Chicken Dinner).

Dilute the baby food with pedialyte so that it's pretty watery. Then place a drop on the dragons nose... it should drink. Let it drink as much as it wants each day... couple of times a day. That helps with dehydration and provides some extra food.

Not using the back leg would make me think he does have an impaction and dehydration can contribute to that. Below is a link to an article on impacyions, causes, why it happens with photos and x-rays and how to possibly correct it.
Impaction in Reptiles

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www.reptilerooms.com

Glad to have ya back,

Hope Ya made it through with NO major problems !
www.suncharmers.com

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Eve

I work for the state and we are bombed with help request from people... I had to leave work today at 2 pm as I already had 40 hours in for the week and that was with Monday off!

I hate to even pick up the phone, its not the people that really need help.... its the ones scamming that get to me...... do you know we actually had people MOVE to this area to get the assistance that people who lost homes and furnishing in the storm need. Some people from other counties that were not hit bad are driving hours in vans to get in help lines giving out canned goods, diapers, baby formula(this area is wiped out)blankets, tents. portable grills etc and being caught doing it several times a day!! Makes me ill, when many of the people that really need help can not even get to the assistance stations as they lost autos or can not get any gas!

You know, when something like this happens, you truly see the good in some people, people donating things or giving of their time til they are about to fall over asleep......but you also see the scum too.
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www.reptilerooms.com

that's horrible that there are people out there who would drive to steal donated items when they don't need it or even in the area hit by the hurrican. I think I would ask those people to wait in the back for some item that you just have to get elsewhere and come back with a cop to arrest them for fraud, attempted theft and any other crime i could think of at the that seems even remotely applicable. Heck, takign them out back and beating the sense back into them would be another thing I would be tempted to do.... unfortunately the law frowns upon such things...

Real sorry to hear about all that Cheri. It's not surprising.. I guess the only comfort that can be taken in that is if the people are that desparate to drive for so long to get something, maybe they need the help as well... though trust me I get what you are saying and it would be very frustrating for me as well.

We don't have the problems you have up here in VA.. but it's nice to know people care about each other are out there. Thanks for all of the help i know you do it alot.

brandon
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Dragons by Nature

people on street corners in other towns selling some of the items, like a meat company sent a refrigerated truck to the areas with some boxes of meats and even small grills as donations and there was 3 guys caught selling like 20 boxes of them out of a van! They had drive to all the locations several times gathering them.

On the other hand, we have seen strangers drive up to homes really damaged and offer to help the owners rip out ruined carpet and haul it off for them so the mold and mildew do not build up and make them sick and also people helping others by paying to have wet and ruined items hauled off

In one neighborhood that was blocked by so many fallen trees, several guys got together and sawed up all the trees for the elderly people and moved them from the roadway so they could get their autos out of the neightborhood and to stores... whats remarkable about this was tree companies are charging $1000-$1500 to remove large fallen oaks and these guys are doing it for free........ I asked one what he normally does and he said he's a waiter, but since their restaurant was closed with no electric, he does not have any work so he was pitching in helping cut up trees...... for free!! and this guy has no income.......... as I said, you see some of the remarkable good in people too.
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www.reptilerooms.com

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www.reptilerooms.com

the people who seen it would gladly say sorry, didn't see anything..... hehe
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Robert Wood
Tulsa,OK

If your beardie is not using his back legs he could have some form of MBd. (Metabolic Bone Disease) get him to a herp vet immediately!!!!! Make sure you have the correct lighting on his tank, Beardies need UVB rays to process calcium, this light can be provided by sunlight that is unfiltered through glass or plastic (glass and plastic filter out 99% of UVB rays) or by a specialty reptile bulb. The most common form of UVB bulb is a florescent light strip, they make specific ones for dessert lizards. Don't be fooled into thinking you have the right bulb just because it says "emits UV rays." In most cases, the boxes will be talking about UVA, and thats not very helpfull. You can usually tell the UVB bulbs by the fact that they are frequently very exxpensive, ranging around 20dollars.

You said you had lighting on your bearded but didn't say what kind. Do you have a flourescent uv light on him as well as a heat light. In my expirience calcium and lack of uv light usually cause this. It is reversable if done quickly. Also how warm are you keeping the basking side of the cage?