Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my dragon is about 3 or 4 years old. He was 8 weeks old when I got him and I've gotten rather attached to him as you can imagine. Since getting married, buying a house and having a baby all in the same year, I have neglected him badly. I had gone back and forth with the idea of finding him a new home for almost a year and finally this week decided to go ahead and do that. I found the person to take him and have been planning on giving him over with all his gear including tank, lights, furniture, food, etc, etc, etc. all for free because all I care about is his well being, not money.

I've been feeling bad enough about giving him away but have also been struggling with the knowledge that I am not giving him the care that he needs. so doing this must be the right thing to do, right?

To give you some idea of what I mean, I have not changed his uv light in over 2 years, I practically never soak him or give him any water *ever*, and I feed him soaked repcal pellets only about once a week if that. never any veggies and close to zero handling time. Clearly I felt that I needed to do something even if that was to give him away.

Getting to the point.
So I took him to the vet last week because I don't want to be giving away a sick animal just to have him die on my friend.. I wanted to treat his worms which I was sure he must have. Turns out he's clear of all diseases they tested for in the fecal. During the visit the vet grilled me regarding the dragon's "husbandry". Needless to say I was feeling more and more like a heel with every passing minute and every shameful look coming from the vet's face. ...she cringed quite a few times as I spoke honestly of my neglect.

Alright NOW to the point.
After telling me AAALLL the things I need to do for this animal I feel as thought I couldnt' possibly give him away. How can I trust anybody else to do all those things? How can I dump a sick animal on her hands and trust her to do the right thing? (and how the hell do I think I could do any better considering my track record the last 2 years, i wonder)

but.... I'm attached to this guy and I want to change my ways. I have already been soaking him daily, feed him every day, plan on tossing out all the sand in his tank this weekend, getting new lights, I could go on... but am I kidding myself?

I guess this post is more of a vent/diary-entry than a question, really.

I'm unsure what I should do at this poing and would like to hear some opinions from other dragon owners. If I hadn't already promised him to my cousin, I would just keep him and see how it goes, but she's scheduled to come pick him up 10 days from now and I'm afraid of disappointing her if I tell her I've changed my mind. As you can imagine, I'm rather confused what to do.

any advice?

you just need to promise yourself that since you love him you will take care of him. if u can care for him and give him the attention then go for it... keep him
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sincerely,
Jonathan D. de Kluyver
JDDK Reptiles
Quality Reptiles and Amphibianswww.jddkreptiles.com

and what do I tell my cousin? I'm creating all these lies... what should I say? I feel terrible about it.

If your cousin is your friend, he/she will understand. Tell them nicely that you have changed your mind, that your dragon means more to you then you thought, and your going to try harder. Tell your cousin that if after a little while, things are still not going well, that you will offer him again. Sounds like your dragon was neglected, but who doesnt make mistakes. The good thing is that you recognize and truely are sorry for it. Make it up to your dragon by offering the proper care, and maybe a little spoiling. If things work out for you, maybe offer to help your cousin find his own little friend. Theres a dragon out there somewhere that would love his/her attention and affection.

thanks shadow... I feel better about it.

I have to respond for one reason only and that is when I found out I was expecting my first baby (who is now 4 1/2 years) Many thoughts went through my head. Can I give Zatarain the care she needs, and can I afford the expence of her with a new baby? Well needless to say I did keep her and my son from the young age of 6 months was in love with her, he would take naps with her by the age of 18 months and with the second baby all the same thoughts went through my head, but again we did keep her and not only that we rescuded two more when the baby was only 3 months old. I had to balance all their needs. It was worth it all, since now both my boys are big reptile lovers! It's not easy taking care of two kids the baby has had many medical problems along the way (doing much better now) three beardies, 2 cats (one with asthma and the other is blind) and a crazy aussie mix who thinks he has to protect the kids at all times, a husband and a part time job.

I guess my point in writing this is it can be done. Try to balance everything, that boy needs and deserves your love and care. It will cost you to replace lights, food, and new bedding (indoor/outdoor carpet works great and you can get a very large pc from Lowes and make many pices for about $22) I take it you are a guy, does your wife like him? Will she handle him at all, or at the very least feed him daily and you take care of the lovin'? And when your baby is old enough S/He can help with all of this. My 4 year old has always had to help take care of his pets. Now I don't make him do it all, but feeding the dog & cats are his job and helping to clean cages he has to do.

Best of luck to you and sorry this is so long.

I truly appreciate your reply. I had all the same thoughts going through my head as well when we were expecting our daughter. I used to have ssooo many more pets and have been slowly getting new homes for them.

We used to have 3 dogs, we now have 2. We used to have 2 sugar gliders, I found homes for those when I was still pregnant. We used to have 4 fish tanks, we're now down to one. We used to have an african grey parrot but we lost her before we got married and had the baby... She passed away from teflon gas poisoning (it broke my heart) but the point is our pet 'collection' has been greatly reduced over the last 2,3 years and now I'm also feeling like I'm making myself give up too much. I don't feel right without having pets. what'll be next, the dogs?

One of the biggest things I have on my "keep him" list is that i think my daughter would appreciate reptiles more if she grew up with one. But none of that means a hoot if he's not getting cared for properly.

I work full time, so does my husband. (I'm the wife)
He does most of the work with the dogs. He buys their food, feeds them everyday, maintains their large water jug, and does their montly meds. We both do the bathing and I take care of vet visits. The dragon is all me.. I will need to feed, soak, keep track of the lights, etc, etc.. It doesn't *sound* impossible to do but my priorities once I get home is baby baby baby and ME time if I can get some in.

I still haven't talked to my cousin about this. I'm still undecided.. but your reply has given me more to think about.
thanks.

I really wish you the best of luck with this! I'm sorry about the gender confusion too, lol. My husband does nothing with any of our pets. And I really mean that, he doesn't do a thing with them. He didn't want them so he wont work for them (well when I had the kids he did do all their care) lol. I understand about your parrot, We had an orange winged amazon that I rescuded (I worked for an Vet for 5 years) He went through 14 years of major neglect and I only had him for 3 years before those 14 yrs cought up to him and he died. My oldest son was 4 months when "Data" died, But that's another story, very sorry about your loss. I can understand your problem with working full time, that would make it very hard with a young baby. Best of luck & keep me posted on what you decide to do.

It really doesn't take much time to care properly for a bearded dragon. There is no need to give him daily soaks, I don't for mine and she goes regularly and is fully hydrated and healthy. Soaking should only be done if they are showing signs of dehydration, haven't gone to the bathroom for more than a few days, or are dirty and need a bath.

Bearded dragons get their moisture from the food they eat which is why it's important to feed fresh greens daily for adult dragons and insects 2-3 times a week. Pellets though handy are dry and don't contain no where near the moisture content of greens or insects. Soaking them in water helps but I realy don't think they can hold enough without turning into a pile of mush.

If you can take 5 minutes in the morning to give mixed greens to your dragon then that would drastically improve his condition. I always wash and chop greens so I have enough to last a few days before making a new batch. Since I have guinea pigs to feed as well (and happily enough they eat the same kinds of greens for the most part) I make enough to feed them as well so I don't have much if any waste. I work 12 hour shifts but can feed and take care of my pets on my schedule easily enough.

Plastic table cloth or non stick shelf liner make a better substrate than reptile carpet simplely because they are much much easier to spot clean. Carpet will absorb all the fluids and ick from poo and the poo isn't easy to pick up with smearing it in to the carpet. This means you have to wash the carpet completely every week or two depending on how often he goes. Non stick shelf liner/plastic table cloth doesn't absorb the poo so you can pick it up completely with paper towels and wash the spot with an anti-bacterial soap (non scented) then dry the spot with another paper towel. Plastic table cloth can be thrown out and replaced every month where nonstick shelf liner can be washed, sterilized and let aired out then put back in (best to have two pieces of the shelf liner so when one is being cleaned the other can be in the tank). This certainly cuts down on cleaning time.

tell her the truth... just tell her youve decided you love the dragon too much too get rid of it.
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sincerely,
Jonathan D. de Kluyver
JDDK Reptiles
Quality Reptiles and Amphibianswww.jddkreptiles.com