Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am babysitting a friend's adult male bearded dragon. She is selling her home and her realtor suggested she find a temporary home for the dragon when prospective home buyers visit. Anyways, I am taking care of the dragon for the next two weeks. I have experience with herps (geckos, sand boas, carpet pythons, ball pythons, and a chameleon) but this is my first time taking care of a bearded dragon.

I believe this dragon is thin. I weighed him today after soaking him and he weighs about 250 grams soaking wet. I can see the pelvic bones sticking out. His length from the tip of the snout to the tip of his tail is about 17 inches. His snout to vent length is about 8 inches. How much should a dragon this size weigh? I believe the dragon is at least 2 years old.

I've had him about a week. He seems to eat about 5-6 adult crickets a day. He eats about 5-10 superworms a day. I offer romaine lettuce each day with cucumber, apple, banana, or sweet potato, but I don't think he eats much of this. When I drop in 5-6 calcium powder coated crickets he seems mildly interested and will eat 1 or 2 right away, but seems to ignore the rest. I leave the rest in there in hopes that he'll eat them later. The superworms are left in a glass bowl. He'll reach in and gobble these throughout the day. The greens are offered on a paper plate. Water in a shallow dish is also offered all the time. How much should an adult be eating?

His cage is a 20 gallon long glass tank. I believe it is 30"x12"x12" (lxwxh). (Yes, I know this is small for an adult) On one end there is a 60 watt ceramic heat emitter on 24/7. I just measured the temp of this basking area at 108 degrees. The cool end of the cage is room temp which has been from 63-71 degrees this week. Along the top of the cage is a Exo-Terra Repti-glo 8.0 UV bulb. I don't know when this bulb was last replaced. My friend had been using alfalfa pellets as a substrate. I removed all of it and have used newspaper.

The dragon has pooped every other day. How often should they poop? He also always poops on the plate of vegetables. Perhaps he doesn't like what I'm offering.

I wasn't sure if he was hydrated so I've soaked him every other day in a water tub. I did see him put his head under and drink the second time.

I've attached some pictures (body, head, pelvic shots). From the 3rd photo it may be hard to see the pelvic bones, but they are visible in person. From the photos you can also see missing toes and a growth on the kinked tail. A vet had checked this growth and said it was not cancerous. I'm guessing there was a wound on the tail and the skin started scabbing over it and grew and grew. After today's soaking I was able to rub some of this skin off. I've also attached a head shot. From one of the posts on this forum, someone mentioned a fat body behind the eyes. I'm not sure exactly what to look for. Does this dragon have it?

Thanks for reading this long and wordy post. What I need are some suggestions on how to fatten this dragon up and what I need are any suggestions you might offer to better help me take care of this dragon. Thanks ahead of time.

Ken

This animal looks completly malnurished. I'd reccomend buying a product called Jump Start, by ESU. It's a pasty substance that you might have to force feed the dragon. If you're not sure how old the UVB bulbs are, but you don't wanna buy a new one, i'd take the dragon outside for maybe an hour everyday, to get the benifits of natural sunlight.

Also, how do the stools seem? Are they runny? Do they smell god awful? This dragon could potentialy have internal parasites aswell. You might want to take it to a vet that sees exotics, and they'll most likely do a fecal exam, to determine if parasites are playing a role in this sick beardie. These can be quite costly tho, so i'd ask the actual owner of the BD to pay fully for it.
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Pagona Vetticeps)
0.0.1 Gold Dust Day Gecko (Phelsuma Laticauda Laticauda)
1.0.0 Yellow Saharan Uromastyx (Uromastyx geryi)
0.0.1 Crested Gecko (Rhacodactylus ciliatus)
0.0.2 Longtail Lizards (Takydromus sexlineatus)
2.0.0 Bettas (Dark and Light Blue)
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www.funnymanreptiles.com

Thanks for the feedback.

The dragon did eat about 5 crickets this morning. I put in about 7 more but then he seemed to ignore these. I hope he'll eat these later today. He does have an appetite somewhat.

The stools are not too runny. They are a little wet and looser than my geckos and chameleon's poop. I will suggest to my friend she might consider doing a fecal exam in the future.

Currently the dragon is a bag of bones with some appetite for insects. Better than no appetite at all.

Thanks again.

sorry but "in the future" may not be soon enough for this guy . He looks like he's at the point were he can either be treated and possably saved or her can go down hill very quikly
If your wooried about cost an fecal and medication for pasasited shouldn't cost much maybe call your freind and ask If they'll pay you back

That dragon is very underweight. The fat pads on his head are actually sunken in, when they should be noticable mounds. I can see the pelvic bones sticking out quite easily in the picture. That growth on the tail looks very unusual. I think it should be surgically removed, as I am sure it puts unusual pressure against the tail spine.

Romaine isn't a very good green to offer. The rest of the vegetables are fine but add collard greens,dandilion greens, mustard greens, endive or escaroli to the mix. These should be stable greens offered ever day, don't need to have all of them but at least two is good, plus the other greens you are offering, except romaine. Adult dragons don't need much insects so the amount given is fine, though I would switch the superworms with silkworms or roaches, as these are much more healthy.

I suspect he is about a 100g underweight. My 19" female weighed about 400g and other dragons of that size typically are at least 300g if not more. The cage as you already guessed, is way to small for an adult dragon, it should be at least a 50gal long, or 4'x2'x2'. Other than the uvb light, are there any other light sources? The ceramic heat emitter really should be replaced by a regular household bulb, probably about 60-75Watts to keep the basking temp between 95-115F. Also, the light intensity provided by the basking bulb, is better for the dragon. The cool side temps are a bit low, especially if it's 61F at night. It's good to keep it above 65F at night, if possible. Otherwise, the dragon may think it's time to brumate.

The ceramic heat emitter can be used to keep the tank temperatures from getting too cold, but all lights should be off for at 10-14 hours a day.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'll see if I can replace the ceramic heat emitter with an incandescent bulb in the daytime. I agree that the bulb's intensity will benefit the dragon. I'll still use the CHE at night though.

I'm going to the Farmer's Market today (hope they're open on Christmas) and we'll try to pick up some of the greens you mentioned. I don't know what collard greens or mustard greens even look like

As for the fat pads, you mentioned they were sunken in. Where should they be located? Should they be on top of the head?

Thanks again.

Ken

I believe the fat pads he is talking about are the ones just behind the eyes, just before the neck.
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------Misty-------
5.12 Corn Snakes --- 1.0 Tokay Gecko
2.1 King Snakes --- 1.0 House Gecko
1.2 leopard Geckos --- 1.0 Golden Tegu
1.1 Bearded Dragon --- 0.0.1 Savanna Monitor
1.1 Green Iguana --- 0.0.1 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Crocodile Gecko --- 1.1 False Water Cobras
1.1 Jungle Corn --- 1.0 Ball Python
0.1 Kenya Sand Boa --- 0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.1 Emperor Scorpions --- 3.0 Ferrets
1.1 Congo African Grey (parrot)--- 0.1 dog
0.0.3 Prairie Ringneck Snakes --- 1.0 blue tongue skink
1.2 rats babies --- always changing # of mice(snake food)

i just rescued a beardie from a friend that looked just like that one. He was in worse shape though, could hardly hold his head up. i started him out on babyfoodmixed with reptivite, and kept him hydrated. now he's one of my studs. hope this helps

In my case the rescue dragon was malnourished AND LOADED with parasites! The fecal cost $20 (vet asked to see her for free) and the meds were under $10. Her previous 'owners' housed her in too small of a tank and offered her little nutritious food, NO UVB light and no supplements--her toes are permanently fused because of the neglect).

I syringe fed her babyfood (First Foods chicken) and also gave her Parazap tea. After the dose of her meds I also supplemented with acidophilus to build back the good bacteria in the gut the meds killed along with the parasites.

When I took her in she was a 3 yo German Giant (23 inches long) and weighed just over 250 grams. She now weighs over 600 grams!

Your friends dragon is NOT healthy--because it looks alert it has a good chance of being 'saved' if help is given quickly. A 20 gallon is WAY TOO SMALL for an adult (probably adding additional stress). It needs immediate vet attention--at least take a fresh poop sample (fecal) in to be tested. Switch to healthier greens and stay away from fruit until it is in better shape. Try to find/order silkworms--they are wonderful for sick dragons (and healthy ones too!).

Scroll down a few posts and look at the pictures posted...you should notice the 'fat pads' on the top of the head and the fat healthy bellies and tail bases.

Good luck!
DM