Sonic
New Member
Hi everyone,
I'm new to these forums and just looking for some general advice for my new beardy. I've had a bluey previously but, this is my first dragon.
My beardie is basically a rescue. He's around 8 and has lived a pretty bad life. I took him off a 'friend' after the bluey he was kept with starved to death and I've had him for around a month now. He was very poorly and infrequently fed,hasn't had a uv light for god knows how long, nor has he had a heat lamp or calcium etc for at least 3 months (some people should be shot). He was very skinny and a dull grey when I got him and he's put on a lot of weight and is a gorgeous bright orange/deep purple colour now but there are still a few things I am concerned with.
I believe he has moderate mbd from his mistreatment, as I can see his spine along his tail. It doesn't appear to bother him, he has full use and feeling and no painful parts that I can tell. Other that ensuring he gets plenty of uv and calcium, is there any special care needed for beardies with MBD?
He has put on a lot of weight and his stool is of a good consistency, he's on a diet of daily greens (capsicum, rocket, broccoli, brussle sprouts, kale, zucchini etc), a couple of meal worms once a week and crickets every 2-3 days. Given he was eating very little, is there anything special I should or shouldn't feed him?
He loves it outside in the sun and (provided the weather is nice) he has an outside tank with a cage lid and 1/2 shade, 1/2 sunlight that he goes in for a few hours a day on the weekends and 30min or during the week. Considering he's not had a uv light for god knows how long, should I be limiting his exposure to natural sun light at all or is the longer, the better?
His light goes off round 9 or 10 pm (whenever he goes to bed) and I put it back on around 6:30am. Sometimes he sleeps 1/2 the day, sometimes he's up and about by 5am. I've left him to his own sleeping pattern. Should I instead be forcing him up and about?
His behaviour seems fine now, he's happy, he explores, he loves running round the house and tasting everything. The only 2 things that really concern me are that he has very bad depth perception (apparently he's always been like this) and takes 3 or 4 goes to get a meal worm and needs to be hand fed (with thongs) crickets, otherwise, even if they've been in the fridge, he can only catch 1 in 10 and take takes him a good 6 or 7 goes. Is that normal in beardies or could that be cause for concern?
The other thing is, when i got him, I notice a piece of skin from the bottom of his tail missing, another piece shed off when I held him the next day. Leaving a 5cm by 2cm piece of his tail with no top layer. You can see the next layer of skin underneath but it's certainly not developed. Its a saw dust type colour and very hard. The skin around it could very easily be peeled off the bottom 1/2 of his tail (which I've obviously not done) and little bits pull off when he drags his tail on his log etc. I don't know whether I'm just being an over protective parent and, now he's getting proper care, it will improve in time or whether it is something that needs to be looked into. I can provide a photo if that would help?
Any advice or assistance would be amazing. Thank you for reading this verbose little story and thanks in advance for the help
I'm new to these forums and just looking for some general advice for my new beardy. I've had a bluey previously but, this is my first dragon.
My beardie is basically a rescue. He's around 8 and has lived a pretty bad life. I took him off a 'friend' after the bluey he was kept with starved to death and I've had him for around a month now. He was very poorly and infrequently fed,hasn't had a uv light for god knows how long, nor has he had a heat lamp or calcium etc for at least 3 months (some people should be shot). He was very skinny and a dull grey when I got him and he's put on a lot of weight and is a gorgeous bright orange/deep purple colour now but there are still a few things I am concerned with.
I believe he has moderate mbd from his mistreatment, as I can see his spine along his tail. It doesn't appear to bother him, he has full use and feeling and no painful parts that I can tell. Other that ensuring he gets plenty of uv and calcium, is there any special care needed for beardies with MBD?
He has put on a lot of weight and his stool is of a good consistency, he's on a diet of daily greens (capsicum, rocket, broccoli, brussle sprouts, kale, zucchini etc), a couple of meal worms once a week and crickets every 2-3 days. Given he was eating very little, is there anything special I should or shouldn't feed him?
He loves it outside in the sun and (provided the weather is nice) he has an outside tank with a cage lid and 1/2 shade, 1/2 sunlight that he goes in for a few hours a day on the weekends and 30min or during the week. Considering he's not had a uv light for god knows how long, should I be limiting his exposure to natural sun light at all or is the longer, the better?
His light goes off round 9 or 10 pm (whenever he goes to bed) and I put it back on around 6:30am. Sometimes he sleeps 1/2 the day, sometimes he's up and about by 5am. I've left him to his own sleeping pattern. Should I instead be forcing him up and about?
His behaviour seems fine now, he's happy, he explores, he loves running round the house and tasting everything. The only 2 things that really concern me are that he has very bad depth perception (apparently he's always been like this) and takes 3 or 4 goes to get a meal worm and needs to be hand fed (with thongs) crickets, otherwise, even if they've been in the fridge, he can only catch 1 in 10 and take takes him a good 6 or 7 goes. Is that normal in beardies or could that be cause for concern?
The other thing is, when i got him, I notice a piece of skin from the bottom of his tail missing, another piece shed off when I held him the next day. Leaving a 5cm by 2cm piece of his tail with no top layer. You can see the next layer of skin underneath but it's certainly not developed. Its a saw dust type colour and very hard. The skin around it could very easily be peeled off the bottom 1/2 of his tail (which I've obviously not done) and little bits pull off when he drags his tail on his log etc. I don't know whether I'm just being an over protective parent and, now he's getting proper care, it will improve in time or whether it is something that needs to be looked into. I can provide a photo if that would help?
Any advice or assistance would be amazing. Thank you for reading this verbose little story and thanks in advance for the help
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