Brought a baby home to hopefully save

[Cori]

As some of you remember I work at Petco. We get a lot of animals delivered to us already sick and the store pays for whatever treatment is needed. Yesterday we noticed a baby had sand in his eye (store is required to use sand unfortunately) so I was soaking him and trying to flush his eye out. We realized he wouldn't put his head down, he kept looking straight up. Also seeemed very disoriented.

One expensive vet appt later: he either has a major calcium deficiency, neurological damage due to infection or the most likely is adenovirus. So he gets eye drops twice a day to treat his swollen eyes, calcium supplement once a day and antibiotics every other day. We're basically treating him for everything.

Petco employees may love animals but most of my co-workers don't love reptiles so I know he isn't going to get all the extra attention he needs like being hand fed. We just don't have the time for that during the day.

So I took the little guy home. Trying not to get attached to him since I know he his chances of surviving are slim, but he still has some fight left in him. So as long as he's willing I'm gonna do all I can to help him. His name is Squirt.

Please keep lil Squirt in your thoughts and send good vibes his way.

This is how he sits all day [emoji17]

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[Eavlynn]

Poor baby. Get some calcium with D in him and put UVB on him ASAP, the long tube style, not the coil style of course. I'd keep the UVB on for 12 to 13 hours a day, regardless of the season due to his current issues. He needs the light more than a natural light cycle right now. If hypocalcemia is the sole cause of his issues, he may make a full recovery. If tests show that he has other issues going on, only time will tell.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Cori]

Trying not to get too excited but I call this progress. One eye is open now he seems more active today, and his head is lower. The vet gave him a calcium injection but said calcium was the least likely issue since he hadn't shown improvement yet and they normally do when she gave us an update.

But he looks much happier this morning.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[BrookeE]

Good vibes sent your way!!! Its an amazing thing youre doing for him.

 

[Eavlynn]

His deficiency was really severe, there's no such thing as quick progress in a scenario like this. His progress from this photo to the last is miraculous, and I feel pretty hopeful for your little baby

Do you have any UVB light on him?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Cori]

UVB is on him, but at night I have a purple light on. I know this is bad but a CHE would cook him since he's in a half 10 gallon right now. Its an 10 gallon but the height is cut in half. He was having trouble with his balance yesterday so I didn't wanna give him room to climb and fall. Any better ideas for heat? Cause I've never seen a low watt CHE.

Filled his bowl twice with worms today so far. He's eaten around 20 all on his own!

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[Eavlynn]

I have some 40 watt CHEs that I ordered online. A local shop sells them as well, but none of the big box stores. I keep mine on thermostats to regulate temps. So long as your temps don't fall below 65, you don't really need a night time heat source.

I'd be careful feeding mealworms (I'm assuming you mean mealworms) to a baby that's not completely healthy. They're really high in chitin and can be difficult to digest. In some cases, they have caused impaction. I feed dubia roaches, red runner roaches, and greens. Crickets will do as well, they're just noisy and high maintenance, so I boycott them.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Cori]

Right now he is on mealworms since I wasn't planning on taking him home at all. So this week I'm going to order dubia. Might try him on wax worms since he's so skinny too

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[Mom2Dovakiin]

Prayers go out to him for full healing.
You are awesome to do this knowing the risks, not sure I'd be able to handle that.

 

[Cori]

I keep telling myself he probably won't make it. But I'm hopeful. He'll have a home and be loved while he's here

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[Eavlynn]

Right now he is on mealworms since I wasn't planning on taking him home at all. So this week I'm going to order dubia. Might try him on wax worms since he's so skinny too

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Wax worms are good if he'll eat them. I've tried them with my two older beardies, but my Mushu was the only one that showed any interest in them and even then it was a mild interest. Once you get some dubia on hand, your little dude should start putting on some size pretty quickly. All three of my beardies adore their dubia.

Try not to think the worst. Beardies are incredibly resilient. He may surprise you He's already made some great progress in the short time he's been with you.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Jess]

As some of you remember I work at Petco. We get a lot of animals delivered to us already sick and the store pays for whatever treatment is needed. Yesterday we noticed a baby had sand in his eye (store is required to use sand unfortunately) so I was soaking him and trying to flush his eye out. We realized he wouldn't put his head down, he kept looking straight up. Also seeemed very disoriented.

One expensive vet appt later: he either has a major calcium deficiency, neurological damage due to infection or the most likely is adenovirus. So he gets eye drops twice a day to treat his swollen eyes, calcium supplement once a day and antibiotics every other day. We're basically treating him for everything.

Petco employees may love animals but most of my co-workers don't love reptiles so I know he isn't going to get all the extra attention he needs like being hand fed. We just don't have the time for that during the day.

So I took the little guy home. Trying not to get attached to him since I know he his chances of surviving are slim, but he still has some fight left in him. So as long as he's willing I'm gonna do all I can to help him. His name is Squirt.

Please keep lil Squirt in your thoughts and send good vibes his way.

This is how he sits all day [emoji17]

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

You should look

As some of you remember I work at Petco. We get a lot of animals delivered to us already sick and the store pays for whatever treatment is needed. Yesterday we noticed a baby had sand in his eye (store is required to use sand unfortunately) so I was soaking him and trying to flush his eye out. We realized he wouldn't put his head down, he kept looking straight up. Also seeemed very disoriented.

One expensive vet appt later: he either has a major calcium deficiency, neurological damage due to infection or the most likely is adenovirus. So he gets eye drops twice a day to treat his swollen eyes, calcium supplement once a day and antibiotics every other day. We're basically treating him for everything.

Petco employees may love animals but most of my co-workers don't love reptiles so I know he isn't going to get all the extra attention he needs like being hand fed. We just don't have the time for that during the day.

So I took the little guy home. Trying not to get attached to him since I know he his chances of surviving are slim, but he still has some fight left in him. So as long as he's willing I'm gonna do all I can to help him. His name is Squirt.

Please keep lil Squirt in your thoughts and send good vibes his way.

This is how he sits all day [emoji17]

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

this looks like what's called "stargazing" or Atadenovirus. Hop the baby is doing better.

 

[Cori]

Adenovirus is one of the things the vet listed as a possibility. To my knowledge stargazers is something snakes get. Not beardies. But maybe I'm wrong on that.

I'm starting to think the head back is pain or stress related though. He only does it now when he gets his eye drops which he of course hates. During the day his head is at more normal angles. And it's never gone as far back since I posted that pic; which was right after I took him home after the vet and being in the stores sick room. So all the scenery changes even without the vet exam and a shot he got while at the vet had to have been stressful.

Everyday (so all of 2 days) he's gotten more active and tonight both eyes were open for the first time, and they looked normal. Got dubia so he'll get those tomorrow since they came pretty late today. We'll see how much he loves those. He was living with up to 7 other babies at the store so maybe he just never got to eat and that lead to his issues. Getting more optimistic by the day

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[Jess]

Awwww well I hope it works out for you guys! I was looking up stuff tonight because of my beardie and being worried and the first pic looked like ones I saw tonight. Hopefully it's just getting the drops and looking at things differently. I'm sure he'll love the dubias! Good luck! Keep us updated

 

[Eavlynn]

So glad that he continues to do better! Pet stores are rough on babies, community housing is stressful, they don't get all of the protein and nutrients they need, and the UVB bulbs are typically long overdue to be changed. I'm glad they let you take him home. The stores around here don't like to release the animals for any reason, they just die in the sick room if the vet wasn't able to help. But Squirt has a new lease on life

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Cori]

Squirt is getting stronger everyday. No miraculous leaps like we had the first few days but he's getting more active and social. Poor kid though, almost every time I get him out it's to do eye drops or give him yucky meds. He's starting to fight the meds, which is awesome to see he has the strength for but now it's harder to administer them. So it's a double edged sword.

He's loving the dubia and will jump in his bowl to eat them all. We're doing weekly weigh ins so we'll see if he gains anything by the end of the week. He's currently 6 grams

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[Eavlynn]

I knew he could make it! I'm so proud of little Squirt before you know it he'll be healthy and problem free.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[PatsyB]

Please, please, please, practice good husbandry. Be very careful handling him and your other animals in your collection. ADV or stargazing, is VERY contageous. Don't touch your other animals without washing your hands, don't use the same tools, don't share uneaten feeder bugs. I have a good friend that brought a baby home with ADV and didn't know and she passed it on to her other beardie. It's been a struggle for them but they are both still alive and it's been over a year now.

There is a good ADV dragon group on FB and there is special ADV testing that can be done to properly diagnosis it.

 

[Eavlynn]

Did you ever have Squirt tested for ADV, just to rule it out?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Cori]

Squirt likes to sleep in weird places/positions. He gained a whole gram!!! He's a whopping 7 grams now

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk