Found a dragon in my backyard

[Liz01]

I found a dragon in my backyard about a 10 days ago. We have not been successful in finding her owner. I have been caring for her meantime. I have no way of knowing her history, age, etc...I do know she will not eat greens. I make her a mixed veggies and try all kinds off the list of veggies for bearded dragons. She is often sleeping and laying around. She poops daily and is drinking water. She eats wax worms and crickets. Does she look thin? Her belly looks saggy and bloated...is this normal?

 

[Liz01]

 

[MikePhoneJunkie]

I found a dragon in my backyard about a 10 days ago. We have not been successful in finding her owner. I have been caring for her meantime. I have no way of knowing her history, age, etc...I do know she will not eat greens. I make her a mixed veggies and try all kinds off the list of veggies for bearded dragons. She is often sleeping and laying around. She poops daily and is drinking water. She eats wax worms and crickets. Does she look thin? Her belly looks saggy and bloated...is this normal? View attachment 18382

I am not an expert but she seems very unhealthy. Do you have her temperature at 90-102 Fahrenheit? Also can you give her some good UVB 10.0 and some calcium supplements? I would feed her good on crickets and hopefully get her to eat greens.


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[Liz01]

Yes I have uva and uvb, right temp, calcium, etc...

 

[Hdrydr31]

For being outside she doesn't look that bad..It is likely she has parasites from eating bugs from the outdoors.. The first picture I think it's the position she's in.. If you plan on keeping her I would have her seen by an exotic vet and have a fecal sample done..she could be gravid?? that may add to her bloated belly (do you feel anything in her belly like eggs?) If so take a look at the links below several of our comments as we've put together a ton of info for general care.. As any colored lighting affects their eyes and if on at night doesn't allow them to really sleep..You can take the moss out or she may eat it.. If that is a heat rock go ahead and take it out as they can't feel heat on their bellies and will burn themselves, they are desert critters and only sense heat from the sun above. Hence the tube style UVB (most of us use Reptisun T5 HO 10.0's) and a basking bulb for the heat above..
Just keep offering the greens daily for her to nibble on throughout the day, wax worms are like beardie crack so make sure you limit how many you are giving..
excited to hear how she does..

 

[Liz01]

Thank you for the info. I took the moss out and the heat rock about a week ago. Good to know about the wax worms! If the red bulb bothers their eyes, what type of heat lamp do I use for night time? Do I use a white basking bulb for daytime and then a ceramic heater for night? Thanks!

 

[Vic]

Thank you for the info. I took the moss out and the heat rock about a week ago. Good to know about the wax worms! If the red bulb bothers their eyes, what type of heat lamp do I use for night time? Do I use a white basking bulb for daytime and then a ceramic heater for night? Thanks!

Yes, use a ceramic bulb for the night, it emits heat but no light so they can sleep.

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[Vic]

Thank you for the info. I took the moss out and the heat rock about a week ago. Good to know about the wax worms! If the red bulb bothers their eyes, what type of heat lamp do I use for night time? Do I use a white basking bulb for daytime and then a ceramic heater for night? Thanks!

Also with the greens issue, try to give her fruit as well as an alternate. That may get her eating. My guy likes his basil and arugula. That usually gets him eating. I put some calcium powder on the greens and that usually also gets my bearding to eat his greens.

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[Hdrydr31]

Just keep a bowl of greens in there along with some squash (like butternut, yellow, zuc, acorn) as far as fruit you need to be careful how much you give as they don't need the sugar but giving them a few like blueberries, strawberries isn't going to hurt..my younger male loves blackberries!! You can get bee pollen and sprinkle it on their salads and that will sometimes get them going on eating..bonus it's really good for them.

Basking bulbs: you can use zoomeds white light basking bulbs, I use regular light bulbs in metal chicken brooder fixtures (ceramic base) some use flood lights..just play around with the watts to get your temps (I have 40gal breeder tanks and I use a 50watt.. Then the Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 for their UVB make sure you overlap the 2 some as they have to have both to properly digest and absorb the nutrients and converting the supplements. They don't need any heat at night and as long as it doesn't get below 65F they are fine and actually need the temp drop to kinda "reset" their bodies... If it drops below that then yes use a CHE at night.

 

[Tanner]

I can't people are just letting bearded dragons out? That's crazy!

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[PatsyB]

I commented on your other post but since everyone is commenting here I just wanted to add something. Try sprinkling his greens with bee pollen. Some picky eaters will devour their salad if it has bee pollen on it. Plus it's very healthy for them.

 

[Noella]

Vet her.

 

[Tanner]

Update?

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[Birdey]

How is she doing?