Nursing a starved beardie

[Melissa Martin]

So I was unexpectedly given a bearded dragon several months ago by my ex boyfriend when we broke up. I have been in and out of the hospital handling issues with anxiety and a mood disorder, the breakup was ugly and basically I lost my mind.

During this nightmare the poor bearded dragon Sasha wasn't taken good care of. I have slowly been working to remedy that. She is currently in a 20L tank with a carpet thing for substrate, purchased at the petstore. Her tank stays at 85-90 degrees during the day and around 75 at night in her cool area. I have realized I made a mistake by feeding her superworms and plan on giving her a bath and some iceburg lettuce to help with the constipation. I also plan on watching her closely. I've looked up her diet and want to change it to a better one, I also plan on putting a larger water bowl in her tank as well as giving her a bath everyday once she can be bathed that often. I just don't know what to do to help with weight she may have lost and deficiencies I might have caused. I can't afford to take her to the vet sadly. She is a year and a half old and about a foot and a half long tip to tail

 

[Hdrydr31]

Welcome to the forum,
Sorry to hear about things. If you could post a picture of Sasha that would help us to see how she looks. I would get her a bigger tank like a 40gal breeder. As a 20L just isn't big enough for an adult to move around and to get a temp gradient.. You may want to bump up the temp a bit being careful to watch how she responds.
I would make the switch to a better staple feeder like Dubia, silkworms, BSFL, crickets. For greens I would say collards, dandelion, mustard, turnip greens.. If she is constipated you can give her some pure canned pumpkin either licked off a spoon or in a slurry out of a syringe..
I would avoid a water bowl as they don't typically recognize standing water as a drinking source. and in such a small tank it will only raise the humidity causing respiratory issues..
What supplements have you been giving?

 

[Melissa Martin]

Welcome to the forum,
Sorry to hear about things. If you could post a picture of Sasha that would help us to see how she looks. I would get her a bigger tank like a 40gal breeder. As a 20L just isn't big enough for an adult to move around and to get a temp gradient.. You may want to bump up the temp a bit being careful to watch how she responds.
I would make the switch to a better staple feeder like Dubia, silkworms, BSFL, crickets. For greens I would say collards, dandelion, mustard, turnip greens.. If she is constipated you can give her some pure canned pumpkin either licked off a spoon or in a slurry out of a syringe..
I would avoid a water bowl as they don't typically recognize standing water as a drinking source. and in such a small tank it will only raise the humidity causing respiratory issues..
What supplements have you been giving?

She so kindly posed for me this morning after she woke up, she is moving around her cage again. Didn’t do much when I bathed her but drank water and seemed relaxed, no color change or puffing up at me. I can’t afford a 40 for a bit, I just don’t have $300 to spend on a tank right now. That will be early November, and I plan on getting a nice setup so she has a good adult tank for a while. I’m also going to look online at some craigslist or eBay sites for a used one I can buy that’s not as expensive to get her in a good tank sooner. Where can I get those greens? I’ve never seen them in the store.

She never eaten supplements as long as I’ve had her or my ex. Maybe at the pet store? I know now that’s bad what would be a good one to start her on?

 

[BeardedHippy]

hi, you need 3 different suppliments. Calcium powder, insects and/or veggies need to be dusted in this 4 times a week. Also a calcium +d3, 2 times a week and finally a multivitamin once. You can buy calcium +d3 and combined multivitamin, makes life a bit easier.
Most supermarkets should sell collard greens if not the others, I would ask in store.