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Rescuing an old and sick beardie, diet recommendations?

Larissa B

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
2
I recently adopted a beardie who has not had the proper temps, lights, or diet. His femoral pores are clogged, hes malnurished, extremely lethargic, hardly opens his eyes, no appetite. I have only spent the past 5 days with him so I dont know much about him or his history, except that he is blind in an eye and must be hand fed. I got him to eat and lift his head a couple days ago. He had a couple superworms and a few dusted crickets and some apple. I have some dandelion greens in fridge for him. He perked up after that meal, only breifly, enough to move to cool side of his tank. Apparently that is the most he's moved in a couple of months. We are getting to Winter season so he may be starting his brumation so its hard to judge why doesnt care for food, mix of neglect and the season im assuming. He will be brought to my house over next couple of days, and we will be upgrading his habitat in which I'm sure will be a bit stressful causing even less of an appetite. My friends say he seems to be gaining his colour back since I have been caring for him so am glad to hear that. He probably has a case of MBD as well, his front leg is a little janky and stiff, but no twitching and no lumps found so far.

Will have proper UV lights for him by tonight and only have a red basking lgiht at moment but will work on upgrading soon. From what I have read, getting his tank temps adjusted, getting him nutrients, and some baths should help.

Any advice on how else to help him, and a good feeding schedule to work up to!? He is around 6 years old
 

PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
It's going to be hard but don't let him brumate. Because of his condition, you don't want him to go to sleep, you want to get him healthier. Get some critical care or, I like to use Pangea crested gecko diet with bugs, and syringe feed it to him. Go easy with the protein right now, protein takes a lot of energy to digest and you don't want to overtax his system right away. Superworms are also high in fat so fed too many too fast could cause fatty liver disease. Crickets are good as well as some soft worms. Hornworms would be good to help get him hydrated and silk worms are good (if you can find them) because they are high in calcium and they contain a natural enzyme that helps with inflammation.

Sounds like he is already getting better in your care. Unfortunately the damage from MBD can't be repaired but it can be prevented from getting worse with all the right care. Once he settles in I would get a vet check, my guess is he probably has some parasites that will need to be treated and the vet can also advise you about the MBD.
 

Larissa B

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
2
Thank you so much, was gunna head to pet store and get them to order some hornworms for me. Great to know not to let him brumate. He was alert this morning as I was moving around in kitchen so took advantage of his eyes being open and got a few bites of food into him yay!
 
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