I just discovered that a second of my 14 bearded dragons have Atadenovirus, a highly contagious and deadly virus. I'm heartbroken. My first beardie with it, Nubs, was put down last month after his internal bleeding wouldn't stop.
My rescue is on total lockdown. I cannot take in any reptiles and can't send out any reptiles until they are tested by my vet. Each test costs $65 each. Today I was able to test 4 of the 12 (the ones who I'm in the process of adopting out and it cost over $250!!) It's going to take awhile to get all of them tested. But I can't adopt out any beardies until I know they are not carrying the virus. My two beardies that were to be shipped tomorrow are now on hold-- I will not knowingly or ignorantly spread this disease. I'd feel horrible.
I'm not going to be able to take in or adopt out any more reptiles (especially beardies) for a couple months. I don't know what I'll do if more test positive. I won't be able to adopt them out. It's a bit of a nightmare. It started last month with Nubs and I've tried really hard to avoid it, but today I got back Milo's results and there's no avoiding it. As far as I know, none of my other reptiles are susceptible to it (I'll doubecheck with my vet though), but since I'm already overloaded and now can't adopt out any, I just need to stay at the level I have.
Click HERE to read more about Atadenovirus.
(I just reread this post. Not my best writing. Ugh. Sorry! I'll still post updates and such, but there won't be any newbies for awhile.)
