I've always loved animals and had many pets over the course of my life. I've also always loved helping people and animals to be better/happier/healthier. For a long time, I had on my "Bucket List" to own a pet cockatoo, but I wasn't sure that I could fully to commit to one. At the suggestion of my sweet husband about 7 years ago, I started volunteering with a local bird & parrot rescue and ended up fostering several dozen birds.
One problem-- my husband became highly allergic to the feathers. So I bowed out of it.
We had one bearded dragon (Lizzie, a boy) and a leopard gecko (Reginald) and I enjoyed them. We also were fostering a desert tortoise (Hermy) for the state of Utah. I wasn't a super big fan of snakes and most other reptiles, but that was okay.
In December of 2012, I found an ad for a free juvenile bearded dragon with an arm infection. I knew at least some info about beardies and I had a vet for my beardie so I decided to pick him up. We named him Nigel and ultimately spent over $5,000 trying to save his arm and then his life. A couple weeks later, I found a baby beardie in a sand tank at a local pet store who had an open bleeding wound on his foot where another baby had bitten it off. I could not get the poor baby out of mind.
Once I handled those two, I felt like maybe I could "advertise" a bit for taking in unwanted bearded dragons. Little did I know that I was stepping into a void in our local reptile market. Since there were few good options for reptiles, I was asked to take *EVERY* possible reptile. And I said "Yes."
I didn't start out knowing everything and learned as I went. I'd take in a sickly Savannah monitor and do a crash course on how to care for them. I learned techniques from my vet with every visit I made with yet another sickly reptile. In the beginning, I knew how to feed Lizzie (and not very well, I might add) and over time learned how to give antibiotics, tube feedings, injections, and even enemas. I still don't know everything, but I know that my vets will teach me along the way.
The first year of rescue cost me personally over $3,000. I knew I needed a way to earn money without just begging for donations all the time. At the suggestion of a friend, I sewed a pair of red felt dragon wings for $8 in March 2015. That began the amazing adventure called "Pampered Beardies" which now has sold to thousands of bearded dragons and reptiles and small animals over the world. It's been a fabulous way to fund my continuous vet bills (which cleared over $20,000 last year).
I'm currently working on a full length book on starting your own reptile rescue, but here are my beginning suggestions: Start small, use social media to ask for donations & rescues and to advertise your adoptables, be prepared to have your heart broken, and take breaks when you want to quit. When I get the book ready for publishing later this summer, I'll be sure to post all the links here.
Friday, April 27, 2018
Gout in Beardies-- a refresher
This is what I posted on Instagram this morning:
Gout in bearded dragons is becoming far more common and is a symptom of poorly functioning kidneys. It can be treated, but not cured. Normal beardie kidneys flush out extra proteins and uric acid; defective kidneys allow uric acid crystals into the blood stream where they collect in the joints. Gout causes excruciating pain for beardies because uric acid crystals are like tiny daggers that poke into sensitive joints with every movement. Gout first starts to collect in the lower extremities-- fingers & toes, ankles & wrists. As it overflows those areas, it starts to pool up in shoulders and hips. It essentially freezes the joints in place because it is too agonizing for the beardie to move them! A vet can actually make a tiny incision and squeeze the uric acid paste out (it is similar to beardie pus, but whiter).
This pic is a beardie I took in who could only move his head a slight amount; that was it. 😱 He was euthanized almost immediately to let him escape the pain he'd been living in. If you can catch gout early enough in an adult, you can control it by eliminating all protein from the beardie's diet. Supplements like black cherry and bee pollen can help, but there is only so much you can do for defective kidneys.
If a baby beardie has gout (which I'm seeing more & more), there's very little chance of success. 😔 A baby must have protein even though the protein will kill the weak kidneys. It's a losing battle & I've put down several. Sloppy breeding practices and terrible genes being passed on are creating thousands of baby beardies with early onset kidney disease being sold by national pet store chains.😠.
To effectively diagnose gout, a vet needs to take a blood test showing diminished kidney function and identify joint stiffness & swelling. Treatment plans are based on the age of the beardie. But PLEASE remember this--- you are NOT doing your beardie any favors by keeping them alive-- It hurts SO bad!!!
Metabolic Bone Disease- a quick refresher
Today's Lesson--
Here is a side by side comparison of two monitor lizard x-rays. The one of the left is the Nile monitor that the vet & I chose to euthanize yesterday; the one of the right is a random x-ray off the internet. Notice the difference in the bones?
Solid, dense, calcium-stable bones almost glow on x-rays. You can see their distinct edges and patterns. MBD bones are hollow, pitted, and almost invisible because of the lack of calcium.
There are parts of the Nile's x-ray where you cannot see his spine through because of the shadows of internal organs. But the sad thing is that the organs are *under* the spine. Under! And you still can't see it. You can also see multiple fractures and curves in the spine and legs that never would have healed.
Here's the hellish part about MBD-- a lizard's body MUST have calcium in its blood supply to survive. If there is not enough calcium being metabolized (coming into the body through the food and then converted into usable calcium through sunlight or adequately powerful UVB), the body will steal calcium from the bones. The bones start becoming weaker and weaker until they are rubbery like Jell-O. When they are that weakened, simple touching and holding will snap jaw bones; a small fall will shatter joints; a leg that is caught and then pulled loose will disintegrate.
A reptile must have enough digested calcium through high calcium foods (whole rat/mouse bodies, high calcium greens, or gut loaded & dusted insects). But all the calcium in the world will NOT prevent MBD if there is no way to absorb it. In the absence of direct sun, a UVB light is a necessity. It must be 18 inches or less above the area where the lizard is the most. It also needs to cover the majority of the area of the basking spot. The problem with coil UVB bulbs is that their radius is very small and often in a different place than where the lizard is. You can combine heat & UVB with a mercury vapor bulb or you can buy a long UVB tube to run the length of the tank.
MBD is a hellish way for a lizard to die. Some pet stores will call it "Cage paralysis" because a reptile loses the ability to control its limbs. It is painful because of frequent breaks and fractures.
PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH! Preventing MBD is FAR easier than trying to correct it. All the reptiles I have ever rescued with MBD who actually survived it had a significantly shorter lifespan.
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