Mr Lizard is a 5 year old male beardie who was owned by a truly oblivious owner who insisted that he was very healthy.
Ay yi yi. Not even close.
Mr Lizard was kept in a 20 gallon tank filled with poop coated sand and with a heat rock that burned his wrists.
So let me show you pics of the "healthy" beardie:
This is his worst wrist infection. It had a thick sand-encrusted scab on it and his arm is filled with pus. The owners didn't believe it and so I flicked the scab off and let the pus and blood ooze out.
His tail and vent are black with poop. I soaked him in the bath and then scrubbed his underside with a baby toothbrush and washcloth.
His lips are deformed and were crusted with sand, old food, and poop. The owner insisted his face was just messy from eating fruit.
His wrist is swollen with a mass of pus.
His body is skinny and discolored.
This is his second wrist infection. It is not as bad as the first, but still bad. The owner hadn't taken him out recently and didn't even notice.
Mr Lizard will be given antibiotic shots for a month along with twice a day scrubbings of his wounds. We'll see how much he is able to heal before we explore the possibility of surgically removing the dead and diseased tissue in his arms. Plus he'll get good nutrition and a clean tank and good care. He should be back up to actually being healthy by the end of the year.
Just some final advice:
NO sand!!! NO heat rocks!!! NO green lettuce as the diet!!! NO small tanks!
