Neville, Nigel's "brother," a new addition

Nigel was my very first rescue. He was small and sickly when I got him, but turned into a big & beautiful boy. See?

He had sandfire coloring and was a leatherback. He weighed over 500 grams.

I found this beardie on an online classified yesterday.

It was like seeing Nigel all over again! Maybe it's Nigel's brother! ;)

So...... I bought him today. (I know, I'm shaking my head). The owner used him as a breeder and warned me that he was fairly aggressive. I told him "Once you've had iguanas, the term 'aggressive' changes."

The lighting doesn't show how much his coloring is like Nigel's. Neville does have some grey-blue on his back that Nigel didn't have and he's not quite as big.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with him. But I have him now and will work on his niceness.

4 Years!!!

I LOVE Facebook! And my favorite part is the "On This Day" feature. I love to see what I posted over the last few years. 

Today Facebook reminded of a VERY important anniversary! 

Four years ago today, I rescued my very first bearded dragon!! 

Nigel was free. This is, of course, why he cost me over $1,000. ;) 

Nigel was #1. Today I rescued #161 and #162! Wow! 162 in 4 years. Let's not even talk about how much money it's cost me. I am positive I am over the $15,000 mark at the vet easily. Thank heavens for a prosperous Etsy shop that's helped me not be $30,000 or more in debt!! 

Four years! That's crazy to me! I have learned SO much in 4 years. I've ended up taking in turtles, tortoises, monitor lizards, chameleons, snakes of all kinds, iguanas, geckos, a frilled dragon, frogs, a tarantula, and all kinds of bearded dragons. 

I've had tanks in every room of the house -- "had?" I *have* tanks in every room! ;) I had to put a tank on the kitchen counter today because I don't have room for it on my shelves yet. I think I've bought at least 60 UVB bulbs too. Amazon and PetMountain LOVE me! 

I've been bitten by many beardies, a couple tortoises, a grumpy box turtle, a few small snakes, and a 10 foot long Burmese python. I've buried more critters than I ever thought possible. I've met people all over the world and helped dozens of people improve their beardies' lives. 

Thanks to all of you!! You're the best! 

Here's to another four years! 

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Sweet Nigel

Blast! Nigel was my first rescue and he was one of my favorites! And he completely & unexpectedly died today. 

Before his arm amputation-- 

Poor Nigel. My heart is broken for his beardie momma. She loved him greatly. He had a hard first year with a massive arm infection and then an amputation. Oh, but he was loved! Adored and cherished and loved. I wish all my beardies had such good owners. 

Even though he was sickly and had a bit of Metabolic Bone Disease, he still grew to German Giant size. He was beautiful! A large, bright orange leatherback. 

Sweet Nigel. Rest in peace with both your arms. Find Nubs and Lizzie and go chase bugs. 

<3 

Full Circle-- Nigel's Last Vet Visit

Isn't he gorgeous??  

Nigel had his last arm vet visit this morning. After a year of poking & prodding & scraping & infections & finally an amputation, Nigel's arm is healthy. He had his stitches removed on his stump. He's acting normal, he's eating great, and he's putting weight back on.

Nigel is where this whole crazy, draining, rewarding, expensive rescue process got started for me. He was my first "Free" beardie which means, of course, that he was the *most* expensive. :) He is gorgeous & healthy & loved to pieces now. He is a happy ending story, for sure.

Today he's hanging out with me while his momma is at school. He's going to be sunning himself in my kitchen window. Good thing it's sunny today!

His little stump- doesn't slow him down a bit!

Our House of Sickie Pets

Our house feels like a pet hospital right now. 

#1 is Mr Nubs. He perks up after I give him the saline injections. Tomorrow will be his last day of injections and then we'll move to food.

Nubs this morning, 11/5/13

#2 is Nigel. His amputation wound is doing great and looks good, but the stubborn beardie is still not eating. Silly boy. 

Nigel likes to sleep under his tank covering

#3 is Spike. He is still fighting a pretty bad infection caused by an untreated bite wound from another male beardie. He's on antibiotics and twice a day I have to clean out his wound.

Spike is plugging along 

#4 is my dog Kip. He's old, he's grumpy, and he's determined to eat nasty things that make him ill. Twice in the last month, he's had a horrible night where I've wondered how much longer he'll be alive. Currently he's wheezing and whimpering when he breathes because of his collapsing trachea. His eyes are cloudy and weep all the time, but he won't let me clean them any more. His teeth are gross but I can't touch his mouth without him biting me. His heart is bad, his knees are bad, he's covered with liver spots & warts, and his ears bother him. He can still smell (and he smells! ;) ), but that's about it. Silly dog. I've had him for over 8 years and we are guessing he's at least 13 years old. This may be his last autumn.

Kip is happiest when he's snuggled up in my blanket

#5 is Lil Foot, my tiny tortoise. He has grown from 99 grams to 150 grams over the past 4 months, but he is still tiny and rather sickly. He shares his tank with my Russian tortoise Oogway because they both are happier with a friend. Lil Foot eats more and is more active with his buddy.

He's palm-size!

Nigel Tries to Walk Again

I had to take him out of his tank today to give him his pain meds and to give him some appetite booster & water. I figured I'd give him a chance to try to walk. He only  hesitated for a few moments before he started to walk. It's a short video because my phone ran out of memory.

At least for the first week, Nigel is staying with me. I've got lots of experience giving shots & force feeding so I'm better equipped to take care of him right now. Plus my vet's office is just up the road so I can take him back for his wound checks easier.

Nigel's Surgery

My first rescue, Nigel, came to me with a massive arm infection and, over the past year, we've tried our best to get it healthy again. Multiple surgeries, multiple courses of antibiotics.

It didn't work. The infection came back with a vengeance.

Today, Kaitlund, Nigel's owner, along with my amazing vet, Dr Folland, decided the best course of action at this point was to remove Nigel's arm.

So his arm was amputated in surgery today.

It makes me very sad, though I am super hopeful he'll have a better quality of life now.

Pain meds for one week, vet recheck in a week, antibiotics for two weeks, stitches out in 6 weeks. He'll stay with me for now in his sick tank-- for at least the first 24 hours, a 20 gln tank with a heating pad. Once he gets a bit more active, I'll move him back into a regular tank.

Now we just wait and see.

Warning Signs of Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD)

MBD is a terrible, slow, tortuous way for a bearded dragon to die. Without the right nutrition, their bodies rob their bones of calcium and vitamin D. Slowly the bones become soft and brittle. Seizures can start. Beardies can lose their coordination and muscle tone. They slowly & painfully die.

My first beardie, Nigel, has an underbite because of poor nutrition and lighting when he was young (they had a plant grow light on his tank). My rescue Spike had an underbite too from early malnutrition. I suspect that Midgee's broken tail was brought on by her eating garbage salad mix daily. And now we can all see the severity of Squiggy's MBD. All of these problems were totally & completely & easily preventable!

I showed up at my herp vet months ago with my rescue Spike who had an infection in his toe. Next to me was a teenage boy who had rescued a sickly beardie from his friend's house. This beardie was curled into a sideways ball, his beard was black, and his eyes were closed. I tried to touch him and he had just enough energy left to flail his mouth towards me. I was horrified. I have never, ever seen a beardie *that* sick before. The vet ended up putting the beardie down because he was too far gone to be saved. It broke my heart. That poor beardie suffered needlessly for years before he died.

So how do you prevent MBD? It's actually pretty easy.

1. Get a good UVB light for your tank and keep it fresh. Replace it every 6 to 8 months.
2. Gut load your feeder insects with calcium and dust them with calcium before giving them to your beardie.
3. Offer them a healthy mix of greens-- GOOD greens, not junk greens like spinach & iceberg lettuce.
4. Keep their tank at the right temp. Every beardie needs a basking spot of 90 to 100 degrees with a cooler side of the tank that is around 80 to 90. Beardies digest properly when they are warm enough.

It's really not that hard to prevent MBD. Sadly, most of the beardies I see for sell on our local classifieds have a heat lamp and no UVB. I wish pet stores did more to educate people on the need for UVB in beardies. They will NOT get UVB rays through the windows-- your windows job is to filter out the UVB. They need their own lights.

Light, heat, calcium, & nutrition. It's that easy to keep a beardie healthy and happy.

Here's another article with good MBD info.

Nigel- my very first (and MOST expensive) rescue

Nigel was the beardie that started it all. I saw an ad in our "Free Pets" section of KSL Classifieds for a small bearded dragon with an arm infection. I called and picked up Nigel a couple days later. Somehow his arm had gotten caught in his screen top and it broke his finger. The finger got infected and the infection spread to his entire arm. By the time I got him, his arm was black and swollen. 

I took Nigel to my fabulous herp vet, Dr Doug Folland, on Monday morning. Dr Folland took his fingernail and scraped at part of Nigel's arm. Instantly, a pea-size chunk of dead skin popped off and fell with a plop onto the exam table. Thick, yellow pus started oozing from the whole. Dr Folland put Nigel to sleep and spent 45 minutes scraping out pus, removing dead tissue, and cleaning up the wound. 

For 6 weeks, Nigel had daily soaks in betadine, pus removal, and antibiotic shots. Three weeks after his first surgery, he had a second surgery to remove more pus and dead tissue on his hand. He had more antibiotic shots after that. For the first week or two, we weren't sure if we'd be able to save his arm or his finger. My vet was sure that his broken finger would eventually fall off (it still hasn't). 

After his last antibiotic shot, I placed Nigel in an AMAZING home where he has been loved and cherished. He grew from 140 grams to over 500 grams in about 6 months. His red color is truly amazing-- I have never seen a beardie so intensely colored before. He is GORGEOUS! 

Two months ago, Nigel developed another infection in his arm. Thanks to watching his first surgeries and taking care of him for two months, I was able to remove two pockets of infection myself. The vet gave him another round of antibiotics and he is good as new now. Considering how deeply diseased his arm was, it doesn't surprise me that he still battles infection to this day. 

I consider the $600 to be a training course for me on how to take care of injured beardies. I've used that knowledge to take care of all the beardies I've gotten since then. 

Nigel, before he got sick

You can see how swollen & infected his foot was when I got him. 

Nigel was so happy to be held & loved

Shortly after his surgery to remove the infection and dead tissue

His arm looked bad for several weeks, but we were pretty sure we could save it

Enjoying a nice heated corn bag and a snuggly blanket

Kip decided he wanted to enjoy the warm, snuggliness too! 

Nigel, on his old skull rock, showing off his new size-- he is even bigger now!

Nigel sunning himself outside at his house, June 2013