Just for Fun: Beardies with Hats

A couple months ago, I walked into my daughter's room and found her 5 year old lizard, Lizzie, sitting in the window and wearing a pilgrim's hat. I have no idea WHY he was wearing a hat, but he was. It was hilarious!

I found this LINK today that is a whole collection of beardies wearing hats. Love it! 

Squiggy's Crab Walk

He's making progress! Slowly, but surely, he's trying to walk more normally.

Squiggy in Love

Squiggy was running around the living room when he spied SweetPea, my only female, in her tank. Boy, he was anxious to get to her. She could have cared less.

This is the most she's ever paid attention to a male beardie in the house. She usually blinks boredly. She finally paid attention to him, but I think she just wanted to eat him. Or taste him.

Squiggy checks out the Blog

Squiggy's Making Progress

Maybe it's just my imagination, but it seems like Squiggy is working his legs more to walk than he did a week ago. He's actually bending his knees more and trying to walk on his feet.

Well, actually he's walking on his ankles, but it's progress!

The Dark Side of Rescuing

I spent this past weekend texting a friend who had just bought a beardie with her husband. At first, everything seemed fine and they took care of the little guy as though nothing was wrong.

Sadly, it quickly turned into a rescue mission. The 3 year old beardie wasn't anything like what they were told. He was underweight, dehydrated, sickly, and suffering from Metabolic Bone Disease. I told them what I would do had I brought him home. They spent Saturday night giving him Pedialyte baths and calcium.

Yesterday, he took a turn for the worse. His joints stiffened, his beard & tail turned black, and he couldn't keep his eyes open. I had tears in my eyes as I gave them some "last ditch" instructions. Water & warmth were all they could do-- more baths and a nice warm light.

It was too little, too late for this guy. He passed away sometime yesterday evening. I applaud my friends for their valiant efforts to save this guy. In the end, in his final hours, he was loved and taken care of. He left this world with someone caring for him. What a priceless gift that is.

His death was completely & totally avoidable. His sickness and poor health were a result of lazy pet-parenting. Metabolic Bone Disease angers me. There is NO reason that any reptile should suffer from this E.V.E.R. It is a failure of prevention and education. Pet owners by a cute little beardie from the pet store and take it home in the oh-so-inexpensive tank the pet store sells, thinking they know everything to care for him. Pet stores too often fail to educate about the critical need for UVB and pet owners fail to continually educate themselves on how to best take care of their beardies. Education is as simple as a Google search or a book from the library. Beardies are among the easiest reptiles to take care of. They need UVB light, heat, & good food to be healthy.

This failure of education & prevention lands many beardies into rescue. I spend a lot of my time cleaning up the "messes" other people made. Sometimes, regardless what what I do, it is too little, too late.

And that is the dark side of being an animal rescuer.

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.

My Amazing Herp Vets

I could never, ever do bearded dragon rescue without the help of two amazing vets.

Dr Doug Folland & Dr Scott Echols

Parrish Creek Veterinary Clinic
Centerville, Utah

Visit their Website here

The Concrete Barrier & Squiggy

Squiggy ran all the way across the grass (about 25 feet), but stopped short at the concrete sport court pad. He just wasn't too sure about that surface.

I love this picture because he looks like a normal beardie. :)

Squiggy's Outside Time

Everyday I've been taking Squiggy out so he can get direct sunlight to help his body. Yesterday I let him run on the grass. He's not into swimming my tub to work his muscles, but he did a good job going on the grass. It amazes me how strong his body is. It's just his arms & legs that don't work right!