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Sick Beaded Dragon

B

bruce1420

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The PetCo where i live has had these sick, malnourished looking bd's for about 2 months now. I finally bought one whose health had gone down hill a lot in the past month. She actually has nice red coloring, which is surprising for PetCo. I got her Saturday morning and put her in her own cage with food and eventually live crickets, but for a day and a half she didn't eat anything or use the bathroom. She looked very close to death. So Sunday night I started feeding her a mixture of meat baby food, ground up juvenile pellets, and calcium and vitamin powders. I fed this mixture to her with and eye dropper. She had small amounts of blood in her stool for about a day, which i thought might of had something to do with impaction from PetCo, but she has been doing better with no more blood. I I've been feeding her with the eye dropper 3 times a day for the past 2 1/2 days. I would appreciate any tips or advice on how to get her well and start eating on her own again.
 
I hope you did one other thing, one that you didn't mention. Did you quarantine her from any other animals you may have?

You may already know what I'm going to write below. But I don't know that from what you posted.

You should really get that BD to a vet to see what is really going on. Blood in the stool can be many things, none good, and you're just guessing as to what it is at this point.

I'd keep her well hydrated. Soak her in some lukewarm water for 10 minutes or so every day or even twice a day to make sure she is drinking. Then make sure her temps are right, basking area of around 95-110° with a thermal gradient to around 80°. Try some superworms that are dusted well with vitamins. I use Miner-All but there are a ton of different brands on the market. Give her a couple of hides, one close to the warm side and one on the cool side.

I know you bought the animal because you wanted to save it's life. That is a very nice and humane thing to do. But (I bet you knew this was coming) when you buy animals that are obviously sick and/or dying from a pet store, a show, etc. you perpetuate the problem. Petco will only replace that animal with another one just like it because they made a sale. If those animals were left to die (I know, I'm heartless) then Petco would be hit where it hurts, their pocketbook and maybe, just maybe they would not get any more. Or they may just pick up a book or print out a care sheet on BDs and actually learn how to keep them alive and healthy next time.

I hope you have good luck with your BD. Keep us updated as to how she is coming along.
 
I am keeping her away from my other pets. I use hand sanitizer before and after i handle her. She no longer has blood in her stool so i will give her a couple days before i bring her to a vet. She seems to be getting her strength back. I know that that they'll just replace her with another poor bd, but I don't think letting it die there would have done anything either. I've talked to the manager at that particular PetCo and she is convinced that mealworms are the best feeder for baby bd's. I tried to politely argue with her quoting many sites, but it did no good. But at least, hopefully, i saved this little guy.
 
bruce1420 said:
I know that that they'll just replace her with another poor bd, but I don't think letting it die there would have done anything either.
Click to expand...
I know it's very, very hard to walk away from an animal that is in obvious need. But giving the store money for a sick animal does way more harm than good. Yes they will replace it with another animal because they made a sale. But if they lost money on the BDs, then they will think twice before ordering them again. A store that is continuously losing money will trim the fat and stop ordering what they are losing money on.

Some of these store managers bank on people who will try to save an obviously sick animal. They know the animals are sick and they know people will buy them out of sympathy. This ploy works and apparently it works well.

Then you have the store managers who are really ignorant on the basic care of whatever species of reptile they are housing and that's how I percieve the store manager you talked to.

I hope your BD does well and lives. But I also hope that the next time you see obviously sick animals, be it at a show, a pet store, etc., that you at least think about this thread.
 
I have to agree with everything that Karen said. To them its all about the money, they don't care about your sympathy or anger, as long as they make the profit on the animal before it dies. I hope that all goes well for your beardie, but next time just walk away no matter how hard it is.
 
I totally agree with reptileking and Karen they only want to make a profit. It is hard to walk away from something that looks like it is in need of help but in the long run sometimes if you do buy a sick dragon you will pay out the butt for vet bills and meds and it will end up dieing anyway, a win lose situation to me. I hope your baby does survive and gives you much joy in the long run.
 
Karen is 100% correct.

That said.....even if you no longer see blood in the stool, SOMETHING was causing it to be there in the first place. A vet visit is still very much in order. It would suck to have you get attached to this baby, and then have it end up dying later anyway from something you could and should have treated right away.
 
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