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Urgent care - injured 3 month old

L

lizardcare

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(Apologies if this gets posted twice, I seem to have lost my first thread.)

We need help. We have a 10 month old male and we purchased a companion female to keep him compnay. Reading through the forums I can see this wasn't a good idea - but the pet shop people told us it was a good idea and that they were social and the best combination was a male/female. We brought her (3month old, beautiful girl) home two weeks ago and they seemed fine but the worst happened. My daughter found him in the process of eating her.

I managed to get her out, along with my fingers, but she was badly injured. We administered cpr, cayenne pepper for internal bleeding, and gave her warm soaks. We loved her and talked her through and got her through the night. Amazingly enough, she survived Day1. She did a lot of thrashing and I think must have been in terrible pain. Day 2 showed significant progress - her eyes healed back into recognizable shape and opened. Day 3 was even better - she can hold her head up and has more energy. The thrashing is gone - but alarmingly she turns in one direction only, like she's chasing her tail.

We think she's going to live, this is a very brave little girl. We would have tried a vet or emergency care in a heartbeat, but it's not an option where we live. We instead asked breeders for advice, which consisted mainly of rest & warm baths.

She may have vision trouble (do lizard eyes dialate?) or hearing trouble. Does anyone have any suggestions or experience with saving their lives? Can they get better? We won't put her down at this point, she's fought too hard to live. Please help if you can...she's part of our family.
 
We had a unfortunate event where one of our first baby dragons leaped from a hand and landed on a bathroom scale that was on it's side. He ended up knocking the scale over and ended up under it. When we lifted the scale, he was very still and very dark. He went limp and wasn't breathing. We were so scared. He suddenly started breathing really hard and wasn't moving around or opening his eyes. He came around in a few days but the effects were everlasting. His right eye never grew. It doesn't dilate and we don't think he can see out of it very well, if at all. It does look clear and well developed though. He needs a little extra help come feeding time, but we love him just the same. And we did bring him to a vet the same day, but the vet said he couldn't tell anything or help us because he was so small. (We found a better vet after this happened.)

Beardies are such strong critters. A lot of beardies have been through terrible things and even with great disabilities, they have lived long and happy lives. Your girl may need a little extra help, but she'll pull through. Keep an eye on her and stay positive.
 
Thanks for the words of encouragement! We wondered if her life would ever be meaningful, as it were. Thanks for sharing your story, it is encouraging.

I still can't believe it - but she's doing well and progressing. She's going to make it!!!! Her head moved normally today and her eyes moved too. Her reactions are improving but still very fuzzy. We're worried one of her ears are squashed.

Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas for recouperating, please share them.
 
Hello

Hello,

WOW is all I can say that she is still alive. She must have a strong will to live.
She will be a very special dragon for her life. Just make things as easy as possible for her to get her food. Can you tell whether or not if she can see out of both eyes?
Just do a simple test of her vision. Place food down on one side & then the other to see if she can effectively get it.
Does she seem to have any other problems thus far? Can she move all of her limbs properly? Are there any puncture marks on her head that you can see? Any open wounds?
You need to make sure that she doesn't suffer from any infections. Betadine can be found at the local drugstore & you can use that for any punctures or cuts & or abrasions, etc. Use neosporin or polysporin for keeping the areas clean.
Use supportive care while she is having a hard time getting her food. You can make worm slurries mixed in with veggies, along with her vitamins & calcium, & let her lick that off of a syringe or your finger. You can throw in extra calcium & vitamins too for awhile. What type of UVB light are you using on her? I recommend getting a Megaray mercury vapor lamp, as it may help her to heal up faster.
Time, along with TLC will help. Good luck. If you have any questions, let me know. I wish her the best.
Tracie
 
SHE ATE A MEALYWORM TODAY!!!! We're so excited for her. Poor baby actually fell over backwards on her first try, but she did get it after several tries. She was licking her lips and just about quivering. So she can definitely see. She wasn't able to get a cricket but we'll try again tomorrow

We feel her equilibrium is getting better...just hope it will get all the way better or at least improve steadily. I did see the top part of her eyeball today, white area where I could tell she didn't have the proper focus ability. She's got some nerves to regenerate. We can only hope a little training every day gets her up to speed. Any dragon-aerobics anyone knows of?

Got her her own UV light today and some emergency-reptile mix for extra vitamins - good suggestions - thanks.

We're trying to deal with the feelings towards our bad boy dragon. My 9 year old is dealing with it better than I am, I have to say. We've come up with lots of imaginative ways to punish him (in theory only) - such as a large girlfreind named Broomhilda or dressing him in in doll clothes...humor helps.
 
Thats WONDERFUL!!!!! I'm so glad she is getting back on her feet and has an appetite too! She really wants to make it in this world and a fight with a big, angry bully isn't going to end that for her! Oh, and you helped too! ;)

You can try some physical therapy in a bath with you supporting her, if needed. The water will alleviate some of her body weight, making it easier to do "dragon exercises". Just a thought . . .
 
If the crickets are getting away from her, you can try putting the crickets into the freezer for 10 seconds or so. This will slow them down for a bit. Maybe she will have a better chance at catching them!
 
Good note- f I had read that yesterday I would have tried it, but as it is, she actually managed to catch a cricket all on her own! Oh she was so excited too! (and that after 304 mealyworms, definitely a good appetite coming back). It took several tries where she could touch it but not fully get it, but she did in the end! A really big one too.

Thank you for the water therapy idea- we're really trying this concept out. Works with people, right? We notice she can swim (in a fairly shallow bowl) about quite well, but darned if she can seem to coordinate or move well on land. For example, with the crickets, we placed her in a strategic spot as she was getting a bit frustrated. We were concerned she'd wobble on over and hurt herself. But we may need to see if she can move herself next time.

If we put her in one of her favorite running areas, she's not interested in going anywhere. I wonder if it's painful or if she's regenerating some damaged nerve bits or maybe she's wisely resting.

Overall, I can't tell you how amazed I am. I mean, this is hard to say, but there was just no hope when I saw her in the other lizard and then when I got her out...no hope. I did everything I could to nurse her, but I was fairly sure the outcome would be tragic. And here she is, everyday making incredible progress. She looks 95% normal now (popped back into shape), it's unbelievable, and she's functioning, albeit with some handicap - and even that gets better daily. What a survivor. I am so glad we didn't put her down. We promised her that if she would just live, we'd do the rest to get her back up to health - and here we are - in dragon therapy.

I guess most experienced bearded dragon owners know this, but they really can recover from fairly devastating physical accidents...so anyone else out there in a similar boat - don't give up hope!
 
Hello

Hello,

I thought of something you could give her to help improve her healing. The silkworm enzyme, serrapeptase, is excellent for healing & helping swelling, bruising, etc. It is worth a try.
I am glad she is slowly improving. Can she see out of both eyes? Or, can you tell?
Keep us updated on her progress. I am hoping for the best recovery possible for her.

Tracie
 
Progressing Daily, but still very handicapped

Ooh, thanks - I'd like to try that. Do you know where I can purchase that?
I wonder if it helps with regenerating things inside...I suspect it might. Yes, I definitely want to give it a go.

Well, some progress again, we mustn't loose sight of progress- no turning in circles today and she took several good steps (maybe about 4-5) before giving up. She's not flipping over anymore so her equilibrium must be getting better.

But her eyes are definitely "wonkey" for lack of a better word. One of them is doing some rolling in the socket. And she does this mmmn...is paralax the right word? She moves her head in a funny way to try to get a sight picture I think. A bit like Cptn Jack Sparrow if we can put it in a good light. Poor beautiful little girl, I do hope she continues with her progress. Right now it's a bit heartbreaking.

She must be able to see, even if things aren't together yet, because she did get the cricket and can get mealyworms. I fear there's some neural damage she may not get over. We don't discuss that with her right now, you understand. Just encouragement. I do think she's frustrated.

Here's my funny of the day - I had her sitting next to my computer while I was working (she loves the warm air it blows out the side) and she was quite alert and interested in what I was typing. She crawled over to my keyboard (4-5 coordinated steps there), climbed on it and went right up to the screen! I am positive she was seeing the cursor move around.

Our big bad bully was grounded for the week, and didn't look so smug after he had to wear the barbie dress.

Oh dear, we do the best we can with humor, but traumatic and maybe tragic are the lurking feelings. I wonder if she'll forever be severely handicapped. What a sweetheart of a girl too.
 
Hello

Hello,

Wow, it sounds like she is really trying. She is so very lucky to have come out of that like she has.
It seems that she has pretty decent vision, so even if she is a little slow, that is OK. She will just be special, & you wont love her any less.
The place where I get the serrapeptase is: www.serrapeptase.org
It is great quality. I would start with just a pinch, daily, since she is small. I think you will see improvement fairly quickly. Let me know how she does on it. There are no side effects, either so that is always a plus!
So she was playing with the computer cursor, that is really awesome.

Tracie
 
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