Abandoned beardy; need help. (semi pic heavy)

[DZLife]

My good friend Peter came across an escaped/abandoned bearded dragon, and has decided to keep it. It was found way out in the middle of nowhere supposedly....in his aunt's backyard (private property.)

He does not have much experience with reptiles but has the means to get any supplies he needs, is very willing, and came to me for help. I am going to go over there now to take a look at the animal in person. From what I can tell in the pics, it appears to be a Sandfire (not 100% sure if I got that color morph name right.) It is fairly but not exaggeratedly docile, and appears to be in somewhat good health. I want to check it for mbd. Now that I really think about it, I doubt that it has it, as it has been wild out in the sun.

I don't personally know enough to check for other nutrient deficiencies, but he will probably end up leaving the animal with me for a while to give me a chance to take it in to my favorite herp vet to run some tests to check for worms, etc. Hopefully I will be able to collect a stool sample before then.

It doesn't appear to be too thin, but you can't tell for sure from the pics.

Could someone please direct me towards a good care sheet that goes in to all details of care of a bearded dragon that I can offer to him? I need one that talks about everything from diet, to housing, to lighting, etc...

I am in the process of of uploading pics, but wanted to get this question up asap.

 

[Nero]

How big is he? if hes small put him in a 20 gal if hes grown a 40 will do. Keep the basking spot around 105-115 degrees. Mines around 108 most of the time. He will need full spectrum lighting too. A branch to perch on. Dragons like to climb and of course a water dish on the cool side. I keep my dragons light on from 12-14 hours then i turn it off at bedtime. Also put a branch on the basking side going towards the top so your dragon can decide how warm he wants to be. I feed them crickets and a few meal worms. Dust your crickets and this is important to make sure that the crickets are not larger than his head. Use the size of the crickets thats about the distance between the dragons eyes. Bath him once a week at least. Sometimes dragons cant find their water dish so put him near it and dab the water on his face and he will drink it. Just keep doing that so he knows where his water is. If i forgot anything feel free to ask.

 

[MMRR - jif]

http://michherp.org/beardies.pdf

There is a care sheet that covers most of the basics. It's not really detailed about diet but will get someone started in the right direction.

 

[DZLife]

http://michherp.org/beardies.pdf

There is a care sheet that covers most of the basics. It's not really detailed about diet but will get someone started in the right direction.

Thanks. that's just what he needed.
Unfortunately, I don't think that his father is gonna let him keep the lizard. I think I'll end up giving it to Mike; he has been looking for a nice male for breeding. His male is just too small for the female.

 

[PuffDragon]

Being as it's a rescue and you don't know anything about it, I don't think it should be used for breeding. Hope it turns out ok though.

 

[DZLife]

Being as it's a rescue and you don't know anything about it, I don't think it should be used for breeding. Hope it turns out ok though.

I will obviously take it to my local herp vet and have stool samples tested. I hope he is clean!

 

[PuffDragon]

It's not even about being clean from bacteria/parasites, or even Adeno virus. You do not know the genetic background of the animal what so ever. Whether it could be heavily inbred or carry genetic deficiencies/deformities etc. It would not be looked upon as favorable in the world of reptile breeders if you tell someone your stock (especially regularly captive bred animals, such as beardeds) was found and taken in as a rescue and now your breeder.

 

[DZLife]

It's not even about being clean from bacteria/parasites, or even Adeno virus. You do not know the genetic background of the animal what so ever. Whether it could be heavily inbred or carry genetic deficiencies/deformities etc. It would not be looked upon as favorable in the world of reptile breeders if you tell someone your stock (especially regularly captive bred animals, such as beardeds) was found and taken in as a rescue and now your breeder.

That is a good point.
I do know that this animal is an escaped pet. It has some really amazing color traits, such as having a normal coloration on the body but a BRIGHT orange throat. It can't have been in the wild for long, as it is tame to the point where you never would know that it was a rescue if I didn't tell you.

Either way, I won't be using it for breeding...if it ever does, it will be someone else.

My breeders will be coming from an established breeder in florida.


On the other hand, please keep in mind that almost all of beardies in the US are inbred to some extent. I assume you are aware of the fact that Australia banned the exportation of bearded dragons (along with all other reptiles) a LONG time ago. I believe it was the Sandfire dragon ranch that illegally imported a small number of animals, and this is where the population of bearded dragons originated from in the US.

Hey, so are ackies, but we still keep those.

With all due respect, thanks for the consideration.
Please don't interperate this as a personal attack; I am only backing up my point of view with facts.

 

[DZLife]

Oh, I just finished uploading the first batch of pics.

The beardie was sitting on a sewing mat. Each number designates a 1 inch marker. I hope this give you an idea of how big the specimen is.

 

[lizardboy101]

Jeez talk about a porker. I thought Splinter was fat. Look at the belly on that guy. Another reason not to breed is that you don't know parentage...therefore you don't know morph. They'd be a normal cross...nothing wrong with that, but still.

As far as inbreeding being a big factor...Beardies were exported in HUGE numbers from Australia so as far as being inbred...if they are it's not normaly very in depth. And hey everything is a little inbred...even humans...think way back

 

[DZLife]

This is taken from

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...high color is often achieved by inbreeding to different degrees. In order to achieve some of the flashy high color that fetches high dollar in the market today, many breeders use inbreeding to "fix" genes. It is controversial as to how much damage inbreeding does to the health and hardiness of a dragon, and if there are methods of inbreeding that are more "safe" than others. Problems that have often been associated with inbreeding include general weakness and longevity issues, increased cancer rates, sight and neurological problems, size, and behavior. As little as 3-5 years ago, average hatchling size was cited at about 4.5 inches. Today, it is not uncommon to see 2-3 inch hatchlings, with just over 3 inches as an average.
Color "fixing" is handy for dealers in that it ensures that most of the clutches will turn out with similar high color (ie. all bright orange), and often straight out-of-the-egg high color. This can only be consistently achieved throughout an entire clutch by limiting the genetic diversity. If a clutch is genetically diverse, there should be a wide range of colors and patterns apparent in the hatchlings. Because of these issues, many breeders today chose to outcross their color to different color or "normal" dragons in order to "beef up" the genepool and increase the size and hardiness of the hatchlings.
We highly recommend outcrossing as much as possible. And remember, just because you acquired your dragons from different sources, does not mean that they are not related. If you cannot trace the lineage of your dragons, it is always safer to breed different colors together (ie. a dragon showing red coloration to one showing gold, or orange x normal, instead of red x red). We also find it is more exciting when we get a bunch of surprises with each group of hatchlings, instead of a bunch of look-alikes!

 

[Lexi]

thats a fat beardie!!!

 

[PuffDragon]

DZ,

What are you trying to show by citing information on inbreeding? IMO it is not winning any side for using the animal for breeding purposes. It is just telling us the pros and cons of inbreeding. Everyone knows that lots of reptiles have been inbred to some extent. The pros and cons are out there, but I don't see how this has anything to do with using a rescued animal as a breeder.

I feel it's kind of going off topic to focus directly on the inbreeding statement, as I was just showing some possibilities of what unkown heredity can hold. For someone like myself, it be important to know the history of the animal. Inbred or not.

I know you personally are not going to use this animal for breeding, but I would hope you would give it to someone as a pet only.