Reply To: New Beardie.

[Craig Bean]

Her previous owner named her Puff because every time you try to handle her she puffs up. She is not too old to be handled, and she is coming a long way in the few days I have had her. She no longer tries to bite me, and will try and run for the first few minutes, but settles down pretty quickly now. She will make a great addition to someones family someday.

About 10 years ago, I worked with a woman who really got me into bearded dragons. She showed me all of her reptiles and I instantly fell in love with a baby sandfire she had. I ended up buying him and my wife named him Mushu. (I know, everyone that has a bearded dragon always names them Mushu. But she is really big into Disney movies.) About 3 years after that, she called me saying she knew of someone who had a beardie that was not properly taken care of. Not given proper lighting, temperatures, or maintaining proper humidity levels in their enclosers. We were able to talk the woman into letting my wife and I take the bearded dragon. Sadly he passed away a few days later. I spoke to the woman again trying to find out how Komodo, the bearded dragon, got into that bad of shape, and why he was never taken to the vet. I was seriously contemplating reporting this to law enforcement, due to animal cruelty and neglect. The more I spoke with her, it became apparent, it was a situation of improper knowledge. This lady did not know how to house or care for a bearded dragon. She didn’t really want the bearded dragon. It was her boyfriends. He was in the army, and he had dropped Komodo off at her house the evening before he got deployed. Didn’t tell her how to care for him. She watched videos online about how to care for bearded dragons and bought into a lot of incorrect information. And after that, it kind of just took off. I never really thought about starting a rescue until I was already knee-deep into it.