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Isaiah Fishing

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Description

I got Isaiah moved into the 40 gal tank and dropped some feeder guppies into his water section. He's about to drop down and munch one.

This was my first ever Water Dragon. He was a rescue. A co-worker had gotten him and an Iguana and was doing what the pet store and the product packages told him. He thought he was doing well. Then he was moving out of state and where he was moving to does not allow exotic pets across the state line. He asked me if I knew anyone who might take them in. I thought about it for a couple of weeks and finally determined that I could take care of them. I got them and all their equipment. ... two 10 gal tanks, a few sticks and rocks, and some pelleted and freeze dried food, a couple of light fixtures with every day soft-white light bulbs that he hadn't even been using.

The iguana wasn't doing so bad on the pellet food, but I switched him to fresh veggies. He had outgrown the tank he was in long before. I ended up rehoming him.

This little guy though... He was over a year old and still barely larger than a hatchling sold at the store. He had river rocks and 2 inches of water. Nothing to climb on. No heat source. He already was suffering debilitating Metabolic Bone Disease from a lack of usable calcium. His jaw was soft, causing the underbite. He had rubbed his nose raw, emphasising that underbite. One of his front legs had been broken and healed, giving him the appearance of two elbows. He was missing claws from bad sheds cutting off circulation and causing the tips of his toes to fall off. He was emaciated. His joints were all swollen.
I got a bunch of stuff out of storage and set him up in an appropriate terrarium. I bought powdered and liquid calcium and live crickets and worms and got full spectrum and heat bulbs on him. He tripled in size in the 9 months I had him, but despite my best efforts the MBD finally got the better of him and he died.

I had enjoyed him so much though and I had the whole set up... I got another almost immediately. XD He is doing excellent, and in only 6 months he was as large as Isaiah was when he died. Isaiah was probably about 2 years old.
Image size
4608x3072px 5.79 MB
Make
Panasonic
Model
DMC-FH25
Shutter Speed
10/400 second
Aperture
F/4.0
Focal Length
10 mm
ISO Speed
400
Date Taken
Feb 29, 2012, 11:49:28 AM
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