Virginia Dragon Rescue

Permanent Sanctuary Residents

The Rescue also runs a small sanctuary for animals unable to be adopted out due to injuries or "deformities". In all other ways except their obvious physical problems, they are happy and healthy, and will live out their lives in our care unless a truly suitable adoptor is found.

Deceased Former Residents

These are residents that came to us that despite our best efforts and those of our vets, were still unable to be saved.

The Biggs

The Biggs originally started as a business transaction, and ended as rescue status. While we were originally purchasing this pair for breeding purposes, when we saw them, they were purchased to get them out of their previous owner’s possession. Female was 23” long nose to tail, was transported in a 12” plastic shoebox and the owner had snapped her tail at the base when he stuffed her in the box. She showed multiple fractures in her tail indicative of low calcium and poor nutrition. The male exhibited a head twitch which is the beginning stages of Metabolic Bone Disease. The female had been bred to a smaller dragon because owner was “tired of waiting for the male to do something”, this had occurred 6 weeks prior, the female was gravid and eggbound. The male eventually went blind and passed due to MBD despite Vet’s efforts and being fed daily calcium slurry. The female died due to being eggbound since she was in such poor health when she was bred.

Iggy Stardust

We got a call that an iguana had been abandoned at a local pet store, so we went to pick him up. When we got the and did an exam of him, we found he had scratches, was missing spikes along his back and had an abscess the size of a robin’s egg on his jaw. He seemed healthy otherwise, but we noticed after a day or two he wasn’t defecating or urinating. The morning of his vet appt, we went in to check on him and found he had passed. Upon necropsy, we learned the cause of death was impaction due to pebbles and a black dirt substrate in his digestive system (He was on cage carpet while in our care). We also learned the abscess was caused by a claw embedded in the jaw tissue.

Rankie & Tripod

Rankie & Tripod are one of our more interesting rescues. Tripod was originally a dragon from our breeding program (something of a runt), and was sold as a companion for Rankie, who is a Pogona Henrylawsonii, or better known as a Rankin's Dragon. Tripod got her name because when she was a hatchling one of her clutchmates decided her hand was a snackbar and bit 3 of her fingers off. So 3 months pass, we walk into a pet store we frequent often, saw Tripod, and a Rankin who had a broken back. Come to find out, the Rankin fell off a second floor balcony, broke his spine, so he had no movement in his back legs, dragging them and and his owner gave him and Tripod to the pet store. We immediately purchased Tripod back to our possession, and offered to take the Rankin for rehab purposes. The store owner declined. Several days, almost a week later, we go back in and find the Rankin injured. Part of his tail missing, one of his rear feet missing several fingers, and the other mangled to the point that tendons and ligaments were exposed. The store owner had treated this with Neosporin™, then placed him in a tank of sand, so he now had sand embedded in the wound. We again offered to take him, again the owner declined. A few days later we went in to check on his progress, the store owner stated that he wasn't able to catch his crickets, we again offered to take him, and finally he agreed. We took him home, immediately fed him baby food, got him a vet visit for antibiotics and eval. It took a long, hard month of daily soaking and debriding to get the wound clean and finally the sand and dead tissue sloughed off, leaving nice pink tissue. Rankie was the king of his domain with Tripod and two other girls as companions. Rankie passed in January 2008 from apparent old age. His companions are still ruling the roost in his stead.

Why NOT to breed, or at least why to breed responsibly

As was stated on our opening page, we started out as breeders. The below pictures are one of the reason we got out of large scale breeding and began rescuing unwanted beardies and other reptiles. We were neophytes, had bought dragons from a "reputable breeder" and hadn't done sufficient research into his gene pool. The first clutch from suppposedly unrelated male & female produced Curly. Second clutch produced Igor. Third clutch was normal. Fourth clutch produced Quasi(modo) and a stilllborn that had his tail bent 180°and his left forearm terminated at the elbow. We had been in constant communication with the original breeder, and his response had been a constant, "Oh, that's normal". Sorry, I studied Genetics in college, and that isn't normal. After speaking with other breeders, came to find out his gene pool was a bit contaminated due to his desire to breed for color. You might ask why we didn't euthanize these guys. Our philosophy is this: these are healthy dragons, they may not be the prettiest, but they have survived and remained healthy. If they were not meant to have survive, they would not be some of the healthiest and largest ones in our colony.

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Permanent Sanctuary Residents The Rescue also runs a small sanctuary for animals unable to be adopted out due to injuries or "deformities". In all other ways except their obvious physical problems, they are happy and healthy, and will live out their lives in our care unless a truly suitable adoptor is found. Deceased Former Residents These are residents that came to us that despite our best efforts and those of our vets, were still unable to be saved. The Biggs The Biggs originally started as a business transaction, and ended as rescue status. While we were originally purchasing this pair for breeding purposes, when we saw them, they were purchased to get them out of their previous owner’s possession. Female was 23” long nose to tail, was transported in a 12” plastic shoebox and the owner had snapped her tail at the base when he stuffed her in the box. She showed multiple fractures in her tail indicative of low calcium and poor nutrition. The male exhibited a head twitch which is the beginning stages of Metabolic Bone Disease. The female had been bred to a smaller dragon because owner was “tired of waiting for the male to do something”, this had occurred 6 weeks prior, the female was gravid and eggbound. The male eventually went blind and passed due to MBD despite Vet’s efforts and being fed daily calcium slurry. The female died due to being eggbound since she was in such poor health when she was bred. Iggy Stardust We got a call that an iguana had been abandoned at a local pet store, so we went to pick him up. When we got the and did an exam of him, we found he had scratches, was missing spikes along his back and had an abscess the size of a robin’s egg on his jaw. He seemed healthy otherwise, but we noticed after a day or two he wasn’t defecating or urinating. The morning of his vet appt, we went in to check on him and found he had passed. Upon necropsy, we learned the cause of death was impaction due to pebbles and a black dirt substrate in his digestive system (He was on cage carpet while in our care). We also learned the abscess was caused by a claw embedded in the jaw tissue. Rankie & Tripod Rankie & Tripod are one of our more interesting rescues. Tripod was originally a dragon from our breeding program (something of a runt), and was sold as a companion for Rankie, who is a Pogona Henrylawsonii, or better known as a Rankin's Dragon. Tripod got her name because when she was a hatchling one of her clutchmates decided her hand was a snackbar and bit 3 of her fingers off. So 3 months pass, we walk into a pet store we frequent often, saw Tripod, and a Rankin who had a broken back. Come to find out, the Rankin fell off a second floor balcony, broke his spine, so he had no movement in his back legs, dragging them and and his owner gave him and Tripod to the pet store. We immediately purchased Tripod back to our possession, and offered to take the Rankin for rehab purposes. The store owner declined. Several days, almost a week later, we go back in and find the Rankin injured. Part of his tail missing, one of his rear feet missing several fingers, and the other mangled to the point that tendons and ligaments were exposed. The store owner had treated this with Neosporin™, then placed him in a tank of sand, so he now had sand embedded in the wound. We again offered to take him, again the owner declined. A few days later we went in to check on his progress, the store owner stated that he wasn't able to catch his crickets, we again offered to take him, and finally he agreed. We took him home, immediately fed him baby food, got him a vet visit for antibiotics and eval. It took a long, hard month of daily soaking and debriding to get the wound clean and finally the sand and dead tissue sloughed off, leaving nice pink tissue. Rankie was the king of his domain with Tripod and two other girls as companions. Rankie passed in January 2008 from apparent old age. His companions are still ruling the roost in his stead. Why NOT to breed, or at least why to breed responsibly As was stated on our opening page, we started out as breeders. The below pictures are one of the reason we got out of large scale breeding and began rescuing unwanted beardies and other reptiles. We were neophytes, had bought dragons from a "reputable breeder" and hadn't done sufficient research into his gene pool. The first clutch from suppposedly unrelated male & female produced Curly. Second clutch produced Igor. Third clutch was normal. Fourth clutch produced Quasi(modo) and a stilllborn that had his tail bent 180°and his left forearm terminated at the elbow. We had been in constant communication with the original breeder, and his response had been a constant, "Oh, that's normal". Sorry, I studied Genetics in college, and that isn't normal. After speaking with other breeders, came to find out his gene pool was a bit contaminated due to his desire to breed for color. You might ask why we didn't euthanize these guys. Our philosophy is this: these are healthy dragons, they may not be the prettiest, but they have survived and remained healthy. If they were not meant to have survive, they would not be some of the healthiest and largest ones in our colony.


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