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213 Posts

Posted - 22/10/2009 : 00:33:56

Hi, I'm a bit concerned. I went into a pet shop today down London way and they were selling Beardies. I noticed that there were several in snazzy viv but at least two of the group were missing feet.

Is it something they can be born with or something that happens to them? (They could be pre-disposed to having their feet fall off I suppose but that seems highly unlikely.

The shop seemed very well kitted out on the face of it and the animal in there appeared very alert and looked good, apart from the foot issue (although I didn't buy anything or speak to the staff because they kid working there wanted to talk on her mobile more than she wanted to take my money, so I walked out

)

I guess what I really want to know is; should I have gone back in and tackled the girl about it or is it just a Beardie thing? As you can probably tell I know nothing about them (except they always look like they're smiling

)

0.0.1 Normal Corn (Cinco), 0.1.0 Ghost Motley (Sadie), 1.0.0 Amel Corn (Snuggles), 0.0.1 Classic Corn (The Stig), 1.0.0 Pastel Royal Python (Ba'al), 1.0.0 Pinstripe Royal Python (Paladin), 4.0.0 Cats, 1.0.0 Other Half, 0.3.0 Drains on My Resources (or Daughters)

Kehhlyr
ǝʞɐɔ sǝʌoן

United Kingdom
8173 Posts

Posted - 22/10/2009 : 01:21:37

Actually that's a very good question.

A lot of beardies have this, especially very young ones. They regularly have tail sections missing as well.

It's down to biting. No other reason.
When beardies are housed as multiple when they are very young, you always have a few that are biters.

I.E if you hatch 25, then 3 could be biters and they are usually the ones that cause damage.
One of mine has a dodgy foot due to biting when he was only tiny, but it's not caused any issues.
Most will grow up absolutely fine, without much difficulty.

Unfortunately it can't be helped sometimes, and although the shops are housing multiple beardies together it's something that happens.

-=Kehhlyr - The Resident Loon

Edited by - Kehhlyr on 22/10/2009 01:25:00

PunkAsF82
Yearling

United Kingdom
909 Posts

Posted - 22/10/2009 : 09:13:26

kehhlyr is right, it can be due to biting. but it can also happen if a shed restricts the blood flow to the foot. This is rare and if the shop is as good as it sounds, this probably isn't the case. It only tends to happen in shops where they dont handle the lizards therefore cant help remove a restricting shed.

It never hurts to ask how they lost a foot. Biting = no problem

Shed = IMO don't buy from the shop!

~~ My Zoo ~~
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0.1.0 Normal Leopard Gecko - Layla
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213 Posts

Posted - 22/10/2009 : 11:37:33

Thanks for clearing that up.

I've been feeling quite guilty about not hanging around to speak to the staff member, I don't feel quite so bad now. The Beardies were the only reps in the shop from what I could see, but their viv was really cool (waaaay beyond my price range!) and, as I said before, they were all scurrying about quite happily. My gut feeling at the time was that they weren't neglected. I never even considered that it might be something they do to each other.

Why don't they get split up as hatchlings to prevent the biting? Is it because they are sociable animals? I'm curious because snake clutches get split when they hatch. I'm also asking because I like Beardies, they're really cute and I've been thinking that in a year or so I may make room for some (which is why I was looking at them in the shop). Think it's better to start researching now than leave it till I've bought them

gmac
The Scottish Admin

United Kingdom
5319 Posts

Posted - 22/10/2009 : 12:20:26

if you look at the space a snake hatchling takes up it is not really that much, beardies need space to move about climb etc so it would take up a lot more space to sep them.

Beardies are not really sociable you can keep a few females with a singe male, but you cant keep 2 males together or it would be a fight for dominance.

Edited by - gmac on 22/10/2009 12:21:16

Tizzy
The Corn Snake Moderator

United Kingdom
1202 Posts

Posted - 22/10/2009 : 18:47:49

I totally agree that it's normally due to biting, sometimes due to bad shed but i have also seen beardies who were just born with missing feet or legs. Just one of those things that happens and when it does it can affect more than one in a clutch. It doesn't bother them at all or stop them hunting.

3.2.0 corns 0.3.1 Leopard Geckos, 0.1.0 Mad Staffys 1.0.0 Moggie. 1.2.0. Devils in training.

PunkAsF82
Yearling

United Kingdom
909 Posts

Posted - 26/10/2009 : 16:54:48

The main reason for not splitting up beardies when they're young is 1. because of space (like gmac said, they need to climb etc, so would all either need a seperate viv or jsut one big one all together)

2. is dominance. beardies don't really sexually mature untill about 8 months i think, and while they're young they don't tend to fight over space too much, this does not by any stretch of the imagination mean that they are sociable animals. it is fine to keep 2 together, but only if they are strictly proven to not both be males. ive seen nasty pics of male berdie fight where one ends up in pieces. until they are mature, it helps the beardies develop natural behavvious, but thats why you never see a new clutch put in with an older clutch. older beardies will take advantage and bully young ones.

all in all, beardies don't tend to fight over space until hormones kick in, but thats why the price drops soooo rapidly when they start gtting over a couple of months old