Here at Forever Friends Small Animal Rescue, we are used to seeing fluffy guinea pigs, adorable rats, and funny hamsters.

When we got the news of a disabled dragon, we weren’t sure what to think. Although we had a reptile savvy member of the team, the worry of quality of life over whelmed us and the thought that this poor creature may be in pain.

Upon arrival of our new friend, things were worse than we expected. She had no use of her back legs, she was dehydrated and underweight, but the sweetness in her eyes told us there was more to her story than it ending here.

Our fantastic local exotics vet felt the same, and she knew that this girl had a life to live. She checked her over, and gave us an overview of what she found.

> broken spine that has shifted to cause the bend. Lack of calcium has also most likely caused the lump due to MBD. She will unfortunately, never be completely straight.
> broken ribs, partly from the shifting of her spine and partly from whatever abuse she endured.
> a broken front arm from some point in her past, that has luckily healed well and she can use it.
> possible scale rot, still under our watch to confirm this or whether it’s bad shed.
> underweight and very low nutrients, her fat pads are non existent and all of this contributes to her inability to walk.
> very low muscle mass

We didn’t think that we would be coming back out of the vets surgery without her, but with the determination she carried and the motivation from us and the vet, her story begins now. From here she will be packed full of nutrients to gather her strength, loved and cared for by us and the veterinary team, and soon we will be able to begin physio to get her back on her feet.

Money raised will go towards her on going treatment and vet bills. We are also yet to design her a disabled friendly vivarium that will aid in her independence and allow her to get around without our help. We thank everyone for their on going support to allow this dragon to live the life she always deserved.