My Dragon, my baby

When Bearded Dragons sleep, they do so deeply, but only when they are truly asleep in their beds for the night!! As a baby will awaken when lowered into the bed from an embrace, so did dear, departed Copper, a very sweet Bearded Dragon. Copper would snap into consciousness in mid-descent and claw at the air and your arm to return to the hug. Lil’ Murph does this occasionally. Once asleep (for real) one can trim a lizard’s claws as would be done for a human baby. If you have a calm lizard, this can be done while awake, but I prefer a safer at-rest method to reduce the chances of movement. Claw clipping does not need to happen unless it’s possible the claws will catch on something and cause injury to your friend, or if they are like cute tiny razor blades causing injury to you. To do this, purchase a good pair of baby finger nail clippers. If they trim with too much a jagged result, try a different brand. Gently slide from beneath the blankie one cute limb and clip the claws. Repeat. Brush clippings to floor to be vacuumed. 🙂 Only clip the feet if you feel you should. Less clipping = less possible “I’ve clipped too much! Please be okay!!” moments.

You will see below the little bit of black claw. Do not clip into the fleshy portion where the black tip joins those lighter colors. This may cause bleeding and pain. If bleeding occurs, styptic powder contains a topical anesthetic to relieve pain and ferric subsulfate to stop bleeding and aid to prevent bacteria from entering the wound. Dip the claw in it or swab it on. It works for human’s cuts and furry animal claw clipping injuries also. Home remedies to coagulate blood at such an injury site include cornstarch; flour; baking soda; and a bar (not too softened) of soap. For these you need to gently get it into the wound and apply gentle pressure for a couple of moments the best you can. Of course, take your lizard to an exotic animal vet if you cannot stop the bleeding, but possibly another kind vet would be willing and able to fix it quickly.

Below is the clipped result. These claws are much less flesh-slicing now.  What a cute little hand!!!

“Give me Lizardry or give me Death!” -Dawn Renee♥