Urgent Bearded Dragon Issue???

[homeskillet_96]

Hello all,

I have only had my bearded dragon for a month now and up to this point he has been perfectly normal. Today I went out of town and left him in the care of my dad. My dad said that he ate normally and everything went as it should have but when we got home he wont lift his head and his body off the ground. When I would try to pick the little guy up he would wriggle a lot and shake his head. He also does this when he isn't being handled. I then made my mind up that I should take him to the vet. The vet checked him for impaction and he was clear. The vet didn't really have that many anwsers for me. The only thing that she could think that it would be is an lung infection.... If anyone has any ideas I am listening.... Thanks Sam.

[tHeGiNo]

If you could provide some more details it would be perfect, most importantly age, size and your set-up (including substrate, temperatures, lighting, feeding, supplementation, etc.). When you say shaking around, is it similar to what you might consider a seizure?

From the sound of it, it seems like the early stages of MBD - Metabolic Bone Disease. This disease is the result of an inequity in calcium, phosphorus and vitaminD3; it is a nutritional deficiency. Vitamin D3 is both dietary and obtained through exposure to UVB light, where calcium and phosphorus are dietary. It seems like your case in particular is in a mild stage, and can still be treated.

Treatment itself involves special care now, in addition to long term changes to your husbandry. You will need to administer liquid calcium to your dragon - this can be obtained through your veterinarian and I will PM you for assistance in regards to this. Too much calcium is also potentially detrimental, and thus it is important that you follow dosages and not give estimated amounts.

As mentioned, long term treatment involves correcting your husbandry. First, you must purchase reptile specific UVB lighting - these can only be purchased as reptile specific - so far there are no alternatives (ie. your regular household fluorescent lighting). Second you need to incorporate a supplementation regimen including dusting with a calcium powder in addition to a multivitamin. I can help you set up a regimen once I know the age of your dragon. Thirdly is the diet itself - you should offer a varied diet which is not limited solely to crickets. Include other nutritionally beneficial feeders such as silk worms and butter worms. Finally, you will need to integrate vegetable matter into his diet. Again I am not sure exactly what your feeding system is based on, however clearly there are some faults. Dark green vegetables such as nappa, kale and dandelion are essential. Those vegetables containing high levels of calcium oxalates, such as collards, carrots and spinach should be fed in moderation, and in much smaller levels then the more nutritionally beneficial vegetables such as those mentioned above.

MBD in general is treatable, however depending on how much the disease has progressed there may have been permanent damage already, such as bone structure or damage to the kidneys. It is important that you treat this immediately to stop any further progression.

**EDIT** I just noticed you mentioned you have only had the dragon for a month, so it is highly probably that the damage was done out of your care. However, if you could provide details as to your husbandry it will allow us to help you more specifically.

[homeskillet_96]

Here is the more info that you needed. He is in a 77 gal tank, with carpet substrate and a bird pearch to climb on. His temp on the cold side in the 70-80 range and the basking spot is 80-115, he also has a UVB bulb from the pet store. I feed him about 10 crickets per day with one dusted with Rep-Cal calcium powder. He gets a salad of mixed greens like the ones that you mentioned but we have been giving him some squash as well. From what I can tell he is about 4 months.

[concept3]

where is your uvb bulb? they should be no more than 8 inches from your beardie. If you have a screen top and you set your full spectrum bulb on top of it that instantly filters out 50 percent of the uvb. If you have it sitting on glass than your beardie is getting no uvb. I personally use the giant sucksion cups with the large hooks on them and hang my Full spectrum lighting about 6 inches away from his basking spot. Also 80-115 is quite the range for his basking spot. It should be at a steady temperature of 110 to 115 degrees. Do you olny dust 1 out of the 10 crickets? Idont really understand what you meant by that but you should be dusting all of the crickets every second day for a 4 month old beardy. Fruit is olny a treat and should be about 5 percent of his diet

[homeskillet_96]

Is blindness a sign of MBD? He is more active now but he can't really see his crickets and he also runs into the glass every once in a while? He has been acting really weird and moving very irratically of late. I don't know if this makes a difference but he is also shedding at the moment.

[tHeGiNo]

Hey, as I mentioned to you in a PM, with the additional information I am thinking possibly you fed too large a prey item or over-heated him causing neurological damage. Some times it corrects itself, sometimes it doesn't. However, if you could provide further details in regards to symptoms and behaviour, as well as history, we can better assess the situation.

[concept3]

my beardies occasionally run into the glass while hunting and I know their not blind? Is it possible your beardie is going after the reflection in the glass?