please help

[Stevo26]

one of my cresties, about 7 months old.... i first noticed he (definatly a male) was not eating as much as he normaly does. I had taken him out of his reptarium to clean it, meanwhile i place him in a small plastic critter cage (which had been cleaned prior) as i picked him up to place him in his cage i notice him acting a little out of the norm he quickly climbed down to the bottom of the cage where he began violently shaking. i freaked out and picked him up and held him for a while, he began acting normal again so i set up a smaller tank to observe him a little better. He had been acting much better however occasionally his feet still shake almost as if he is shivering. i am very worried about him. i do have to older cresteds 1 about a year and a half, the other about 2 years old. They all are regularly given calcium and vitamin supplements and given baby foods as a primary diet. with crickets approximatly twice a week. i have never seen anything like this. the older 2 cresties have been acting normal and both appear to be very healthy. they are all kept at the same temperature, same diet, same misting. I also have a tokay and 2 leopards. i am not new to herps but i have never seen anything like this. unfortunatly its thanksgiving day so i cant take him to the vet if anyone has any ideas of what this could be please contact me. ASAP!!! im very worried about him and will do anything to figure out whats wrong and anything to fix it.

[CDN-Cresties]

Sounds like a case of MBD. I have never had any experience with this but I have seen similar threads like yours on different forums and the consensus is usually MBD. I would try to get to a vet A.S.A.P. Best of luck, keep us updated.

[HeatherRose]

The 'shaking' or tremors is a key sign of MBD. Go to the petstore and buy:

-liquid calcium (they have cricket flavour, yum)
-a low-wattage UVB light
-Vitamin Powder (It's called Emeraid...you can buy it at a vet)

Put him under the UVB light for 12 hours a day, and give him 1 drop of liquid calcium twice a day. Syringe feed him babyfood mixed with vitamin powder until he appears to pick up and eat on his own.

Even if you have been giving him calcium powder and vitamin supplements, for one reason or another he has not been absorbing it. The regimen above should aid in this. Tremors are one of the later signs of MBD, so try and start this as early as possible...

I've dealt with this before and this is the regimen I used for about a month.

Good luck and keep us posted!

(If you have any questions about the above post feel free to PM me...)

-Heather

[DragnDrop]

Sounds like MBD to me too.
It's strange for a male to develop it, usually females get MBD after laying a few clutches. If you're using a lot of banana baby food, cut back on that, even though cresties love it. Banana is relatively high in phosphorus, which could bind with calcium so it can't be absorbed properly. Some banana once in a while is okay, just don't offer it too often.

[little_dragon_]

be carefull while feeding your lil guy liquid calcium from a syringe, if he's really weak he could possibly choke. The liquid calicum forms a thick sylivaTry mixing it with some meat baby food for an extra boost of protein, and dab it on his nose.

[HeatherRose]

be carefull while feeding your lil guy liquid calcium from a syringe, if he's really weak he could possibly choke

Sorry, I should have been more specific. You shouldn't have to force anything down, the syringe (or eyedropper if you like) is just a means of getting it to his mouth. If it's the flavoured kind, he should just lick it up.

[Stevo26]

Thanks for the input, no need to force feed the cricket flavored calcium drops, he laps that up and looks for more.

I found a vet that has the Emeraid, but they did not tell me over the phone they were closing at noon today due to the holiday and when I got there at 12:30 they were long gone. And they are booked for the next few days as far as getting an appointment. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will pick up the vitamin powder. I mixed the jurassi vite with his baby food last night. And I have been using low watt UVB all week.

Meanwhile, he doesn't appear to have the tremors today. Is this a good sign or bad? Can someone tell me what to expect for signs of healing or getting worse?

[HeatherRose]

No more tremors is a good sign for sure...careful not to OD any of the stuff you're giving him, and he should improve nicely for you :)

Good luck and keep us posted :D

[Stevo26]

i got emeraid and put it in his food last night which appears to be eaten. is there a dosage for this stuff? I like how nicely it desolves when it touches the baby food, i sprinkled it sparingly. he seems to be improving very well, he is getting some fiestiness back and climbing a couple inches up the glass.

also, can liquid calcium be given to the female at all?

[HeatherRose]

If the female doesn't need the liquid calcium I wouldn't give it to her...so...I dunno, it's really up to you, maybe someone else can help you with that :p

I just mixed the emeraid with water, until it was the consistency of baby food. Try giving him about that much, if that makes sense.

Is he still in a cage with the female? If that's the case, she might have eaten the babyfood instead, I'd watch for that...

Good luck :D

[Stevo26]

the baby crestie, as we call him, has always been on his own so no doubt he is eating the baby food himself. the female is with another male in a seperate tank. I didn't realize the emeraid vitamin powder could be mixed and given that way, I just sprinkled it into the food. it didn't come with instructions.