need help fast!

[Sheldon & Tori]

hey everyone, we need help fast! we noticed two days ago that our beardie's back legs seemed weak and we asked some people and they said to try changing his uv light so we did that, but as soon as we put a new bulb in he started to have what appeared to be seizures (sp?)......what could this be and how can we help him? the only thing that has changed in his cage is his uv light which was approx. 7-8 months (we were going to change it at about 5 months but we forgot to buy one and then we forgot about it till then) could this be the reason? we've given him some calcium powder with his worms but he can't move to eat them.....anyways, any help would be appreciated.

thnx,
sheldon and tori

[mmichele]

i think it be a bone disiese i would take him yo the vet or somthing. a problem like this one is bad so i would try to contact somone who knows alot about bearded dragon and increase his intake of calcium powder i give mine some every other day if he is to week to get his worms put them close to him he might get eat them

[Jawz]

Id highly recommend taking him to a vet to get a dose of calcium and a diagnosis. Ive talked to someone who had a similar problem and it was due to serious calcium defiency. Also getting liquid Vitamin D will also help with uptake of calcium. Dusting worms doesnt always ensure they are gettin enough calcium because the amount of calcium that sticks to their body is less that that of a cricket and generally ive noticed it comes off alot faster too.

[peterm15]

no doubt in my mind that it is impaction...tomorrow youll notice that his legs are paralised.. but dont worry its reversealbe..

first off get him off of sand ( if hes on it) give him a warm bath AT LEAST daily and feed him alot of greens and wax worms.. wax worms arent the greatest but it will give him the runs.. get him off of worms with an exosceleton ( no meal worms/ king worms) and in about a week you should notice a difference...

( symotons )Straining to defecate, tremors, twitching or paralysis of rear legs.

(result) Slow painful death

(cure) Warm baths and gentle massage. Some vets may do an enema if the animal is large enough, depending on the cause.
Impaction can come from feeding food that is too large to be digested and passed as well as ingesting other items that cannot be digested such as wood, sand and synthetics.

(prevention) Proper sized food. For crickets, make sure that the cricket can fit easily between the Beardies eyes. Other items like worms and roaches should also be small enough to be easily digested. Super worms and meal worms are hard to digest and need to be fed in moderatio

taken off of http://www.beardiedragon.com/pages/Care/Quick_Ref_Health_Table.htm
under impaction theres a few links you should follow...

just in case im rong ( dont think i am ) id still do what the above ppl said just in case it is MBD also look at the link under MBD and it will give you more tips and links

it really does sound like impaction to me cause you said it was the back legs.. when a beardie gets impaacted my guess is the intestines push on a nerve that paralises the back legs.. it may also cause tremors.. so thats my educated guess.. bascialy hes got to poo it out.. but the baths and massages will help it loosen up and work its way through

[Sheldon & Tori]

well, first off, the only substrate he is on is paper.....second he's full grown and eating king worms.......third he has been pooping for at least the past week (his cage gets cleaned at least every sunday).......fourth we do dust his worms, as well as put calcimize into his drinking water every time we fill it up......we tried the bath thing and he just put his head down on my hand and fell asleep......i just don't know what has happened! and does anyone know any good reptile vets in edmonton? apparently the best one has moved out of the city......any help would be greatly appreciated!

thnx,
sheldon and tori

[Capital_Dragons]

I seriously recommend taking your bd to a good reptile vet asap. As Peter has mentioned, this could very likely be an impaction. It could also be a calcium deficiency. Although these would be the 2 most reasonable assumptions, many other things can cause these symptoms including renal failure, enlarged kidneys, etc. Many illnesses seen in reptiles can present with a similar set of symptoms, but have very different treatments for each individual illness or disease, which can only be accurately diagnosed by a herp vet.

A positive outcome will be greatly affected by how fast he receives vet care. I would not recommend trying to treat this yourself with increased oral calcium or vit d3 - if calcium deficiency is the problem your dealing with, your beardie would better benefit from injectable calcium administered by your vet.

I wish your and your beardie all the best, and let us know how he's makes out!