Twitching

[lisab_83]

My female crested gecko's toes are all twitching. When I hold her she seems to shake and all her toes move. I seperated her from my male even though she is still eating fine and appears otherwise healthy.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Any suggestions what could be causing it? I am feeding her crickets and calcium+vitamins (same as all my other cresteds who don't show these symptoms).

Thanks,
Lisa

[Ptindy]

Hey Lisa, it sounds like early stages of metobolic bone disease, MBD. This is due to lack of calcium. Is she currently breeding? I am assuming she is. Females when breeding need a big boost in calcium in their diets, I recommend land snails or even liquid calcium. I dust my breeding female's prey items every feeding while breeding season. Quickly get a UVB bulb on her and boost her calcium. If things worsen she may not be able to eat on her own or even move. Hope this helps some. Take care.

Mike

[Badger-X]

Twitching is almost always an early sign og MBD. Up the calcium for sure and even though nocturnal, use a UVB setup on a 12 hr on/off cycle... Should clear up fast.. If not, seek a vet out...

[labomb]

definately sounds like MBD, exactly what one of my males did. I followed advice given here and gave a drop of Bone Aid liquid calcium cricket flavor(from the petstore) twice a day for a couple weeks along with using the UVB. I also got some emeraid powder from my vet but since he was still eating baby food I didn't use it. he couldn't catch crickets at that time he was so bad off and couldn't climb.
that was about a year ago and I thought he was a gonner but now he is perfectly fine. I did have to retreat him once a few weeks after the initial treatment for returning problems. now I make sure he is getting more calcium regularly than what I use to give him.

[DragnDrop]

Also make sure you're giving her Vit D3, without it, she can't absorb the Ca.
On the other side of the coin though, too much Ca can interfere with absorption of Vit A and D3, resulting in a form of MBD. If you 're dusting the crickets with vitamins every time, I'd suggest cutting back on it to once a week. Most vitamin formulas are loaded with Vit A, and overdose of it can interfere with her abiltiy to use Ca as well. So, it's a never-ending circle. Best bet is to get her a UVB bulb and use a vitamin or calcium brand with no D3 and only beta carotene, no direct Vit A. Failing that, use a beta carotene (herptivite is a good one) forumla, and Ca with D3. Dust the bugs with the Ca every time until she's recovered, vitamins once a week.
Adding snails is a great way to provide excellent quality Ca to her diet, as well a high quality protein. I use small H. aspersa which are taking over my garden (no pesticides). Pillbugs or sowbugs go over well too. They don't have chitin, the 'shell' is made of Ca.

[lisab_83]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone! I'm heading out to the petstore for a UVB bulb and the calcium today.