PuffDragonBeard":2048al4l said:
I wish I knew that before! I have a reptisun 5.0 compact UVB, and I dust his crickets with calcium!
and yeah, I found a vet where I live that deals with reptiles and am in the process of setting up an appointment just in case!
Any improvement ?
I had an issue with Puff's left arm when he was about 12 months old, he was favouring it and I took the vet right away , little bugger must have been bunging it on as he made a liar of me when the vet placed him on the floor to see his locomotion- was perfect - no sign of any problem.
When George (one of my BTS) was about 6 months old he hurt his left arm somehow (likely had a slip / fall in his rearing tub) and he was not using his arm, and it started swelling up and was sore if I touched it, took him to a local "reptile" vet who looked at him for less than 2 minutes and said "sprained he'll be fine in few days call me if he isn't, pay at the front desk".
About a week later no improvement so I found a different reptile vet (I had to drive 30 mins to get to this one) and I told her about my prior experience, she ordered xrays and discovered he had broken the upper bone in his left arm (and told it would be difficult to set owning to his size and asked me come back a couple of days and if I wanted the arm fixed -was going to be expensive) ..
.. needless to say I was seeing red as my beloved pet had been forced to suffer a broken arm unnecessarily long because the other vet was incompetent / uncaring / refused to listen and couldn't be bothered even to take a simple xray despite my asking he do so ... grrrr!!!!
The new vet wound up inserting a small surgical pin (she had to make it herself) inside the broken bone and then put antibiotic dressings and a caste on the arm and chest and shoulder to immobilize the arm while the bone mended .... so George was stuck with his left arm held straight and pointing straight out from his should for 3 months .... did it slow him down .... hell no .... he was still a little rascal and very boisterous , and even more so after he had his antibiotic / anti-inflammatory / antibiotic IM injection every second day for the first month ( they really perked him up so he must have had some pain ).
7 years down the track and he's getting on in years (he's now an old BTS) he's never had an issue since.
5% UVB IS NOT ADEQUATE FOR A BEARDIE - he'd need to right up against it (inside 2 inches) to get sufficient UVA and UVB.
I highly recommend you consider upgrading to a 10%UVB T5 tube and reflector fitting, and in the short term change the reptisun 5.0 compact UVB over to a 26W UVB200 (10% UVB) - I've been using these for years for my beardies and had no issues that can attributeable to these compacts.
He needs to be able to bask within about 8 inches of the 26W UVB200.
Advantage of t5 10% UVB tubes with a reflector is they spread UVA and UVB through a large area of the tank rather than being focused in a small area with MVBs and CFBs.
