New Bearded Dragon Came with Nasty Wound - *PLEASE HELP*

This is the first time I've had a Beardie since Grade 8 (14 years ago). I rescued a Bearded Dragon tonight from someone who was cohabitating 2 Juveniles together. The reason they were getting rid of my new beardie is because his cage mate became aggressive and bit his hand. It now has a nasty cut and is missing a thumb.

I also suspect he may be suffering from MBD. Unsure how severe it his condition is.

I put some strawberries in his new home and he went nuts for them, ate them right away. Also fed him some dusted meal worms. He is currently eating well.

How should I go about treating him?

MBD?

You can put some raw [ unpasteurized ] honey on it , it's a powerful antimcrobial or put some watered down betadine on it and then some neosporin. If you use honey you'll need to be sure there are no loose insects hiding in the tank, crickets are notorious for hiding in logs, etc. You can wrap it with gauze after applyng the honey and it should heal. Check it every when you re-wrap it to be sure it's not becoming infected. If it does you'll need to get him to an experienced reptile vet.

Hello,

I agree, the raw, unpasteurized honey is excellent & can help ward off infection. Be sure you
are using loose substrate also to keep it clean.
Which UVB do you plan on using for him, the tail base does look suspect for metabolic bone
disease, so he will need good quality UVB.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Drache613":3urdq5li said:

Hello,

I agree, the raw, unpasteurized honey is excellent & can help ward off infection. Be sure you
are using loose substrate also to keep it clean.
Which UVB do you plan on using for him, the tail base does look suspect for metabolic bone
disease, so he will need good quality UVB.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Click to expand...

Im pretty sure you meant "no loose substrate".
Paper towels, nonadhesive shelf liner, tile or newsprint, these will keep infection possibilities down to a minimum. Loose substrates harbour all types of infectious bacteria and, germs.

Thanks all. I'll probably stick with newspaper for the time being and eventually move to tile. I haven't fed him crickets yet so I'll make sure not to put any in there.

As far as lighting, as of now I have 75w basking light and compact reptisun UVB 10.0 florescent bulb (I bought on the way home) in a dome fixure. The previous owner did not have a UVB light at all ?. After I did a little more research I realized I'll be switching to a mounted UVB florescent tube.

Will this brighten up his colors or should I not expect much of a difference?

UncleNico":2244o1im said:

Thanks all. I'll probably stick with newspaper for the time being and eventually move to tile. I haven't fed him crickets yet so I'll make sure not to put any in there.

As far as lighting, as of now I have 75w basking light and compact reptisun UVB 10.0 florescent bulb (I bought on the way home) in a dome fixure. The previous owner did not have a UVB light at all ?. After I did a little more research I realized I'll be switching to a mounted UVB florescent tube.

<<<< if it's a 13W version , put it back in the box and return it to the shop to exchange it for a 25W UVB200 for the short term.
Make sure there is no mesh under the UVB and it's no farther than 8 inches from the basking spot (the 25W version), will have to right on hop of him for the 13W version (not practical).
Consider investing in a Ceramic Heat Emitter , and a T5HO 10-12% UVB tube + reflector hood longer term.




Will this brighten up his colors or should I not expect much of a difference?

Click to expand...

Manuka honey / Activon Medihoney / or if you can't find these , raw unpasteurized honey is OK for minor injuries. I'd invest in a small bottle of Betadiene and add this dropwize to luke warm water in a small glass until it takes on a cold tea colour and soak the injured foot in it for maybe 10 minutes per day , dry and then apply some concentrated Betadiene to the injury and or manuka honey each day.

if you are going to apply a dressing to the injury, make sure it's not too tight (restricts blood flow) and nothing stuck directly to his skin , will be necessary to keep it dry at all times.
Watch the injured hand and digits closely incase the injury is more serious or become infected.

Silkworms are a very good feeder and have enzymes in them that are beneficial too.

Is there anything else a vet would do differently to treat him? Should I take him in or is this method pretty reliable?

Hi, and thank you for taking him in. If he's never had any UVB light at all then it's going to be extremely important that you buy him a very high-quality, strong UVB tube that is long, at least 22" long, and that it's mounted correctly along with a bright-white colored basking bulb. You cannot use any compact or coil bulbs that fit into regular dome or clamp lamps, as they are not adequate for a healthy Bearded Dragon, let alone one that is already suffering from a severe Calcium deficiency and MBD.

You need to return the compact Reptisun 10.0 UVb bulb and the dome lamp you bought for it, as it will not emit any adequate UVB light to him, and also may cause eye damage, neurological damage, and blindness, depending on which one you got. So don't even bother turning it on, as Knobby's already said, just put it back in the box and return it along with the dome lamp.

As far as the basking bulb you bought, as long as it's a high enough wattage to put all 3 temperature zones inside his tank within the correct ranges, AND it's BRIGHT WHITE IN COLOR ONLY (you cannot ever use any colored bulbs with a Bearded Dragon at all, no blue, red, purple, black, green, yellow, etc., only bright white, just like natural sunlight), then it's fine. However, the only way you'll know whether his 3 temperature zones are within the correct ranges is if you have purchased either a $10 Digital Probe Thermometer that has a Probe on a wire, or an Infrared Temperature Gun. You absolutely cannot measure his Basking Spot Surface Temperature with any type of stick-on thermometers, they are only able to measure Ambient (air) Temperatures, and they are very inaccurate anyway, often off by between 10-20 degrees when tested. You can measure all 3 temperature zones with either the Digital Probe Thermometer or the Infrared Gun. (If you buy a Digital Probe Thermometer, you must remember to allow the Probe to sit on the spot you're measuring for at least 20-30 minutes each time before reading the temperature, so you allow the Probe to heat up)...Any Petco or PetSmart sells Digital Probe Thermometers for $9.99.

The UVB tube you need to get must be a T5 strength that is at least 22"/24" long, along with a matching length, T5-rated tube fixture. Do not bother with a much weaker T8 strength UVB tube, they cost more, must be replaced once every 6 months (as opposed to once every 12 months for the T5 UVB tubes), and they must be mounted underneath any mesh tank lids by strapping the entire fixtures to the underside of the mesh lids with Zip Ties or Wire, as the mesh lids block 40% of the UVB light, and the T8 tubes are not strong enough to emit adequate UVB light to him on the other side of the mesh. Also, the weaker T8 tubes have to be mounted within at least 6" of his basking platform, while the T5 tubes only have to be within at least 11" of his basking spot/platform, so they give you a little more leeway and you don't need such a tall basking platform, which is going to be important for him if he has any physical disabilities from the MBD. The T5 UVB tube is the best way to stop the calcium deficiency, strengthen his bone density, and start to reverse as much of the physical damage from the MBD that is going to be possible.

Amazon.com is by far the cheapest place to order a T5 UVb tube and a matching T5-rated tube fixture that INCLUDES A METAL REFLECTOR INSIDE IT THAT SITS BEHIND THE T5 UVB TUBE! This is extremely important, especially for him having MBD, he needs the strong UVB light reflected throughout the tank. Both his bright white colored basking bulb and his T5 UVB tube need to be on every single day for at least 13-14 hours.

The 2 strongest, safest, highest-quality T5 UVB tubes available for a Bearded Dragon with MBD are the Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tube (never the 5.0), and the Arcadia 12% T5 UVB tube. The Reptisun 10.0 T5HO comes in 22" and 34" length tubes, which will fit into either a 24" or a 36" T5-rated tube fixture, respectively. The Arcadia 12% T5 UVB tube comes in 24" and 36" tube lengths, and will obviously fit into the same length tube fixtures.

You can buy a 22" Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tube on Amazon.com for around $24, which blows away any store price (if you can even find on in a store), and you can do a package-deal on Amazon.com that will add a 24" T5-rated tube fixture (at least 24 watts) for around $28 shipped. So you can buy both on Amazon.com for around $50 shipped, as opposed to paying closer to $40 for the UVB tube and $60+ for a T5-rated tube fixture. So it's a no-brainer. Just make sure that whichever 24" T5-rated tube fixture you choose either has a Metal Reflector built-in already (it sits in a slot behind the chamber the UVB tube sits in), OR you can actually order a separate, Clip-On metal reflector that matches the length of the UVB tube (not the length of the fixture, in the case of the Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tube). If you can afford it, Amazon.com sells a really, really nice 24" SunBlaster brand T5-rated tube fixture that comes with an awesome built-in metal reflector that folds outward from the fixture, and also includes all mounting hardware to mount it on a flat surface or hang it from a ceiling (you'll most likely just sit it on top of the mesh lid with a T5 strength UVB tube, but if you ever want to buy him a large, wooden enclosure, this Sunblaster T5-rated tube fixture comes with the hardware to mount it on the ceiling of the enclosure). It only costs around $45, and I have 2 of them housing the Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tubes and love them.

Once you get the T5 strength UVb tube and a Digital Probe Thermometer (hopefully you already have the Digital Probe or the Temp Gun), you want to set up both the long UVb tube and the bright-white colored Basking Bulb over the Hot Side of the tank, right alongside each other. Not end-to-end, but rather right alongside each other over the Hot Side of the tank, so that they both are sharing the top of the mesh lid side-by-side. Then you want to move whatever you're using as his basking spot/platform so that it is within the Hot Side of the tank and DIRECTLY underneath both of the lights, so that he'll get both of the lights while he's basking. This is replicating natural sunlight as closely as possibly for him.

After both lights are on for at least an hour or so, then you can take the Probe of the Digital Probe Thermometer and place it right on the basking spot/platform, and allow it to sit there for at least 20-30 minutes (you can do this with the current bright-white colored basking light that you have and measure his 3 temperature zones to see if you have the correct wattage of basking bulb, as the UVb tube will not put out any heat that will effect the temps, just make sure that you have the basking bulb over the Hot Side of the tank and the basking spot/platform directly underneath it, pretending that the UVb tube is right alongside the basking bulb and also directly over the basking spot/platform, sharing the Hot Side of the mesh lid). After the Probe sits for 20/30 minutes then read the temperature and write it down. Then you want to measure the Hot Side Ambient (air) Temperature, which you do by using the suction cup that comes with the Digital Probe Thermometer. Put the suction cut on the wire right below the Probe, then stick the suction cup to the glass of the Hot Side of the tank, like the front or side glass, and do it about 2" above the floor of the tank on the Hot Side. Wait for 20-30 minutes, then read the temperature and write it down. Lastly, you'll need to measure the Cool Side Ambient Temperature, and you do this the same way as the Hot Side Ambient (air) Temp, but move the Probe to the opposite Cool Side of the tank, sticking the suction cup to the front or side glass of the Cool Side of the tank about 2" above the floor, wait another 20-30 minutes, then read the temperature and write it down.

BASKING SPOT SURFACE TEMP: Between 105-110 degrees F MAXIMUM for a baby or juvenile younger than a year old; between 100-105 degrees F MAX for an adult a year old or older; 110 degrees MAXIMUM is the highest any temperature should be anywhere at any time inside a Bearded Dragon's tank!!!

HOT SIDE AMBIENT (air) TEMP: Between 88-93 degrees F MAX

COOL SIDE AMBIENT (cool) TEMP: Between 75-80 degrees F MAX

*******Bearded Dragons come from the Australian Desert, which is completely Pitch-Black at nighttime, as well as considerably cooler than the daytime temperatures. As such, Bearded Dragons only sleep comfortably and soundly if their tanks are Pitch-Black at nighttime with no lights on, and only if the temperature of their tank at nighttime is considerably cooler than their daytime temperature. Thus, AS LONG AS THE TANK TEMPERATURE IS AT LEAST 65 DEGREES F AT NIGHT, THEN YOUR DRAGON NEEDS NO NIGHTTIME HEAT SOURCE AT ALL!!!!! A lot of people worry about their Beardies being too cold at nighttime since they need very specific temperatures during the daytime, and so they go out any buy a night light that not only disrupts their sleep because of the light (no matter what the color), but also makes them very uncomfortable because it makes their tank far too warm at night. Your house would have to drop to 60 degrees or lower at nighttime for his tank temperature to drop below 65 degrees, so most likely you need no nighttime heat source at all. If by chance you like to freeze yourself at night and his tank temperature does drop below 65 degrees at night, then you can only use a Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE), which is a bulb that fits into any regular dome or clamp lamp, but it emits only heat and no light. REMEMBER, YOU'RE ONLY TRYING TO GET HIS NIGHTTIME TANK TEMPERATURE TO 65 DEGREES F, SO IF YOU NEED A CHE AT ALL, YOU'LL ONLY NEED A VERY LOW WATTAGE CHE AT THAT, USUALLY BETWEEN 10-20 WATT CHE'S ARE REQUIRED TO PUT THEIR TANK TEMPS BETWEEN 65-70 DEGREES.

****Something that I'd like to comment to you is about feeding him Mealworms. Please do not feed your Dragon any Mealworms. First of all, they are not a healthy nor an appropriate staple live feeder insect for Bearded Dragons, as they consist of mostly all fat and can result in your Dragon developing Fatty Liver Disease, which is a very common cause of Beardies dying young. More importantly in a case of a Bearded Dragon with severe MBD, which often results in a partial paralysis of their back-ends and they often have trouble having regular bowel movements anyway, regardless of what they eat, Mealworms are mostly just a bunch of very hard, Chitlin shell that Bearded Dragons are not built to digest at all, and as such Mealworms are the #1 cause of Bearded Dragon bowel impactions/obstructions, with loose substrates a close second. So please, feed him only healthy, safe live staple feeder insects.

For Bearded Dragons, your choices for acceptable healthy, nutritious (very important in the case of a Dragon with MBD and no doubt other nutritional deficiencies due to no UVB light) live staple feeder insects include Crickets, Roaches such as Dubia Roaches and several other Roach species, Silkworms, Locusts and Hoppers, and Phoenix Worms/BSFL/NutriGrubs/CalciWorms/Reptiworms (all the same thing). As far as occasional Treat Live Insects that should only be fed in very small quantities of a few per week (very high fat content), your options are Wax Worms, Butter Worms, and Hornworms. Mealworms just are not an appropriate live insect to feed a healthy Bearded Dragon, and can actually be very dangerous to feed a Dragon with MBD. I adopted an 8 month old Dragon who never had any UVB light, and when I got him it took me almost 2 weeks of giving him laxative slurries made with Psyllium Husk twice a day with an oral syringe followed by a warm bath and tummy massages to pass the massive Mealworm shell bowel impaction that he had. It took him 3 times of passing the largest, most horrible piles of loose Mealworm shells along with huge, long, cigar-like masses of compacted Mealworm shells encased in a thin layer of fecal matter for him to finally get the 3 months of Mealworm shells that had been causing this impaction. His prior owner fed him Mealworms every day and told me that he had only been passing tiny bowel movements that were mostly urates for the past 3 months before I adopted him. So the Mealworm shell impaction was so large and so solid that he had it inside him for almost 3 months...Your best bet is to order all of your live insects online from a source like www.dubiaroaches.com and buying them in bulk. I order 1,000 size large BSFL from www.dubiaroaches.com every month for $23 shipped. They arrive in 2-3 days and keep for a little over a month before turning. They also sell roaches, crickets, etc. for a small fraction of the cost of crickets or other live insects in pet stores (really Crickets are the only thing most pet shops sell that are appropriate for Bearded Dragons). Also, just an FYI, I wouldn't be feeding him any Superworms either yet, until you get him under appropriate UVB and in proper temperature zones for a few months, as they also have a very hard shell, and without a Basking Spot Surface Temp that is within the correct range and a strong UVb light, he will not be able to digest or process Superworm shells. This is why I got worried when you said you've been feeding him Mealworms without any UVB light (this is not good), he's likely to become very impacted. Also, please Gut-Load all of his live insects with the greens and veggies that you feed him, do not feed his live insects any products you buy from a pet shop that is meant to be food or "hydration gel" or "cricket quenchers", it's not only a totally unnecessary waste of your money, it's also dangerous. Any of those Cricket or Roach hydration products, like the Gels or the Quenchers are made of exactly the same stuff that the Gel Beads you put in the soil of your house plants to keep them watered over the winter are...Anything the live insects eat, your Dragon eats, so only feed the insects things you would feel comfortable feeding your Dragon. Plus, if a baby or juvenile Dragon (or even an adult) refuses to eat any greens or veggies, the best way to get them in him is by Gut-Loading their live insects with them.

You need to offer him a fresh salad every day as well, after his first live insect feeding session, and please, this is very important for a Beardie with MBD and a Calcium Deficiency, DO NOT FEED HIM ANY KALE OR SPINACH AT ALL!!! They both contain extremely high levels of Oxalate, which will automatically bind to any and all Calcium he eats from his food or from his Calcium powder, and this forms Calcium Oxalate, which will just be excreted, So basically he will be excreting all the Calcium he takes in instead of absorbing it. Instead, please choose from the list of healthy, appropriate fresh greens for Beardies, which include Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Turnip Greens, Dandelion Greens, Escarole, Endive, Arugula, Bok Choy, Pak Choy, and Swiss Chard.

UncleNico":kejbjotp said:

Is there anything else a vet would do differently to treat him? Should I take him in or is this method pretty reliable?

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Hard to see , but the bite wound likely needs to be properly cleaned and debrided and a stitch or two to close it up .... there is a possibility of broken bones in there too , so an xray will be helpful.

Hello,

How is your dragon doing today, any improvements?
Please keep us posted on him, I hope he is feeling better. The hand/wrist certainly can't
feel very good!

Tracie

Sorry for not responding. I really appreciated all of your and have learned a lot since I first posted this over 3 months ago.
I cleaned and soaked the cut every day with betadine and used manuka honey after. The wound healed up nicely but unfortunately most of the fingers stayed black and eventually fell off on the left hand.

For a while I was tong feeding because she barely moved her left hand for the first few days after I got her. She now has no problems using her arm, walking, is active and alert, and loves hunting. Thanks all for your help

Hello,

I am happy to hear she has improved so much! She does look happy. At least the hand did
heal up, even though she lost fingers. Has that wrist & hand area been swollen now for awhile?
I'm glad she isn't having any trouble with using her hand & is able to hunt her food with success.
Which UVB did you end up getting?
Thanks for the update. Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Yes, after comparing to the other it does appear swollen. Do you think it should have gone down by now? Is it possibly an internal infection?

As far as lighting I'm still using 10.0 UVB bulb, heat lamp and ceramic bulb to keep night time temps up. Basking spot reads 105, ambient temp on warm side around 90-95 and cool side gets down to 85. She tends to bask directly under UVB fixture and I would say she definitely gets good exposure.

In another month, after this one burns out I'm going to mount a fluorescent fixture to ceiling of the enclosure.

I'm glad she's doing well, but she's not gotten any UVB light at all from that Compact Reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb, especially if you have it on top of a mesh lid, it's blocking 40% of the already far too weak UVB tube...So essentially since you've had her she's not gotten any adequate, if any UVB light at all. You'd have to have that compact UVB bulb under the mesh lid and within 3-4" of her for 13 hours every day for it to give her any adequate UVB light at all, and you can't keep it that close to her eyes. She already has MBD, and the first think I noticed in the photo of her that you posted is that her eyes look very fatigued and tired, and the Calcium Deficiency and MBD is simply going to keep progressing until you get her under a long, strong UVB tube and fixture with a reflector inside it. I would not mess around with a weak T8 strength UVB tube at all, it must also be mounted underneath the mesh lid, be within at least 6" of the Basking spot, and be replaced once every 6 months (that compact UVB bulb you have is likely not emitting any UVB light at all anymore anyway, I don't think you quite understand how this works)...You need to get her under a long, strong T5 UVB tube and fixture with a reflector. You can buy a 22" Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tube and a 24" T5-rated fixture with a reflector on Amazon.com, both for about $60 shipped. Please do this immediately!!!

******Here's what you aren't understanding: Forgetting for the moment that she's not getting any adequate UVB light at all from that compact UVB bulb to begin with, even if it was brand new, UVB LIGHTS HAVE A DECAY RATE, MEANING THAT THEY COMPLETELY STOP EMITTING ANY UVB LIGHT AT ALL LONG BEFORE THE ACTUAL BULB BURNS OUT!!! You cannot wait for that bulb to "burn-out", that could take a year or longer, and it's long since stopped emitting any UVB light at all anyway, though with that bulb it wouldn't matter anyway. YOU HAVE TO REGULARLY REPLACE ANY AND ALL UVB LIGHTS/TUBES/BULBS AT A CERTAIN AGE, THE WEAKER COMPACT BULBS AND THE WEAKER T8 TUBES MUST ALL BE REPLACED EVERY 3-6 MONTHS AT AN ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM!!!! The much stronger T5 UVB tubes, which is what a Dragon that is healthy should have, let alone a Dragon that already has started showing symptoms of MBD, have a much slower UVB light decay-rate, and only need replaced once every 10-12 months at a maximum, so you'll save money in the long run over a weaker T8 UVb tube that must be replaced every 6 months maximum.

The bottom line here is that your current compact UVB bulb is totally inadequate for a healthy dragon when it's brand new, and is useless for a Dragon with MBD when it's brand new, well it's useless for all Dragons brand new...However, your Compact UVB bulb is no longer emitting any UVB light at all, it's simply emitting UVA light, and will not "burn-out" for God know how long, that doesn't matter. You must replace UVB lights on the dot no matter what. So basically all of the CAlcium that she is ingesting from the food that she eats and from the Calcium powder/Multivitamin powder that you give her is just being excreted in her urates, she's not absorbing much, if any of it. So please, spend the $60 immediately and get her a proper T5 UVB tube and fixture that is at least a 10% UVB output, or 10.0 now, as your compact bulb is not emitting any UVB light anymore at all and is just a waste of electricity at this point...If I'm coming off as harsh here, it's because you have a Dragon who is already suffering from MBD, and she has not gotten any adequate UVB light since you've had her, now she's getting none, and she's just going to get progressively worse. I'm glad you posted an update, otherwise you could have been waiting for that compact bulb to burn out for another year or more...