MBD or something else?

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Gryf

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Hello, I have a rather young bearded dragon named Thalia at only a 8 months old to be 1 this coming September. She's had no medical issues up until now excluding problems from stress from a move in location, but I fear she may have MBD or possibly something else.

Last night she was fine and even for some time this
morning, but as the day went on she became extremely lethargic, refuses to eat, and is having tremors in her limbs as well as not using her back legs, and has lessened breathing. Her eyes and limbs seem slightly swollen as well but it is hard to tell because of how she is sitting and the fact she keeps her eyes closed for most of the time. I've read these all to be symptoms of MBD and am extremely worried because it's so sudden in comparison to how she was last night. She isn't laying down and if I make noise she'll sometimes respond or look my way but otherwise is very inattentive which also worries me but I don't know if this is important.

She has had low calcium intake because of her refusal to eat foods with calcium powder on them or supplements so I've had to rely on hiding the powder or supplements, which she rarely falls for, and foods that have natural calcium or are fortified with it.

We don't live close to a reptile vet and I worry that traveling 30+ minutes could worsen her condition and if it would be better just to call or wait until she seems a bit better and more up for the ride (hoping she does recover even slightly). I also am wondering if this is what I think it is or maybe something else or worse.
 

CooperDragon

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That doesn't sound good but if it was sudden then I'm not sure that the issue is MBD. What kind of UVB light do you have for her? How far is it from her basking area? If she is eating other foods that are calcium rich (black soldier fly larvae, collard greens, turnip greens, etc) then that should be pretty good if she has the right lighting to absorb it. This also may be a neurological problem or perhaps atadenovirus. Can you post some photos of her and her setup? You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply.
 

Gryf

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Hello and sorry for the delayed reply the notification was marked as spam in my inbox.
Thank you for responding!
First i think it is good to mention she has perked up a bit and her twitching has lessened but not vanished completely but I'd say that's better than anything.
The bulb I have is supposedly a 2 in one uvb and heating bulb at 100 watts. It's directly above two logs one being raised and the other acting as a hide, it's about 18 inches from the hide and about a foot from the central spot on the raised log. As you can see in the images it's raised on two books, not the fanciest up but what I can do at the time to keep it off the screen and to help reach the reccomended heights (though I suppose now they could be wrong and actually causing a problem).
Our pet store doesn't provide many great insects so she has simple worms and crickets occasionally with calcium powder (because like I said she doesn't like to eat them much with it on) and then plenty of collard greens as those are her main vegetables and the easiest and best thing to get her.
Also sorry her tank is a little messy right now I haven't had the chance to clean recently.
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Drache613

BD.org Sicko
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Moderator
Hello,

How is your girl tonight?
It sounds like it could be calcium related, that is a very common issue.
What brand is the two in one light, Exoterra, Megaray, or Arcadia? What wattage is it & how
close to her is it?
If she isnt' eating on her own, you will need to try to get some food into her, with calcium to
help with nutrition. You can get some chicken or turkey baby food, mixed with either sweet
potato or squash baby food & a pinch of calcium. You can use a plastic dropper or syringe to
drip the food onto her nose to see if she will lick that off of her nose.

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie
 

Gryf

Member
Original Poster
Thalia is doing better today, she is ate a very small amount of greens and one small cricket, but is oddly repulsed by the superworms which used to be her favorite and has also stopped accepting food. Other than that is still rather sickly and hasn't moved almost the entire day and is almost in a sleep like state.
Her bulb is an Exoterra one at 100 watts and it's about 17 inches away from her.
I tried the baby food and calcium and she licked it off so we'll see how that goes and hopefully she recovers.
Thank you for the advice and for caring about Thalia.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That's good to hear Thalia seems to be doing better.
Keep up with the baby food, it will help her keep her strength up.
The Mercury vapor bulb you are using then is the Solar Glo. It is nice bulb, but, isn't very
strong in the UVB emissions at all. Even if you moved it closer, it still doesn't have very good
UVB. I would recommend getting a tube bulb to use in combination with the MVB for a great
UVB + heat combination. You could get a T5 tube bulb from either Reptisun or Arcadia. I
think it would help her tremendously.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

Gryf

Member
Original Poster
Sorry for the long delay, but Thalia is doing a lot better! I got the new bulb you reccomended today and will get it set up shortly. She's almost back to normal and is eating normally again, thank you for all your advice.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That's great to hear Thalia is doing much better now! :D
She should really improve with her new light installed also. I'm glad to hear she is eating
normally as well. Keep us posted on her progress.

Tracie
 

Gryf

Member
Original Poster
She has fully recovered! She actually seems healthier than she was even before the incident which is good. Thank you for all the advice!
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That is great news Thalia is doing so well now! :D
I guess the light really helped out? I am sure she feels much more energetic, also.

Tracie
 
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