Rescued Bearded- Impaction + suspected MBD

Hello everyone I am so glad to have your knowledge and advice available to me. I recently rescued a bearded dragon that was brought into my local vets office. He was purchased at PetSmart six months ago as a baby. Over the last 6 months he was strictly fed a diet of mealworms and had no heat lamp only a coil type UVB bulb. I would say he is about 7 to 8 inch long from nose to end of tail. I have had him for about a week. He is paralyzed in his back legs and overall quite lethargic and listless. He had a terrible impaction which he was able to pass with pureed prunes , olive oil and hot soaking baths and stimulating his cloaca. After 3 days of trying he finally passed his huge impaction 48 hours ago. Over the last two days I have continued his warm water baths once a day and I've been giving him either beef or squash baby food watered down with Pedialyte mixed in with a pinch of critical care and pinch of calcium powder. (About half to 1ml twice daily, so about 2mls per day)
1) I have ordered the appropriate UVB UVA reptisun bulbs online but they will not be here for a few days. In the meantime he still has his reptisun coil bulb and I've been taking him outside every day for about 45 minutes for direct sunlight. Where I live right now it is about 85 to 90 degrees and very sunny so I'm hoping that is helping him.
2) Basking spot is at 105 degrees but I need to put him there manually as he cannot ambulate around the cage on his own so I don't know how long to keep him in the Basking spot.
3) whenever I remove him from the Basking spot under the lamp and put him on the floor of the cage he just drags himself into a corner of the cage and lays there.
With all this being said I can tell he feels much better now that his impaction is gone, he is much more alert and does put up a bit of a struggle when I feed him his baby food via syringe. I have spent hours on this website reading many articles and Forum posts but It's been very difficult to find detailed care instructions for POST impaction cases. I know it will take him some time to bounce back and it has only been 2 days since his impaction passed and only a little over a week since he's been with me receiving the proper care excetera but I really need help in knowing how to bring him back to 100%
Please help !!

Hi there, irts great that you got him to poo, poor little guy has had it rough. Sunshine is great, it gets the good D3 doses directly in to his system and helps with over all well being. Does he show any interest in live food ? If so, offer him small soft insects,[ not too many at a time ] since his impaction is passed,along with the syringe food.Crickets can be crippled to make them easy for him to get, just put them in a jar with a pinch of calcium powder + shake them up real hard . Just a few at a time to see if he'll eat them. Calci or Phoenix worms would be ideal as well as small dubia roaches.

With proper temps. he'll be able to digest the small bug meals, and even if he doesn't poo every day it's fine.

Hello,

Poor little one, what a rough time he has had! That is terrific you were able to get him to
pass an impaction, it is rare when they are small.
I am sure he is enjoying actually having heat, finally!
Hopefully the impaction didn't damage his nerves on his spinal column to the point where he
wont have any back leg function. It may take some time for that all to come back. You can
try water therapy a few days a week to help with strength.
Feel free to post some pictures of him also for us. Let us know how he is progressing.

Tracie

Update

Still not eating on his own. I have offered hornworms and tiny crickets held out in front of him on some tweezers as there's definitely no way he can hunt for anything but he has no interest.. I keep a dish of chopped fresh veggies in his cage that I replace every day but he has never touched them.
Since my last post he has only had one bowel movement and it was just as large as the bowel movement that I thought was the original mpaction. I've been feeding him about 2 ml of either baby food or critical care everyday split into two meals. His back legs are still completely powerless and just kind of hang there like spaghetti. Even though his front legs work he really is not able to drag himself around with them very well.
She seems alert and is definitely not as listless but he just can't seem to move on his own. And because of that he cannot get to and from his basking spot. The vet said that there's a chance he could improve but there is a chance he might not and it could become a quality of life issue. Is there anything else that I could be doing? His reptisun bulbs just arrived today and I set them up in his tank. But I've been putting him outside at least every other day since my last post for about 25 minutes a day for direct Sunshine so I don't think he has been lacking in that. Anyway let me guys know what you think. I feel so bad for him : (

Try squishing the bugs until the guts come out and lightly rubbing it on his snout, that often will often stimulae their appetite.

I think you're doing a great job and you shouldn't get discouraged by his lack of appetite- i think he just has to recuperate and learn how to eat again. with those horrible conditions he was in i'm not surprised! keep up the hard work

Wow so a lot has happened since my last post. He is doing a lot better. I kept up with the calcium enriched baby food mixture twice a day, also doing the warm water baths, daily outdoor sun exposure and he's been under the repti bulbs. He started eating on his own a few days ago: some baby dubia roaches and some crickets and he's also eating mixed leafy greens. He is starting to regain the use of his back legs. He will move them slightly or even take a step or two. I CANT BELIEVE IT!!

OMG that is so amazing! That just made me tear up. I am so happy to hear is much better. Hopefully he will catch up on growth now. SO happy for you both!

Hello,

Oh bless him, that is wonderful to hear!
It takes time when they go through such a terrible ordeal such as what he did. He may have
some nerve damage but it sounds like he might be able to recover to some extent. It is truly
amazing how resilient they can be when they are motivated to get better & have a reason to
get better.
Keep up the great work with him!

Tracie

Update: Almost 1 year later!
Liz, as he is affectionately called, has been absolutely amazing. He can ambulate amazingly well, get around his cage and enjoy climbing over his logs and sticks, can hunt for food and has an amazing appetite! He eats his salads very well and goes CRAZY for any kind of insect that is offered to him. Because of everything he has gone through I do not handle him much but whenever I clean his cage or need to pick him up he is always so kind and gentle. Thank you all for your support and words of encouragement while Liz was getting better. I'm so glad that I stuck with it and we hope to have him for many years to come! - J

Hello,

That is terrific "Liz" is doing so much better now. It is very rewarding to see them recover.
I think it would be safe for you to handle him a bit more, carefully if you wanted to. Since he
is so active now & can move around freely he has gotten much stronger.
It sounds like he has a great appetite, too. I am so happy for you both! Feel free to post more
pictures & updates more often.

Tracie

That's wonderful to hear ! I thought this was a new thread until I looked at the date. Then I saw that I had already replied as well as other members. Thanks for the happy update. It's good for other owners to see these good results.