Beardie stuck in brumation

I have a beardie who will not stop sleeping. She is awake 2-3 days a week and will not eat much. She will eat her live prey and a few pieces of her veggies. She is 5 years old. Her enclosure is a 2 tier tank. Her basking platform is 12 inches from her uvb light and temps on her basking platform range from 102- 90 degrees. Cool side and under platform is in the 80s. Her uvb bulb is reptisun 10.0 tube light. She went into brumation perfectly around October or November. When spring came and she woke up I noticed she had awful range of motion in her hind legs. They were really stiff and she would put hardly any weight on them. I took her to be seen and we did x rays and saw that she had pretty bad arthritis is both her knees but bone density was excellent. She was given carprofen and it made her sleep and not eat so we switched to liquid tramadol and same out come. It did help her knees because her range of motion improved tremendously and she is baring weight. But because of her sleeping and eating I stopped giving her the pain meds to as needed and her last dose was 3-4 months ago. She basks 12-24 hours a week and eats 2 -3 times a week mainly when I offer her live prey. Every month I take her in to have a weight check and x rays done and her weight has maintained at 420grams and x rays shows excellent bone density. She has had an ultrasound done and it came back normal and she had blood work done also normal. It’s like she is just stuck in brumation. She has been awake the past 4 days but fell back asleep this afternoon after pooping. I just want answers because I feel like I’m failing her and I don’t want her to suffer. this is the 2 teir enclosure. Uvb light is fixed inside without the mesh screen blocking it. She sleeps under the platform in the back corner. one of her X-rays. and her blood work

I’m pretty sure they Brumaire for 3-5 weeks

Hello,

Great looking tank. How is your girl doing today?
The bones on the x-ray look good with no blockages that I can see. Has she ever developed
any infertile eggs? How often do you give calcium for her? For swelling & or discomfort of
the joints you could consider some serrapeptase which is silkworm enzyme that helps with
those ailments.
She can use her back legs but prefers not to due to some pain? I am not sure what would
have caused arthritis in her since she is still young. The Reptisun 10 tube at that distance
is pretty good. You could always consider getting the T5 tube which is a higher UVB output.
I have looked over the blood tests too.
The glucose was actually low which can sometimes indicate a B6 deficiency. Do you give a
multivitamin type of supplement weekly for her? The uric acid was good, at 4.4mg/dl but I
wouldn't want it to get any higher though.
The AST which is a liver enzyme, is a little low which also, can indicate a vitamin deficiency.
Sometimes when they get a little older, their biochemistry changes & they may develop a
deficiency of some type like people can. The calcium

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

Drache613":mh1ntpf1 said:

Hello,

Great looking tank. How is your girl doing today?
The bones on the x-ray look good with no blockages that I can see. Has she ever developed
any infertile eggs? How often do you give calcium for her? For swelling & or discomfort of
the joints you could consider some serrapeptase which is silkworm enzyme that helps with
those ailments.
She can use her back legs but prefers not to due to some pain? I am not sure what would
have caused arthritis in her since she is still young. The Reptisun 10 tube at that distance
is pretty good. You could always consider getting the T5 tube which is a higher UVB output.
I have looked over the blood tests too.
The glucose was actually low which can sometimes indicate a B6 deficiency. Do you give a
multivitamin type of supplement weekly for her? The uric acid was good, at 4.4mg/dl but I
wouldn't want it to get any higher though.
The AST which is a liver enzyme, is a little low which also, can indicate a vitamin deficiency.
Sometimes when they get a little older, their biochemistry changes & they may develop a
deficiency of some type like people can. The calcium

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

Click to expand...

I will try to upgrade to a T5 bulb. I have only had her for a year so I’m not sure if she ever laid eggs. She was really malnourished when I got her. She gets calcium 2-3 weeks with her super worms. She is not on multivitamins but I most certainly will start her on some. She has slepted the past 2 days. About to be going on day 3. So when I get off of work in the morning and get home I will be waking her up and putting her up to bask and soak in some uvb. As far as her arthritis before brumation I didn’t see any signs of her having issues. I didn’t notice anything until she woke up and was walking funny. I kept my eye on it for a few weeks and it got worse. She is doing much better now with walking and holding her weight on her hind limbs. I just wish she would wake up and eat.

Hello,

It's always hard when you take in a dragon who is already an adult. The malnutrition is
probably a huge culprit in causing any issues now, but hopefully you can take care of a
lot of that.
A stronger UVB source, along with an addition of vitamins should help out. I'm glad to
hear she is walking a little bit better. A lot of dragons are trying to bromate this time of
year. It sounds like she is definitely sleepy! Maybe with a stronger bulb, that will perk her
up some.
Keep us posted on her!
Tracie

Double check your temperatures and bump up the photoperiod to 16 hours per day …. this might get her metabolism going .

kingofnobbys":3ao98h9e said:

Double check your temperatures and bump up the photoperiod to 16 hours per day …. this might get her metabolism going .

Click to expand...

I use a temp labor gun and it’s at 102 degrees in basking and she has dark tiles. I don’t think bumping her temps any higher will be a good idea due to potential burns. The issue is she has not wanted to bask at all since last summer basically. And now brumation season

Drache613":1et6xk3r said:

Hello,

It's always hard when you take in a dragon who is already an adult. The malnutrition is
probably a huge culprit in causing any issues now, but hopefully you can take care of a
lot of that.
A stronger UVB source, along with an addition of vitamins should help out. what vitamins would you recommend? I'm glad to
hear she is walking a little bit better. A lot of dragons are trying to bromate this time of
year. should I let her fall into brumation and not wake her up? It sounds like she is definitely sleepy! Maybe with a stronger bulb, that will perk her
up some. should I wait to get her new bulb until after she brumates?
Keep us posted on her!
Tracie

Click to expand...

She is still asleep and has not moved from her spot. I’m off today so I was thinking about Cleaning her cage real good with chlorihexadine (sp?) solution diluted. One thing I am failing on is a humidity gage. When I moved I lost my digital gage. So I’m picking that up today. I’m just so upset because I have put so much money time and energy in her and I just feel like I am failing her. She has been through so much I don’t want her to suffer

Past 2 days Lizzy has woken up and basked all on her own. I’m trying not to get to excited because every now and then she will bask a few days before going back to sleep. But we will see. Fingers crossed she makes it a week of regular basking. But unfortunately her eating hasn’t improved. She ate a couple pieces of strawberries yesterday and a few worms.