Baby leatherback lumps on back/tail

Hello everyone. I had recently rescued a baby leatherback from petsmart.. and I have noticed on his back.. the very start of the tail.. looks like where his back hips would be.. there are two bulges.. one on each side. I have had two other young beardies that have both had health issues from petsmart who didn’t make it ..but neither of them had these pronounced bulges on the top of their tail. I will try to get pics.. but he’s so little.. idk if u can make it out on camera. U can feel them more than see them anyway.. I was really hoping the third time would work out and he was healthy! Fingers crossed. :?: :study:

That looks like an odd/flat area of maybe bone along the hips. It might be helpful to have an x-ray taken of the area to get a better look at what's going on there.

Hi there, how is the baby getting around ? That looks like just a wee bit of visible hip bone along with possibly a slight deformity from a calcium deficiency/metabolic bone disease. Just be sure he has plenty of god food with calcium dusting and good uvb that can reach him so he can benefit from it.


Post pics of his set up and list what type exactly ye bulbs are that you use. This is not too serious and should be kept from worsening just by making sure of the things I mentioned. If he's not eating get him some liquid calcium from a site like this :

http://www.bugdelite.com

I wouldn't get an Xray, it can be very stressful and can only confirm that he may have a slight bone deformity that can only be treated with calcium + uvb anyway.

I’m hoping it’s just his hips.. and he’s just skinny.. but I just got him.. but he’s eating crickets fine.. dusted with calcium.. I know my uvb isn’t the best right now.. and am planning on upgrading to a long fluorescent soon. I’ll take pics

UVB is 10.0 or 26w 120v .. and heat lamp is too hot.. lol I can’t see right now all living things brand

Oh yea.. he gets around great.. he’s actually really fast chasing down crickets

Btw.. isn’t he beautiful!?

And.. so there’s no way it’s normal? It’s most likely mbd? Can he live a normal life with mbd? Will good food lighting reverse it? And one more thing. I heard a way to tell if they r dehydrated..their skin will stay wrinkled on their backs.. is this true? or being a leatherback..is it normal

Yes, he is beautiful. And yes, he can live a perfectly normal life. You say he's eating well and very active so his condition may be just the tip of the bones showing because he needs to gain a little weight. If you can post a few more pics of that area it would be helpful to see more clearly. I suspected [ and Cooper prob. did as well ] that it may have been a slight deformity from MBD which can cause small fractures but he probably does not have it. Even if he does it would be halted by proper food + uvb with no further treatment of any kind , that IS the treatment.

You should invest in a Reptisun 10.0 t5 for good uvb output. But it sounds like he should be fine. And dragons can have wrinkly skin anytime, they have have excess skin that allows for their large volume of food intake. When they are not so full they appear more wrinkly. But you can offer water dripped on his nose with an eyedropper to give him a drink anyway.