Hello All.
My husband and I got a young beardie almost a year ago and we noticed when he was still little (and still active and running around) that he was standing on his legs/feet oddly. Like they were bent in an odd position. We looked that up and I read somewhere, I can't remember where, unfortunately, but that MBD is usually caused by poor diet but can also happen if the breeder fails to give the mother beardie enough calcium/Vitamin D (way more than usual, because making the eggs takes alot of it) and it can cause the baby beardie to be born disformed or with conditions like MBD.
This is our second, our first lived a great life til about 8 years old and didn't have issues at all with this and only slowed down a week or so before he died.
With this one, we made sure to educate ourselves, as we found out we weren't doing a few vital things the first go around and we wanted to be sure to give a new one, the best care. My husband is really, really anal about his care so we still research everything before making a decision when changing something for him.
The real reason for my post is, before l, when he was little, he was active and didn't seem to have an issue getting around.
Now he has a great deal of trouble. It looks like one arm just barely wants to work or is partially paralyzed. He kinda has to wiggle around to get around in his tank. Doesn't use his legs as much. The thing that really worries us is he accidentally will flip over onto his back, I'm thinking because that arm is sometimes tucked up under him and there's nothing keeping him from rolling. He will end up on his back and it seems to take a ton of energy to heave himself back over. We try to not help him too much, because I don't want it to happen when we aren't here and he's gotten used to the help. If he stays too long, we have helped. I found him last night when I went to turn off his lights for his bedtime, he was on his back, nearly flat and not even trying to flip back over. It made my heart stop because you couldn't tell if he was breathing right away. I helped him back over and very gently moved his arm so that he wouldn't roll again. I had helped him and didn't do that with his arm and he rolled right back over.
He seems to be more reactive today, coming to the end of the tank to watch TV, he seems interested. He's even holding his head up so he can see better, we also have window he can look out of that's closed but next to the tank. (Don't worry, we made sure to keep ANY draft from being able to hit him from it.
I know brumation is in full swing for most beardies this time of year, but this isn't just that. His flipping really concerns me, especially if we aren't here. I also know, he seems to have been born with this because from the start, we've taken alot of care in making sure he was getting his correct diet for his age, size, etc. We also try to give him liquid calcium and we do follow the instructions for that and such.
Has anyone heard of MBD in a BD that occurred from the mom? We got him at PetSmart and we won't be doing that again, it seems like they purchase their BDs from a breeder that's not taking care with breeding healthy dragons. At least for whoever supplies our area. We will be adopting from a breeder that we can speak to and know the mothers care as well as the babies.
Please let us know what you all think. I don't want him to have a poor quality of life. I dont know where the line is from us caring for him correctly with this or when it could be time to talk to a vet to see if we are just leaving him in incurable pain. I hope that makes sense.
Thanks everyone and I apologize for the incredibly long post, I wanted to give as much information as I could
Elizabeth & Anthony
My husband and I got a young beardie almost a year ago and we noticed when he was still little (and still active and running around) that he was standing on his legs/feet oddly. Like they were bent in an odd position. We looked that up and I read somewhere, I can't remember where, unfortunately, but that MBD is usually caused by poor diet but can also happen if the breeder fails to give the mother beardie enough calcium/Vitamin D (way more than usual, because making the eggs takes alot of it) and it can cause the baby beardie to be born disformed or with conditions like MBD.
This is our second, our first lived a great life til about 8 years old and didn't have issues at all with this and only slowed down a week or so before he died.
With this one, we made sure to educate ourselves, as we found out we weren't doing a few vital things the first go around and we wanted to be sure to give a new one, the best care. My husband is really, really anal about his care so we still research everything before making a decision when changing something for him.
The real reason for my post is, before l, when he was little, he was active and didn't seem to have an issue getting around.
Now he has a great deal of trouble. It looks like one arm just barely wants to work or is partially paralyzed. He kinda has to wiggle around to get around in his tank. Doesn't use his legs as much. The thing that really worries us is he accidentally will flip over onto his back, I'm thinking because that arm is sometimes tucked up under him and there's nothing keeping him from rolling. He will end up on his back and it seems to take a ton of energy to heave himself back over. We try to not help him too much, because I don't want it to happen when we aren't here and he's gotten used to the help. If he stays too long, we have helped. I found him last night when I went to turn off his lights for his bedtime, he was on his back, nearly flat and not even trying to flip back over. It made my heart stop because you couldn't tell if he was breathing right away. I helped him back over and very gently moved his arm so that he wouldn't roll again. I had helped him and didn't do that with his arm and he rolled right back over.
He seems to be more reactive today, coming to the end of the tank to watch TV, he seems interested. He's even holding his head up so he can see better, we also have window he can look out of that's closed but next to the tank. (Don't worry, we made sure to keep ANY draft from being able to hit him from it.
I know brumation is in full swing for most beardies this time of year, but this isn't just that. His flipping really concerns me, especially if we aren't here. I also know, he seems to have been born with this because from the start, we've taken alot of care in making sure he was getting his correct diet for his age, size, etc. We also try to give him liquid calcium and we do follow the instructions for that and such.
Has anyone heard of MBD in a BD that occurred from the mom? We got him at PetSmart and we won't be doing that again, it seems like they purchase their BDs from a breeder that's not taking care with breeding healthy dragons. At least for whoever supplies our area. We will be adopting from a breeder that we can speak to and know the mothers care as well as the babies.
Please let us know what you all think. I don't want him to have a poor quality of life. I dont know where the line is from us caring for him correctly with this or when it could be time to talk to a vet to see if we are just leaving him in incurable pain. I hope that makes sense.
Thanks everyone and I apologize for the incredibly long post, I wanted to give as much information as I could
Elizabeth & Anthony