Possible sick dragon?

Hey. I'm not very happy with myself. Have I messed up and failed as an owner? I have a dragon that is probably around 8-9 months old. I got him back in the beginning of February. I have been observing him for the past few days after noticing something wrong.

This feels very new because he hasn't made such actions before. I feel like he has developed MBD. Either way he's scheduled for a vet visit tomorrow. But I still wanna check with the internet to see if I can get some answers from what I will describe. Also his tail gets a bit black when he gets angry. Is there any reasons to be concerned with?

Charlie's setup is:

• 40 gallon tank

• Dome Lamp fixture

• 100W Repti Basking Spot Lamp

• A tree with a small open. He can get into it sometimes

• Log. That's where he sleeps

• Possible Zoo Med carpet? Unsure.

• One large rock on the right side, where he goes to bask.

• Food and water dish.

Here is what I have been observing:

• Head twitching at randomly times

• Loss of hunger

• Does not use his back legs. It's like he's dragging himself when he moves

• Stays in the same spot

• Sleeps a lot

• Angry

• Recently passed a sperm plug.

Here is his diet:

• Mealworms

• Waxworms as a treat

• Hornworms as a treat

• Crickets

• Calcium every few days. Am I not doing it enough?

He refuses to eat fruits and vegetables but will commonly eat blueberries and a bell pepper from time to time. Another question what are costs for a vet visit and to check what's up? Curious to know.

Hi there,

I don't see a UVB bulb mentioned. Do you have one?

Could you post a picture of your dragon and of your tank?

When is the last time he poo'd?
How much does he normally eat per day?

You will want to be dusting his feeders with calcium 5x a week, but you definitely need to make sure you have a proper UVB bulb otherwise the calcium won't be getting absorbed properly.

It does sound like he might be developing MBD, so the quicker you can get things situated, the quicker you can stop the progression.

-Brandon

Forgot to mention that. Yes, he has a UVB light bulb. He typically poops every 1-2 days. Sometimes every 3. and the last time he did so was on Thursday. Ever since he had a sperm plug, it took a while for him to poop.

Charlie eats a few times per day. It's just after I started observing these actions, he hasn't had much of an appetite.

One moment as I send the pictures.

Ok looking forward to the pictures.

Can you tell us what type of uvb bulb it is?

-Brandon

https://imgur.com/a/DzRrdUl
Very aware of his surroundings. Just won't move. And the UVB is Zoo Med Reptisun. I believe it's a 10.0

Edit: Apologies for the picture quality.

Thanks for the picture.

Yeah he doesn't look too happy. Is it night time for him or is he just sleepy lately?

Is your reptisun 10.0 a long tube, or is it a bulb that screws into a standard light socket?

-Brandon

Hmm. That reminded me. A month ago or so I replaced his UVB. Could that be the reason? The one I have now looks something like this https://www.jspetstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/10UVB.jpg. The previous was a '5.0 UVB Compact Fluorescent Lamp'
https://img.chewy.com/is/image/catalog/99032_MAIN._AC_SL1500_V1518195059_.jpg

And it's around 3pm around my time. He tends to close his eyes sometimes. About 5-10 minutes every 2-3 hours.

Aside from that. I have noticed he's been sleepy lately.

That is the issue --- please replace w/ this
Which UVB light should I use?
The best UVB light is a ReptiSun 10.0 fluorescent tube HO (Or Arcardia 12% in the UK). Compact or coil bulbs do not emit the proper amount of UVB light for a bearded dragon, and should not be used. Other brands, such as the Zilla Desert Series and ReptiGlo have been known to cause eye problems and other health issues with bearded dragons, and should be avoided. The reason that some UVB lights (Zilla, ReptiGlo, coils/compacts, ect.) are considered dangerous is because the wavelength of UVB that they emit is shorter and more intense than the wavelength of the "safe" lights (ReptiSun, Arcadia). UVB lights should be replaced every 6 months. The T5’s are a strong bulb and only need to be replaced once a year – the T 8 every 6 months--- where as the T 8 are not as strong—they need to be placed inside the tank the T 5 10.0 bulb approx 12-15 inches from basking spot – the T 8 approx 6-8 inches from basking spot—the cover needs to be off the bulb for full effect of the UVB rays-- I would get it changed out ASAP---
Karrie

Thanks for the information. Will do so soon as I can. Though tomorrow I'm still going to go to the scheduled vet visit just to be safe.

Unfortunately, like Karrie mentioned, Those CFL bulbs (compact fluorescent) really aren't suitable for dragons. Their output diminishes extremely quickly with distance from their bulb. The bulb has to be only a few inches away for the dragon to get adequate exposure.

The 5.0 is even weaker of a bulb, and basically would have been exposing your dragon to 0 UVB at all.

Since he seems to be starting to show some side effects of MBD, it would be very important to get him the reptisun 10.0 tube. Either the standard T8 or the high output T5 version. He likely hasn't been absorbing his calcium very well, which would explain his issues.

Can you take him out for some natural sunlight every day until you can get him a new bulb? It should do him some wonders.

-Brandon

Definitely will. I'm gonna keep you guys updated if that's fine. Especially tomorrow after the visit to the vet

Please do! We want to know whats going on and make sure your buddy is getting back to health. And to help in any way we can.

-Brandon

Update: I got him the new UVB. He's a bit active but still slow/lazy at times. Heading to the vet in a hour.