Violent head tremor

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Nelbert91

Member
Good evening kind folks,
I'm looking for some advice on my boy, he's around 9/10years old (he wasn't ours originally as we rescued him) over the last few years he's developed a slight head tremor, this has gradually worsened over time, its like an aggressive vibration in his head, it generally happens as he's focusing on catching his live worms, when he's chewing it stops and then once he's swalled his food it starts again. It dosent generally happen when he's relaxing but it does when he moves his head to focus on something. We had him at the vets around 2 years ago for this issue, they inspected him and put it down to a degenerative issue purely age related I.e arthritis or parkisons in humans, they said they could do brain scans and such but due to his age they arnt sure if they can do much to help, so we left it they're. As is said earlier it has gradually become more obvious and aggressive, but still only occurs at the same times as stated earlier such as focusing on an area. I'm wondering if anyone has heard of this before?? I have a video and would be happy to send along to anyone who may be able to advise. He's also slowed down alot over the past 3/4 weeks, he's not moving really at all, we're bathing him and trying him with live food but he's only bitting and bobbing when he can be bothered really. He hasn't touched his greens for about 2 to 3 years now, he's got very picky. We still put fresh greens in daily but to no avail. He's sleeping all the time over these last few weeks also. We have contacted the vets for advice, they have advised we go in with him but me and my wife are both on the shielding list and are not meant to leave out house and we don't have any family who can drive him they're as the person available dosent drive and our exotic specialist is a 1 hour drive away. Sorry this is so long winded but wanted to give as much info as possible. Thanks in advance xx
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Post on youtube of the behavior them post the link - we need Tracie to advise shes out vet tech mod- please post pics of the tank and lighting and him
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on the XIMG at the top of the message box then click on the pic it should post
Karrie
 

Nelbert91

Member
Original Poster
OK thankyou for your prompt response. I will upload the pictures of his Viv now. Lights are now off as they are on a timer and it's "bed time" he has a 60wat basking spot pro rep light (no thermostat attached as it wasn't giving good temps) and his uv is a Arcadia T5 D3+ 39watt strip light.

Hope this helps
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
There needs to be a reflector on the UVB --- w/ no reflector your dragon is getting basically no UVB --- I would replace the whole thing w/ a fixture w/ reflector and put it directly above him --- how tall is the tank ? For a tank that is 16" high I would go w/ a Reptisun or Arcadia D3 12% T 8 distance would need to be 6-8 inches from basking decor if its 18" high I would go w/ a Reptisun or Arcadia D3 12% T 5 distance would need to be 12-15 inches directly over the basking decor -- I am gonna take a guess he and say hes calcium deficient -- they need the UVB rays to be able to absorb the calcium they are eating -- I am gonna have Tracie look at the video I say him shake a little does it get worse ?
Karrie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

He is a sweetie! We can discuss his diet & supplementation a bit more. At his age, I am
sure he probably has gotten picky, it seems like a lot of them tend to for some reason.
About how many insects does he eat weekly? What type of supplementation are you giving
him?
Since you do have a T5 tube bulb, that does emit strong UVB, since it is an Arcadia tube.
I would recommend just a plain calcium without any D3 as that can become toxic in the
system.
I did notice that his eyes were a bit bulged, is that a normal appearance for him, or something
recent? That can be a genetic trait but most of the time, it can indicate heart or renal issues.
I am leaning towards a slight calcium deficiency & possible gout probably pseudo gout which
is mostly related to nutritional/husbandry & absorption problems.
If you can, since he wont literally eat his greens, you can be proactive & start blending him
a nice, green nutritional slurry a few days per week. Get some black/tart cherry juice to mix
in with that also, to help for kidney support.
I would suggest a blood test, but understand how difficult it is to find a vet who can actually
do that for you.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Nelbert91

Member
Original Poster
Hi Tracie!

Thanks for getting back to us so soon!
He probably has a live feed twice and between 6 and 10 morio worms per sitting as they are all he will eat now (we do feed the morio worms spring greens so he's hopefully getting some of the nutrition through them) i have attached at image of his calci dust so you can see what he has, we dust every live feed with this powder. Also I have attached an image of his eye as of now, he seems to randomly bulge them at times especially when he sleeps but he's done this for many many years. Is there anything I can be doing to help with the head tremor as it's sad to see.
 

Nelbert91

Member
Original Poster
Hi All,
UPDATE

We had Terry at exotic vets today for a thorough check over, they flushed his eyes out to check for infection and was all clear, the checked his cognative ability and said they are very happy with that, the gave him 4 out of 5 on a scale of his overall body check, they have taken blood od tests as they say he seems overweight and there is a fat store behind each eye which may be the reason for his eyes looking swollen, they are running the bloods also for his head tremor, they don't at this point belive it is a deficiency of calcium as he has had this head tremor well over 1 year and not developed any other twitch in any other region of his body. They think he is over weight due a diet of mostly morio worms, we have now got roaches. They are checking his heart, liver and kidney and cholesterol levels in the blood. They arnt majorly concerned about his health as this point in time. They said if the bloods come back OK it could be adenovirus, I assured the vet that we have no other reptiles other than Terry but they said to wait now for the blood results.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I am glad to hear Terry is doing pretty well then. When will you have his blood test
results back?
I doubt it is adeno but a slight possibility. They can be carriers & show no symptoms for
years then suddenly show symptoms. I am thinking it is more likely to be probably a
nutritional issue or simply age related.
So they think that he may have too much fat deposition behind his eyes or on the fat pad
areas on his head? The swelling could also be attributed to possible heart issues. I agree
with doing a diet change, that would be a good idea for him right now, so that he takes in
less fat. You can give a few supers still but roaches are good. You can also consider some
silkworms or hornworms too.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Nelbert91

Member
Original Poster
Good afternoon guys,

We have got the blood results back from the vets, his cholesterol is fine! His heart function looks fine, but he has something I think they called herp lipiditus or something, basically he said it's something that happens when a beardie is immobile and is not eating, and also his liver is packed full of fats I belive he said, so the vet has prescribed us critical care 1ml per day for 2 days, then 2ml per day for following 2 days, then 3ml per day for next 6 days and also half a capsule of advanced liver support per day. How does this sound to you guys? Thankyou
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Thanks for updating us, I was going to check your thread.
So he has hepatic lipidosis, otherwise known as fatty liver? That is relatively common in
older dragons sometimes.
Did he not prescribe any silymarin or milk thistle liquid, or lactulose?
Do you know what is in the liver support, possibly milk thistle powder I hope? The critical
care is fine, that should help out.
I am glad to hear that his heart looks good though! How is he doing today?

Tracie
 

Nelbert91

Member
Original Poster
Good morning!

Here is a link to show you what liver support they have prescribed

https://www.vetpro.co.uk/products/joints,-soft-tissues-liver-function

He is to take half a capsule per day which is being dissolved in water.

He has had 1ml syringe of critical care for past 2 days and today is his first day at 2ml and tomorrow at 2ml and then he's up to 3ml from then on. He seems OK at the moment, still very lethargic, should I still be feeding him greens and live whilst he's on critical care??

The vets haven't been overly helpful, very blunt and too the point, we weren't able to take him to his regular vets due to me and my wife shielding and not meant to travel at all, we tried a local vets we've heard good things about but they just seem so rushed off they're feet that's its effecting they're normal "brilliant" service, I've asked for the bloods emailing to me 3 times and my last response was "the vet hasn't had a dinner today you know, or even a break" it took 8 days for them to call me to discuss blood relults so I'm just very dubious about his diagnosis.

Thanks
 
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