Leg injury? New to Beardies/New to Board

Hi! I'm new to the board and new to Bearded Dragons as well. After months of "proving" himself by caring for a box turtle and some toads, my son was allowed to purchase a BD on Friday, Oct. 24th. We purchased "Buddy" from the local PetSmart and he (she?) is currently housed in a 10 gal aquarium (temporary - hubby is building a melamine enclosure) with reptile carpet substrate and a "Slimline Reptile Fixture with Super UV lamp" (3% UVB and 7% UVA) as well a a spot lamp using a SunGlo 50 watt bulb. At night we use an Infra-Red 75 watt spot lamp. Buddy is approximately 6 inches long. Buddy eats well (dusted crickets and dark leafy greens) several times a day and has had daily bowel movements since we got him.

Just this evening we noticed he is dragging his right arm along. He does try to use it and it seems to rotate at the shoulder joint well but it's pretty limp from the elbow joint down. He seems to be acting "normal" (although we don't really know what normal is for him) but does try to climb the walls of the aquarium rather spastically at times and seems to want to climb (he has a food/water dish - which we've now realized is unnecessary - that has a cactus decoration and he climbs up it and rests). I'm concerned he's fallen of his basking rock or the cactus and sustained an injury. The more I read, however, the more I hear about MBD.

My husband thinks we should return him but my son and I shudder at the thought of treating him like a broken toy!! My son has already grown attached, although I don't know how I feel about incurring vet bills so soon after purchase and a part of me does feel we should've received a healthy pet to begin with so I'm torn! I apologize, in advance, if the thought of returning him offends some of you! I do understand that a pet is an investment (ask our vet about the $800 worth of surgery our rescued cat received after being adopted from a shelter who assured us of her health!!). But, again, we were hoping to get off on the right foot with a healthy pet (pardon the pun!) this time around.

Have any of you seen this before in a juvenile? Are they prone to fall and break limbs? Do the limbs heal on their own? Could calcium deficiency be the source? Is PetSmart known for unhealthy reptiles? We were going to go to a reptile show in November but decided that PetSmart would be sufficient. Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, I am a little concerned that he's not getting enough heat, as I haven't been able to raise the basking temperature above 95 F. I'm going to try a higher wattage bulb tomorrow in the spot lamp.

Thanks!!
Christina

Hi Christina,

Welcome to BD.org

Sorry to hear your little one is having some trouble. Unfortunately, I'm not really that experienced enough to help you much - I have a young BD and only had him a few months.

If the leg doesn't have any obvious bite marks or wounds then I would guess that he has been lacking in nutrients in either diet or UV or both...???? I bought my BD at pet store as well and after "grilling" the manager of the pet stores found out later that they did not give him any UV while he was there. I think there are a lot of pet stores that have sold ill and unwell animals.....I think a lot depends on how old they are when they get to the pet store and how long they stay there until they are purchased.

As for the MBD it's possible but he's young enough that I bet he could recover .... Just from what I've heard here...

Wether he is perfectly healthy or suffering from MBD...the lighting and temps and vitamins will be crutial.

They are pretty tough creatures and there have been some incredible stories that I've read here of rescues and recoveries. There are a ot of fabulous experienced people here - You came to the right place.

Take care and best wishes to you and your dragon.

Sorry I can't answer much of your questions but I did want to give you a welcome, and hopefully some of the more experienced members wil be along soon to help.

Yeah, first off, congrats on your decision to get a bearded dragon, my Gus is like a son to me! He has brought me endless joy and amusement, and is a loving little creature. That being said, yes, it sounds to me like your new little dragon has some problems. He could have very easily just twisted his little arm somehow. I bet he's just crazy, getting adjusted to his new environment and generally flipping out, huh?

Petsmart doesn't have the best record of taking care of their reptiles either. I recommend going through a reptile specialty shop or an online breeder. I purchased my dragon online as a six inch long little devil, he came in a little sandwich tupperware container and was (and still is) the perfect picture of health. If ya'll are gonna keep the little fella, he should go to the vet regardless. Even if he didn't have any arm problems it'd be good just to get him a preventative checkup anyway.

Ya'll don't take him back to that mean 'ol PetSmart, take him to a vet and get him fixed up. He will love you forever for it.