baby acting weird

Our baby dragon was picked up and it started to shake a little and then stiffened up and its mouth was wide open. he looked and felt dead. then I picked him up again after i layed him back down and he became limp and then started to breath but isnt moving. please help....

She starts by twitching her legs and tail, trying to run around, only to end up with her head bent fully over her back, gaping. Then she just collapses.

Click to expand...

Does this sound similar to what happened to your baby? Also, what kind of UVB bulb and what brand are you using?

yeah except earlier the day before his long toe was twitching and today when I picked him up he just went into the shaking..but yeah his head went all the way back and his body was in a C shape...uvb is repti glo 8...he seems fine now but he is just laying around looking tired

Sounds to me like you baby is having seizures. Mine went through the same thing.

What do you feed your baby? Do you dust the feeders with calcium dust or offer any sort of calcium supplement? Has he made any attempts to eat anything you've offered him?

My thought is either the UVB bulb you are using is either old or making him ill, or somehow he isn't getting the calcium he needs.

Hello,

How old is your bulb? Is it a flourescent tube bulb or a compact or coil bulb?
How old is your baby?
Do you supplement with calcium 5 days a week, if your baby is under 1 year?
Did you feed too large of prey to him?
Does he have any bone deviations that you can see that are present all of the time?

Tracie

Hi, thanks for the response everyone, its much appreciated. As far as the questions go: The bulb is about 4-5 months old (repti-glo 8.0), His name is "Cricket" and based on what the pet store told us we guess that he is about 5-6 months old, we are currently feeding all our dragons dusted crickets 3 to 4 days a week. We use "Dragon dust" made by "T-Rex". They also get small amounts of dust on there veggies. As far as the size of the crickets...we were told nothing larger than the beardies head. Thats the rule we follow. I do not see any bone deviations on him.

A slight update: He just woke up 10 minutes ago, he hopped out of his leaves and walked to his basking spot. He seems to be acting normal at the moment. I will be calling the vet in about an hour or so when they open up.

One other question about his eyes...they don't seem to be open very far when he is just laying around, it's only when you spook him that his eyes open all the way...is this normal for some beardies to look half asleep, or is this something else we should look into?

Thanks for the help

I don't know much about the Repti-Glo 8.0. That's a tube light, isn't is? Either way, the eye thing might be due to the UVB bulb you're using. It sounds like you need to get the bulb changed anyway. I would suggest just splurging if you are able to and get the Repti-Sun 10.0, which is a florescent tube. That way, you have an new bulb and it's one of the best on the market.

Anyways, this is what I'm thinking. Drache and other will be able to look and perhaps see something else that might be wrong.

Update:

Hello again, so we took Cricket to the vet yesterday. It seems he has developed MBD, they said its not the worse they have seen but they have seen better also. They said that the seizures is linked to this as it is due to lack of calcium. While we do give him calcium, he did not have a uvb on him...well the vet said he should be just fine. He gave us some liquid calcium to give to him twice a day, also he gave us some Ensure (banana flavored...yum) to give him twice a day as well for vitamins and protein, this will hopefully build his apatite back up. Anyway thanks for the support and your help with Cricket, I am sure he would say thank you as well.

P.S. We now have a repti-glo 10.0 on him...i know this is not the best bulb. We are currently looking for a repti-sun 10.0, but none of the stores in our area have them. we may have to order them online.

That's what I was thinking. Sounded a lot like what happened with our baby. Glad she's gonna be okay.

Try and get the Repti-Sun 10.0 as soon as possible. I had the problems with seizures and calcium with my baby while we had her on the Repti-Glo 10.0. We were told it's because on top of being a compact/coil bulb, the Repti-Glo 10.0 emits rays closer to UVC than UVB, so it did her more harm than good to use it on her.

Hello,

Sorry to hear your baby has developed Metabolic Bone Disease.
The Reptiglo 8 flourescent tube bulb is a UVB light. At 4-5 months old, it should have been putting out just a little bit of UVB emissions. However, the dragon dust is a vitamin & calcium mixture supplement which does not provide enough straight calcium that they need. Was your Reptiglo 8 a tube bulb or a compact or coil light? It makes a difference.
Please do NOT get any compact or coil lights. They do not provide good quality UVB for them, at all. As suggested, please purchase the Reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb. You can get it for a great price here:
http://www.petmountain.com
Also, make sure that you place the UVB tube light directly beside the bright white basking light to protect the eyes & enhance their basking center area.
Great the vet gave you some liquid calcium & some vitamins & protein too. The ensure will be ok for short term, but they normally can't digest dairy real well, so that should only be used short term.
What is the dose of the liquid calcium that he prescribed? It should be 1mg/kg of bodyweight, 5 times per week.
Did the vet do a blood test? Just curious. That is normally how they determine Metabolic Bone Disease, most of the time.
I hope that he improves quickly for you. Give Cricket a hug for me. Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Hi

The vet did not do any blood work, he looked at his arms and legs and said the were "curving"...i can't tell, but i am also not a vet. He weighed Cricket then said to give him 10cc's of liquid calcium twice a day (every 12 hours). I do remember him saying something about his skull not being "squishy", he kept pressing on his nose and back of his skull to see if it would deform...it didn't.

Curious what would you suggest for calcium dust?

P.S we are going up to Petco today to pick up a repti-sun 10.0

Thanks again everyone

Hey,
How's your beardie doing?
Mel

Well a little update on Baby Cricket. I know its been a long time since We have been on here...Cricket is wonderful. The Vet told us that it could be months before we saw any improvements but we saw improvements in the first week. We stopped giving him Ensure about a week after we took him the the vet because he started "scooting" around and catching crickets!!! When I first saw him run again, I was a proud momma! Now he eats about 5x a day, and he is such a hunter. You would have never believed he was sick. I also cant believe how much he has grown in 1 month...I'll try to post a pic of Cricket..but im not sure how...

ok i figured it out..pictures...

This is cricket when we first got him..he is the little one next to Artie...


Here is one right before his 2nd seizure


And here he is now..hanging an ornament on his Christmas tree!!!


In person you can really tell a difference...

Hello,

Good to hear that he is improving for you in leaps & bounds!
Did you find a Reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb? Next time, be sure to order it online to save yourself some money. They are less than half the price than at the stores.
The best powdered calcium is Repcal calcium with or without D3 or Jurassical plain calcium.
I did have a question, you mentioned he is getting 10 cc's of liquid calcium? Is that a typo? That is ALOT of liquid calcium, twice per day? Did you mean to say .1 cc every 12 hours? That would be more feasible to me. Can you please doublecheck that for me, I would appreciate it. Thanks. Yes, if his legs were bowing in a bit, he was starting to get physical deformities from lack of UVB & calcium absorption. Good that he did not have soft or rubber jaw yet.
I am happy to hear that he is eating pretty well too.

Keep us posted on him.

Tracie