My Beardies Leg Fell Off, HELP!

I have a baby beardie. He's about 6 months old I believe. He's about 8-9". I use Repti-Glo 10 for the lighting and a red bulb for heat. I feed him collard greens, phoenix worms, and crickets (never bigger then the size btwn his eyes). About a month ago his back leg started swelling up so I upped his calcium by feeding him phoenix worms & giving him daily bathes. As that leg went down, the other back leg started swelling up so I continued the same process. Now, the back leg that was originally swollen started to look dried out and barely hanging. While the other leg continues to be swollen. This morning when I woke up I found his leg fell off. I started to panic and didnt know what to do. The whole leg didnt come off, just from the knee down. I use Repti-Cal as well, so I dont know what caused this or what I can do to make it better. Please help. =(

i contacted the moderators. it sounds like you need to take him to a vet ASAP.

that reptiglo is no good. turn it off and get a bright white heat light with UVA on him. get a ReptiSun 10.0 from ZooMed for his fluorescent light.

this kind of sounds like something thats been going on for a while... how long has this been going on for? how long have you had him?
the mods can help more, i wish you all the luck...

Hello
I am sorry to hear about your beardie.Now is he bleeding?What does the remaining leg look like?Is it black and necrotic?I am thinking there is either an infection or gout but either way you must get to the vet asap but in the meantime you need to clean his wound and keep it clean.Do you have any neosporin?Also what type of substrate are you using?You need to clear out any partical substrate and use papertowels right now,ok?

I agree Vicky, it sounds like gout or an infection, possibly a retained shed. But, is he housed with another beardie? Did he have any injuries recently? Yes, he needs the area clean & also needs to have Neosporin put on then taken to the vets immediately. Had you been bathing him regularly? How is his color, is his beard and/or tail tip dark? Does he act like he is in pain?

You will also need to remove the red bulb & replace with a bright white one. Is the Repti-Glo bulb a strip fluorescent, coil or compact?

Hello,

Sorry to hear about your dragon's leg.
Was there retained shed perhaps? Can you post a picture of him possibly?
How often do you supplement calcium? He could be getting too much calcium if you are dusting the phoenix worms & using the calcium powder. However, unfortunately I hate to have to tell you but the Reptiglo 10 flourescent tube bulb is not a very good bulb. It emits low wavelength UVB which is not a favorable wavelength for D3 synthesis & can be harmful. I highly recommend getting a Reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb. You can get it for a great price from http://www.petmountain.com
The red basking bulb should be taken out. They do not do well under colored lighting at all. They need bright white light such as a halogen bulb or a household lightbulb.
What type of thermometer are you using to measure your temps with? A stick on type of thermometer, a digital probe or a temp gun?
What are the temps in the tank?
Is he dehydrated? How do his eyes look, are they bright or sunken in?
It could be gout, but a bloodtest needs to be done first to determine that. There are other signs of gout than just swelling. Usually the limb does not fall off like that, but, instead, it stays swollen & turns hard.


Tracie

I've been putting Neosporin on whats left of his leg. It looked red/black at the tip. He is still eating and his bowels are normal. I havent been able to find any vets in my area that treat reptiles, so I dont know what to do. Is he in any pain? I noticed he's opening his mouth at me when I go and try to pick him up. Before I got my beardie I did my research, i'm not an impulsive buyer, so I made sure I did everything right, and I dont know where I went wrong. Here is how his set up is:

-Repti Carpet
-Basking log
-Hiding spot
-cool side/hot side
-hot side is usually btwn 90-110
-cool side is btwn 70-80
-I used repti-glo 10.0 & heat glo 100watt
-2 thermometers
-I feed him crickets, pheonix worms, & collard greens

I will take pictures as soon as I can. Thanks for all your help.

diamc":a90a0 said:

I agree Vicky, it sounds like gout or an infection, possibly a retained shed. But, is he housed with another beardie? Did he have any injuries recently? Yes, he needs the area clean & also needs to have Neosporin put on then taken to the vets immediately. Had you been bathing him regularly? How is his color, is his beard and/or tail tip dark? Does he act like he is in pain?

You will also need to remove the red bulb & replace with a bright white one. Is the Repti-Glo bulb a strip fluorescent, coil or compact?

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He is housed alone. I started putting Neosporin on it. I bathed him every other day for 15 min in warm water. He loves his bathes too. His color is perfect, his color really is starting to come out. His beard is normal looking. His tail however, by his legs is starting to turn black too. And his other leg is swollen as well. I removed the red bulb and replaced it with a bright white one, but the temp on his tank has gone down. What do I use to keep his hot spot, hot?

Hi
Well good that he is eating.For a vet you can try herpvetconnection.com.What type of thermometers are you using are they digital with probes?The reptiglo bulb is problematic but I cant say that is the cause of this just something to keep in mind.Is it coil,compact or linear?He is opening his mouth because he is probably hurting right now.It soundl like the leg is necrotic.It would be very helpful if you could get some pictures posted.Any chance of doing this?You may not have done anything wrong so dont beat yourself up.When was his last shed?What about vitamins/calcium?Hot spot should be a bright white household bulb or bright white reptibulb just play with the wattage to get the temps right.

vickson420":d2b14 said:

Hi
Well good that he is eating.For a vet you can try herpvetconnection.com.What type of thermometers are you using are they digital with probes?The reptiglo bulb is problematic but I cant say that is the cause of this just something to keep in mind.Is it coil,compact or linear?He is opening his mouth because he is probably hurting right now.It soundl like the leg is necrotic.It would be very helpful if you could get some pictures posted.Any chance of doing this?You may not have done anything wrong so dont beat yourself up.When was his last shed?What about vitamins/calcium?Hot spot should be a bright white household bulb or bright white reptibulb just play with the wattage to get the temps right.

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My thermometers arent digital, their the regular needle ones. My reptiglo is compact. Do u think my red heat glo 100watt caused this? I mainly used it for heat. As for calcium I use Repti-Cal & sprinkle it on his crickets and greens. I'm charging my camera now so post pics in a few. Thank u so much.

My thermometers arent digital, their the regular needle ones. My reptiglo is compact. Do u think my red heat glo 100watt caused this? I mainly used it for heat. As for calcium I use Repti-Cal & sprinkle it on his crickets and greens. I'm charging my camera now so post pics in a few. Thank u so much.

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Ok so definately get digital therms wit probes.You need to accurately measure temp of basking SURFACE which should be 95-105F but this is not air temp/cool air temp 75f-80f.As for the UVB that needs to be changed and may be part of the issue here thise bulbs have done some serious damage to beardies.You need to get either a LINEAR reptisun 10.0 or an MVB bulb which is a 2 in 1 for heat and UVB like the TRex Active Heat,Megaray or Powersun so long as your tank is a 40 breeder or biggger.No the red bulb didnt cause this.I will wait for pics to see if I see anything else or can figure out what happened with his leg.