Paralyzed Bearded Dragon Care

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egriep6

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A week ago I visited my friends house with Loki (my 2 year old beardie) in his travel cage along with the normal sorts of lighting. There didn't seem to be any signs of trouble until his cat knocked Loki's cage off the table. I noticed around that time that his hind legs did not seem to move normally. After a few days (I know I should have taken him sooner) I called the vet for an appointment and we scheduled for today. Now that the vet has seen him he believes the paralysis was due to trauma, but the x-rays showed no fractures. Blood work says his calcium levels are fine. And now that I've flattened his terrain (as prescribed by vet) he seems to be eating a little (which is more than the force feed as I needed to before). What I'm really asking is how do I care for a beardie that is nearly immobile? What day to day special care might be required?

Age-2 years (approx)
Size - 18 inch
Temps - 100 warm, 75 cold
Substrate - slate, towel
Diet - collard or turnip greens(as much as he wants), ~6 superworms, a treat of fruits/veggies occasionally, if he's not eating then mashed baby food fruit/veggie versions. Also sprinkle w/ Rep-Cal Calcium D3 5x a week.
Lights- ReptiSun 10.0

Thanks,
Egriep
 

Jiffy

BD.org Addict
Hi. I am sorry, I do not know how to care for an immobile beardie, but just wanted to say I hope that your beardie will be ok.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I think that you are doing just about everything you can. If his spine was not injured or his legs were broken, then the trauma was & is the cause for him not to want to move. Sometimes they do that. If something really traumatizes them such as what happened, they may stop using a bodypart if they fell on it, etc. I do not know why. It is possible that some soft tissue has been injured that did not show up on the x-rays.
Did anything fall on him in his tank, or did he just land wrong when the tank fell?
As your vet said, do keep everything flat in the tank, just in case he is injured or bruised that he will not have to climb on anything in order to bask. So, that also means that you will need to lower his basking light as well as his UVB source to keep the distances from them optimal.
You can try doing some water therapy on him, daily, which may help to promote hind leg movement in him. Keep your hand in the water with him, but encourage him to swim or move over towards you if possible. Good luck. Many times, the paralysis is only temporary in circumstances such as these.

Tracie
 

egriep6

Member
Original Poster
Thank you for the encouragement, today has been alot about how things might not turn around (really hard to take in).
I'm not sure weather something landed on him or not, my friends brother was the first to the scene, but there wasnt anything on him when I got there.
Also, I didn't think about the height of the lights. Thanks.
 

egriep6

Member
Original Poster
I lowered the lights today. There seems to be an increase in activity in the viv, but it makes me worried that when he gets excited his rear legs and tail start to twitch. I hope both he and I can get used to this.
 

Fallencomrade2008

Juvie Member
My most agressive eater and best hunter is my gimped dragon. She has "warped bones" on her front legs and paralized hands. Her back legs are fine. She is fast, she can climb and jump. Not as well as if she could use the legs but well enough to show a roach the end of the line. She learned to kick her disablitys ass quite quickly. Im sure that your beardie will recover mentally and be just as good as my Beastie.
 

egriep6

Member
Original Poster
Loki seems to be rushin' to get rushin'. He wants to move move move, but then gets frustrated and disappointed when he can't move with the speed and agility that he used to. And I'm not sure weather to encourage it or not. Moving might mean that he's getting back to the way things were (sans rear legs), but could it also be too soon since his accident? I'm a little afraid he will re-injure himself.
 
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