Hello everyone!
It has been a while since I have posted here or asked questions. Still read through every now and then and we always find such helpful information. I am hoping I could get some thoughts on what is going on with one of our scale-babies. The 'tail' begins... :lol:
Right before Christmas we adopted two 3 year old female dragons, Dani and Taddy. Up until this past weekend they both seemed to be doing very well. They both gained about 50g each and are getting used to being snuggled. Dani came to us gravid, though you couldn't tell, and over the course of two days laid 19 eggs. Taddy became gravid for the first time in her life and just had her clutch two weeks ago, a whopping 23 eggs! They have been eating well and staying pretty active.
Friday of last week we started noticing that Dani was being sluggish. We figured brumation or her shedding was tiring her out. Brumation was quickly discarded as she voraciously attacked her roaches and salad like it was her last meal. So we let her soak longer that night to help with her shed. Over the next few days she moved less and less. Sunday morning we noticed she was not using her front legs at all. Again we thought it had to do with the shedding, so she had a long bath where I helped her remove the loose skin.
After her bath I gave her a treat, her first superworm in her new home. She moved like a snake with legs going after it. I have never seen anything like it. Her front legs did not move at all and her back legs moved just enough to help propel her towards her goal.
The next morning she was at he vet's office. Her x-ray looked good, no injury or sign of blockage. The doc did say there seemed to be a bit of gas trapped. We were unable to get a fecal sample but we did blood work. The doctor said he believes she may have the early stages of MBD, gave her a calcium shot, and sent home syrup calcium for her and Taddy (to be on the safe side). Doc had us change up her diet a little to help pass the gas, Dani is now eating chicken and veggie baby food. Both of our reaction... She hates it so much, she mustered up enough mobility to walk away from me last night!! It was a wonderful sight to see her taking those steps! We weren't expecting to see any improvement for at least a week!
Now, bringing it back to today, the blood panel came back. Doc called telling me the panel looks good and her calcium is 13 (I guess that's good? IDK). So, good news there! Still need her to produce a fecal outside of the bath so we can check her for parasites. Just a recap, good xray, no infections, good calcium... No idea what is causing the paralysis...
Taking it back to when we got them...
The home they came from was not entirely beardie friendly so we changed a lot when they moved in with us. We got rid of their food pellets and freeze dried veggies, they now get dubias every other day and salads every day (primarily collard and mustard greens, bok choy, occasional tomatoes, broccoli, bell pepper, blueberries, and apples). The dubias are gut-loaded and dusted with calcium, the salads get a general vitamin powder twice a week.
The girls never really got baths before and are now receiving them weekly. We threw out their original bulbs replacing them with 125w Solar Glos, warm side of tank is kept at 96 during the day and drops to about 77 at night. They were both on a crushed walnut substrate, we ditched that for slate tile. Gave them both new toys, small soaking tubs, hides, and logs. (basically we just kept their tanks and threw everything else out...)
If you read through all of that, I commend you! You are now up to speed with our new family additions. So, lay them on me... Questions, thoughts, advice? Really I just want to know if any of you have heard of this and if so, what caused it.
Thank you all so much for your time away from your own beautiful beardies to read about mine!
It has been a while since I have posted here or asked questions. Still read through every now and then and we always find such helpful information. I am hoping I could get some thoughts on what is going on with one of our scale-babies. The 'tail' begins... :lol:
Right before Christmas we adopted two 3 year old female dragons, Dani and Taddy. Up until this past weekend they both seemed to be doing very well. They both gained about 50g each and are getting used to being snuggled. Dani came to us gravid, though you couldn't tell, and over the course of two days laid 19 eggs. Taddy became gravid for the first time in her life and just had her clutch two weeks ago, a whopping 23 eggs! They have been eating well and staying pretty active.
Friday of last week we started noticing that Dani was being sluggish. We figured brumation or her shedding was tiring her out. Brumation was quickly discarded as she voraciously attacked her roaches and salad like it was her last meal. So we let her soak longer that night to help with her shed. Over the next few days she moved less and less. Sunday morning we noticed she was not using her front legs at all. Again we thought it had to do with the shedding, so she had a long bath where I helped her remove the loose skin.
After her bath I gave her a treat, her first superworm in her new home. She moved like a snake with legs going after it. I have never seen anything like it. Her front legs did not move at all and her back legs moved just enough to help propel her towards her goal.
The next morning she was at he vet's office. Her x-ray looked good, no injury or sign of blockage. The doc did say there seemed to be a bit of gas trapped. We were unable to get a fecal sample but we did blood work. The doctor said he believes she may have the early stages of MBD, gave her a calcium shot, and sent home syrup calcium for her and Taddy (to be on the safe side). Doc had us change up her diet a little to help pass the gas, Dani is now eating chicken and veggie baby food. Both of our reaction... She hates it so much, she mustered up enough mobility to walk away from me last night!! It was a wonderful sight to see her taking those steps! We weren't expecting to see any improvement for at least a week!
Now, bringing it back to today, the blood panel came back. Doc called telling me the panel looks good and her calcium is 13 (I guess that's good? IDK). So, good news there! Still need her to produce a fecal outside of the bath so we can check her for parasites. Just a recap, good xray, no infections, good calcium... No idea what is causing the paralysis...
Taking it back to when we got them...
The home they came from was not entirely beardie friendly so we changed a lot when they moved in with us. We got rid of their food pellets and freeze dried veggies, they now get dubias every other day and salads every day (primarily collard and mustard greens, bok choy, occasional tomatoes, broccoli, bell pepper, blueberries, and apples). The dubias are gut-loaded and dusted with calcium, the salads get a general vitamin powder twice a week.
The girls never really got baths before and are now receiving them weekly. We threw out their original bulbs replacing them with 125w Solar Glos, warm side of tank is kept at 96 during the day and drops to about 77 at night. They were both on a crushed walnut substrate, we ditched that for slate tile. Gave them both new toys, small soaking tubs, hides, and logs. (basically we just kept their tanks and threw everything else out...)
If you read through all of that, I commend you! You are now up to speed with our new family additions. So, lay them on me... Questions, thoughts, advice? Really I just want to know if any of you have heard of this and if so, what caused it.
Thank you all so much for your time away from your own beautiful beardies to read about mine!