New petsmart beardie sick?!

Good to hear.

Hey guys! I need your help again! So I am in college and I have my dad taking care of my beardie. I come home every weekend to check up on him and he has been doing great until now. One of his front toes is swollen like he has stuck shed that needs to come off so I am putting oil on it and soaking him in warm baths. However he is walking really funny. It is almost as if his back legs are hurting him because he is somewhat dragging them behind him. It is not a full paralysis thing because they still move he just seems to not want to use them as much. I can send pics of his hind legs and and the toe if you think you need to see. He also has not been eating his veggies so Idk if that is the issue. He is eating and pooping normally and still moves around. Any help is much appreciated as always!

AmberH":617oh10x said:

Hey guys! I need your help again! So I am in college and I have my dad taking care of my beardie. I come home every weekend to check up on him and he has been doing great until now. One of his front toes is swollen like he has stuck shed that needs to come off so I am putting oil on it and soaking him in warm baths. However he is walking really funny. It is almost as if his back legs are hurting him because he is somewhat dragging them behind him. It is not a full paralysis thing because they still move he just seems to not want to use them as much. I can send pics of his hind legs and and the toe if you think you need to see. He also has not been eating his veggies so Idk if that is the issue. He is eating and pooping normally and still moves around. Any help is much appreciated as always!

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Did you ever switch the coil bulb out for the strip light?

Yes I switched them out right after those posts.

Hi Amber, post a few pics of his toe and also his set up . The uvb doesn't have a plastic shield , does it ? And very important....ask your dad if he was dusting the bugs daily with calcium powder, and whether or not it was with D3. Dragging the back legs is usually associated with impaction and/or calcium deficiency.

I will pose pics when I get home around 4. I'm pretty sure my dad has since I left very detailed lists but I asked him just in case and I'm waiting on his response. Oli has been pooping loads so I ruled out impaction plus he didn't poop when I soaked him. I've also been putting olive and coconut oil on his toe and he has licked some off my finger so if it was impaction that cleared it for sure cause there was poop this morning. He has only been eating crickets though. No veggies at all because he won't touch them. Could that have something to do with it?

No, the lack of veggies won't affect him, lots of babies don't eat veggies [ although it's good if they do ]
But a lack of calcium supplements would be detrimental.

My dad has confirmed that he has been dusting with the calcium I have provided. It does include D3

So once I got home I noticed he is still dragging his hind legs but he definitely is still lively and will go after food like a champ even though it hurts him. I am trying to upload images but the site is being weird. Do you think maybe he could have thrown a hip out by jumping off his log to get to his crickets? He does have a weird bone sticking out in front of his hip bones that I did not notice before. I will try uploading pics again. Impaction is definitely out cause when I got home he was in the middle of pooping! Also I got some zoomed shed aid for his toe.

You can kind of see the lump I mentioned in the first pic

He looks healthy and cute as can be. Looks like he's grown pretty well too. I see the rib bone you mentioned [ I think that's the one you mean ? That's normal on some beardies....he is a bit on the lean side so you see the outline of those bones as well as his little pelvic area bones.

I don't know if he is still having trouble from the time that he had the other bulb and his bones were not getting enough calcium....then maybe a leap from his hammock might have sprained his legs. I don't think they'd be broken, he would have more severe symptoms + pain when being handled. It still might be best to lower all the basking areas, the artificial log can be turned on it's side and the hammock lowered. It may be that as he continues to receive calcium powder and good uvb from the new bulb that he'll improve slowly. You might even try liquid calcium. Someone else may have some thoughts on his situation Best wishes for the little cutie !

I would think it would be that too but he never had a problem with his bones when he was under the wrong lighting. He only lost his appetite. The lump isn't the ones that are normally there it is a smaller one right near those ones. It's hard to get a clear picture. He has been fine for months and then his walk started to get like that so maybe it was the lighting but idk why that would have effects so long after the fact when they weren't present before ya know?

the lump is in between the two pelvic/ hip bones where I have circled. I lightly pressed on it and it does seem to be sensitive but not overly so. Should I just give it a little while and see if it heals on its own before I think about a vet visit and X-rays? I'm willing to pay for it because I love my animals but like I said I'm in college and I'm having a hard time with money as is lol

I can't see anything odd in that pic. And yes, if you have a vet that has good reviews + experience with beardies you might take him in.