<<<<I need help, possible mbd>>>>

Alright, I got my bearded dragon, Caco, like 2 months ago. He is around 5/6 months old. I’m worried about mbd on him. He is almost always with the tip of his tounge out, no matter the temperature! The mouth is closed except the end of it. He has ‘droopy eyes’ and when he walks he doesn’t use his hands to stand. He doesn’t have any twitches (idk the spelling) or anything more. It’s just that. He doesn’t have any trouble walking but as I said, a strange posture (he doesn’t stand with the hands). I think he might have it as he is the 97% of his time inside his hide, and doesn’t come out. That means he is not basking under the heat&UVB bulb. Should I just take him out at the sun as it has UVB rays, or just give him calcium dust? Right now I can’t afford to take him to a vet. Please is there any way to treat it?
**UPDATE**Ok I think he is dehydrated, he almost doesn’t have any sings of MBD but the appearance is a bit similar. He has more signs of dehydration than of MBD.

please post photos of him, and his current habitat, so our expert beardie people can help you out. We will need more information, like what sort of heat, UVB lamps, nutrition, vitamins, and feeding schedule...If you need help posting photos, just let me know.

What is it that seems like he is dehydrated? How does he take his water? They do not generally like to drink from a bowl,...has he had a good BM lately?

I would get rid of the hide, so he can get more basking...they need about 12 hrs of UVB light...and around 104* bask spot to digest properly. This site has tons of good information that will help, too...I was completely ignorant about proper beardie care three years ago,when I adopted my baby beardie...thanks to this site and the helpful people, and lots of self educating, He has grown into a big, beautiful, healthy beardie, who loves snuggles and hangs out on me and makes my life beautiful! I hope your dragon is the same for you for many years to come...

He has a 100 watt basking bulb, but I sometimes don’t even put the bulb on as here it’s summer in Spain and, you know, it’s VERY hot. He doesn’t drink from the bowl so I usually just try to with my finger drop some drops of water on his mouth. He always looks so thirsty. But yeah, he isn’t lethargic, twitching or anything. He is just dehydrated I think. But the thing that confuses me is the part of the hands where he doesn’t use them to stand, it’s like if he had no hands at all. I remember when he was in the petstore he had a horrible care; no hides at all, small space, descomposing worms for food, and no water. I’ll try to give him more water, also to make sure he is basking. If the basking thing doesn’t work then I will put on his food a bit of calcium dust to see if he improves.

What kind of UVB are you using?

lizardmom25":rcsqpiq6 said:

What kind of UVB are you using?

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I think it was an exo terra, maybe around 90 watt

Hi. Since its nice where you live take him out in the sun for a little bit every day. Are you using calcium on his food? Mbd is not reversible , but he can have good quality of life.

destiny1998":3nkico0e said:

Hi. Since its nice where you live take him out in the sun for a little bit every day. Are you using calcium on his food? Mbd is not reversible , but he can have good quality of life.

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today I started giving him some crickets dusted with calcium. But do you mean he is going to die or something? I heard mbd has a cure :|

MBD does not have a cure.... sort of at least. It can not be reversed but it can be stopped from progressing further. He'll be like this his whole entire life.

Here are the proper UVB bulbs you need.... hopefull you can get them from these links but if not try to look for these bulbs.
I'd recommend getting the Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 34" with a reflective 34 T5 fixture at the very least and then mounting this inside the tank.
This will allow him to get the proper UVB he needs.
Also make sure the basking spots and everything is low to the ground so he doesn't have to climb up anything too steep. A good way to make places where he can get up high is to get small pieces of tile and just build a little staircase upwards to form a basking spot.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013RNBXLQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

^ 46" T5 HO Fixture

https://www.amazon.com/Reptile-T5HO-Standard-Fixture-Reflector/dp/B01B209YQC/ref=sr_1_5?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1523586973&sr=1-5&keywords=t5+ho+fixture

^ 34" T5 HO Fixture

https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-26062-Reptisun-Fluorescent/dp/B00AQU8HKO/ref=pd_bxgy_199_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00AQU8HKO&pd_rd_r=ZNH52XHETCP3Y7K5FGA2&pd_rd_w=GIi1G&pd_rd_wg=oAEwd&psc=1&refRID=ZNH52XHETCP3Y7K5FGA2&dpID=31QDwNV8eSL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail

^ 34" T5 HO 10.0

https://www.amazon.com/ZooMed-Zoo-Med-ReptiSun-Output/dp/B00AQU8HRM/ref=pd_bxgy_201_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00AQU8HRM&pd_rd_r=R1ZX884J9P08VVS6YN6C&pd_rd_w=l58nu&pd_rd_wg=ZeSJJ&psc=1&refRID=R1ZX884J9P08VVS6YN6C

^ 46" T5 HO 10.0

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/arcadia-d3-ho-t5-14-uvb-dragon-lamp-34-inch/

^ 34" T5 HO 14%

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/arcadia-d3-ho-t5-14-uvb-dragon-lamp-46-inch/

^ 46" T5 HO 14%

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/arcadia-d3-t-5-34-inch-39-watt-12-desert-uvb-the-original-reptile-ho-t5-in-north-america/

^ 34" T5 HO 12%

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/arcadia-d3-t-5-46-inch-54-watt-12-desert-uvb-in-stock/

^ 46" t5 HO 12%


Heres a feeding guide that should help with how to properly feed him.
However, do note because of his issues he'll need lots of special care now and most of what I have listed below would need adjustments for a beardie with MBD.

All life stages eat 10-20 bugs a feeding.
1-4 months 3x a day.
4-12 months 2x a day.
12-20 months once a day.
20+ months twice a week at the least, every other day at the most.

Staple feeders - Crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, turkish roaches.

Treat feeders - Waxworms, hornworms, superworms, mealworms, butterworms.
Wax worms - once a week, 4-5 max.
Hornworms - every other day to every two days, 4-6 max.
Mealworms - every other day to every two days, 5-10 max. Only for beardies above 6 months.
Superworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max. Only for beardies above 12 months.
Butterworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max.

Daily greens- Turnip/collard/mustard greens, endive, and kale if added to a mixture of the other staple greens mentioned.
Fruit once or twice a week - Banana, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries.
For more food items -
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-diet.php
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Supplementation -

You want two supplements at the very least, a calcium and a multivitamin.
I recommend the Repti-cal brand but zoomed is also good.

The supplements should be lightly dusted on all bugs.

Generally, beardies below two years need calcium 5x a week and multivitamins 2x a week.

However, beardies above two years or at two years of age need calcium only 2-4x a week with multivitamins 1-2x a week.
This does depend on how your beardie is with diet, health, just laid eggs, is laying eggs, etc.