Signs of being egg bound 2 weeks after laying

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Hi all, first I want to say I greatly appreciate all the advice I've gotten on this site, I've had a few health concerns here & there with my 2 girls (I have 3 total, 2 girls & a boy) and everyone here has been a great help to me.

My newest concern is with my older girl Baby, who is just about 4 years old. She laid her 1st clutch of infertile eggs on May 1st, 28 total! She had some trouble towards the end & was straining pretty hard to get out the last few, I noticed some prolapse happening & immediately got her in the bath (again... I'd been giving her baths daily when she started showing signs of being gravid, & had just given her another bath earlier that day after she laid the bulk of them). I cleaned the vent & the tissue went back in on it's own, there's been no signs of infection. Her appetite came back full force, eating even more than usual at first, but in the past week or so her appetite has dwindled down to nothing. She has been refusing food for about 4 days now, I started her on organic squash baby food by syringe last night, I got about 6 cc's in her before she gave me any trouble about it. Tonight I was only able to get about half that in her. She is still having daily poop & pee through all of this, she is not dehydrated as her urine is all white & I've been back to giving her daily baths since her appetite decreased. She is drinking water when I place her in the bath as well, daily (which is an unusual amount of interest in drinking water for her). She is still getting up in her basking spot daily but has little to no energy otherwise (not running around the house when I take her out like normal). She is the skinniest I've ever seen her, the fat pads on her head are completely sunken, her eyes look sunken, I can feel her ribs, etc...

I've also been giving her .8 cc's of Vetafarm Calcivet daily since she laid, to boost her calcium intake. Her feeders are always dusted, staple greens are collards (mixed with all kinds of other "treat" fruits & veggies but primarily collards), but I started to notice a little crook in her tail the day before she laid so I started the liquid calcium supplement. I don't know if it's because she's gotten so skinny or what but she seems to be showing signs of MBD at an accelerated rate. The small crook in her tail is now almost a 2 inch squiggle & she's getting a hunch in her back. I don't know how it can happen that bad so fast. She's never shown ANY signs of this at all before.

She's had a black beard for about 2 days straight now, I'm either taking her to the vet tomorrow or Saturday (left a voicemail for them tonight after hours, after I was home from work & saw no signs of her condition improving). I also just replaced all 3 of my babies uv bulbs last month. Baby's viv setup is a 40 gallon breeder, double deep dome light fixture with a 150w basking bulb & a reptisun 10.0 full size compact uv bulb, washable eco carpet instead of substrate. Basking spot temp is about 108 & cool side is about 85.

I've had her since she was about 6 months old, she was bred at home from 2 breeder-bought dragons, the litter produced 7 total & she was one of the largest of the litter (that's about all I know of her origins, sorry).

I know being egg bound is an emergency & am taking her to the vet asap as I mentioned, but I have been doing some research & am having a hard time finding much about egg bound signs this late after laying, & also am very worried about how fast MBD signs are setting in & the liquid calcium doing seemingly nothing to help.

I will post pics of her lay day & now so you can see the drastic change in a 2 week span... as soon as I figure out how to post the pics (lol). Sorry for the novel but I think I covered all the usual questions.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Poor girl, she is looking pretty rough. You mentioned that you have a 10.0 compact bulb ? If so she's likely not getting enough uvb. You need the long tube bulb Reptisun 10.0 t5 or Arcadia 12 % D3 are the best. Can you post a few pics showing her lights with her set up ?
 

Motherofdragons628

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Original Poster
I've been trying to think of ways to put a tube fixture in her tank, I have a hinged lid so maybe I can wire it into 1 side? I just don't know if it'll be secure enough but I will try it. I never considered that her uv might be inadequate b/c she's never shown any symptoms like this before & she's had the same tank setup since I upgraded her from a 30 gallon about 3 months after I got her. I just can't believe the turn she's taken in just 2 weeks ?

Here's my tank(s), she's the top one:
89825-6663809670.jpg
 

Motherofdragons628

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My youngest in the bottom tank that I built into a piece of furniture has the tube fixture with a reptisun 10.0 t5. I'd like to get tubes for both of the other tanks but just didn't see it as a necessity because they've all been in perfect health up to now. I'm going to get them tomorrow considering I'm in panic mode now with how she's doing, I'll do anything that can help her.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Yes, try to wire it under the screen. I really feel for you, it's sad to see them in distress and the poor girls sometimes have trouble even with optimum care. Can you take her out in the sun ?
 

Motherofdragons628

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Original Poster
I am definitely going to take her outside for as much of the day as possible Saturday, it's going to be mid 70's & not raining (finally), we've had some cooler weather & rain for most of the past week. I wish I could tomorrow but I can't take off work again, I already took the day off after she was laying to monitor how she was doing & make sure there was no more prolapse & she was actually done laying. I don't technically have any time off at this job yet so 2x in 2 weeks will definitely not be ok.
 

Motherofdragons628

Member
Original Poster
Update: my mom took her to the vet for me while I was at work today, they did an xray & there is no evidence of bone degeneration to support an MBD diagnosis, they also did not see or feel any signs of being egg bound, but they do not perform ultrasounds or bloodwork there so I am taking her to an emergency care facility that has a reptile specialist on staff tomorrow to do those things. My vet gave me a powdered food to mix with water to try & a general antibiotic to start on the off chance it is some type of infection. I am buying the tube light fixture now & will install as soon as I get home. Please send good vibes, she was my 1st beardie baby & I will be devastated if I can't get to the bottom of this & treat it before it's too late.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
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Moderator
Hello,

Poor girl, she does look pretty tired! Egg laying can be so rough on them.
The UVB does need to be the long tube instead of the compact/coil light, as suggested.
While x-rays are good, they are not always 100% accurate when determine blood calcium
levels. Her levels are likely low & the bones wont become compromised for a bit, until the
body starts drawing reserves from her bones.
Let us know how things go at the vets. If you can get a copy of the blood tests, I would love
to see them.
Outdoor sunshine will definitely help her.

I hope she is feeling better.

Tracie
 

Motherofdragons628

Member
Original Poster
Yes I will let you know how everything goes tomorrow & gladly provide the blood test results. I installed the tube lights with the reptisun 10.0 bulbs (got one for both my top 2 tanks that previously had the compact's & using the single dome fixtures from my male for each of their basking bulbs now). She let me give her the antibiotic earlier, & tonight I was able to get the entire dosage my vet recommended for the powdered food into her. She actually picked up her head & looked as though maybe she liked it? Seemed a bit more alert for the moment. Gave her a bath again to keep her hydrated & clean as she's having some frequent runny poop's from all the liquids the past 2 days. Overall she is still very lethargic, though. Here's hoping the blood tests provide some answers!
 

Motherofdragons628

Member
Original Poster
Oh, forgot to mention my vet brought up the possibility of egg yolk peritontis... I don't know a whole lot about it, google searches come up with mostly info about chickens, & most of the accounts of this (or the possibility of it) on here vary greatly as far as symptoms & timelines. Any ideas? I am really starting to believe that my Baby either has some sort of infection, or possibly this.
 

Motherofdragons628

Member
Original Poster
Update: took her to the Northstar Vets emergency center in Robbinsville, NJ. They are keeping her overnight (for now, possibly more) to get i.v. fluids in her b/c she was still dehydrated even with daily baths. They took a blood sample & the reptile specialist there will be doing an ultrasound later today, I will have the results from both of those tonight. They agreed that it may be egg yolk peritonitis but want to rule out anything else with the bloodwork & need to see the extent of the damage already done to judge whether an antibiotic will treat it or if a hysterectomy will be necessary. Also said they may need to keep her an additional day or 2 before performing surgery (if necessary) to get the ideal amount of fluids & nutrition into her until it's safe to operate. They mentioned her heart rate seemed a little accelerated as well, not really sure what that means with all of this. I'm just hoping I got her there in time for antibiotics to be effective so the poor thing doesn't have to go through surgery. But they seem optimistic that she definitely has a shot at pulling through this so I'm very hopeful! Will update again when I get all the test results.
 

Motherofdragons628

Member
Original Poster
*Not an update* ...but I'm getting anxious waiting for this phone call so on a lighter note, here's my beautiful boy Romeo soaking up some rays in the nice 80 degree weather we had today!

89825-890018605.jpg

Almost done his first full-body shed since I rescued him in August! Only in areas before (just the head, just the legs, base of the tail, etc.)... He's about 6 yrs old & acts like a macho man, bobbing at everything from my dad to the refrigerator, but is secretly a big chicken & snuggle bug lol...

Wish me luck with this news ??
 
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