Why is my bearded dragons leg(s) swollen?

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Kiley

Member
Hi,
My bearded dragon is over a year old and I give her proper lighting, calcium almost everyday, correct food, and correct temps. I just noticed this morning when she came out of her rock that her front left leg was puffed up. When I got home it was about the same and when I felt it it felt kind of squishy like. She seems fine, she uses her legs like normal and does not act like it hurts when I touch them. To me it might look like one of her back legs is a little bigger than the other also, I could be wrong though. Her rock is fairly new, so I’m hoping it’s not some sort of allergy. This week i did forget my calcium at my other house so she has not had any for about 4 days. I can’t go to a vet because I do t have the money and my parents won’t want to spend any. Any ideas on how to treat her or what’s wrong with her? I’d like to add that every once and awhile her back leg twitches. I give her calcium with d3 usually every day(not this week though).
After school:
95676-7519975016.jpg
95676-8504074742.jpg
95676-9122257270.jpg
This morning:
95676-7129399571.jpg
Awhile ago before I clipped her nails:
95676-6451805974.jpg
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hi there,

Darn, I'm sorry it developed on the other leg too! It's too bad you can't readily get to the vet. I really think getting some bloodwork would be best. That way you could rule out organ failure.

What does her typical diet look like? Typical amounts too.
What bulb are you using for UVB?

-Brandon
 

Kiley

Member
Original Poster
Depending on what I have I usually give her 3 super worms every day, some Dubia every day, or some mealworms. She always seems super hungry for the bugs and will only eat her greens if I put something with color (like fruit or colorful veggies) in them. Sometimes she does not eat them at all but I offer them everyday. I have the reptisun 10 bulb.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Can you review your lighting & supplementation with us? Are you using the Reptisun 10 tube
bulb, or a compact/coil type of light? How old is the light & how is it placed in the tank?
If she has a hump on her back she may be developing metabolic bone disease, but, she also
has a possibility of developing gout due to poor absorption rates of calcium, etc.

Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

Kiley

Member
Original Poster
Her bulb is the Reptisun 10 tube and its laid across the top of her cage so she is constantly receiving its light. I usually give her repti calcium with d3 by zoo med everyday. I feed her bugs once a day everyday and I guess the calcium is usually on the bugs king of thick like caked on but not fully caked on-kind of between light and thick. Her (2) legs have not changed. They are still swollen and as of right now she has no bumps on her back. She still does not act like it hurts to touch the swollen legs.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
This may be either hypercalcemia or hypervitaminosis D3 or a combination of the two , see posting.php?mode=reply&f=6&t=251139 for more information .

I believe it's very difficult to diagnose without a vet organizing bloodwork to determine levels of calcium and vitD3 ( and precursers ) in the blood .

Is treatable but again, requires a competent and KNOWLEDGEABLE REPTILE vet who is experienced with bearded dragons.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Kiley":3vys5yus said:
Her bulb is the Reptisun 10 tube
<< T8 (fat 1" tube) or T5ho ( skinny 5/8" tube) ?
>> under mesh or ontop mesh ?
>> is mesh fine ? ( photo will help )
>> in a reflector hood ?
>> how close can she get to the UVB tube when basking ?
>> how old is the tube ?

and its laid across the top of her cage so she is constantly receiving its light. I usually give her repti calcium with d3 by zoo med everyday.
I feed her bugs once a day everyday and I guess the calcium is usually on the bugs king of thick like caked on but not fully caked on-kind of between light and thick.
<< that's fine IF the dusting of the VitD3 fortified Ca is very light , just enough to coat the bugs , it doesn't need to be caked onto bugs .
<<< I suspect you've maybe been overzealous in the dusting and she's ingesting too much calcium and too much artificial VitD3 which in turn is interfering with her metabolisation of calcium.
<<< when you check her urates , what colour are they. If the Calcium balance is right they should white without any orangish tinge to them ( orange tinge comes from calcium oxalate crystals ).
Her (2) legs have not changed. They are still swollen and as of right now she has no bumps on her back. She still does not act like it hurts to touch the swollen legs.
 

Kiley

Member
Original Poster
Sorry I have been really busy, she looks exactly the same right now and acts about the same too. I’m happy to let y’all know I’m taking her the the vet Friday morning. Looking forward for a diagnosis.
 

Kiley

Member
Original Poster
Ok so the vet said she just needs more calcium. He said her legs can break easier right now and that she looks healthy otherwise. He also suggested mealworms because they have more nutrients. She looks healthy otherwise though so that’s good.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Kiley":1y6dgpc7 said:
Ok so the vet said she just needs more calcium. He said her legs can break easier right now and that she looks healthy otherwise.

how did the vet determine for for low calcium levels ?

He also suggested mealworms because they have more nutrients.
That's questionable , mealworms are not the best feeder nutritionally : refer to this viewtopic.php?f=76&t=234999&p=1807990#p1807990

She looks healthy otherwise though so that’s good.
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hi there,

Did the vet do bloodwork? If so would you be able to post it up for us to review?

If the blood tests showed low calcium levels (or an xray showed low bone density) then adding in some extra calcium could help.
But you also need to make sure you have a proper uvb setup so that the calcium can be absorbed by the body.

Could we get the extra details on your uvb bulb like was asked earlier?

I'm glad she is otherwise healthy :)

-Brandon
 

Kiley

Member
Original Poster
All the vet did was look at her and feel around her. There were not any test but he seemed sure it was just low calcium. I believe my uvb is about 8-9 months old. The light said it last for a year and I will need to replace it around January. I believe it is the T5 10.0 UV tube.
95676-4818477016.jpg
And I use heat emitters for her heat-I know I need to got a real basking bulb but can’t figure out which ones to get.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Kiley":1x73058z said:
All the vet did was look at her and feel around her. There were not any test but he seemed sure it was just low calcium. I believe my uvb is about 8-9 months old. The light said it last for a year and I will need to replace it around January. I believe it is the T5 10.0 UV tube.
95676-4818477016.jpg
And I use heat emitters for her heat-I know I need to got a real basking bulb but can’t figure out which ones to get.

Not good enough IMO . He's essentially guessing with nothing to back up his "diagnosis".

BTW : that's very fine mesh in that tank's lid, will be blocking close to 50% of all the UVA & UVB produced by the T5 .
I STRONGLY SUGGEST moving the hood so it is hung UNDERNEITH the mesh , use cable (zip) ties to "fix the hood under the mesh" this will have the following benefits :
>>> it will instantly increase the UVA & UVB flux in the tank by 2x ( no mesh in the way )
>>> it will instantly also move the T5 tube a few inches closer , which will also increase the UVA & UVB flux according the inverse square law ( perhaps by as much as 50% just by moving the tube a few inches closer) .
This increase can the calculated using this relationship :
inverse-square-law-for-light-intensity-maths1.png


ie if on top the distance is 18" and under the distance is 15" , the increase in intensity is 18^2/15^2 = 1.44 ie an increase of 44%

==> overall , a product relation increase ( closer & no mesh ) = (1/0.5) x 1.44 = 2.9x increase in UVA and UVB flux for an investment of under a $1 and 5 minutes work by simply moving the hood & T5 globe under the mesh lid.
.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi there, as a young person you're doing a great job trying to help your dragon ! You got the t5 bulb which is good ! You grew her up to adult size much better than some young people do today. :) Sorry to say that I agree the vet should have done bloodwork and that he's just guessing + not very competent if he said the dragon needs more mealworms. There IS a possibility as was mentioned by the previous poster that your dragon is getting too much D3. If you get the uvb attached under the lid like this using picture hanging wire or other thin wire to loop through the screen, that can be your project today for better uvb exposure. Here's an example :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30028/full

And for heat bulbs, we mostly get them from Walmart or Home Depot, just plain halogen bulbs in 4 packs like this :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/29979/full

You save money too because they are only about $4.50 for the 4 pack. BTW, is she limping ? What is her name ?
 
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