KarrieRee":1cjqfmrx said:
From what I saw on the video the healthy one was attacking the sick one --- please separate them - and from what HippieLizards thinks and has had experience w/ is Muscular dystrophy --- did this come on all of a sudden and when you had the dragon to the vet he was not acting this way at all ? Dragons should never be kept together ---- they are territorial and I can only guess that the healthier one now has been dominating the UVB that there was --- something is going on w/ that dragon for it to be all of a sudden acting this way and to be honest it was heartbreaking to watch for me ------------- please send a PM to one of the people she posted for TracieDrache613 is the vet moderator but I would look at getting that dragon back into the vet ASAP ---
Karrie
I Second that.
TGibbs":1cjqfmrx said:
I take basking temperatures with an IR temp gun. Basking area usually ranges from 90 to 110 and the cooler side of the tank sets around 80. I will try to get the uvb under the screen.. the smaller is a rescue that I've had for 2 months now. I have a camera that I watch them with all the time. Never have they attacked each other. The other was one that was on sale at a petco because he was the last one.. I have an adult that's about 4 years old.. never once had any issues with her. I'm beginning to think it's not MBD because the bones on an X-ray I had done a few weeks ago looked great. They feel good as well..
Seeing as you said that the bones look great from a x-ray, which if you could provide a photo or two of said X-rays that might help us with Diagnosing this. If you say they look great, then on the left is what healthy dragon bones should look like as opposed to one with MBD, which one does his look more like?
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But if you say they look great and this happened suddenly then There is a big chance that it is Muscular Dystrophy.
Which the big issue is that it's a very rare and not well known or well researched condition, so there's very little information about it to go on, which is the problem.
People don't really know what causes it (usually a genetic defect or a neurological issue), or if there is any known treatment for it.
Which based on that sadly enough proves out a very low survival rate for beardies. Most of them not being strong or stable enough to do basic things like eat poop or bask, so they usually are put out of their misery due to this. Which is really really sad.
I had to make this sad decision with my Thor, which really was one of the hardest decisions I've made in my life.
Now, I do not want your dragon to have to come to this. I Want him to put up a good fighting chance for as long as possible for this, so no way in heck am I saying just put him down, I still believe that he has a chance to live a decent life for a while, I hope.
From what you're saying he's still active, he's still trying to eat and bask (has he pooped though?), so that means he still has a lot of fight left in him. If he was lethargic, not eating, and hiding all the time then I'd have to say otherwise, but from what you're describing he isn't.
So I have faith that he can still live pretty well if you take the right procedures for caring for him and treating him.
These are the things I did that helped Thor:
•He's going to need to be checked on frequently to make sure he hasn't gotten himself stuck anywhere or fallen onto his back.
•He's going to need low things in his tank that he can easily get on and off of without having a risk of falling and injuring himself more, as he will probably be a lot more susceptible to damage from falls.
•He MUST be housed separately from the other dragons.
•He should be hand fed too, as it will most likely be too tiring or stressful for him to catch food on his own like a normal dragon would, Which you also should add calcium to every other meal he has.
•You should occasionally give him baths once a week or so and let him try and swim around in it to gain muscle strength, that can help him greatly. But use lukewarm water that is no deeper than his elbows, and keep a constant eye on him and be ready to take him out as soon as possible if anything happens.
• He should have the best possible UVB that is uncovered and around 6-10 inches away from him.
• This is optional but you can give him a couple fleece blankets or soft things for him to relax on, my Thor always loved to curl up in a fleece blanket, which it always just calmed him down wrapping him up in it, Especially when administering medications to him.
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These things all really helped my Super special needs Beardie Thor, So if you do these things as well for yours, which you really really should, Then He should do good.
But please, keep us posted frequently on how he is doing.