Worried my bearded dragon might die :(

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K087

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Hi I'm hoping someone can help me, me and my son are beside ourselves woth worry that our toothless is going to die :( so we bought our beardie with a 4ft tank, 100 watt arcadia basking bulb and Exo terra 10% uvb. We had him for 2 months and he seemed absolutely fine in that time, he was eating a ridiculous amount of crickets/locusts which were dusted with nutrobal at every feed, although he has barely touched any greens. About 2 weeks ago I got Toothless out and noticed his front left arm was hurt, he wasn't putting any weight on it and was limping. I immediately took him to the vet and they x rayed him and said he hadn't broken anything, there seemed to be a slight 'chip' in his little finger but she wasn't sure what that was - she said they wouldn't do anything for something on the hand anyway as it will heal itself. She mentioned that his bones did not look as good as they should but that she has seen far worse. She pointed out that the uvb bulb we were using was not at all adequate, gave me a machine to test it and Tootless was only getting 0.004 which she said is basically nothing :( basking temp was 41, she was happy with all the temps. Vet gave me some anti-inflammatory medicine for a week and asked me to check back in after that. Well I gave the medicine as I should all week, went straight out and got a T5 14% uvb bulb but he just got worse through the week, very lethargic, not wanting to bask and eating less and less - currently he has eaten nothing for 2 days no matter what I try and I have tried everything. I went back to the vet today and she said it will be mbd and put Toothless on a recovery programme so I have got the following to give him; Insectigold, Calcium pro mg, Earthpro-a and liquid calcium. I gave Toothless some insectigold this evening, he would not entertain it so I had to force feed him with a syringe although he was not happy. But the vet didn't give me any real answer when I asked how much should I give him?! If I am force feeding how do I know when it's enough without making him sick? Also he just wants to hide and go in the shade all the time, should I leave him or keep putting him back under the lights? Does mbd usually cause a limp in front leg? Is it normal that after 2 weeks he still can't walk on it? At the moment he doesn't really use any of his limbs, he seems to just like laying flat to the floor. He doesn't have n arched spine or hanging jaw which I read were symptoms. I'm terrified I'm going to find him dead and just want to get him better :( also I see alot of people mention a black beard, Toothless has never ever had a black beard even when I can tell he is not happy with me! Is that normal?!!

Thank you
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Where do you have the UVB bulb that is a very strong bulb --- and is your tank atleast 24" high?
Karrie
 

K087

New member
Original Poster
I have it attached to the inside roof it is the 39 watt and spans about 2/3 of the tank it is to one side. I have only had the new bulb in for 3 days and he was getting worse before that so I don't think the bulb is the problem now although probably the previous bulb was the issue. Tank is 26in high
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Ok so for height and the bulb your good --- the bulb should be 17-18" directly above the basking decor piece -- I am going to have Tracie and AHBD look at the post - I need you to post pics of him and the tank and lighting so they can see what is going on and advise on what your giving for supplements etc
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at the top of the message box then click on the pic it should post
Karrie
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Sorry to hear about your poor baby. :( How old + what size is Toothless now ? BTW, no pictures posted. Did you try this :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

Are you in the U.K ? You mentioned locusts and we don't have those for sale in the U.S. Anyway, is your enclosure the type with a shelf in it ? I just don't like to start a baby in a 4 foot tank at all but more people + stores are promoting this. There's so much room for error whereas in a smaller tank a baby can almost always get the proper heat + uvb. Not your fault though at all and good that your vet checked to see that it was a lack of uvb + now MBD has developed. Just give him a drop of any of the calcium supplement, but if the insectigold is a food so give him a bit more. Toothless can still rally but you need to put him in a smaller temp. hospital tank where he can't hide from the uvb which he needs. This is what I mean, a plastic storage tote . This is how I set up the babies I personally hatched.

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/29953/full

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/29953/full
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Bless him, I am sorry that he developed metabolic bone disease to this extent. I do think that
he can recover, but, as AHBD stated a smaller hospital recovery tank would be more effective
for him.
Can you post some pictures of the calcium products you are using, because using too much
can be just as bad. Thanks, I would like to see the mg/ml, etc so I can help you with how much
to give, etc.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 
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