Bearded dragon MBD assistance (Possibly calcium deficiency)

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xRaspy

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Hey. For the past year, my beardie (7) has been refusing calcium supplements, and will not eat if the worms are dusted with it or his salad has any sprinkled on it. He actively avoids it and has become weaker. He now stumbles around his cage and occasionally falls off of his hammock belly-up. He lost about inch of his tail from tail rot about 3 years ago so I don’t think this is the reason for his imbalance. About a year and a half ago he fell out of his exo terra which is 3 feet off the ground. This was the doing of my irresponsible girlfriend who left the cage open when she took his food dish. I found him shocked on the floor, and he dragged his legs around for a bit but was fine about 5 minutes later. This was about the point when he stopped eating calcium and vitamin supplemented food. I am very worried, as he is weak and falls often. I have been lucky to catch him falling most of the time so he isn’t belly up for more than a few seconds, or any at all. He does eat regularly but poops about twice a week. I feel he may have a spinal injury because he limps around when walking I have heard that this may be because of his calcium deficiency though. if only he hadn’t jumped... is there anything you guys can recommend? I appreciate it. I cannot afford a vet, as the herp vets in my area are terrible and are extremely overpriced. 150$ for an X-ray...

Note: It may seem like he was given no treatment during these times but we did seek veterinary assistance after the first fall, and they said he was fine. This was $70 down the drain, which made me lose trust in the only herp vet in my city. No refunds or anything. They had also told us that the tail rot would go away If we treated it, but we were back a month later to have the inch amputated.

TLDR: my beardie has been through a lot, and I am trying to look for further help in getting him happy and physically alive again. I am now set on getting him the proper calcium and supplements through Fluker's liquid calcium solution. :?
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Do you have a good UVB light for him? What type/brand is it?
If you have any pictures of your dragon, as well as the tank pictures too that would be
helpful so we can see the lighting placement.
He may have injured his back absolutely, especially if he has compromised bones. I
would recommend moving his basking area down lower to where he doesn't have to
stress himself in climbing to bask or receive his UVB.
Have you already purchased the liquid calcium? If not, let me know. I have an online
store with a great quality of liquid calcium you could try for him.
Try to keep him a bit warmer overnight, too, around 75-80 to help boost his system.
Is he eating much of anything? If not, for nutrition, you can get some chicken or turkey
baby food, mixed with squash or sweet potato baby food to give to him also.

Tracie
 

xRaspy

Member
Original Poster
Hi. Yes, I do have a good UVB in his enclosure. I have a Reptisun 10.0 fluorescent UVB. It spans across his entire warm side and about 50% of the cold side. His basking temps are 90-105 and his cool area drops to about 80. For heat, I have a Zoo Med 165-watt power sun UV. I have lowered his basking light onto the screen of his cage, and have his hammock as low as physically possible. I feel if I removed it entirely he wouldn't get sufficient heat. Yes, I have the liquid calcium already. He will refuse super worms, all greens, wax worms, and hornworms if they have any calcium dust on them. The calcium that I have is the Zoo Med Repti Calcium with D3. He will eat earlier in the morning but seems to get stressed if he moves around a lot throughout the day. It is very hard for me to force-feed him the calcium through the syringe. Do you know of any baby food that they actually like? I will try this. I also don't want to hurt him by forcing the syringe into his mouth.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Ok, great, the Reptisun 10 tube is a good bulb. Is it mounted on top of or underneath of
the screen top? Combining that bulb with the Powersun MVB should work great for him.
You can try using chicken or turkey baby food, mixed with squash or sweet potato baby food.
Those are usually well liked. You can just drop food onto the end of his nose to see if he likes
it enough to lick the food off. Then you can avoid having to actually force or put a dropper or
syringe into his mouth that way.
Are you using both the liquid calcium & powdered calcium & if so, how often do you use them?

Tracie
 

xRaspy

Member
Original Poster
Hi.
Things have been going great for him. He’s getting stronger by the looks of it, and his back alone looks much straighter. I picked up chicken baby food last night and a sweet potato one and made a slurry. I added some greens, blended it and added about a tablespoon of the liquid calcium and he seems to like it a lot. I didn't even have to force it into his mouth, I just put it onto his nose and he took it. He seems so be a lot stronger already just by watching him walk around. I went and bought some wax worms hornworms and black soldier larva and is now starting to eat them with d3 supplements. The only issue is that after the first one or two worms he catches on and starts to refuse dusted insects lol. What can I do about this? The bulb is not in the cage they are both placed on top.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That's great to hear he is doing better now & his back has straightened up some. Does he
like the chicken baby food & sweet potato also? I am sure he appreciates the food.
What brand of liquid calcium do you have & does it say the strength of it also? I would give a
little less of the liquid calcium so he doesn't get too much. I can try to help you with dosing it
so he gets the appropriate amount without overdosing.
If you are giving liquid calcium, you wont need to dust the insects very much with calcium then.
The liquid is pretty strong so go easy on the dusting.
Be sure the Reptisun 10 tube is 6-8 inches from him then, since it is on top of the screen.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

xRaspy

Member
Original Poster
Hi. Sorry about not responding for a while.

He’s been getting a bit better every day. He does like the chicken and sweet potato blend. I’m not sure where to find the strength on the liquid calcium that I have. It’s the flukers liquid calcium. He has been sleeping a lot recently and sleeps even about an hour more after his timer turns the lights on. I hope this means he is using his energy to recover faster. I have also started to notice that one arm is much much stronger than the other, and he walks a lot stronger but it a bit of a light circle. ie: when turning he always turns to the left, but when talking straight he goes forward. Is it a bad thing that he is preferring the baby food over worms? Thanks.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Are you still offering him worms at all? There isn't anything wrong with giving baby food for
awhile, especially if he has a hard time getting worms or other insects on his own. You can
gradually wean him off of the amount of baby food to see if his appetite will return to normal.
Is he getting stronger?
Flukers liquid calcium is relatively strong, but not overpowering. How much of it are you giving
to him? Be sure his basking area is pretty easy for him to be able to get onto so he doesn't
hurt himself trying to climb.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

xRaspy

Member
Original Poster
Hi.

Nothing has changed about the basking spot or cage setup since my original post. The hammocks are still lowered to the groups essentially. He has not fallen at all since the original post, hence him getting stronger. I give him 1 tablespoon of the flukers every day hy mixing it into the baby food. I am still trying worms. How else would I know that he doesn’t take them if I don’t offer them?
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

How is your dragon doing this evening?
I am glad to hear he hasn't fallen recently, hopefully he is doing better.
Sure, at least he is getting some food into him. Keep trying & offering live foods, to see if
his appetite returns.
How are his urates looking, are they still soft or hard? I would cut back a little bit on the
amount of the liquid calcium to be sure he doesn't get too much. Maybe just a half of a
teaspoon at a time, because calcium can get overloaded in their system.
Let us know how he is doing!

Tracie
 
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