My beardie has neuro problems

[daisythedragon]

Hello everyone,
I took Daisy into the vet about two weeks ago because he wasn't walking right. He was leaning and "tripping" over his feet and would barely eat. They ran X-rays and his bones were good and healthy so they ruled out bone disease. They also tested his poop and it came back as having a little bit of parasites so they gave a two dose medication to address that and he got the second dose today. There was no impaction found in the x-rays either so that's good. However, the only answer they could give me was that he has a neurological problem. They gave me two pain medications to give to him for one week once a day. I called them back and they said to give both twice a day. I went for a re check up and they said to stop the medication but I have not seen any improvements but it hasn't gotten worse either. He doesn't hunt for his bugs anymore instead I have to hand feed all of them along with his salads. He drags his back legs and twitches his head now. This is so sad for me because I worried so much when he was little and I first got him and tried to do everything right and always made changes to make his enclosure better.
I use the Repashy calcium powder and the uvb hood with a t5 arcadia bulb and a 100 watt bulb for basking. The temps are perfect with the hot side 90-105 and the cool side 75-85.
I was wondering if anyone else has this problem with their beardie?

 

[Shinryu]

I just wanted to say I'm so sorry your beardie is going through that! I watched the video and it is heartbreaking. You sound like a wonderful owner who is doing everything to get your beardie feeling better. My first thoughts were MBD or impaction but sounds like your vet already eliminated those possibilities. I will tag @Drache613 in case she can help a bit more. Meanwhile, do you have photos of the enclosure so we can see how your UVB/basking bulbs are positioned? I searched our forums for similar threads where the beardie was having trouble walking or dragging legs, and in a couple of them, it seems like UVB wasn't mounted correctly... but that seemed like a bone disease situation. Anyway, photos may help. I'm glad to hear that the little guy is still letting you hand feed him.

 

[daisythedragon]

I just wanted to say I'm so sorry your beardie is going through that! I watched the video and it is heartbreaking. You sound like a wonderful owner who is doing everything to get your beardie feeling better. My first thoughts were MBD or impaction but sounds like your vet already eliminated those possibilities. I will tag @Drache613 in case she can help a bit more. Meanwhile, do you have photos of the enclosure so we can see how your UVB/basking bulbs are positioned? I searched our forums for similar threads where the beardie was having trouble walking or dragging legs, and in a couple of them, it seems like UVB wasn't mounted correctly... but that seemed like a bone disease situation. Anyway, photos may help. I'm glad to hear that the little guy is still letting you hand feed him.

I know it breaks my heart seeing him struggle. I have spend so much time crying over it and hoping he wakes up and is better. I also do what I call physical therapy and just get him to lift off the floor and assist with trying to get him to walk. Along with the problems walking he started to open his mouth more like after eating or while basking and he didn't do that before. Also takes him a few tries to eat he will miss it then go for it again like 3-4 times so usually I just put it close to his mouth so it's easier and it kinda of falls in his mouth. I have the uvb along the back and then the basking one is up front. I did make changes to his tank and lowered the hammock and moved the basking light and had to remove the branch he used to climb on because he would fall and be hanging on the side. He spends most of his time on the left side just laying on the floor and I have to put him up in the hammock because he can't get up there by himself. I am currently building a 120 gallon tank and plan to hang the uvb inside the enclosure. I just feel helpless not knowing how to help him and trying alot of things and it not working.

 

[Shinryu]

Oh no, poor buddy! I can see how hard you're trying to help him! A couple of things regarding the setup that caught my eye --if you're already having to put him into the hammock to get him closer to the basking bulb, are you able to put him onto a basking rock instead or do you think he would fall off? The reason I ask is because hammocks don't really get warm so as a primary basking spot, they may be insufficient. Surfaces meant for basking such as basking rocks get warm over the entire "basking zone" and help warm the beardie from the underside too as they are basking on it. Just make sure that they aren't self heating rocks or heating mats since those can burn beardies really badly. As far as the UVB, is it the Arcadia 12 % UVB T5 High Output Tube Fluorescent Bulb? Other ideas that come to mind as something to review/consider are Atadenovirus and hypocalcemia although I imagine that hypocalcemia likely would have led to bone disease as well. I don't know much about it but I've heard that Atadenovirus can present as neurological issues in beardies along with other symptoms such as not wanting to eat, being more susceptible to parasites, and being lethargic. I have also read that Atadenovirus can cause body twitching, seizures, and beardies arching the neck to look up (I think it's referred to as "stargazing"). @AHBD would you happen to have any ideas as to what could be causing neurological issues in a beardie?

Please update on how your beardie is doing!

​

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Is your UVB mounted directly overhead? It appears that it is based from the pictures.
The UVB greatly decreases when placed over or on top of the screen. I would highly
recommend trying to mount it underneath of the screen top for a much stronger UVB
exposure.
Did the vet do x-rays or take blood?
What pain medications were given?

Tracie

 

[daisythedragon]

Hello,

Is your UVB mounted directly overhead? It appears that it is based from the pictures.
The UVB greatly decreases when placed over or on top of the screen. I would highly
recommend trying to mount it underneath of the screen top for a much stronger UVB
exposure.
Did the vet do x-rays or take blood?
What pain medications were given?

Tracie

It is not mounted underneath. I can’t figure out how to mount it inside without it falling. Yes the vet did x-rays and everything was normal. He didn’t feel like blood work was necessary for right now but maybe I’ll look into it for next week when he goes back for his re check up! For parasites they gave me metronidazole (two doses one in office and I waited a week and gave him the second dose yesterday) for pain he gave me meloxicam and gabapentin ( at first it was once a day for 7 days for both but then I started giving him it twice a day for 3 days because I didn’t see improvement) I called back and asked if I needed more since I ran out and they said he didn’t need anymore. I’m really at a lost on what to do.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You can use the strong zip ties or a strong wire to tie & secure the tube bulb light
& fixture. Or, the 3M Command hooks are used regularly, too.
Both of those medications are used on a regular basis & when dosed properly they
are safe. How is he doing today, is the meloxicam helping his pain?
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[daisythedragon]

Hello,

You can use the strong zip ties or a strong wire to tie & secure the tube bulb light
& fixture. Or, the 3M Command hooks are used regularly, too.
Both of those medications are used on a regular basis & when dosed properly they
are safe. How is he doing today, is the meloxicam helping his pain?
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Hi Tracie, sorry for the late reply I have been super busy with work. He started the medications I would say two weeks ago and stopped last Thursday. I didn't notice any improvements, it just stayed the same. Today I noticed he started to put his tongue out and move it to the side, kinda of like he is trying to get something out. I looked in his mouth and nothing looked out of the ordinary. The tip of his tongue is a little bit white but it was like that when the vet looked at him and he didn't notice anything strange about it. I gave him a bath earlier and he puffed up like he was floating almost but I know they do that when the water is to high but I put just enough to cover his feet. He doesn't walk around on the floor when I let him out like he used to do and just wants to sleep when I put him on his blanket on the bed. I'm going to call the vet tomorrow to see if I can get hi in soon and I know they were talking about doing bloodwork next time to try to get a more clear answer.
Below I attached a video from earlier today and it appears to me that his walking got more wobbly and he starts to move his head around a lot before he tries to walk. It breaks my heart because whenever he realizes he can't walk or his arms get stuck under him he just looks at me like mom help.
****I had to break the video in parts because it wouldn't let me send it all as one video and there is still one part that won't let me send ****

 

[beardie]

****I had to break the video in parts because it wouldn't let me send it all as one video and there is still one part that won't let me send ****

I had changed the setting for maximum video uploads set to 5 MB in size. It looks like you were just over that this time. I've increased the limit back to 10 MB based on this experience. I do need to be cautious on how large of videos we allow, as storage costs can get expensive if uploading videos gets popular, but I'll keep an eye on how it goes. Hopefully the increase will help you and others needing to upload a few seconds of video. It's a shame most iPhones don't seem to support lower resolution video anymore.

 

[Shinryu]

Hi Tracie, sorry for the late reply I have been super busy with work. He started the medications I would say two weeks ago and stopped last Thursday. I didn't notice any improvements, it just stayed the same. Today I noticed he started to put his tongue out and move it to the side, kinda of like he is trying to get something out. I looked in his mouth and nothing looked out of the ordinary. The tip of his tongue is a little bit white but it was like that when the vet looked at him and he didn't notice anything strange about it. I gave him a bath earlier and he puffed up like he was floating almost but I know they do that when the water is to high but I put just enough to cover his feet. He doesn't walk around on the floor when I let him out like he used to do and just wants to sleep when I put him on his blanket on the bed. I'm going to call the vet tomorrow to see if I can get hi in soon and I know they were talking about doing bloodwork next time to try to get a more clear answer.
Below I attached a video from earlier today and it appears to me that his walking got more wobbly and he starts to move his head around a lot before he tries to walk. It breaks my heart because whenever he realizes he can't walk or his arms get stuck under him he just looks at me like mom help.
****I had to break the video in parts because it wouldn't let me send it all as one video and there is still one part that won't let me send ****

@Drache613 any other insights on this situation? @daisythedragon, were you able to find anything new from the vet? I saw someone posted today about a beardie who also sounds like there is some sort of neurological issue. It actually sounds very similar to what you're describing. I wonder what this ultimately ends up being.. assuming the vet can figure it out.