Muscle twitching?

catwu20

Member
Beardie name(s)
Ginger
Left my beardie with my parents for a month. When I got back, she's personally looking pretty unhealthy and disheveled. It's hard for me to explain, but she has an anxious look in her eyes and she's lost weight. Her skin is wrinkly and saggy now. I have no idea what happened, they're still feeding her regularly. Mostly spring mix and bok choy, dusted with calcium every day. 5 live crickets every couple days. Lighting is the same, hot side 37C and cool side 26C. Arcadia 12% over mesh, 10 inches away from basking spot. I can tell she's unhappy, unhealthy and anxious.

What's most concerning is that I've seen her chest and stomach twitch when she's standing upright. It's shaking like a leaf, like a muscle would after a hard workout. I'm worried this is MBD.

Could there be another explanation? Since the summer she has eggs in her belly. The vet told us to just let her absorb them. She had eggs a year ago too, which the vet told us she fully absorbed. Could the shaking be because the new eggs are taking up too much calcium? Interested in hearing what everyone has to say about this. And next steps.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Left my beardie with my parents for a month. When I got back, she's personally looking pretty unhealthy and disheveled. It's hard for me to explain, but she has an anxious look in her eyes and she's lost weight. Her skin is wrinkly and saggy now. I have no idea what happened, they're still feeding her regularly. Mostly spring mix and bok choy, dusted with calcium every day. 5 live crickets every couple days. Lighting is the same, hot side 37C and cool side 26C. Arcadia 12% over mesh, 10 inches away from basking spot. I can tell she's unhappy, unhealthy and anxious.

What's most concerning is that I've seen her chest and stomach twitch when she's standing upright. It's shaking like a leaf, like a muscle would after a hard workout. I'm worried this is MBD.

Could there be another explanation? Since the summer she has eggs in her belly. The vet told us to just let her absorb them. She had eggs a year ago too, which the vet told us she fully absorbed. Could the shaking be because the new eggs are taking up too much calcium? Interested in hearing what everyone has to say about this. And next steps.
Need to flag to AHBD and Tracie
they can help you better than I
@AHBD
@Drache613
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Oh so sorry your girl is having trouble! Always so stressful when things like this happen.
Do you have pictures of her, so we can see her physical condition?
It is highly possible she never absorbed them & perhaps became eggbound. This does
happen fairly often.
The vet did confirm she did absorb the eggs & that there weren't anymore, by viewing an
x-ray to analzye the situation?
She could be having calcium problems if she has been developing eggs. If she hasn't
shelled any then her calcium reserves shouldn't have gone down much but constantly
reabsorbing eggs without laying them can cause potential liver issues. It is a lot of fat &
protein for the body to break down & pass through.
Can you possibly get her to a vet for an x-ray or blood test?
For now, try to get her hydrated as best as you can & keep her around 75-80F overnight
to help boost her immune system.
I view this as an emergency because she is losing weight & her eyes tell you the situation,
readily. Reptiles can crash quickly so it is best to try to get some medical care to see if she
could have peritonitis or some other infection, etc. Hopefully it is nothing serious.
Please let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

xp29

BD.org Addict
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Zen , Ruby ,Snicker Doodles, Sweet Pea, Sinatra
A thought i have is 2 fold
1) like Tracie egg can take calcium out of their system
2) spring mix is largely SPINACH, spinach is a calcium binder (meaning it keeps them from absorbing it in the first place)
Please feed collard, mustard,turnip,kale, dandelion, ect greens.
I would use some sort of fruit juice and water(none citrus) with liquid calcium added in until i knew her levels are good.
Dust her food once per day also, multivitamins 3 times per week.
 

catwu20

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Ginger
Hello,

Oh so sorry your girl is having trouble! Always so stressful when things like this happen.
Do you have pictures of her, so we can see her physical condition?
It is highly possible she never absorbed them & perhaps became eggbound. This does
happen fairly often.
The vet did confirm she did absorb the eggs & that there weren't anymore, by viewing an
x-ray to analzye the situation?
She could be having calcium problems if she has been developing eggs. If she hasn't
shelled any then her calcium reserves shouldn't have gone down much but constantly
reabsorbing eggs without laying them can cause potential liver issues. It is a lot of fat &
protein for the body to break down & pass through.
Can you possibly get her to a vet for an x-ray or blood test?
For now, try to get her hydrated as best as you can & keep her around 75-80F overnight
to help boost her immune system.
I view this as an emergency because she is losing weight & her eyes tell you the situation,
readily. Reptiles can crash quickly so it is best to try to get some medical care to see if she
could have peritonitis or some other infection, etc. Hopefully it is nothing serious.
Please let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
Hi guys, it's been two months. She hasn't shook since, but she still looks disheveled looking and seems underweight. It could be my imagination, but her movements seem a little strained and jerky. She's been in her cave a lot, not pooping and barely eating so I suspect she's undergoing brumination.
As for last summer's eggs, the vet felt her belly and said that she absorbed them based on the reason that her eggs were soft, and if they were last summer's eggs they would've gotten hard. So she must have absorbed last summer's eggs and produced new ones. That's the only explanation.
Is it possible to detect peritonitis, another infection, or MBD/the exact vitamin deficiency based on an x ray or blood test? My parents are reluctant to bring her to the vet again as every single time we have went, they tell us that she's doing fine and to keep an eye on her. Is it possible to feel for myself what stage her eggs are at, and know what to do from there?
I will change the spring mix to collard greens and mustard greens. My girl doesn't like to drink, even through droppers. Is there another way to keep her hydrated? I'm thinking of just misting her greens. Will increase the frequency multivitamins
 

xp29

BD.org Addict
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Zen , Ruby ,Snicker Doodles, Sweet Pea, Sinatra
If she eat greens, misting will work. If not add a little none citrus fruit juice to the water to give it flavor and use the eyedropper. It usually tajes a coulpe minutes for them to get a taste of it but once they do they will lap it up. (I have had 7 beardies and everyone of them would drink that way)
Be sure to use a wet paper towel or wet wash cloth to wipe away any that runs down their chin. You don't want to start a bacterial or fungal colony from the juice in their scales.
 

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