Adopted a neglected beardie, need help!

[destiny1998]

Hi. Poor thing . She definitely has mbd and unfortunately its not reverseable. Just make sure she doesn't have anything to climb on and fall of as her bones are brittle and can break very easily.

 

[MichelleMyBelle]

I was pretty sure she did, but it breaks my heart I just hope once she has more meat on her bones that she will be able to walk a little better. Do you know if they feel a lot of pain with MBD? Thats my biggest concern, I don't want her suffering on a daily basis!

I have rigged up a ramp to her basking spot, but I think I want to make everything a little more fluffy in there, in case she is clumsy getting down or up. Throw a small blanket or some small towels in the area to be safe. Seriously tho, my poor girl

 

[AHBD]

It is really nice that you took this poor little skinny thing ! You're doing a great job so far ! Good that she drank, but don't add too much Pedialyte....it's made for humans so too much may not be good. Keep up the baby food, and you can give her a few crickets a day....good to hear that she's interested in them. Her poo is actually not bad at all considering. If you can get her in the sun on a warm day [ in the grass since she can't escape ] the UVB will do her good. Just keep her in an area that is quiet + without lots of activity so she doesn't get scared. She does have MBD, the tail is not going to be painful, and the arm may or may not cause pain, but thankfully the other limbs aren't really deformed and she can still possibly live a relatively comfortable life even without full mobility.

 

[MichelleMyBelle]

I just can't understand how someone could neglect a living thing so much! I'm trying to do the best I can, but it seriously hurts my heart, sometimes I feel like its breaking (maybe a touch dramatic haha, but not much, I've cried about it a couple times!). Do you know roughly how much pedialyte I should do? I took it very conservative last night, the last thing I want to do is make her worse, but having a rough idea would help ease my mind a bit. I'm definitely going to try for more crickets tonight, maybe just a couple, and dust them with calcium. I'm thinking of taking a lunch break once my boss gets back, run home for a bit and try to get her some sun. Check on the thermometers, see how the temp is coming along. I really really hope so, that's all I want. I want her to feel safe and happy for the rest of her life, however long that may be. I feel like every living creature deserves at least that much. And I'll do absolutely everything I can to make it happen! I really really appreciate all the support I've been given here the last couple days It's helped make our journey a little less scary!

 

[AHBD]

Don't worry, you won't make her worse....I just meant not to give her syringe fulls of Pedialyte, but a few capfuls or tablespoons in her bath water is fine if she's drinking in the bath. She may drink one day and then not for a few days after. And yes, you can add calcium powder to the baby food as well as a bit coating the crickets. And you can give her about 2 crickets at a time but not more than that for the first week or 2 to be sure she can digest them and her kidneys can handle the protein. You have a good UVB bulb, so if you can't get her in the sun until the weekend she's still getting uvb from her bulb which will help her. Hopefully she'll just keep improving.

 

[SDragon]

Whilst the signs there do look like MBD it appears as if could be a lot worse. You can do a lot to prevent it getting worse and the bones can strengthen (although the deformity will likely remain). How is her movement in general? I don't think things look too bleak and with the right treatment I think she could have a good quality of life.

I agree make sure she can't fall whilst she is in a weakened state. A large gently sloping stone would be good for a basking area. How are you measuring your temps? An 18" bulb isn't a problem, position near hear basking site with a reflector if you can get one. This will a actually allow her to regulate he uv intake to some extent. Be sure to check the manufacturers guidelines on positioning.

Definitely add the calcium to the baby food, crickets actually have a negative calciumhosphorus ratio so it is important to do that. Is it pure calcium or with added D3? Although D3 is the critical component in lizards metabolising calcium, when it is ingested (as opposed to synthesised via uvb) it can cause problems. So you want to ensure you don't over do it.

If you have a blender you could make your own food combining various nutritious foods to help her recovery (squash, collard greens etc), alongside a gentle reintroduction to live food. Calciworms would be worth a try as they have a positive Ca ratio and come gutloaded, when she has become accustomed to more protein, silkworms migh also be good for her. Also if she is eating food, even in small amounts I wouldn't be as worried about needing to provide additional electrolytes via pedialyte.

Are you able to take her to a good lizard vet (not sure if your family are in a position to pitch in to try and help put this right? Although it would cost, they could assess how far the MBD has developed and potenitally adminsiter stronger calcium either orally or i.v if they think it worthwhile. Also depending on your climate, if you can get her outside for natural UVB that will make a huge difference.

Edit: I wonder if a mod can merge the two threads you have.

 

[CooperDragon]

The 18'' is OK it just has a weak output. You'll want to mount it on the warm side about 6'' above the basking spot to provide optimum output. Any outside time you can provide is beneficial but the UVB tube should be sufficient for now. When you have a chance to upgrade I suggest going with a T5 that can be mounted on top of the tank at 12'-14'' but that can be done down the road. If you're concerned about calcium in the diet and she's enjoying the baby food you can create your own baby food that has greens with higher calcium content. I used to blend up collard greens in water along with various veges like squash and then strain it until it was baby food consistency and syringe feed the mixture for a pretty balanced diet.

 

[MichelleMyBelle]

She moves around very minimally. When she does, she kinda scoots around, pretty slow and sluggish. When she was excited for the cricket this morning, she was very animated, and the movement didn't seem hard or painful for her, so that makes me feel a little better.

Right now I built her a ramp to her log that she usually hangs out on, but I like the idea of the stone ramp more, so I'll readjust everything when I get home. I'm thinking of throwing some small hand towels in there, at the base of the ramp, just in case she has a small tumble down it. I'd rather be extra cautious than not cautious enough. I just set up the thermometers last night, I wasn't able to get the UVB bulb until then, as I've only had her for under 48 hours. But since I set it all up late, I didn't get too good of an idea of how it was going to be, so I'll have to wait until tonight to see if my temp is right. Hopefully it's at least close, but I figure I'll have to play with it a little. The reflector is a good idea, do you have a suggestion of where I could try to get one? It's pure calcium, no D3. I've read that that can be bad, so I tried to steer away from it.

I put those 2 types of worms in my notes, I'll make sure I keep my eye out for calciworms next time I go shopping. I'm definitely going to make sure to get her the calcium in the babyfood for now. I love the thought of making the smoothies, unfortunately time is the biggest problem I don't usually get off until decently late, so I am trying to get her food asap so that she can have some bask time before bed to start to digest.

I'd love to take her to the vet, I think spending the money would be worth it to make sure she is ok. I wouldn't even try to get my family to help. Honestly, I'm not even sure it's a good idea to talk to them anytime soon. I'm feeling pretty angry and resentful towards them that they would do this to her and sleep well at night despite it, and I'm not sure I could keep that in check while talking to them. Especially after I'm done feeding her, and having my heart ache with how weak she is. Unfortunately, time is again the factor here. I wouldn't be able to do it until next week, and that's if I'm lucky. So my fingers are crossed that for now, I'll be able to do enough on my own that she will start to get better.

I have been waiting for good weather to get her outside, but every time I'm home, it's either too late or rainy. Thursday I have a little bit of a later work day, so I'm hoping the weather will cooperate so I can take her out that morning.

How could I go about trying to get my threads merged? I'm still kinda clueless when it comes to this site haha.

I really appreciate everyone sharing their knowledge and kind words with me, it's definitely been a huge help getting us both through this!

 

[Drache613]

Moved & Merged by Moderator from General to ER to keep all information together.

 

[MichelleMyBelle]

Last night she didn't eat as much as the night before, and refused to drink. But her energy level was a lot better, she was scooting around quite a bit when I was trying to get her to eat. Probably trying to get me to leave her alone haha! And I realized the calcium supplement I have DOES have D3 in it, dang it. I swore it didn't, I checked a few separate times. So I'll have to run to the store tonight to get something better.

The temp in her tank only got up to 82 yesterday, another bummer. I added another light, so I'll have to see how that does.

After feeding her last night, I held onto her while I rearranged her tank, moved her basking spot a little lower so she can't accidentally take a tumble off of it and hurt herself. And she fell asleep on me too cute. Once it was done, I put her in her usual spot, and she decided to explore a little, even climbed on another rock all by herself! Progress!

This morning I fed her a couple teeny crickets. I dropped one in front of her, and she went for it immediately. I've never seen her so interested in food, so another good sign. I also got her to drink quite a bit this morning, so today is off to a good note! Tonight I'll give her some calcium stuffed baby food, should be a well balanced meal day. I feel like her belly is starting to fill in a bit, doesn't look quite as thin. And she's definitely starting to get some of her spirit back

 

[AHBD]

Sounds like things are going pretty well ! So nice that she has a real interest in insects, so you can let her have at least 6-8 small crickets at a time twice a day since they will be very easy to digest. The large crix are much tougher, so little crix are fine. And you can still use the calcium with D3, that is the recommended type if you don't have a mercury vapor bulb [ which produces D3 ] or if she's not in the sun. But it's good to have both types, one with D3 and one without to switch weekly.

 

[MichelleMyBelle]

That's good to know about the D3, I was thinking of throwing it out, but I'll hold onto it. I was able to run home for a minute, check on her temps and take her out in the sun for 10 minutes or so. The warm side is still only at 88, not sure exactly what the problem is. Maybe the bulbs? I'd think that 2 lights, not including the UVB, would be plenty. Any suggestions on what type of bulbs I should get? They have the basking bulbs at the pet shop, but they are like 15 bucks a pop. I had read that you can use regular household bulbs instead. Just not the soft white ones. So that's what I currently have in there, a higher wattage. But they don't seem to be doing the trick. Kinda stumped haha.

 

[CooperDragon]

You can use indoor flood light bulbs for basking lights. They're a bit cheaper than the reptile specific bulbs. You may need to play around with the height and the wattages a bit until you get the right temps but it should do the trick. Something along the lines of this http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-125-Watt-Incandescent-BR40-Heat-Clear-Light-Bulb-416750/202768516 You'll just want to double check to ensure your fixture is rated to handle the wattage of bulb you choose.

 

[MichelleMyBelle]

If I got that same bulb with slightly less wattage, say 100, would it still do the trick? I just checked the specs on my fixture, it's good up to 100 watts

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah that should work but you may need to play around with the height a bit. It's hard to say what wattage you'll need without just firing it up and testing it out. 100w is pretty common for a basking light. Most of the bulbs have a return window so you can try one out and if it isn't working then you can swap it for a different wattage until you've found one that works.