Bearded Dragon Acting Lethargic

[Tili3115]

Today I noticed my beaded dragon, Hadron, acting lethargic and unwilling to eat. He also has a swollen joint on the middle toe of his right front leg. Yesterday, we took him to the vet for his third deworming and I had noticed the swollen toe then but the vet wasn't able to see us because he had back to back appointments. I scheduled an appointment for him this Thursday but I was hoping someone could help me out before then.

I'm not sure what could be the cause of his lethargy since it could be a reaction to the deworming, his swollen toe (it seems to be a little more sensitive today), finishing up a shed, or even the weird weather lately. I'm also concerned about potential dehydration due to the excessively warm weather in Southern California lately. I have already started soaking him in diluted pedialyte so he can drink it but he doesn't seem to drink much more than usual (drinking for 5-10 seconds, once or twice). It is also quite humid about 50% inside his tank so could that be a contributing factor?

Hadron is about 8 months old and weighs more than 200g (I have to recheck but I believe it's around 230-280g). He lives in a ~45 gallon glass terrarium on play sand (I do not feed in the tank, his veggies and water bowl are on a piece of reptile carpet). The warm side averages 86 degrees Fahrenheit with a 50 watt basking spot between 100-110 degrees measured with an infrared thermometer. The cool side is about 82 degrees. Night time temperatures have been warmer lately around 79-81 degrees. His UVB light is a 26watt Desert 10.0 bulb located 6-8 in from his basking spot and was last replaced on July 15, 2015.

Now my questions: Is there anything I can or should do to reduce the swelling on his toe? Could his lethargy be a result of a combination of these factors or something else? I'm concerned he might be in the beginning stages of MBD or another vitamin defficiency since he seems a bit wobbly/jerky and the vet had me reduce his calcium intake. (I use rep-cal and herptivite with beta-carotene)

 

[CooperDragon]

The swelling in his toe looks like a possible injury - like he may have caught his nail in something and pulled it out of whack a bit. I would first try feeding him some silk worms (or use a serrapeptase supplement) to help reduce the swelling. If that doesn't help, you could also try using some black cherry extract in case it's a systemic issue like gout (it looks more like an injury to me though).

The lethargy may be due to any of the things you mentioned. One thing that stands out to me is the 26w UVB bulb. That's a compact fluorescent, correct? I suggest replacing it with a tube style UVB light because they produce a more even distribution of UVB across the basking area instead of the intense cone of UVB that the compacts produce. The wider spread makes it easier for dragons to expose their whole body relatively evenly. Probably not an urgent matter, but something to consider as a possibility. A T5 ReptiSun 10.0 tube/fixture would work well in a tank that size. I'd choose one that is about 1/2 the length of the tank and put it on the same side as the basking bulb.