Bearded Dragon Head & Leg Tremor Solution

[Sarthon]

Hello,

I wanted to make this post for information / education reasons . I could not find a solution / answer online to my situation with my Beardie , and therefore I thought making a forum to help others of my experience would be good !

My bearded dragon , Jack (female , 22 inches , 700 grams , 8 years old, leatherback) was experiencing head tremors and a leg tremor .

I was doing research online prior to taking her to the vet because from what I had read - it was diet/ nutrition or calcium related. I was dumbfounded because I was fairly certain she did not have mbd. She has a tube uvb bulb Arcadia (best you can get from Germany ) - I’ve tested her uvb output and she has a perfect gradient across her tank etc :

However I resulted to giving her more calcium / vitamins to her diet to try and improve her condition. It did not get better .

After 3 months of this- and noticing it progressed and become slowly worse ; I took her to her vet. She had already gotten a vet check up for the year, but of course I took her back because of her condition. The vet had no idea because she was in good health mostly other than being underweight . I know 700 grams is not underweight but her fat pads and tail fat were heavily sunken in. She’s a big boned Beardie .

I requested he get blood work from her . Additionally , a fecal was done since she pooped at the vet (I was going to drop poop off later if she went at home, but luckily she went there )

Fecal came back with parasites and so of course she was treated for that (probably reason for weight loss , and she had recently woken from brumation)

The blood results came back and said everything looked good other than her calcium being VERY high.

For 4 months I did not give her calcium supplement and her head tremors have gone away completely . They were so concerning and scary before ! Additionally - her back leg tremor has gotten so much better and rarely now tremors.

I am currently only giving calcium once a week until I can get another blood work done to check her levels .

Please take note that too much calcium can cause these tremors. Online info jumps to mbd but if you know that isn’t it - adding more calcium to your beardies diet will make it worse.

I truly think this may have effected her nervous system.

I am so blessed she’s now back to normal - I will be keeping an eye on her closely .

I hope this helps people who may be experiencing something similar.

-Kelsey

 

[xp29]

Thank you for the write up, we see the question about tremors alot here.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi Kelsey,

Thanks for sharing your experience and it's great to hear that the tremors have stopped for your beardie

Please take note that too much calcium can cause these tremors. Online info jumps to mbd but if you know that isn’t it - adding more calcium to your beardies diet will make it worse.

Absolutely! It's a common theme in this hobby that more of a good thing = better, when it's usually the opposite (more dubias, more UV, more supplements, ETC.) It's something I've been trying to preach for awhile so it's nice to have you come in with your own personal experiences too.

Watching the urates is a good way to at home check for over supplementation. Once the urate becomes hard and chalky or discolored, it's usually a sign that the body is struggling with too much of something, and it's time to cut back.

Would you mind posting your full blood test results just so we could all see them? Or if you'd rather, can you private message me the results?

-Brandon

 

[Claudiusx]

Thread "Stickied" by Moderator

 

[Sarthon]

Here is her blood work! This may help others . As you can see her calcium was way too high!!

 

[Sarthon]

Hi Kelsey,

Thanks for sharing your experience and it's great to hear that the tremors have stopped for your beardie



Absolutely! It's a common theme in this hobby that more of a good thing = better, when it's usually the opposite (more dubias, more UV, more supplements, ETC.) It's something I've been trying to preach for awhile so it's nice to have you come in with your own personal experiences too.

Watching the urates is a good way to at home check for over supplementation. Once the urate becomes hard and chalky or discolored, it's usually a sign that the body is struggling with too much of something, and it's time to cut back.

Would you mind posting your full blood test results just so we could all see them? Or if you'd rather, can you private message me the results?

-Brandon

Hi Brandon, I posted them on the forum as a reply but I’ll pm you too

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Definitely a great post, thank you! We all love articles & experiences with reptile keeping so we
can all learn. Thanks for sending me the blood test copy too. Her calcium was definitely high!
Hopefully her levels will stay normalized but it sounds like she is doing great@

Tracie

 

[Mei_Eldridge]

Hello,

I wanted to make this post for information / education reasons . I could not find a solution / answer online to my situation with my Beardie , and therefore I thought making a forum to help others of my experience would be good !

My bearded dragon , Jack (female , 22 inches , 700 grams , 8 years old, leatherback) was experiencing head tremors and a leg tremor .

I was doing research online prior to taking her to the vet because from what I had read - it was diet/ nutrition or calcium related. I was dumbfounded because I was fairly certain she did not have mbd. She has a tube uvb bulb Arcadia (best you can get from Germany ) - I’ve tested her uvb output and she has a perfect gradient across her tank etc :

However I resulted to giving her more calcium / vitamins to her diet to try and improve her condition. It did not get better .

After 3 months of this- and noticing it progressed and become slowly worse ; I took her to her vet. She had already gotten a vet check up for the year, but of course I took her back because of her condition. The vet had no idea because she was in good health mostly other than being underweight . I know 700 grams is not underweight but her fat pads and tail fat were heavily sunken in. She’s a big boned Beardie .

I requested he get blood work from her . Additionally , a fecal was done since she pooped at the vet (I was going to drop poop off later if she went at home, but luckily she went there )

Fecal came back with parasites and so of course she was treated for that (probably reason for weight loss , and she had recently woken from brumation)

The blood results came back and said everything looked good other than her calcium being VERY high.

For 4 months I did not give her calcium supplement and her head tremors have gone away completely . They were so concerning and scary before ! Additionally - her back leg tremor has gotten so much better and rarely now tremors.

I am currently only giving calcium once a week until I can get another blood work done to check her levels .

Please take note that too much calcium can cause these tremors. Online info jumps to mbd but if you know that isn’t it - adding more calcium to your beardies diet will make it worse.

I truly think this may have effected her nervous system.

I am so blessed she’s now back to normal - I will be keeping an eye on her closely .

I hope this helps people who may be experiencing something similar.

-Kelsey
This is the experience through which we develop. Sometimes it is really difficult to find an answer to a question, I remember how I wrote a dissertation on a similar topic and did not know where to look for help. Then a friend recommended me https://essays.edubirdie.com/dissertation-writing-service and it was a real find. Real professionals work there, who quickly and efficiently provided me with help. I was completely satisfied and received the highest score.

This is a really useful post that opens the eyes to problems and provides solutions. Thank you!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

So sorry that your dragon did not improve. Is she still with you?
Sometimes the condition is too far advanced & improvement is only slight if at all.

Tracie