bearded dragon paralyzed, will she grow out off it

[macben]

hi, i have 2 bearded dragons. i've had them from babies and they are the same age. my male dragon has no problems at all. Its my little lady (called that due to being a lot smaller then the male) our problem is that our little lady seems to drag herself about and does not seem to be able to stand up and walk about like the male. we noticed this problem early on so we split the dragons into 2 seperate vivs. both have the same sort off set up and eat the same food, covered in calcium and also new (2 months old) uvb lights. so i don't think its anything to do with where she lives. she also keeps falling on her back (at least 3 times a day, sometimes more) what i can tell its more her back thats the problem as her back legs do move but she seems to drag herself as though she carnt pick her body up. when we got them she only had half a tail as another baby dragon nicked her tail. is there anything i can do or would she need going to a vet as to be honest i think its her back thats deformed and not sure if it will right its self as she grows. I'm slightly worried that shes only going to suffer the older she gets if she keeps dragging herself around. I'm 100% sure its not her living condition or her food as the male has no problems at all. they are both 5 months old. Any help would be fantastic if we can self help, as our nearest reptile vet is over 30 miles away from us. thanks x

 

[kFitz]

I know you say it's not the living conditions, but what kind of UVB light do you have? You say she flips over? Is this by falling off of something, or just on her own on the ground? It could be severe MBD or it could be nerve damage possibly caused by another beardied dragon when living together, whether it be your male or it's previous cage mates. I would try taking her outside to get some natural sunlight for a half hour or so each day.

Just because she's smaller doesn't mean it's a "she." The paralysis would most likely cause the stunted growth too. Unfortunately, it's not something she's likely to grow out of. Does she eat well? What kind of feeders are you giving them? Since she's so small, you might look into a high quality feeder such as silkworms or phoenix worms if you're not already feeding them. The good feeders might help her grow faster since they can use almost all of the feeder instead of having to work to digest the exterior of crickets or bugs with an exoskeleton. Do you have any pictures of your dragons and their tanks?

 

[macben]

not sure if iv'e put the pictures on right. but the 2 of rosie is how she is all the time, she never stands up and walks like jim does. he's sulking at the minute due to him shedding but he's perfectly ok, walks round and everything. we moved most off rosies thing out as we;re worried she's going to cause her self more damage with the things in.
their uvb lights are 10.0 w and their temp is normally above 100. they both have the same food which is veg, crickets and meal worms, although i'm going to try get some of those phoenix worms you mentioned. all the crickets and worms are covered in calcium before putting in for them.
she can fall over anytime, but it seems more when shes climbing up, its like she carnt turn round and it makes her go on her back and she carnt get back over. even when she goes to her feeding bowl, she can flip over then, and we bought a very low bowl to see if that helps. she eats the worms and veg fine, but she seems to have trouble catching the crickets, although she must get them as they do disapear. she doesn't have a problem pooing and appart from her back she seems active, as best she can. As we have 2 we can see the difference in how they both are. we're just wondering if she's suffering or is going to suffer as she gets older.
we know she is a she and he's a he as we bought them from a friend who breeds them and sell them at pet shops, so they do know their stuff. They advised us how to set the tanks up and what to do with them. we just wonder whats going to be the best for her. thanks again for your reply

 

[kFitz]

I can't see the pictures. I would ditch the mealworms. They have a very high chiton to protein ratio, meaning the outer shell is very thick, which can lead to impaction and isn't as nutritious as other feeders. You can try to pull the back legs off the crickets or toss the crickets in the freezer for a few minutes before feeding them to your girl so they'll be easier to catch. When they'll that small, it's near impossible to guess the gender as there are no outward clues, but who knows. I would take all of her climbing stuff out, take her outside for 30minutes to an hour a day, keep dusting all of her food with the calcium and D3 or the vitamins, and most importantly, get her to the vet. They'll be able to do an x-ray or examine her and hopefully be able to tell you what's wrong with her. The fact that she flips over so easily is very worrisome. They can't breathe properly when they're upside down. If you're not there to flip her right away, she could suffer for quite a while or worse. If your friend who breeds is local, and him what vet he goes to and take her there asap.

To post pics, make a photobucket account and just copy the IMG code and paste it into the text here.

 

[macben]

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151085761860889.430746.614700888&type=3
if you follow the link above the pictures are there (if it lets me show the link) or copy and past it in the address bar

Thanks so much for the advice. i had read that meal worms were not that good for them due to the hard back. i'm deff trying her on the phoenix or silk worms though, thanks for that. I think i deff need to take her to vet now i know chances are she (if she is a she lol ) wont grow out off it. she doesnt have hardly anything in her tank now as we did move it all out to see if that helps. yes we are worried she's going to go on her back on a night when were not there, again i read about it being dangerous but so far she doesnt seem to have done it. i'm hoping she sleeps all night so doesn't wander. our friend lives quite far away and comes on weekends, so chances are there vet is where they live. we got in touch with rspca and it was them who told us the nearest reptile vet was so far away. i think i'm going to ring round some vets and just see if they can have a look at her. Thanks so much again

 

[kFitz]

sounds like you're doing everything that you can. Unfortunately, sometimes freak accidents happen. If you have a local reptile specialty store, I'd give them a call and ask for a good vet. That's what I did and they told me about a vet that I hadn't come across online. Hopefully there will be one nearby. Please keep me updated on her. If you don't mind having bugs in your house, dubia roaches as another good feeder. While your dragons are little, they should just be fed the nymphs, but they are a great staple too. A lot of people breed them. The only other thing I would suggest is if you feed them in their cages, take out the sand and keep them on tile, shelf liner, or repticarpet. The sand can cause impaction issues just like the mealworms. Good luck!

 

[macben]

thanks again. i'll keep you updated on how she's getting along.

 

[macben]

hi, just to let you know we lost our little rosie today rather sad but at least we can say and know we did our best for her. she was put to sleep by the vet. her spine had moved all the way to the side and she was constantly flipping over. So it was the best thing for her. thanks again for the advice you gave, it really helped. On a good note, our jim is still going strong and is fabulous. So we know for sure we couldnt have done anything about rosie and it was just one of those thing. thanks

 

[kFitz]

I'm so sorry to hear about Rosie. I know you did everything in your power to help her. I'm glad she was able to move on painlessly via the vet. Like you said, sometimes these things just happen for no reason. It's good to hear your other guy is going strong!