Calcium deficiency

[isabelleandpaul]

Hello, I want to offer some information I received yesterday about calcium deficiency.
The story: I have a baby named Darigaaz for two weeks (don't know age, probably now around 1 month). He (or she) does not eat, sleeps most of the time, does not move. His tankmate does really well, Dari was the "big" one on the first day but is quickly surpassed by the healthy Balrog, who gains weight and sheds often. We have all the stuff for the tank, but yes we have a coil Repti-Glo 10.0. After a phone call to a vet (she said she is not specialized in reptiles) we start force-feeding baby food and crickets, give many baths a day. She suspected parasites. Darigaaz was not doing well, he was still lethargic, and seemed disoriented, and lost weight. We suspected problems with our UVB, so we shut it off. No much change. When the "exotic pets" vet came back from vacation, I went to see her and she told me he had severe calcium deficiency. Barely no muscle tone left, anorexia, seizures... all these symptoms were explained by calcium deficiency. She said he badly needed UVB for his body to be able to use the calcium supplements we already give him.

I asked her about the Repti-Glo issue. She said that since the study on health and eyes problems with Repti-Glo in 2006, the company changed all their Repti-Glo bulbs (coils and tubes). There was no study on the updated version, but she and fellow vets had good results with them.

So we modified our viv to install an "intensive care unit" for Dari, that stays at 35degrees Celsius (sorry, don't know the conversion) day and night, and 6 in under our Repti-Glo coil. The other dragon does not have access to that section. We give him warm-almost-hot bath twice with 5 min abdominal massage.

The next day (today), he ate two mealworms by himself (yes, the vet said they're as good as crickets but fatter, which is good for a bone and skin dragon), fed him baby food (not force feed), keeps his head up, tried to jump out of bath, ie more active.

I ordered a REpti-sun anyway before seeing the vet when we suspected UVB problems and I should get it tomorrow. I will probably install both Repti-sun and Repti-Glo on my viv to get max UVB.

So yesterday Dari had a 25-30% chance of survival, and today we already see improvements. I can just recommend to anyone with dragons that do not eat to PROVIDE MORE UVB! Any kind, just get the dragons within 12 inches of UVB! I really hope to save our baby, at least we gave him everything we can.

I will keep you updated.
Isabelle

 

[AMHaak]

I really hope that everything works out for you!!!! Yes, beardies need UVB, it is very good for them. Keep us posted about how she is doing. Good luck!

 

[mpinsky]

While it is good for them to have UVB, especially in this case, I think the Repti-glo is going to do more harm than good. Once he is strong enough, you can take him outside into real sunlight, which is definitely better than the synthetic UVB's we use in their cages.

 

[isabelleandpaul]

thanks for the reply. I wanted to ask a few questions about going outside with my dragons: I live in an area in Canada which is kind of on the chilly side, and not much sun lately. Is it ok to bring desert-dwelling reptiles in 15 degrees C weather (59F)? Is it true that even when it is overcast, UVB still gets through the clouds?
I know I can forget bringing them outside after say september-october as UV decreases a lot.

I don't want to freeze my guys!

 

[mpinsky]

No, if it is definitely that cold out, do not bring your beardie outside. They will chill very quickly. I thought you lived somewhere a little warmer. I really don't bring my beardie out unless it is 78 F or higher. Anyways, if you have at least a 45 gal breeder, you can use a mercury vapor bulb. They're expensive, but you will no longer need the ReptiSUN. Granted, you'll have to use the calicum without the vitamin D3 supplement, but many people swear by them, and they're the closest thing you can get to the sun when living in a colder climate.

 

[isabelleandpaul]

Update on Darigaaz,
his recovery was quicker than Ì expected! This morning he had 15 crickets (small) and some dandelion. He runs around, and visibly gains weight. Thanks for all the info on this website! :study:
I will post pictures soon.

 

[isabelleandpaul]

Dear BD friends,
I am pleased to tell you that Darigaaz is now healed from hypocalcemia. I went to the vet today, and she confirmed that he regained muscle, bones are no longer flexible and brittle, and he even put on some fat. He almost doubled his weight, going from 8 g two weeks ago to 15 g today! He now hunts and eats by himself in his viv 15 to 20 crickets twice a day (1/4 in) and some leaves (dandelion). I would like to share our success with people struggling with low calcium or mbd.

We had to bring the heat up in his enclosure, and get him between 6 and 12 inches of his UVB, which we changed to Repti-sun 10, that probably helped. What we did is to attach a plastic container near the top of the viv, as shown here:

The next day, he was already feeling a little better. He was able to lick the puree without having to pull on his beard. Because of the force feeding, he got injuries on his mouth and beard, which are healing really well. The next picture shows the scar that developed on his beard, it fell off yesterday:

At the end of the first week in his container day and night (we used a ceramic heater for the night, we got rid of the red light quickly), he was able to climb out. Oh, and we did give him baths twice a day plus abdominal massage. The second week he started eating crickets in his container, we supplemented with puree. By the way, our puree (squash and chicken) was full of calcium and Repti-vite.
Now he has recovered from a very bad hypocalcemia in a short time, he shed last week but there may be some retained shed that we have to watch for. Otherwise, we now have a healthy baby!

More pictures:

So keep hope if your dealing with a sick one, he may well recover. Good luck.
Isabelle

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Great job, I am happy your boy is recovering from Metabolic Bone Disease. I am glad that you went ahead & bought the Reptisun 10 tube bulb anyway. Unfortunately, the Reptiglo 10 tube bulb has still not made the necessary improvements as of yet. I have heard that they are "working on it" but I have not seen any testing done on the newer models so I will not recommend them until I do.
A good distance for your Reptisun 10 tube bulb is 6-8 inches from your dragon for maximal exposure.
Thank you for sharing your story with us.

Tracie

 

[spyder79]

Just to give you a heads up. If you have your beardie in a appropriately sized tank (40gallon breeder or larger) a good Mercury Vapor Bulb is the best source of UV. Something like a TRex MVB has some of the best UV output in the pet industry.