Help!! Beardie's Legs Not Working!!

[JonnySteele]

My year old beardie has been acting weird latley. I noticed that he hasnt been pooping for a few days, or at least i hadnt seen any and now he is getting kinda fat. I noticed him not being able to jump in his cage, seems like he just drags his body, so i took him out today and he can run fine, then he will stop and drag his feet. Sometimes he even shakes his rear end like he is trying to poop.

Ive also seen him slowly lower and raise his leg while in the cage. Today when he tried to jump from his net to bridge, his legs started to shake bad before he jumped, and when he did jump, he couldnt make it. Whats wrong with him? Is he compacted???

Ive only been feeding him large crickets and collard greens for the past few weeks.

Help!!!

 

[quigleysmom]

Yeah sound like impaction and also the beginings of metabolic bone disease. Do you dust his food with calcium and vitamins? Also, are the crickets appripriate size, meaning no larger than the space between his eyes? What substrait is he on? For now you need to get some oil into him asap. If you have applesauce (no sugar, no cinnamon) and mix a few drops of oil (vegetable, flax, or olive oil) into the applesauce and give him some in a syringe. Give him some now. Also if you can go to the store and get prune babyfood and mix the oil into that. Give him some tonight and some in the morning and then you NEED to take him to the vet. If the impaction is causing paralysis with his hind legs and you let it go on very much longer he could lose the ability to use his back legs permanently. He could also die from the impaction. Good luck.

 

[coastergirl946]

Do not feed him anything bigger than the space between his eyes.
If you have him on a loose substrate (any kind of sand, crushed walnut shells, etc), get rid of it now and use paper towels until you are able to buy something like repti-carpet.
Wait to feed him at least 2 hours after you turn his lights on, and don't feed him less than 2 hours before you turn his lights off.. without this rule, he won't be able to bask and properly digest.
What are his temps? The cool side should be at 80 and his basking spot should be around 100-105 (110 if he is a baby).
Nature's Goodness baby food prunes will help him poop, and ease his discomfort. After you feed him the prunes (use a spoon or a plastic syringe), put him in warm water up to his shoulders for 10-15 minutes and gently massage the belly downward.. this should help him go. Then immediately get him to a reptile vet. Go to http://www.herpvetconnection.com for a list of reptile vets in your area.
Dehydration also causes impaction. Are you bathing him a few times a week?

When they are impacted, they are in pain and it hurts them to poop. It can damage their intestines beyond repair and cause them to prolapse (where part of the intestine comes out of the vent).

PLEASE get him to a vet right away. My boyfriend recently lost his beardie due to complications from calcium sand impaction. Don't wait until it's too late.. please follow our advice and save your beardie now before it gets worse.

 

[JonnySteele]

I dust his crickets with calcuim every other day. Im using reptile green carpet and his temps are 100 hot 80 cold. The crickets im givng him are about 4-5 weeks old. My beardie is about a year old and 15-16" in length.

I just gave him a bath in warm water and its when i put him back he started draging his legs.

 

[coastergirl946]

Please get him to a vet immediately. His back legs could suffer permanent paralysis if not treated ASAP, or he could suffer internal damage. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is that he gets medical attention.
We waited until it was too late, and lost our dragon.. he got to the point where he couldn't poop without our help. He eventually ended up dying from choking on his own vomit, because he could no longer digest his food due to irreversible intestinal damage from being impacted.

Are you waiting 2 hours after you turn his lights on to feed him, and waiting at least 2 hours to turn his lights off after his last feeding of the day?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

It sounds like your dragon may have an impaction as well as metabolic bone disease starting.
Are you using a UVB light, & if so, what type & brand are you using? A fluorescent tube bulb or a compact/coil light?
The calcium should be given 3-4 times per week for his age.
Do you have any pictures of your dragon for us?
Is his beard black at all?
What type of thermometer are you using, a stick on type, a digital probe or a temp gun?
If he is impacted that badly, he does need to see a vet. You can try to treat at home, by giving soft food only such as canned pumpkin, squash baby food, sugar free applesauce & a drop or two of olive or mineral oil all mixed together with a plastic dropper. Also, giving warm baths can help too.
You can gently massage him on his tummy on the right side, starting at his arm pit all of the way down to the vent.
Please let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[JonnySteele]

Please get him to a vet immediately. His back legs could suffer permanent paralysis if not treated ASAP, or he could suffer internal damage. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is that he gets medical attention.
We waited until it was too late, and lost our dragon.. he got to the point where he couldn't poop without our help. He eventually ended up dying from choking on his own vomit, because he could no longer digest his food due to irreversible intestinal damage from being impacted.

Are you waiting 2 hours after you turn his lights on to feed him, and waiting at least 2 hours to turn his lights off after his last feeding of the day?

I normally feed him crickets once a day, about 4pm so his lights have been on plenty of time. He is still eating crickets, i didnt give him any today tho. He has fresh greens to eat as well. I have him about a 10 min warm bath tonight and i spray him with water everyday, he loves it. I dont have any money for a vet, im not even sure how much they would charge, i mean, what could they even do?

 

[JonnySteele]

Hello,

It sounds like your dragon may have an impaction as well as metabolic bone disease starting.
Are you using a UVB light, & if so, what type & brand are you using? A fluorescent tube bulb or a compact/coil light?
The calcium should be given 3-4 times per week for his age.
Do you have any pictures of your dragon for us?
Is his beard black at all?
What type of thermometer are you using, a stick on type, a digital probe or a temp gun?
If he is impacted that badly, he does need to see a vet. You can try to treat at home, by giving soft food only such as canned pumpkin, squash baby food, sugar free applesauce & a drop or two of olive or mineral oil all mixed together with a plastic dropper. Also, giving warm baths can help too.
You can gently massage him on his tummy on the right side, starting at his arm pit all of the way down to the vent.
Please let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Yes uvb light, not sure of the brand, its a coil.
i dont have any new new pics of him.
no black beard.
laser gun temp

 

[coastergirl946]

If you can't afford a vet, either look into one that does payment plans,
or keep up the warm baths with the prunes until he poops. Don't feed him any solid foods right now.

Getting a pet is a responsibility; I refuse to get another pet until I save some money back for vet visits.

 

[JonnySteele]

Update!!! Ok, today i noticed when i came home, he was laying at the bottom of his bridge, head down, looked really bad. I gave him a warm bath for about 10 mins, then he started drinking the bath water!!! First time ive ever seen him drink other than spraying him!! He drank a lot, for about 30 seconds.

After that, he started to freak out and flop around in the sink, so i took him out and let him rest on the floor with his heat lamp above him. Then i noticed this....

It looks like his feet are dying?? I thought maybe shedding, but its white underneath, is this normal?? That one legs toes feel really floppy and fragile. So i left him out for a while, then he started to run around, and suprise to me, he can still use his legs while running.

Then he stopped and took the biggest poop ive ever seen!!!! I didnt see any blood or anything, it looked like his normal poop, just much larger!! Consisting of mostly black poop and some sections of white stuff??

What do yall think, now that he has pooped, what should i do to help him recover? Will he be ok? I looked at UV light and its made by Zilla and it says UV9???

Here are some more pics i took today....

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

It looks like his feet may shed soon, they are not dying no.
You will need to get a different type of UVB as the coils are not very good lights & do not emit the proper wavelength of UVB for him especially the Zillas. The better UVB light to get would be the Reptisun 10 fluorescent tube bulb. You can get that from petmountain.com

How is he doing today, after going to the bathroom?

Tracie

 

[JonnySteele]

Update!! He doesnt seem to be in as much pain and his legs are working some now. He ran across the floor and seemed fine. I tried to give him a bath, but ever since last time, he freaks out!! I hadnt given him any crickets when he was compacted, and since he pooped, he still hasnt even eatin, its been about 9 days since he has eatin crickets. Doest seem to be eating his greens either.

What should i do?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is great news then, he is doing much better now!
Did he shed his feet also?
So he is not impacted now, that you can tell? I would try to give him some baby food to help him out. I am happy to hear that his back legs are working properly now, that is great news!

Tracie

 

[JonnySteele]

Well he seems to be doing much better. He is running around again and eating and pooping. He did shed his leg, but now its a different color. My beadie is a red/orange/brown color and the little tiny section he shedded on his leg his totally white!! Is this normal?