Help if you can, out of ideas

[PaulJaclyns]

Hey were new to the forum and we are experiencing a problem with our beardie. He is approx 7" and named Loki. He has had a great appetite eating and has been pooing normally. We have done lots of research on what could possibly be the problem but have not come up with any possible answers thus far. Here is his enclosure,eating, and heating specifics:

• 4' x 2'x 2' enclosure/vented with plexi glass fronting
  his basking area is 95-105 degrees in temp-zoo med basking light
  he has a zoo med repti sun 10.0 uva/uvb bulb for the rest of the tank
  the average humidity in his tank is approx 45-50
  he has a mixture of substrate/a 1/4 of the tank under the basking light is vita sand, the other 3/4 we recently changed to fake grass
  we feed him on the grass area so that there is no possibility of impaction from him eating too much sand
  the cool side of his tank is approx 80 degrees
  there is no night light/his tank stays above 72
  he eats 1/4 inch crickets dusted with calcium with d3 5 times a week and vitamins twice weekly once a day
  he eats 30-50 crickets split between 2-3 feeds a day
  the crickets are only dusted once daily
  we offer fresh fruits and veggies daily
  we gut load the crickets
  change his water daily
  and take him out in the natural sun light up to 5 times a week anywhere between 15-30 mins

We are going to try and post a video of how he walks if possible. We have only had him approx 2 months and he has grown almost 4 inches during that time and has kept is appetite and keeps growing.He has always had weird movement with his hind legs he will stand on them and bend them but when walking/running he keeps them at full extension and they are stiff and with no knee bending.
If you have any suggestions on what this could be, please let us know. We have a vet appointment this coming week, hopefully we find out something soon.

 

[beardieman198]

Is the uvb mounted inside the tank? When mine was about 2 months old she had mbd because of bad uvb. I got a reptisun 10.0 and mounted it in the tank and it worked wonders.

 

[Esther19]

I agree. The UVB should be mounted inside the tank. Any plastic cover over the bulb should be removed. There should be nothing between the bulb and your beardie.

 

[PaulJaclyns]

The UVB bulb is mounted inside the enclosure approximately 15 inches from the bulb to the bottom of the tank.

 

[munchkins9802]

Even though you don't feed Loki on the sand, you really should remove it because beardies love to taste their environment, so there is still an impaction risk.

Your humidity at 45-50% is really too high it should be no higher than 40% , I believe 30-35% is ideal
I am glad you have the repti SUN bulb
Now onto temperatures--how are they measured and you said the cool side was 80 degrees, how about the hot side AND the BASKING SPOT temperature? How close to the bulb can he get and how old is the bulb.

My other concern is that he is only 7" long after having him for 2 months. Did you get him shortly after he was born, or how old (approximately) was he when you got him

 

[PaulJaclyns]

Loki was only about 3 inches when we got him the uvb bulb is bout 2 weeks old. The Hot side Is between 95 and 105 measured with a infrared therm. H has a Basking spot on both sides and the temps are at the basking spots. How would I lower the Humidity??

 

[munchkins9802]

is there a water dish in there? If so take it out.
he was 3 " when you got him, means he might have been 3 weeks old at most, 7" is more like a 6-8 week old dragon . Hopefully the mods can help better. I will relook at your original post after work adn see if there is anything else I think. but ditch the sand, he is too little to have it. (really not hygenic for ANY beardie)

 

[tanya1974]

Is is a bit wobbly or twitching slightly, I thought I had everything right in my viv and learned my lil girl bloods were low.I had to change my strip light to make them full length of the tank. Its up to you but I was told to get her bloods done which I am glad I did .it will tell you alot so its up to you hun but I would take him to the vets, I all ways say better to be safe than sorry.I would take a sample of him pooh in as well.
Defo take the sand out as well, I have never used it on any of my pets,including geckos and indonesia filled dragons.I learned that all to well from this site. Its alot cleaner as well it means you can remove food stuff and poohs asap.

Good luck hun I hope you manage to sort him out xx

 

[tanya1974]

Also if you take the water bowl out hun then make sure you bath him every day or every sec
ond day.

 

[PaulJaclyns]

Our Daughter gives him a bath everyday we let her which is every other day if not everyday for bout 15 to 20 minutes.

 

[PaulJaclyns]

His legs arent wobly or twitching it is like they are stiff

 

[munchkins9802]

that sounds more like an impaction --even if minor but hopefully mods will be on soon.

 

[PaulJaclyns]

He poops very regularly and they are good sized too. He has walked kinda funny like this since we got him from petsmart.

 

[tanya1974]

That awfully sounds like my girl.she still acts a little bit drunk (wobbly) but her twitching has sto pped since vet visit and bulb change x

 

[PaulJaclyns]

Took Loki to the vet today and we were told it is either a genetic problem or a neurological problems from injuries before we got him. So we have a special dragon. We still love him and plan to keep him unless he gets worse. But the vet said there is nothing they can do for him.