HELP!! rescued 2 baby bro's with Ca deficiency.

[wildlife]

Thank you for taking the time to read this!
I am an experienced owner of a 2 yr old frilled dragon (rescued from an evil pet store) and a rescued 2-3yr old beardie and just rescued (last week) 2 brothers (6 1/2" from nose to cloaca opening) approx 1/2 yrs. old!
what can i say, i can't stand seeing people mistreat their pets!

The brothers have had little no calcium in their diet it seems (crooked tails, severe under bite, crooked mouth, etc.) but what worries me most is one brother has barely any teeth!!! While the other bro has a nice set of chomppers. Both are very active/alert but the toothless guy has thrown up all his crickets and clearly has not been able to chew them properly which is robbing him of all those tastey vitamins.

What have I been doing? U ask?? I have been heavily dusting the crickets and using a feeding syringe and make a watery paste w/ Rep-cal's growth formula Juv. Beardie Food and carefully feed both of them this beardie goulash. They also eat fresh fruit like watermelon and honey dew. I also have 3 different UVA/UVB lights setup over their 30 gal long tank as well as a basking lamp.

What about their poop u say? It is somewhat solid.

Is there a way to avoid a costly vet visit? It is apparent they have MBD (one worse than the other), but i'm not sure if they are considered to be in the early stages of this disease.

Is the cosmetic damage reversible (under bite)? I only ask this b/c I would be able to see improvement in health by the appearance. Will his teeth grow as well with more vit.D and food dusting?

Is it possible to upload photos on here??

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Bless you for rescuing the two brothers.
What type & brand of UVB lighting are you using? The best tube light would be the Reptisun 10 florescent tube bulb or the Arcadia D3 12% if you are in the UK or Australia.
Are they housed separately?
They will need calcium 5 times per week. If you use a tube bulb, you will need the calcium powder with D3 unless you opt to go with liquid calcium.
What are the temperatues in the tank, & what type of thermometer are you using to measure the temperatures with? A stick on type, a digital probe or a temp gun?

Unfortunately, if the littler one has a slight underbite, it most likely will not go back to normal. It "could" improve slightly since he is still growing but most of the time bone deviations are permanent. Maybe you have caught it in time to keep it from getting worse. His teeth should be forming by now.
You should try some softer bodied feeders such as phoenix worms, or butterworm, they will be easier for him to chew than the crickets right now.

If you will go to http://www.photobucket.com & set up an account you can upload your pictures to that site, then, copy & paste the appropriate URL onto your thread & that is how you post pictures.

Looking forward to seeing the two brothers.

Tracie

 

[wildlife]

I am using a Reptile 24" combo hood. The tube light is a 20 watt 5.0 UVB Iguana light, and 2 compact 26 watt Repti glo 10.0's and a 75 watt UVA repti Halogen from zoo med. I am using a zoo med digital thermometer (w/ probe). The ambient air at night is 72 in the room and during the day is 80. Their tank is upper 90's durring the day and i use a heating on low at night.

As for the powder; T-Rex beardie Ca plus (contains D-3). I was curious what you might think of using a Ca, Mg, Citrate from a health food store and giving it orally ( 1 drop) once a day?

here are some pics of these two rascals and my Frilly, hopefully i did this right!
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/bdav0049/IMG_0467.jpg?t=1258679275
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/bdav0049/IMG_0468.jpg?t=1258679358
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/bdav0049/IMG_0482.jpg?t=1258681509

 

[Norbyrocks94]

I'm glad 2 hear that u rescued these poor guys. I had a while back. Have u tried
giving the toothless guy some baby food with the vitamins mixed in, fed with a suringe? Good luck on helping these poor little babies!

Update me, My support ,

Norbyrocks94

 

[diamc]

I posted the actual pictures here for you.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Nice Frilly!

 

[TehPandaVirus]

Well its good that the dragons are doing very well
I'm glad they are in a better home then those two other boys that had them before.
Bill told me that you have an awesome home for Rose and your frilly.

Keep me updated on the two lil brothers c:

~Christina

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How are things going with the 2 brothers now? Are their appetites improving?
The calcium & magnesium mix should be ok, just don't overdo it on the amount. A drop or two will be fine.
The 5.0 tube UVB light is that a Reptisun? If so, that is "ok" but not quite strong enough. Also, the compact Reptiglo 10 lights are not very strong & just do not have adequate UVB emissions.
I highly recommend getting either the Reptisun 10 tube bulb or a mercury vapor bulb light such as the Megaray or the T-rex active UV heat light.
The basking light you are using is fine, it is a bright white basking light correct?

Tracie

 

[wildlife]

Thanx for asking! They seem to be doing great. They were active/hungry/mischievous since the day i rescued them and continue to be!

The lights are bright white with the exception of the tube light which is a 5.0 (zoo med iguana) it's bright but not 10.0 bright. It's all I have on hand for the moment. I am searching for the 10.0 (trying to find one under $40.00).

What are the signs and when should I decrease the daily dosage?

Another Q: Would it be wise to also give the drop a day to my healthy female BD and my Frilly? They have no signs or symptoms of MBD and i dust they're food regularly. But as well all know, the dust doesn't stay on the crickets for too long. And if my breeding attempts are successful, I want to make sure my female BD has enough Ca for her and the egg shells.

-benji

 

[Drache613]

Hello Benji,

That is fine if you want to give your frilly & your other female a little bit of calcium mixture too.
So the two brothers are doing pretty well considering?
As long as the basking light is bright white, that is good enough. It helps with activity & feeding stimulation as well as protecting the eyes from UVB emissions. Have you checked out this website yet, for the Reptisun 10 tube bulb? It is only $20 here:

http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html

As with giving the calcium for your two new ones, I would give a couple of times per day. What is the concentration of the calcium mixture, does it say? I would like to be a little more precise with the dosage though. I would stay on a little higher dose for around a month or so, but after that you can decrease back to normal dose.

Tracie

 

[TehPandaVirus]

Thanx for asking! They seem to be doing great. They were active/hungry/mischievous since the day i rescued them and continue to be!

YAY! You should bring them into the shop again and say hi Oh Rose too . Oh and I got a little tank mate for my little red dragon. She is a marked leueistic x hypo citrus.perfect condition too. They are soo cute together.