High calcium, low protein, dehydrated. (bloodwork)

[lovelymimi]

I took Genji to the vet and had bloodwork done. The vet called me and essentially said she has high calcium, low protein and is mildly dehydrated. He didn't think it was too serious, and she seems completely healthy otherwise. He considered she might even be gravid, but I have not seen her dig. No lumps on her belly. I am taking her for another blood test in 2 weeks. However now I am panicking, of course, as to what to feed her.

After looking through info and assessing my setup: She was overdue for a UVB bulb by a couple months. And ideally I will raise her basking rock a few inches higher. Her UVB is reptisun T5 10.0, her tank is a 4x2x2 Zen habitat. Basking spot hovers around 100 degrees F and is a 100watt. I supplement calcium, sometimes with D3. My guess is she has excess calcium in her blood she could not use properly due to the lack of enough UVB. I do take her outside sometimes.

I replaced her UVB bulb today--brand new. Then I fed cilantro leaves and butternut squash baby food. She loved it.

What should I feed her to not make the situation worse? I picked squash today because it seemed a safe staple choice. She usually eats zucchini, kale, broccoli (high in calcium ), carrots, peppers, mustard greens, Repashy, Mazuri, crickets, rarely berry. Supplements weekly.

She is extremely active, runs around in our living room ALL day. Her tank is on the floor. She basks on her rock, jumps off and runs around exploring, eventually runs back to her basking rock and repeats. She's not stressed, and stays bright yellow. Good appetite too, eats nearly anything. Age is 3.

 

[JayTheDragonTamer]

There’s some members here who can probably give you some better opinions and advice on calcium levels and other things, much better than I can. I know more about lack of calcium than I do about high calcium to be honest.
Like your vet said high calcium levels can sometimes indicate that eggs are developing, even though it might not be evident yet. They start tiny. Or maybe it is excess of calcium.
What brand of calcium do you use, and about how often do you supplement with it? Over dusting might have something to do with it. If not, I hope someone can figure it out for you.

I can give you my 2 cents on diet and dehydration though, in the meantime.

Firstly, dehydration. Seeing as it’s mild, just offering some water with a dropper or syringe(without a needle) should help. Just slowly drip some of the water on the end of her mouth(snout? Lips? I don’t know what to call it). She should just lick it off. You can provide a small dish of water if you want, although not all of them will recognize or drink from standing water.
You can also put a bit of water on her veggies to get a bit more moisture in her. If you can buy Hornworms, they make a good occasional treat and have a lot of water in them. Plus, it would provide some insect variety. Beardies usually go CRAZY for them!

And now, protein.
How often, and about how many live feeders does she eat?
Do you gutload them before giving them to your beardie?
Insects are where most of the protein in bearded dragon’s diet comes from. Some feeders are better than others in nutrition and protein.
This link has info about the nutrition of various feeders and a handy chart at the bottom if you want to check that out: https://reptifiles.com/feeder-insect-nutrition-facts-chart/
Dubia roaches make a great high-protein feeder insect IMO. They tend to be a lot meatier than crickets, and are easier to keep. If you aren’t adverse to roaches, they might be a staple worth considering.
Something else that’s got a good bit of protein in it is scrambled eggs. This is usually a treat, or used in a pinch when someone temporarily can’t get bugs.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to offer her a little, just for a bit of a protein boost, as long as it’s just plain egg, nothing else.

A couple revisions could be made around vegetables and greens here to help with the imbalances.
Broccoli is a feed rarely, and kale is high in Oxalates so should be fed only occasionally. Bell peppers and carrot are also feed occasionally as they are very high in vitamin A. Squash is a generally a good vegetable and can be feed often while zucchini should be fed more occasionally.
Mustard greens are a good staple, and are one of the dark leafy greens that makes a good salad. These include Dandelion greens, collard greens, endive, escarole, cactus pad and turnip greens. Don’t shy away from feeding a variety though! Vegetables labeled feed occasionally are part of a good diet, just not for everyday use.

I got this info from the chart on this website:
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
This is a great list to consult when you’re making a salad- note how it’s color coded to show how often each item can be fed.

I hope someone can provide some advice on the calcium levels for you! Good luck

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Thanks for the help, Jay, on information, that's terrific.
As far as the high calcium levels, do you happen to have a copy of the blood test results you
could get? I can look over them to help out.
Females can have high calcium levels when they are developing & shelling eggs, certainly.
If she does have eggs, it could be in early stages of development where she wont really have
any interest in digging yet. You might want to consider making her a laybox though, just in case
she does have them. At age 3, she could definitely be developing eggs.
How much protein intake does she get weekly, 25 or 30 bugs?

Tracie

 

[lovelymimi]

Hello,

Thanks for the help, Jay, on information, that's terrific.
As far as the high calcium levels, do you happen to have a copy of the blood test results you
could get? I can look over them to help out.
Females can have high calcium levels when they are developing & shelling eggs, certainly.
If she does have eggs, it could be in early stages of development where she wont really have
any interest in digging yet. You might want to consider making her a laybox though, just in case
she does have them. At age 3, she could definitely be developing eggs.
How much protein intake does she get weekly, 25 or 30 bugs?

Tracie

Hi Tracie, thank you so much for your response! Apologies for replying late. I was attempting to get the blood test numbers, but it may take a couple days.

She definitely doesn’t get that many crickets. Probably closer to ~10 medium sized. Greens and/or veggies almost every day, and sometimes she eats Repashy “meat pie”. She eats the bearded dragon Mazuri dry diet throughout the week—I leave it in her food dish, and she snacks on it. I’m generous with greens+veggies, not with protein, but I guess she needs more. I was afraid of her becoming overweight when I found out she was female, due to potential egg/ovarian issues.

I have seen her dig before, just not recently. No clear nesting behaviors for now. She likes to run around, sit in the window, explores everything all day.

Her stool has been very wet. It’s usually solid, but the urate is soft and there is a puddle of straight water with it. When she gets a big meal or Repashy/crickets, it’s usually not as wet or soft.

Since the UVB may be the culprit, I moved her basking spot closer. I have a T5HO 10.0 Reptisun, in a reflective hood (same brand.) It is mounted inside, not on a screen. She is about 14 inches away now from the UVB, is that too close? I could easily adjust if needed. What distance range should she be from it, maybe 18 inches?

 

[KarrieRee]

No 12-15 inches w/ it being directly over the basking decor piece