I rescued a beardie with MBD and no vets in my area will see

[Megalomania2020]

I rescued this bearded dragon from a coworker, it was absolutely neglected. Even though I've never had or cared for a BD before I knew I could give this poor little guy a much higher quality of life. His legs hardly work, any of them, but he still gets around and now he seems very happy and from what I've researched he seems much like a normal healthy BD, unfortunately minus the cute waving I really wanted to see. Anyways, I obviously no vet and unfortunately no vets within a 5 hour drive of me will see this poor little guy so I'm not actually sure if it's MBD, MD or spring different altogether but MBD seems to be the most fitting as good appetite and energy and just general happiness doesn't seem affected. Does anyone have any experience with MBD or know how I can help this poor little guy regain some use of his legs. I suppose I should say what I've been trying. The last owner only fed him freeze dried meal worms. I through them out, I order him live food and I go out and pick him some local vegetation for his "salad" and he just houses everything I feed him down. He'll chase it down and rip into it, although he looks a little funny and depressing, but the way I assume a normal healthy BD does. Maybe this isn't MBD and maybe just a deformity, idk. Any opinions, thoughts, tips? Any sort of input would be much appreciated. Like I said I've never owned a BD before, but I have had plenty of snakes so I'm not too unfamiliar with creating a habitat for him. Thank you.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, that's nice of you to take him in and it's great that his activity and interest in food is so good ! His lack of proper mobility may be MBD or could be something else, no way to tell right now. If it's sunny + warm where you live, take him out in the sun as many days a week as you can for 40-60 minutes, just set in the grass with him since he can't get away in his condition. The sun can do wonders for MBD by exposing the dragon to the best uvb there is. What exact type of lights do you have for him and what are his temps. throughout the tank ? Post some pics of everything , lights included and of course the dragon. Here's how :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

Also if you can post a video of him moving around that would be helpful.

 

[Megalomania2020]

I uploaded a few pictures, it won't let me upload any videos because my phone makes them mp4. Sometimes he can use his legs good but sometimes he flops kind of like a snake and sometimes he gets stuck and just gives up.

 

[Megalomania2020]

 

[Megalomania2020]

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[AHBD]

That's probably MBD causing some improper bone growth. His weight looks good, even a tad chunky but nothing to worry about. It's risky for him to be flipped over but hopefully he'll get better balance once he's getting proper food, calcium + uvb. Be sure to give him calcium on his food about 3-4 X a week, not real heavy coating, just lightly. How are you measuring the temp ? Make sure that his basking temp. is no more than 100F.

 

[Megalomania2020]

On that basking log there's a probe and when it gets to 105 it will turn the light off.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor thing, I am glad you took him in.
I would definitely keep everything a bit lower in the tank, meaning his basking area, so he
doesn't have to climb too much & hurt himself.
Are you using a powdered or liquid calcium for him?
We mostly recommend either the Reptisun 10 T5 or the Arcadia D3 12% T5, both of which
are high output tube bulbs. It may be a little hard to find them with the supply chain right now.
Even the regular T8 tubes of those brands would be fine right now.

Tracie

 

[Megalomania2020]

I've got the T5 in there now and I just got a bigger one with a custom fixture that sits just under the cage lid. I think I'm going to get rid of the cage lid altogether and make something to hang the lights a little into the tank.
I have calcium powder but he absolutely will not eat anything I try to put it on, regardless of how light I powder anything. I've tried putting some of it in warm water when I give him a nice little soak/bath, not sure if that helps or helped at all. I got some beardie gourmet mixed food but now that I got him eating live he won't go back to that freeze dried crap. Which is all the person I got him from fed him.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is your dragon doing today?
You can certainly make shift a way in order to mount the tube bulb on top or across the top
of the tank in order to allow stronger UVB light for him.
Will he take any oral fluids for you? If so, you can mix the calcium in with some water or
some apple, grape or cranberry juice for hydration.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[AHBD]

How's he doing ?