I posted 4 days ago on another BD site because I hadn't found this one. That one proved to be a dud so I am hoping some experienced BD owners from this site can calm my fears, help me and get me pointed in the right direction. This is what I had posted on the other site 4 days ago:
So here it goes:
Someone gave us (inexperienced BD owners) a 1 year old, 12 inch BD 3 days ago. He is super cute and actually quite alert BUT my mothering instincts are telling me that he’s very malnourished and possibly has MBD. I don’t have a scale to weigh him and frankly not a ton of money to put into him since he was pretty much left on our doorstep.
He seems to have good color and like I said, he’s alert, eyes open and looks around. He doesn’t have any signs of drainage and isn’t making any weird sounds. He does however have quite a good size bump under his skin on the lower part of his back. I have watched his legs twitch a little so that and the bump are making me think MBD.
He has come to us in a 40 gallon tank, sand substrate, Zilla florescent light (I think this is the UVB) and a red bulb Heat Glo 75 watt lamp. There are a few things in the tank and a nice rock /log basking area under the lamp. All they fed him were meal worms and they never mentioned giving him calcium.
Temps - there is a suction mounted thermometer in the middle of the tank which is reading about 78* daytime and 70* nighttime. I know it’s not an accurate way to measure, but I would imagine then the heat under the red light is hotter. Ack!! The light/heat thing is really stressing me out since I know how important it is. Not to mention the bump on his back and lack of willingness to eat!
We got him Friday and haven’t fed him any more mealworms. He ate 3 large crickets that we put in his tank and I have been giving him water via syringe. He has access to water in his tank and now some lettuce and pellets that have been spritzed with water. This morning I mixed some papaya with a little water and sprinkled it with some Calcium w/out D3 and syringed it around his mouth. He lapped up a little bit. I put him in a warm bath and my concerns about his extremities were calmed because he was crawling all over. He has had one bowel movement that I have noticed.
What should his normal activity level be? He crawled all around in the bath which made me happy, but I think because he’s malnourished, he tires quickly. He pretty much just hangs out under the light. I have moved him around in the tank to the food and to the water. I have also seen him move around on the warmer side of the tank. I have just not seen him "get up and walk". Is he supposed to walk on all 4’s? I’ve just seen him kind of move along, but not really "stand up" on his legs.
Hmmm... what else? I just have this overwhelming concern that something is wrong. Maybe there isn’t, maybe he’s not supposed to move around the way I think and maybe he’s not eating the greens and/or the little pellets because he has never had them before and/or he is still getting used to his new environment?? We got some Zoomed vitamins that we can give to him as well, can it be mixed with the calcium? He’s not eating hardly anything so maybe mix it with the syringed water??
Please, whatever advice you have, I’d love to hear it. I have been reading so many thing on them the last couple of days, my head is spinning. Like I said before, I don’t have a ton of money to be going out and buying new lights, food and/or vitamins for this little guy so is there some things that are more of a priority now that I should be getting and can work on the other stuff?
PS - since we have never had a reptile before or know anyone who has, I am not sure about an veterinarian who specializes in reptiles. Calling around today is on my list of to-do’s to find one if the consensus is that he absolutely should be seen by one.
That was 4 days ago. Since then, I think I've seen some improvement.
Eating - I bought some small crickets which I have dusted with calcium w/out D3 and have fed him 6 a day. He wont eat them willingly though, I have to open his mouth and then he will take them. He is offered greens every day and also a different fruit/vegetable to see if he will eat - NOPE! I have mixed some BD pellets in the food and nothing. Today he has squash (diced small and softened) and papaya (mashed) and it smells good to me, but he just turns around to it. He loves to be in the warm bath and just falls asleep - he's been getting them every other days since I think too he might have been dehydrated. Every day I have been giving him water from a syringe and he does lap a little bit up. Too much water?
Bowel movements - this I have concluded is the reason he lifts his legs (or as I previously thought what was leg twitching). I haven't seen a giant bowel movement, but rather a couple little white balls about the size of pea.
Heating - I know he's getting enough, he likes to sit pretty much all day on his basking rock and sometimes has his mouth open to the lamp. The weather outside is getting nice enough to have turned the a/c off and open the windows so it's gotten a little warmer in here than usual. When that happens, he does get down and move a little closer to the cool side.
I was really concerned about him not getting up and "walking" and that because of the large hump/bump on his back that he might be paralyzed. The first day I put him in the bath though he moved all over and every extremity seemed to be working properly. That no longer is such a large fear and the only thing I can think of now is that he was malnourished and weak with very little to no muscle mass. We're working on the eating part and I think that the more he moves and maybe some OT time in the tub with help to increase his muscle. Am I on the right track here? What am I forgetting?? I'm sure it has to do with lighting, but that I am working on. Thanks for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate it and if you comment, I appreciate that too!
So here it goes:
Someone gave us (inexperienced BD owners) a 1 year old, 12 inch BD 3 days ago. He is super cute and actually quite alert BUT my mothering instincts are telling me that he’s very malnourished and possibly has MBD. I don’t have a scale to weigh him and frankly not a ton of money to put into him since he was pretty much left on our doorstep.
He seems to have good color and like I said, he’s alert, eyes open and looks around. He doesn’t have any signs of drainage and isn’t making any weird sounds. He does however have quite a good size bump under his skin on the lower part of his back. I have watched his legs twitch a little so that and the bump are making me think MBD.
He has come to us in a 40 gallon tank, sand substrate, Zilla florescent light (I think this is the UVB) and a red bulb Heat Glo 75 watt lamp. There are a few things in the tank and a nice rock /log basking area under the lamp. All they fed him were meal worms and they never mentioned giving him calcium.
Temps - there is a suction mounted thermometer in the middle of the tank which is reading about 78* daytime and 70* nighttime. I know it’s not an accurate way to measure, but I would imagine then the heat under the red light is hotter. Ack!! The light/heat thing is really stressing me out since I know how important it is. Not to mention the bump on his back and lack of willingness to eat!
We got him Friday and haven’t fed him any more mealworms. He ate 3 large crickets that we put in his tank and I have been giving him water via syringe. He has access to water in his tank and now some lettuce and pellets that have been spritzed with water. This morning I mixed some papaya with a little water and sprinkled it with some Calcium w/out D3 and syringed it around his mouth. He lapped up a little bit. I put him in a warm bath and my concerns about his extremities were calmed because he was crawling all over. He has had one bowel movement that I have noticed.
What should his normal activity level be? He crawled all around in the bath which made me happy, but I think because he’s malnourished, he tires quickly. He pretty much just hangs out under the light. I have moved him around in the tank to the food and to the water. I have also seen him move around on the warmer side of the tank. I have just not seen him "get up and walk". Is he supposed to walk on all 4’s? I’ve just seen him kind of move along, but not really "stand up" on his legs.
Hmmm... what else? I just have this overwhelming concern that something is wrong. Maybe there isn’t, maybe he’s not supposed to move around the way I think and maybe he’s not eating the greens and/or the little pellets because he has never had them before and/or he is still getting used to his new environment?? We got some Zoomed vitamins that we can give to him as well, can it be mixed with the calcium? He’s not eating hardly anything so maybe mix it with the syringed water??
Please, whatever advice you have, I’d love to hear it. I have been reading so many thing on them the last couple of days, my head is spinning. Like I said before, I don’t have a ton of money to be going out and buying new lights, food and/or vitamins for this little guy so is there some things that are more of a priority now that I should be getting and can work on the other stuff?
PS - since we have never had a reptile before or know anyone who has, I am not sure about an veterinarian who specializes in reptiles. Calling around today is on my list of to-do’s to find one if the consensus is that he absolutely should be seen by one.
That was 4 days ago. Since then, I think I've seen some improvement.
Eating - I bought some small crickets which I have dusted with calcium w/out D3 and have fed him 6 a day. He wont eat them willingly though, I have to open his mouth and then he will take them. He is offered greens every day and also a different fruit/vegetable to see if he will eat - NOPE! I have mixed some BD pellets in the food and nothing. Today he has squash (diced small and softened) and papaya (mashed) and it smells good to me, but he just turns around to it. He loves to be in the warm bath and just falls asleep - he's been getting them every other days since I think too he might have been dehydrated. Every day I have been giving him water from a syringe and he does lap a little bit up. Too much water?
Bowel movements - this I have concluded is the reason he lifts his legs (or as I previously thought what was leg twitching). I haven't seen a giant bowel movement, but rather a couple little white balls about the size of pea.
Heating - I know he's getting enough, he likes to sit pretty much all day on his basking rock and sometimes has his mouth open to the lamp. The weather outside is getting nice enough to have turned the a/c off and open the windows so it's gotten a little warmer in here than usual. When that happens, he does get down and move a little closer to the cool side.
I was really concerned about him not getting up and "walking" and that because of the large hump/bump on his back that he might be paralyzed. The first day I put him in the bath though he moved all over and every extremity seemed to be working properly. That no longer is such a large fear and the only thing I can think of now is that he was malnourished and weak with very little to no muscle mass. We're working on the eating part and I think that the more he moves and maybe some OT time in the tub with help to increase his muscle. Am I on the right track here? What am I forgetting?? I'm sure it has to do with lighting, but that I am working on. Thanks for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate it and if you comment, I appreciate that too!
