Lethargic Beardy

[Chrismcnicholas]

Recently I came home and my poor little beardy (Sheila) was on the bottom of her cage and her limbs were twitching (obvious sign of calcium deficiency or early MBD I know) I went out and picked up some calcium powder with D3 since i hadn't been giving her any calcium (I had been given bad information about giving her the powder) Another issue i could be having is the UVB light, when i got her I got a small pre-packaged zilla light which i thought was working fine but it was on a mesh top and i think it was mostly blocking the UV rays so I cut a hole in the mesh top so the rays could get through better. I ordered a reptisun 10.0 but it won't be here until the 5th and i'm starting to worry because she doesn't seem to be able to move around much by herself but she is still eating and passing her poo. I did visit a Vet and he said she wasn't that bad and that i should give her some maalox (.1 ml) every other day but i was afraid to do so because it sounds strange. Any help here would be appreciated with what i can do to make sure she's okay until the 5th because i'm pretty upset that i screwed up so bad.


Also, she's in a 44 gallon i think? 4 feet long 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep.
Her basking spot is at 108ish and the ambient temps are around 94 on the warm side which she doesn't seem to leave.

 

[Beardednoob]

Take her outside and hold her to the sun, or if you have a window that lets in alot of sunlight, let her sit (out of her tank) infront, anywhere she can get sunlight. I would take these trips frequently and let her just lay and bask in the sun for awhile. As long as you got sun you have a way to be safe till your good UVB light gets there.
Let us know how shes doing on a daily basis or whatever, just keep us informed.

 

[Chrismcnicholas]

Take her outside and hold her to the sun, or if you have a window that lets in alot of sunlight, let her sit (out of her tank) infront, anywhere she can get sunlight. I would take these trips frequently and let her just lay and bask in the sun for awhile. As long as you got sun you have a way to be safe till your good UVB light gets there.
Let us know how shes doing on a daily basis or whatever, just keep us informed.

Well I live in Michigan so it's quite cold outside right now. Would it help even if the window was closed?

 

[Beardednoob]

If it is sunny outside at all then there are sunrays :wink:

 

[Chrismcnicholas]

If it is sunny outside at all then there are sunrays :wink:

Well I realize that I'm just worried about her getting cold and I heard glass can block the UVB rays. I really appreciate the responses so late at night (my time at least)

 

[Ragebees]

If I were you I would place the bearded at the window to get the natural sunlight while providing a heat lamp at the window as well so it can still enjoy its warmth as it's pretty cold where you're at.

 

[Beardednoob]

Well I believe the windows do block some of the rays but, the zilla tube is horrible as well and nothing beats natural sunlight. Please don't take me as thinking your bumb or whatever, I am not even going there. Just trying to voice ideas, sometimes in a panic or concerned state we can miss things, that's why god invented forums :wink:
Hmm what if you put the beardie in the sunrays if its warm to you then it may not get cold, if it is cold but bright try a area heater if you got one.
I had a zilla slimline light, after I replaced that with a mercury vapor my dragon has made strides and now seems healthy as ever. The only thing I use anymore, for all my reptiles, 2 Bearded Dragons and 1 Uromastyx.
If you don't have a space heater maybe a heating mat, or heating blanket? IDK.

 

[Chrismcnicholas]

Well I believe the windows do block some of the rays but, the zilla tube is horrible as well and nothing beats natural sunlight. Please don't take me as thinking your bumb or whatever, I am not even going there. Just trying to voice ideas, sometimes in a panic or concerned state we can miss things, that's why god invented forums :wink:
Hmm what if you put the beardie in the sunrays if its warm to you then it may not get cold, if it is cold but bright try a area heater if you got one.
I had a zilla slimline light, after I replaced that with a mercury vapor my dragon has made strides and now seems healthy as ever. The only thing I use anymore, for all my reptiles, 2 Bearded Dragons and 1 Uromastyx.
If you don't have a space heater maybe a heating mat, or heating blanket? IDK.

Thank you very much I'm going to put her by the window as much as possible tomorrow. One strange thing I noticed was when I took her out of her cage she seemed to be able to walk ok and she perked up a bit. Mostly I'm wondering if the antacid would actually help because if it will I'll go get some right now! Also I'm not sure if it matters or not but she hasn't been like this for very long just the past 4 days.

 

[Beardednoob]

Hey your welcome, let us know how she does. Des had a lot of issues with the zilla slimlight or whatever it was but, after changing the the mercury vapor I could tell a difference in the first 20 minutes. As I said just let us know how she is doing. 2 days left till the new light

 

[Chrismcnicholas]

Hey your welcome, let us know how she does. Des had a lot of issues with the zilla slimlight or whatever it was but, after changing the the mercury vapor I could tell a difference in the first 20 minutes. As I said just let us know how she is doing. 2 days left till the new light

so far so good! She seems very alert this morning.
Sorry if the picture is angled wrong, posting from my iPhone.

 

[Beardednoob]

Shes a pretty girl.

 

[Chrismcnicholas]

Shes a pretty girl.

The color seems to be comin back around her eyes and head area, she was pretty pale but I thought it was because she was going to shed, so that's a good sign I think!
Update: after about an hour I put her back in her cage to eat and she showed a lot of progress even chasing a few of the crickets down I did notice that her nails were getting caught in the reptile carpet though. Any suggestions on a better substrate? I can use paper towel for now but something more permanent would be great.

 

[Beardednoob]

You can either put in some slate type tiles, anything that is like a natural stone, heard its faily easy to clean as well as it will help file her nails naturally. Or you can just file her nails yourself. I am glad she is doing well at this point. Keep me posted.

 

[Chrismcnicholas]

You can either put in some slate type tiles, anything that is like a natural stone, heard its faily easy to clean as well as it will help file her nails naturally. Or you can just file her nails yourself. I am glad she is doing well at this point. Keep me posted.

Does it need to be a special type of tile? Sorry if this seems like a dumb question I just don't want to do anything wrong anymore. She's back to being pretty lethargic in her cage so I'm probably going to try to place her by the window again in a little bit, I realize she probably won't improve a lot until i get the reptisun tube on Tuesday but the small improvements are very encouraging.


Update: Window basking round 2!
Been reading a lot on bearded dragon health and i heard about yellow fungus...I'm probably just freaking myself out but does this look normal?

Sorry it's a bit fuzzy.

 

[Beardednoob]

The images didn't post? Any tile as long as it doesn't have sharp or jagged edges, which most wouldn't as it would be for our feet. Don't want anything that when heated up would release fumes either. A natural slate stone tile is good. Even if you cover just part of her cage and she walks on it would work too.