MBD help!

[tatianaaraclli]

so, yesterday my beardie that i have had for almost a month showed sighs of MBD but never had before, at least i didn't notice. in the morning her leg was twitching and i got worried and checked her out. she was fine, to the eye at least. later that day it did it again but this time was more or less spasming so i got her out and she was walking funny and from her ankle down it was swollen so i freaked out and started looking for vets but my mom wanted to wait till the next day(today) before going to the vet so we did and this morning it has also affected her right front leg and where it started, the right back leg. as soon as i noticed i told my mom and she made an appointment and while we were waiting for the appointment i tried to feed her some dubias but she only ate a couple and refused to eat anymore(yes i fed her a good two hours before the appointment so she had time to digest it) at the vet he told me nothing that i didn't already suspect and gave her a calcium shot and said to change the calcium that i was using and she would be okay but i don't know how i feel about that because i feel and have read that they would give me some liquid calcium or something but i am not a doctor so what do i know but not only that when i told him that i feed her dubias he looked at me like i was crazy and had no idea what they were and for a herp i think you would know about dubias not only that he suggested i feed her crickets instead which goes against the research i did before getting a beardie so i don't know if i should trust him or not but my mom would be upset if we had to go to another vet



so currently i have tried to get her to eat some butternut squash baby food i made with some repcal calcium+d3 which she did not go for



and btw i got her off of craigslist(i know i know) and she was pretty well kept, she is a beautiful citrus tigar 16" long who is a little over a year old and in my opinion she looks a bit skinny but the vet said she was good. they were using the kit from national geographic which i am still using the cage(40 gallon) itself but that's it. i changed all of the lights and am using the reptisun 10.0 T8 that is 6" away from basking spot with a halogen spot light(my mistake, i didn't think it would be so spotty. i know very stupid but it works) that is 45 watts. way too hot so instead of taking it back because i am one of those people i have just sat it on top of a whole bunch of books so that the basking spot is 98/99 degrees and the cool side is 72 and those are measured with the digital aquarium thermometers everyone seems to have. i feed dubia roaches twice a week that i will be changing to three times maybe four please give me some input(dusted every time with repashy but now i will be using repcal) and salads everyday(dusted almost every time) but they only offered her kale so she does not like to eat her salad so she doesn't get that calcium and vitamin intake. i have tried everything i can think of and read but the only thing is if she is very hungry and you can't hold it too close or too far and you can't move it too much or too little and i give her a bath two times a week and mist everyday and get her out two times a day for an hour to two depending if she is cold or if i am cleaning out her cage and i do let her run around my room in that time too


so now i have taken out her logs and put her light down lower(that 45 watts came in handy ) and not sure what to do. please any suggestions on anything would be greatly appreciated :? sorry about the poor grammer, i gave up on it sorry. i'm not sure how to do pictures so if you want some please let me know how to do it

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, here's how to post pictures. Put some pics of her as well as her tank set up.
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then hit the XIMG tab to attach pics to your post

It might be calcium problem but it might also be gout if the foot is swollen. Do you have a hammock in the tank ? f so, take it out because dragons can get their claws stuck and sprain their limbs.
Is she not able to climb at all ? You should leave something for her to climb on, just laying closer to the ground. And I don't think a 45 watt halogen bulb is going to make it too hot, 45 watts may actually not be enough to keep the tank warm. If you have the round gauge thermometer on the wall you're possibly not getting a correct reading.

I don't think your vet knows much about beardies, see if you can find a more qualified one. You should have been given liquid calcium. But just dust the food she eats with good calcium powder with D3 for now and see how she does.

 

[tatianaaraclli]

no, she doesn't have a hammock in there for that reason actually. get ready for picture spam. this is her right back leg last night and if you look at around the ankle down it is swollen, to me at least

this is her left leg last night. you can tell the difference

both of them together

right leg today

and left leg today but it looks swollen too :shock:

her front right leg

her front left leg. side note: that is the baby food

and finally all of them

this is what her cage normally looks like

this is it at the moment

 

[tatianaaraclli]

forgot this

 

[AHBD]

I don't really see much difference. Is she still walking funny ? She could have hurt it slightly while roaming on the floor or from jumping off the rocks there. Keep her in the tank as much as possible, and put one log back in, st it in so it's low to the ground. Whatever she enjoys eating you can offer calcium dusted. If you want liquid calcium you can order some from one of the mods. here [ Drache613 ] her website is :
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjp-Pv1v_fRAhWlyoMKHfWVBpoQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bug-de-lite.com%2F&usg=AFQjCNF9-wH_myyXFEx2fjWtiaONOkA86w&sig2=-cypfb7U0le41rHuJheGlA

 

[tatianaaraclli]

yes she is still walking funny. at this point she isn't walking at all and her legs and arm are still spasming. to give you a visual, it looks like she is waving but backwards and completely involuntary

 

[AHBD]

O.K., yes that sounds like a calcium deficiency. How long ago did you change her bub to the Reptisun ? If it's warm where you live, can you take her out in the sun ?

 

[tatianaaraclli]

i just got it on January 7th. do you think it could be a bad one? i didn't even think about that and about the calcium, i think i will do that but how much do you think i should give? and no unfortunately it's not warm outside, i wish it was.

 

[AHBD]

I doubt that it'a a bad bulb, some dragons just don't absorb calcium properly all the time for some reason.

 

[tatianaaraclli]

i guess another trip to the vet it is then, but definitely a different one

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sorry your girl is having some trouble right now.
I did notice that your tube UVB is mounted on the back wall, is that correct?
That could be some of the issues, because mounting the light in that manner allows the UVB light to refract outwards more than downward towards your dragon.
If possible, I would try to get the light mounted directly overhead to allow the UVB to hit directly onto her for better absorption.
If she is having trouble walking or getting around then try to be sure her basking area is lower to where she doesn't have to climb much if any so she doesn't hurt herself.

Tracie

 

[tatianaaraclli]

I wish that I could do that but the top is a mesh screen. Could I put something by the light to help it reflect her way?

 

[tatianaaraclli]

Little update: right now she is only using one leg(the left front leg) and moving is to a minimum. She won't move until bed time and then she will scratch away at the corner where she is sleeping like usual which gives me hope but I know that puts her in more pain. Her lights just got turned on so I'm hoping she will still be able to hold her head up by the end of the day. I want to give her liquid calcium right now but the vets are all closed and the only place I can get it right now is the store but that one has been known to glue the mouth shut so I don't know which one is worse at this point. I will go and order some from Tracie today but till it gets here I'm not sure what to do

 

[tatianaaraclli]

this is how she sits now . and yes she is on her "rock" because i took it out and she freaked out and it stressed her out so i put it back in

but she did poop today and moved around a bit

 

[tatianaaraclli]

okay, so today i think she felt a bit better but i still didn't have much luck with getting her to eat the squash*sigh* in her own time. earlier she sat on her rock like she used to which really surprised me because she wouldn't dare to move her arm like that

but after about 20 minutes she gave in with her arm

and eventually back to how she was this morning. i did already order the liquid calcium from Tracie. fingers crossed she doesn't get any worse over night and we can get an appointment with a vet before the calcium get's here