Hello Everyone!
I've noticed that my bearded dragon has developed an underbite which I assume is mbd
. I'm obviously upset about this and was hoping someone might be able to offer insight as to the potential cause (and confirm whether it is mbd?).
I've tried to take some pictures. From the side, it looks like an underbite, and from the front, his mouth opens a little bit (he can close it completely, but I think it naturally sits like this):
I understand that this is normally a husbandry issue, so I'll try and provide some details:
His UVB light is a t5 tube, the brand is arcadia and it's 12%. It's got a reflector hood behind it, and there's nothing obstructing it (it's mounted to the bottom of the roof, so it's not going through a screen or anything).
He has 3 heat bulbs at the moment, 70 watts each (it's winter where I live, and they're just normal bulbs so they don't direct heat downward very well). I take the temperatures with an infra red temperature gun. It's about 40°C at the warmest (where he likes to bask), and on the cool side it's normally 25-30°C (depending on how cold the day is).
His heat lights are on a timer, they go on at 6:15 and off at 9:15 (so 15 hours on). I do his UV light manually, normally half an hour after/before the heat lights respectively (so about 14 hours on).
At night, he has an electric blanket underneath half of his tank (the people kind, not a heat mat or anything) which keeps it 18-20°C depending on how cold the night is.
He's about a year and a half old. He didn't have UV for a few months when he was younger (between about 2 and 4 months old, I think?), and only occasionally went out in the sun. At the time, I didn't see any signs of mbd. Since then, he's had the arcadia (I replaced the bulb when it got old but it's the same one). I'm fairly sure he's a male (but I haven't had a vet check). He did stop eating for several weeks at the start of winter, and I assumed he was going into brumation because all he did was sleep, but he's awake each day now. His behaviour seems normal enough, he's active and eating lots at the moment. He does "glass surf" a lot, I think he's going stir crazy but it's too cold to really take him out (sometimes I take him out just to cuddle, but I think he wants to run around).
He's not big on salad, eats maybe a few leaves on a good day? He mainly gets rocket, turnip greens, endive, mustard greens and less so kale, and sometimes I add berries or other vegetables. His diet mainly consists of crickets, which I dust most days with a mix of pure calcium and vitamin powder. Occasionally he'll eat some BSFL but he's not a big fan. I also offer him water using an eye dropper and dripping it on his snout.
That's all I can think of now, but please let me know if I've missed anything! I really just want to do the best I can for him, I feel so bad
Also, I was wondering if mbd is at all reversible, or if all I can do is try to stop it getting worse?
Thanks everyone
I've noticed that my bearded dragon has developed an underbite which I assume is mbd
. I'm obviously upset about this and was hoping someone might be able to offer insight as to the potential cause (and confirm whether it is mbd?). I've tried to take some pictures. From the side, it looks like an underbite, and from the front, his mouth opens a little bit (he can close it completely, but I think it naturally sits like this):
I understand that this is normally a husbandry issue, so I'll try and provide some details:
His UVB light is a t5 tube, the brand is arcadia and it's 12%. It's got a reflector hood behind it, and there's nothing obstructing it (it's mounted to the bottom of the roof, so it's not going through a screen or anything).
He has 3 heat bulbs at the moment, 70 watts each (it's winter where I live, and they're just normal bulbs so they don't direct heat downward very well). I take the temperatures with an infra red temperature gun. It's about 40°C at the warmest (where he likes to bask), and on the cool side it's normally 25-30°C (depending on how cold the day is).
His heat lights are on a timer, they go on at 6:15 and off at 9:15 (so 15 hours on). I do his UV light manually, normally half an hour after/before the heat lights respectively (so about 14 hours on).
At night, he has an electric blanket underneath half of his tank (the people kind, not a heat mat or anything) which keeps it 18-20°C depending on how cold the night is.
He's about a year and a half old. He didn't have UV for a few months when he was younger (between about 2 and 4 months old, I think?), and only occasionally went out in the sun. At the time, I didn't see any signs of mbd. Since then, he's had the arcadia (I replaced the bulb when it got old but it's the same one). I'm fairly sure he's a male (but I haven't had a vet check). He did stop eating for several weeks at the start of winter, and I assumed he was going into brumation because all he did was sleep, but he's awake each day now. His behaviour seems normal enough, he's active and eating lots at the moment. He does "glass surf" a lot, I think he's going stir crazy but it's too cold to really take him out (sometimes I take him out just to cuddle, but I think he wants to run around).
He's not big on salad, eats maybe a few leaves on a good day? He mainly gets rocket, turnip greens, endive, mustard greens and less so kale, and sometimes I add berries or other vegetables. His diet mainly consists of crickets, which I dust most days with a mix of pure calcium and vitamin powder. Occasionally he'll eat some BSFL but he's not a big fan. I also offer him water using an eye dropper and dripping it on his snout.
That's all I can think of now, but please let me know if I've missed anything! I really just want to do the best I can for him, I feel so bad
Also, I was wondering if mbd is at all reversible, or if all I can do is try to stop it getting worse?
Thanks everyone
