New Beardie with MBD?!

[amberwor]

Hi everyone, I'm Amberlyn. I just recently rescued a Beardie from Petco (not technically a rescue when buying from a big chain store, but they had him in the back by himself and gave him to me for a very little price because of his condition). His name is Bean because he is just a lil' bean, I mean incredibly tiny, he is maybe the size of my palm. I am 99% positive he was born with a bone disease. His back legs don't work, he is very small for being I want to say 6 months old, and I've recently noticed how flexible/bendy his lower jaw is when he eats.

I am taking him to the vet tomorrow in hopes of getting some meds to help his condition, but I came on here to get help from y'all as well because I will take all the advice I can get. He eats very well, twice a day and I'm feeding him dubia roaches dusted in calcium w/ d3 until I get the calcium w/o and sometimes small crickets. He moves around pretty well for only having front working legs.

I will include pictures of his enclosure and pictures of Bean himself (if I can figure it out), please let me know if I need to make any adjustments because I most definitely will!!!

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

Poor fella.
He is definitely going to need his husbandry to be perfect to have the best chance at recovery.

Do you have a digital thermometer with probe end or a temp gun? I notice the heat lamp is basically above no basking surface besides the floor. What is the temperature underneath the basking light?
You will want him to have a basking SURFACE temp of around 105 or so. He needs his temps to be proper to be able to digest and assimilate his food.

What UVB bulb are you using? Is it the T5 version or T8? This is important as it dictates how close it needs to be to the dragon to be effective. That is also crucial as its needed for him to absorb his calcium and stop the MBD.

-Brandon

 

[amberwor]

Hi Brandon, thank you for the quick reply!

I have a regular thermometer that we would use to check our temperatures if that would work? The ambient temperature in his tank on the hot side is 87.0 F right now and it's because I bought the wrong halogen bulb, usually its at about 90-95. I don't have any basking areas for him because I get very nervous that he'll fall off the sides or fall in between a gap and get stuck since he is just SO tiny.
If you have a link to a certain thermometer probe/temp gun, please link it and I'll purchase one ASAP!

For the UVB, it's a 15 watt T8 desert 50 bulb sitting on top of the wire mesh tank hood.

 

[Claudiusx]

Thanks for the extra details.

Ok you will definitely want to get a different thermometer then. You need to be able to read surface temps, ambient temps are more so for just measuring cool and hot side. But the most important one is the basking surface temp.
I will amazon link you to a probe type like I am talking about. They are very cheap online, and typically only a few bucks more in store.
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Refrigerator-Thermometer-Thermostat-Temperature/dp/B073RP1476/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=digital+with+probe+thermometer&qid=1588202618&sr=8-3
They are so cheap, here even is a 4 pack of them for 13 bucks:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TBDJV31/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07TBDJV31&pd_rd_w=z9ggY&pf_rd_p=48d372c1-f7e1-4b8b-9d02-4bd86f5158c5&pd_rd_wg=mmUJ9&pf_rd_r=18APFFFPZEZ5CJ2ZRN9K&pd_rd_r=4ac6a8e6-5456-4efd-ae30-f33b1cc0731a&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyN0JIVlFGUExHVlhUJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjg3MjY3TFhRRklVOFBUOEJBJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0MzgwMzlTRUdRMEo0NkFVMlYmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWwmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

I like those better than the infrared point and shoot thermometers.

Since your dragon is likely suffering from malabsorption of calcium, you're going to need to make sure you have a good UVB bulb.
Unfortunately, that zilla 50 bulb isn't the greatest, but it will do with some tweaking. It's a semi-weak bulb, so to expose your dragon to the UVI level that it needs, that bulb needs to be about 6-8 inches away from your dragon at the basking spot. And, that is assuming the bulb is in a fixture that has a reflector, and it isn't being blocked by a mesh screen. The mesh screen cuts down even more on the already weak bulb.

So, you would need to mount it inside the tank.

I understand it's difficult because of him not being able to really use his back legs. It is a good idea to keep his furniture items small. But it does complicate his UV and heat setup.

Hopefully your UV fixture fits inside the tank? It looks like it might be too long based on the picture.
Unfortunately at the distance it is, it's really not doing much good.

You will need to either get a bigger tank so you can mount the fixture inside, or get a different fixture and a stronger bulb to help make up for not being able to mount it inside. If you want to go down the route of buying a new fixture and bulb, please check with us first so we can make sure you are getting one suitable for your setup.

A special needs dragon is a tough challenge for many, but we are here to help

-Branadon

 

[amberwor]

Thank you for the links! I will be purchasing those tonight and pray that the delivery will be quick with COVID-19 making delivery times longer )-:

I have the RepitSun 10.0 UVB bulb that would fit in my current fixture, I just can’t figure out how to switch out the bulbs. The fixture does have a reflector and I think I can make the fixture fit inside the tank, I’m just not sure how to properly mount it in there.

I was thinking for a basking spot of maybe putting some towels down to get him somewhat closer to the heat/UVB but still have an easy way to climb down? I’m not sure if towels are the best idea, I saw that somewhere else in a thread on here.

 

[Claudiusx]

The reptisun would be a better bulb! It should fit in place of the current bulb. The fluorescents bulbs just do a quarter twist and then come out of the fixture.

The towel ideal would be good! That should definitely help.

You could mount the fixture inside the tank with wire, zipties, 3M command hooks, velcro. Depends what you have on hand.

I've been finding most things i've been buying on amazon have still been coming pretty quick, so hopefully that's the case for you too.

-Brandon

 

[amberwor]

I will definitely change the bulbs out then, thanks for telling me how because I was having a major dumbie moment trying to figure it out lol!

My mom just came up with an idea of maybe finding a way to “raise the floor” by putting wood or bricks or something and then a piece of plastic with his repticarpet on top of that to get him closer to the UVB and heat w/o having to mount the light in because of how flush it would be, I wouldn’t be able to turn it on/off.

If I switch out the bulbs, would leaving the fixture on top of the tank hood give him proper UVB if we did the “raising floor” idea?

 

[Claudiusx]

Yes you could do that also. But you still don't want to have the mesh in the way. So many only close the lid partially? The mesh will block up to 30% of the output, which means the little dude would need to be even closer.

Raising the floor will work, just make sure he can't get out, and try to make sure the temperatures are adequate and not too hot for him. But not too cold either!

Sometimes those fixtures have a clear plastic cover blocking the bulb, if there is a plastic piece in between the bulb and the dragon, make sure you remove it. You basically want their to be nothing in the way of the dragon and the bulb.

-Brandon

 

[amberwor]

I’m thinking of maybe cutting the mesh hood where the fixture sits so that I can keep the hood closed, but have nothing blocking the UVB bulb and still give him no chance to escape.

The fixture did have a plastic covering, but I did research before I bought it and was very thankful I did because it blocked SO much UVB so I removed that.

I plan on going out and buying everything I need to start the project after his vet visit tomorrow! Thank you so much for all the help and if you have any more advice on food, water, supplements, etc. to help his condition I would LOVE to hear it!

 

[BVenable1982]

I recommend feeding BSFL (also known Phoenix worms or calciworms). They are really high in calcium and make excellent feeders for beardies with mbd. My dragon showed early signs around 5 months and we switched from crickets to BSFL, superworms, and dubias. Plus, these feeders are so much easier and less stinkier than crickets!

It takes time to see improvement. Your vet can also do calcium shots and there's liquid calcium, etc.. I'm a new beardie mom and was told a lot of wrong stuff when we first set up. I'm still learning a lot, but seriously BSFL are a really good feeder for mbd.

 

[amberwor]

I recommend feeding BSFL (also known Phoenix worms or calciworms). They are really high in calcium and make excellent feeders for beardies with mbd. My dragon showed early signs around 5 months and we switched from crickets to BSFL, superworms, and dubias. Plus, these feeders are so much easier and less stinkier than crickets!

It takes time to see improvement. Your vet can also do calcium shots and there's liquid calcium, etc.. I'm a new beardie mom and was told a lot of wrong stuff when we first set up. I'm still learning a lot, but seriously BSFL are a really good feeder for mbd.

Where do you get the BSFL? I feel like I’ve seen Calciworms at Petco but I’m not positive and want to make sure I purchase proper BSFL. I have been feeding him Dubia’s which I’ve found are sooo much easier than crickets to keep alive and he can eat them with no problem.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, I just wanted to say what a good job you're doing with the little guy ! It's great that he's eating so swell, be sure that the insects are smaller than the space between his eyes to avoid impaction since he already has a problem. Be sure that the vet is really experienced with reptiles or they can do more harm than good. Ask to stay with the beardie so you can see what they do with him. There's not much else they can do other than a calcium boost, other than that you are doing all the right things. BTW, he can't get out of the tank if you raise the floor , back legs aren't functional. BSFL are fine but the roaches are as well.

 

[amberwor]

Hi there, I just wanted to say what a good job you're doing with the little guy ! It's great that he's eating so swell, be sure that the insects are smaller than the space between his eyes to avoid impaction since he already has a problem. Be sure that the vet is really experienced with reptiles or they can do more harm than good. Ask to stay with the beardie so you can see what they do with him. There's not much else they can do other than a calcium boost, other than that you are doing all the right things. BTW, he can't get out of the tank if you raise the floor , back legs aren't functional. BSFL are fine but the roaches are as well.

Thank you! I've been trying very hard to keep his health high even with the problem, and it feels good to be saving him <3 I've never been to this vet before, but it was a reptile vet that was recommended when I searched for one. I'll make sure to stay with him during the visit as much as I can! Thank you for the advice I really appreciate it!

 

[BVenable1982]

I started to buy a lot of my feeders online.

https://symtonbsf.com/ is where I buy my BSFL. There are lots of great places out there, but this place has been my favorite. I like the way they package them, I've gotten them from other places where the dirt they used was like impossible to rinse off these lil guys and overall where just a mess to deal with. Symton prices are reasonable and I have my set on reoccuring orders to save $$ once I figured out my loved them.

I buy the rest of my feeders (dubias and superworms) at AAFeeder.com. Prices are a little more expensive, but they offer free shipping, so it actually works out to be cheaper than other places.

Both places ship fast. For my BSFL, typically I get my order within 2-3 days of shipment.