I have periodically seen my dragon having tremors and tightness of back legs. I was told this was MBD. I will provide you with all my background information below because I am wondering if I need to take the dragon to a vet and if so what is the best way to transport him (i have a 2.5 hour drive). Or if I have caused him some long term damage to his nervous system. I will try to be as specific as possible.
He was born at the beginning of October and I got him when he was about 2 weeks old or so and he was 4 1/2 inches and weight about 4-5 grams during that time. He is close to 2 1/2 months now and I weighed him today at 21.3 grams and he is just short of 7 1/2 inches. He is in a 40 gallon Zilla cage but I have halfed it to 20 gallons for now. He currently uses cork bark (this is recent) to bask on. I switched him up from the vines from before because he was too large for them. Basking area at top is 105 degrees with a 100 w bulb. The range hood I have also has a full length 10% UVB repti bulb. At night the top of his basking area is heated with a 75 W infrared. Substrate used is powertowel which gets changed once a week and his tank is cleaned out.
Diet (starting three weeks ago) consists of crickets and salad in the morning. The salad consists of Arugula, Parsley, Chinese Cabbage, Bok Choy, Coriander, strawberries, raspberries, carrots, occasional kale, mangos mashed together. The crickets get dusted with Rep-Cal calcium everyday (no phosphorous and no D3) and with Calcium and Reptivite with D3 multivitamin every second day. He is fed 2 week old crickets about 10 in the morning and 10 in the evening two hours before is lights are changed for the night. Crickets are kept in a cricket keeper, watered and fed Flukes gut loading food. I know that I should have collard and mustard greens but these are unavailable at the grocery stores here so instead I looked up some references that show the Calcium
hosphorous ratios of vegetables and fruits to find some other alternatives that had Calciumhosphorous >than 1.5:1. At this point he eats some salad and I am not sure if he eats salad everyday.
In the first two weeks that I had him he was fed romaine lettuce and mealworms (I now know this is wrong!) In the first week he did eat uncut up mealworms. Then I found out that food needed to be smaller so the worms were cut into pieces. Could I have caused him some damage with these larger worms??? He has never shown any sign of a blockage (pooping is always consistent and looks right) Worms were dusted with a multivitamin daily. I also tried chicken with broth baby food and blueberries and raspberries. At this time the UVB bulb I had for him (in this two weeks) had a lower % because it was one I use for my turtles. In the third week I cut mealworms out of the diet and replaced them with cut up pheonix worms; dusted and he was still fed romaine.
I then stopped with the phoenix worms because they spoiled so quickly. Is there a way to keep them longer like the crickets? He was still being fed romaine. At this point a week later I noticed while he was sitting on my arm that his back legs started trembling and he looked like he was throwing his head back. This quickly passed. the following week he fell from his vines, laying on his back on the floor his limbs were stretched out and stiff and there was some trembling. I phoned the reptile department at petland (There are a few there that I consult with about my painted turtles) and he suspected MBD and went over lighting, and diet and supplements. Since then I have changed the diet and added the daily calcium supplement as above. I thought things were going well until tonight because when I switched to the night light he was freaking out as he usually does when the red light comes on and he grabs at the tank sides like he is trying the escape. He usually settles and eventually goes to sleep but tonight as he was standing upright against the tank side on his hind legs he began to tremble then he fell flat and pulled himself forward with his front legs then his back legs trembled for a bit. This passed after about a minute then he stood up and breathed heavy for a bit then went up to his basking spot.
I am thinking that I have not solved this problem and was wondering if there is anything else I need to do. Here are a few other behavioral things that might help
He runs around the tank just fine on all fours. The position of his feet are correct. I don't notice swelling of the limbs but it is difficult to tell when he is this small.
He is quite alert, no sluggishness.
He appears to shed normally (he has shed three times now that I noticed)
He doesn't like be soaked in warm water yet but I need to do this more often.
He is still not used to be handled (he is handled around feeding times for short periods)
He has no trouble getting up and down his basking log.
He is eating well - should I be feeding him more crickets? but I want him to start eating more greens at the same time.
He tends to freak out when the Infrared light comes on. he tries to escape from the tank. Sometimes at night he sits under where the bulb is and some nights he just goes to sleep on the floor. How warm should is tank be at night at his age?
If anyone can give me any further advice or direction it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
He was born at the beginning of October and I got him when he was about 2 weeks old or so and he was 4 1/2 inches and weight about 4-5 grams during that time. He is close to 2 1/2 months now and I weighed him today at 21.3 grams and he is just short of 7 1/2 inches. He is in a 40 gallon Zilla cage but I have halfed it to 20 gallons for now. He currently uses cork bark (this is recent) to bask on. I switched him up from the vines from before because he was too large for them. Basking area at top is 105 degrees with a 100 w bulb. The range hood I have also has a full length 10% UVB repti bulb. At night the top of his basking area is heated with a 75 W infrared. Substrate used is powertowel which gets changed once a week and his tank is cleaned out.
Diet (starting three weeks ago) consists of crickets and salad in the morning. The salad consists of Arugula, Parsley, Chinese Cabbage, Bok Choy, Coriander, strawberries, raspberries, carrots, occasional kale, mangos mashed together. The crickets get dusted with Rep-Cal calcium everyday (no phosphorous and no D3) and with Calcium and Reptivite with D3 multivitamin every second day. He is fed 2 week old crickets about 10 in the morning and 10 in the evening two hours before is lights are changed for the night. Crickets are kept in a cricket keeper, watered and fed Flukes gut loading food. I know that I should have collard and mustard greens but these are unavailable at the grocery stores here so instead I looked up some references that show the Calcium
hosphorous ratios of vegetables and fruits to find some other alternatives that had Calciumhosphorous >than 1.5:1. At this point he eats some salad and I am not sure if he eats salad everyday.In the first two weeks that I had him he was fed romaine lettuce and mealworms (I now know this is wrong!) In the first week he did eat uncut up mealworms. Then I found out that food needed to be smaller so the worms were cut into pieces. Could I have caused him some damage with these larger worms??? He has never shown any sign of a blockage (pooping is always consistent and looks right) Worms were dusted with a multivitamin daily. I also tried chicken with broth baby food and blueberries and raspberries. At this time the UVB bulb I had for him (in this two weeks) had a lower % because it was one I use for my turtles. In the third week I cut mealworms out of the diet and replaced them with cut up pheonix worms; dusted and he was still fed romaine.
I then stopped with the phoenix worms because they spoiled so quickly. Is there a way to keep them longer like the crickets? He was still being fed romaine. At this point a week later I noticed while he was sitting on my arm that his back legs started trembling and he looked like he was throwing his head back. This quickly passed. the following week he fell from his vines, laying on his back on the floor his limbs were stretched out and stiff and there was some trembling. I phoned the reptile department at petland (There are a few there that I consult with about my painted turtles) and he suspected MBD and went over lighting, and diet and supplements. Since then I have changed the diet and added the daily calcium supplement as above. I thought things were going well until tonight because when I switched to the night light he was freaking out as he usually does when the red light comes on and he grabs at the tank sides like he is trying the escape. He usually settles and eventually goes to sleep but tonight as he was standing upright against the tank side on his hind legs he began to tremble then he fell flat and pulled himself forward with his front legs then his back legs trembled for a bit. This passed after about a minute then he stood up and breathed heavy for a bit then went up to his basking spot.
I am thinking that I have not solved this problem and was wondering if there is anything else I need to do. Here are a few other behavioral things that might help
He runs around the tank just fine on all fours. The position of his feet are correct. I don't notice swelling of the limbs but it is difficult to tell when he is this small.
He is quite alert, no sluggishness.
He appears to shed normally (he has shed three times now that I noticed)
He doesn't like be soaked in warm water yet but I need to do this more often.
He is still not used to be handled (he is handled around feeding times for short periods)
He has no trouble getting up and down his basking log.
He is eating well - should I be feeding him more crickets? but I want him to start eating more greens at the same time.
He tends to freak out when the Infrared light comes on. he tries to escape from the tank. Sometimes at night he sits under where the bulb is and some nights he just goes to sleep on the floor. How warm should is tank be at night at his age?
If anyone can give me any further advice or direction it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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