Newbie beardie owner: severely bent tail. MBD?

[Pmac]

Hi. I believe my beardie is about 5 months old (bought in Dec '17 from Petsmart) and he had been doing fairly well. He's shed several times and has grown so much. I can't say specifically when I noticed it but my beardie has developed a severely bent tail. There hasn't been any injury and when I feel his tail it is a bit bumpy all the way to the tip. I dust his crickets with calcium powder daily and his crickets receive calcium enriched food and "cricket quencher". Too much calcium perhaps? He also eats some collard greens and loves butternut squash.

I am just so worried! Your opinions and recommendations are appreciated. Thanks!

PS Here are his pics. Viv empty bc I was feeding him. First pic is one of him from December! He's gotten so big.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Very severe metabolic bone desease and a failure to thrive .... the kink in the spine / tail is permanent , the failure to thrive is likely due to husbandry (but can be fixed but will always be smaller he could have been had had a better start in life (he still has 18 months of growth in him).

Need very detailed information on :
diet
feeding schedule
growth (a graph of length and weight over time)
temperatures (basking spot, warm zone, cool zone)
how you are measuring these temperatures
photoperiod (when lights are turned on / off each day
cohabitation with another dragon ?
line of sight to another reptile ?
photos of viv and lights
type of uv source (%UVB , wattage, in a dome or reflector hood, brand of source, age of source, where is located (distance from basking spot)
type of basking globe (is it coloured)

Flying blind without all that to start .

 

[kingofnobbys]

Hi. I believe my beardie is about 5 months old (bought in Dec '17 from Petsmart) and he had been doing fairly well. He's shed several times and has grown so much. I can't say specifically when I noticed it but my beardie has developed a severely bent tail. There hasn't been any injury and when I feel his tail it is a bit bumpy all the way to the tip. I dust his crickets with calcium powder daily and his crickets receive calcium enriched food and "cricket quencher".

<<< ditch cricket quencher / water crystals , best source of moisture for insects is fresh leafy greens or chunks of fresh carrot.
Too much calcium perhaps? He also eats some collard greens and loves butternut squash.

I am just so worried! Your opinions and recommendations are appreciated. Thanks!

PS Here are his pics. Viv empty bc I was feeding him. First pic is one of him from December! He's gotten so big.

If you are still using the original UV source (globe , betting it's a 13W 10UVB globe sitting in a dome on top a mesh top). Ditch the old globe - it's worthless and no longer producing any UV after 5 months, their life is only 6 months tops.).

At the very least he needs a much more powerful UV source as he is not able to use the Calcium he is getting , he needs very high levels of UVB to metabolise calcium and produce VitD3 and to make healthy bone.
In the short term -
replace existing compact 10UVB globe (if this is what you have) with an ExoTerra 25W UVB200 and mount it in an ExoTerra Nano- Hood mount UNDER the mesh lid, make sure the basking spot is no further than 8 inches from his UVB source.
longer term -
a 24 inch t5ho 12%UVB Arcadia tube in a reflector hood mounted under the mesh lid and not more than 12 inches from the basking spot will help immensely with his future growth and development.

Temperatures must be checked.

rest - see my other post.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, sorry your little guy is in such condition. You probably don't have a growth chart but his size is within the average for a 5-6 month but he could be bigger. His problem, as you suspect and as mentioned is severe MBD. Since he's eating calcium dusted food it will most likely come down to what type of UVB bulb you have. What exact type = brand is it and can you show pics of the entire tank, including the lights ?

 

[Pmac]

Thank you so much for your replies. I really appreciate it.

Here is more info regarding my Beardie:
• Purchased from Petsmart in Dec 2017; assuming he was about 2 months? Now is approx.. 5 months?
• Eats veggies in the morning: usually a collard, mustard and turnip green blend, plus butternut squash (or other squash)
• Eats approx. 20 crickets 2x a day
• I dust crickets, alternating between with Fluker’s Reptile Vitamin with beta carotene and with Rep-Cal Calcium with VitD3.
• Crickets are fed Fluker’s High Calcium Cricket Diet and Cricket Quencher calcium fortified
• I rarely bathe him but keep fresh water in his viv.
• He has shed 3-4 times so far.
• Hasn’t been basking lately. I will place him on his basking spot and he gets down. Temp is bet 100-110. Cooler side is 75-80.
Set up is a Zoo Med package consisting of
• a 20 gallon terrarium with screen top.
• 12” terrarium hood with ReptiSun 5.0 UVB Compact Flourescent Lamp.
• Combo Deep Dome Lamp fixture with 100W Repti-Basking Spot Lamp (which I have already replaced) and 100W Red Infrared Heat Lamp (I don’t use the red one).
• I use a “carpet” lining for a substrate.

I am also looking for a reptile vet in my area too.

Thanks!

 

[AHBD]

You actually have it set up nicely, good use of basking + climbing areas. The bad news is that the compact bulbs do not produce anywhere near the right amounts of uvb for dragons to absorb their calcium. That is what caused his problem. Get yourself a Reptisun 10.0 t5 long tube uvb and although it won't straighten the tail it can halt the progression of MBD. Getting him in the sun [ but never in a glass tank ] can help as well. And you'll need to replace the 20 gallon with at least a 40 pretty soon.

 

[Pmac]

Thanks again for your reply. I'm going to try getting her out into the sun to see if that helps as well as replace the UVB lamp. Glad you mentioned the tank size. It seemed okay to me but she is growing quickly!

Here's a pic of her current set up.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Thank you so much for your replies. I really appreciate it.

Here is more info regarding my Beardie:
• Purchased from Petsmart in Dec 2017; assuming he was about 2 months? Now is approx.. 5 months?
• Eats veggies in the morning: usually a collard, mustard and turnip green blend, plus butternut squash (or other squash)
• Eats approx. 20 crickets 2x a day
• I dust crickets, alternating between with Fluker’s Reptile Vitamin with beta carotene and with Rep-Cal Calcium with VitD3.
• Crickets are fed Fluker’s High Calcium Cricket Diet and Cricket Quencher calcium fortified

<<< ditch cricket diet and quencher rubbish .... feed the crickets with fresh high calcium greens , and chunks of fresh carrot , and I've found repcal adult bearded dragon pellets straight from the bottle is very good cricket food and goes a long way and helps fortify the nutritional content of the crickets (is better bug food than dragon food by a very long measure).

ffer greens and salad late in the day, so he gets more insects , he needs the insect protein and fats and calcium much more than the greens and salad at his age.


• I rarely bathe him but keep fresh water in his viv.
• He has shed 3-4 times so far.
• Hasn’t been basking lately. I will place him on his basking spot and he gets down. Temp is bet 100-110. Cooler side is 75-80.

<<<< how sure are you of the temperatures ?
(especially at the basking spot and warm zone, if he's not staying there ==> it's a lot hotter than you think and he's leaving to cool off.
Set up is a Zoo Med package consisting of
• a 20 gallon terrarium with screen top.
• 12” terrarium hood with ReptiSun 5.0 UVB Compact Flourescent Lamp. <<<< throw the 5% compact in the bin , it's worthless ,he needs at least a 25W UVB200 compact , make sure it's mounted UNDER the mesh lid and no further than 8 inches from his basking spot.
The mesh will be blocking about 40% of the UV if you place it ontop the mesh lid (BAD IDEA).
• Combo Deep Dome Lamp fixture with 100W Repti-Basking Spot Lamp (which I have already replaced) and 100W Red Infrared Heat Lamp (I don’t use the red one).
<<< throw the red globe in the bin with the 5% UVB compact.

• I use a “carpet” lining for a substrate.

I am also looking for a reptile vet in my area too.
<<< we can help there : state and country is all we need.

Thanks!

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

http://www.anapsid.org/vets/#vetlist

This site will most likely be very helpful for finding a vet in your area.
Just know once she reaches about a year old she'll need at the very least a 75 gallon or a 4x2x2 enclosure. 40 gallons may work but they don't provide much room for the bearded dragon to truly thrive in.

You actually may get a 75 gallon cheaper than the 40 depending on the type and when you get it. Petco usually has dollar per gallon sales and the 75's only cost around 97 dollars.