hellllo pplz,
a friend of mine has a 3 or 4 month old beardie, who all of a sudden got paralized.
he is about 3 or 4 months and has been taken care of properly, right food, uvb, heatlamp, right husbandry. than one day his legs just out of nowhere became paralyzed!!!!! he eats well, poops well, but he just cant move his legs. a vet says it was coccidia. we r not sure about calcium supplements he gets. there are no injuries on his record. my mom is a homeopathic vet, so if any of you out there have holistic medical advice, suggestions, or any idea what is going on.
REPLIES ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED!!!!!!!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Hmm.... You see it is hard to rule anything out right now at the moment considering that you don't know about Calcium supplements. It could be severe
Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). Or there is still the possibility of an impaction, though if you information is true impaction is unlikely for he HAS been pooping regularly right? What veggies does he eat? What insects does he eat? Try to ask you friend if he is giving supplements and if so what brand. Also
what are the temperatures, and is he using a UVB source? Please answer these questions as to give us a clearer picture. There are still a lot of variables that need cancelling out.
The husbandry is very good, lighting and heat correct, diet consists of crickets and variety of vegetables and fruits supplemented with Calcium powder and some prepared Beardie food. No known injury or physical signs of injury, no obvioius impaction - the beardie is having poops. The paralysis came on suddenly and both front and hind limbs are involved. He can move the limbs, but cannot walk.
Otherwise very bright, eating, pooping, shedding. The paralysis came on very suddenly. The owner was told that coccidia were a possible cause????
I have heard of beardies not being able to metabolize calcium in the form of powder, and they have benefited from liquid calcium supplements. beautifuldragons.com carries it in liquid form, but I understand that it is difficult to dose.
Other than that, I have no idea - I also have no idea how one would tell if it is MBD. Has the dragon had x-rays?
It does sound like this beardie could possibly not metabolize powdered supplements. I have a 3 year old that at 5 months with a MVB light and repcal calcium develop full blown MBD. She recovered with little to no effects from it but she had lost use of all four legs and it took months to get her back to normal. She is maintained on liquid calcium. I would say a vet would be needed because giving to much liquid calcium is just as bad as not metabolizing it.
Adenovirus is known to cause the lack of metabolizing of powdered supplements.
Which UVB are you using? How close is it to him?
I would get a blood test first to determine his calcium levels to see if they are off & if they are just how off they may be. Does there appear to be any bone deformities that you can tell at the moment?
It sounds like a calcium absorption problem to me as well. The liquid calcium is processed much better than the powdered is.
At 3-4 months of age, he is growing rapidly. Is he a german giant morph, or do you know?
ty for the replys!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
my mom knows more about this then me, so ill show this to her when she gets home. i think she gave him a remedy, but idk if anything happened.