PLEASE HELP! Beardie Seizures??

[nikkistorms]

Hello all, I havent even made up my profile yet. My beardie is having seizures. Oscar is aprox 6-8 weeks old. Just purchased 3 days ago. Was perfectly healthy. Eating GREAT! Has a basking lamp, uvb reptisun 5.0 and a red night lamp. The pet shop was feeding him romaine lettuce. I do not know if she was giving him any calcium or vitamins. I will be going back tomorrow to find out. I give him pellets, turnip greens, fruit salad (bananas, bell peppers, grapes, mango) and tried dead crickets and mealworms(didnt eat). 2 days ago tried mealworms and pin head crickets, LOVED THE LIVE CRICKETS of course. Ate a few mealworms. Pooped today and yesterday undigested mealworms, so of course I stopped giving them. Hasnt ate at all today. I did dust the crickets and they are gutloaded. Today my hubby noticed him seizing. I took him out of the tank and he seized again in my hands. Lasts maybe 30-60 seconds. Happens mostly when he gets picked up. Gave him a warm bath to see if he was impacted. He doesnt feel impacted and he looks completely normal. Seized twice while in the bath. He eyes the crickets now but wont move to get them. He can lift his head and open his eyes normal. This is not my first bearded but it is the first I have had that seized. Please help!

 

[munchkins9802]

No need for the red night lamp unless temps INSIDE his cage -or your house drop below 65 but even then a ceramic heat emitter. the red night lamp will disturb his sleep

Whether or not the other person gave him calcium is important but MORE IMPORTANTLy is are YOU giving him the calcium needed and vitamins?

Very glad you stopped the mealworms--they can cause impaction.
how old is your dragon? how long --tip of nose to tip of tail?
how do you measure temps (BASKING SURFACE temp, hot side, cool side?)
What brand UVB bulb do you have
Is it compact, coil or tube?

Please stop the romaine, no nutritional value. Better for collards, dandelion or mustard greens. beautifuldragons.com has a beautiful nutritional chart that shows what is good and not good for beardies
What substrate is on the bottom of the cage?

 

[Goonie]

Oh dear! I am so sorry to hear that your baby is having seizures.
There could be many reasons for this onset: lack of vitamins/calcium, impaction, or just plain neurological issues from birth.
Given that he had pooped undigested mealworms, I'm hoping he's simply slightly impacted.
How are his back legs? Had the movements been compromised at all by the seizures? Had he been staring blankly into space?

If you are able to, get some liquid calcium and multivitamin, especially if he's not wanting live feeders that are normally being dusted with the powders.

 

[nikkistorms]

No need for the red night lamp unless temps INSIDE his cage -or your house drop below 65 but even then a ceramic heat emitter. the red night lamp will disturb his sleep

Whether or not the other person gave him calcium is important but MORE IMPORTANTLy is are YOU giving him the calcium needed and vitamins?

Very glad you stopped the mealworms--they can cause impaction.
how old is your dragon? how long --tip of nose to tip of tail?
how do you measure temps (BASKING SURFACE temp, hot side, cool side?)
What brand UVB bulb do you have
Is it compact, coil or tube?

Please stop the romaine, no nutritional value. Better for collards, dandelion or mustard greens. beautifuldragons.com has a beautiful nutritional chart that shows what is good and not good for beardies
What substrate is on the bottom of the cage?

I am ordering the Ceramic Heat emitters for all my reptiles tonight. I dusted the crickets with Reptivite Reptile vitamins with D3. He also eats the pellets which have vitamins. Today I mixed the powder with some water and dripped it on his nose bc he wont hunt.

I assume he is around 6-8 weeks old. He is 5 inches from nose to tail.
He moves his upper body fine. Right now he has been basking on his log all day. He watches the crickets but doesnt move to chase them. He seems completely normal until he seizes. He seems to have have complete control over all body parts.

Uvb bulb is ReptiSun 5.0 compact florescent but is like coiled straight instead of spiraled. I am ordering a regular ReptiSun 10.0 also.
I have never given him any lettuce. the lady at the shop was feeding him romaine. I will not be giving hm any of that. I use reptile carpet.

 

[nikkistorms]

Thank you for that link! GREAT SITE!

 

[nikkistorms]

Right now I have a zoo med thermometer but am ordering an infrared remote one tonight as well.

The tremors or twitches or seizures do not seem to affect his motor skills. But they are making him lethargic. He is moving about the log and rock regulating his temp but he still isnt eating.

I was able to pick him up just now and he didnt twitch or anything. I printed out the nutritional chart and am going grocery shopping tomorrow.

 

[morphmom]

Maybe the pellets? I know alot of people use them but my adoped adult's 1st family told me that Myah would have seizures when they tried her on them. They stopped the pellets and she's been fine ever since. I don't know for sure but it's an idea. Good luck :wink:

 

[kcarello]

You say you dust the crickets with Reptivite Reptile Vitamins, but you also need to dust with calcuim, Calcium 5 x a week, vitamins 2 x a week one feeding per day.

 

[nikkistorms]

You say you dust the crickets with Reptivite Reptile Vitamins, but you also need to dust with calcuim, Calcium 5 x a week, vitamins 2 x a week one feeding per day.

Hm. I will look into that. So you mean I need to ADD calcium WITH the vitamins?

 

[IvoryWhite]

Dust food with CALCIUM Mon-Fri. Vitamins on Sat and Sun. simple as that

 

[munchkins9802]

Also I am glad to see you using repti carpet. It sounds like you have caught him in the beginning of calcium deficiency--it can be curtailed and kept from progressing if the right steps are taken.
You said you had a repti Sun 5.0 COIL light--please turn it off. Glad you are getting the repti sun 10.0 make sure to get the TUBE, I am not sure what state you are in but if sunny take him outside for short periods at a time if not too hot and not too humid.

AS another poster said, calcium 1 feeding a day Mon-Friday, undusted for the other feedings those days and then vitamins Sat and Sun for one feeding only. Hopefully you offer food at least 2 times a day as much as he will eat in 10-15 mins

HE sounds exactly like our Hermes did but we thankfully found this board (but his MBD had already progressed) but yours sounds exactly like our symptoms

You say he is moving front of body okay, what about back part of body legs.

 

[diamc]

Yes, please turn the compact bulb off immediately. He will be better off without any UVB for a few days and even a wk rather than continuing to use that one. Taking him outside would be helpful but make sure you use a leash so that he doesn't get scared and get away from you. Those bulbs put out too much UVB in the beginning (dangerous output) and then decline very rapidly. So, this probably has a lot to do with his seizure activity.

Be sure to get a good way of reading temps right away too. Either an infrared temperature gun or digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end will give you accurate readings. Any type of stick-on thermometer can be off anywhere from 20 to 40 degrees.

As others have said, he needs calcium 5 days a wk & vitamins only 2 days a wk. You need to get 2 separate containers of supplements because he needs more calcium than vitamins and too many vitamins are not good.

Please keep us updated on your little guy, hope he can improve very soon.

 

[nikkistorms]

His back end moves fine. He moves fine. Except when he twitches or seizes or whatever he's doing. Won't the calcium be too much since the reptivite has calcium??

 

[kcarello]

No, it won't be too much. It won't be enough if you don't use the supplements as has been explained to you.

 

[nikkistorms]

No, it won't be too much. It won't be enough if you don't use the supplements as has been explained to you.

I just didn't want to give him too much. I will get him some calcium too.