POSSIBLE MBD??

[Ophelia3178]

Hello, My bearded dragons back leg began twitching for about a minute. His staple diet is phoenix worms and his UV lamp is 5 months old, the dragon is 7 months old. I have just ordered new uv bulbs, repti sun 10 is what i have ordered. Right now i have exo terra repti glow, dont know anything else about it. I feed him staple greens such as kale and collard greens, and often raspberries and grapes, and sometimes crickets. Should i be worried? should i bring him to a vet or just wait for my uv lamps to come in? Please help im quite worried...

 

[Tonja]

I would turn off the repti glo for now since its possibly the culprit. He will be fine a few days without UVB. You can take your beardie outside to get some natural UVB. Keep him out provided its warm for about 20-30 minutes. Natural sunlight will do him a world of good. I would also stop feeding kale since its high in oxalates and will bind the calcium so he cant utilize it. For a 7 month old he needs 80% protein to 20% greens. My 5 month old eats about 70 crickets a day and his greens. Make sure you dust his crickets with calcium with d3 for one feeding per day for 5 days and the other 2 days one feeding per those two days of a multivitamin. I use herptivite for my vitamins and reptical for my calcium. There is an excellent nutritional chart at beautifuldragon.com that most of us here follow, its color coded to show what to feed as staples, what to feed occasionally and what to never feed. When they reach a year old then it switches up to 80% greens to 20% protein and you can dust 3 times a week with calcium and 2 times a week with vitamins. Temps for his basking spot should be between 100 and 110 degrees measured on the basking spot with either a temp gun or a thermometer with a long wire and probe on the end. The mid tank range should be 85 to 90 degrees and the cool side should be 75 to 80 degrees measured the same way. His basking spot should be between 6-8 inches from his UVB mounted inside his tank with a bright white basking blub next to the UVB. He does not need light at night as it will disturb their sleep cycles and if your home falls below 65 degrees at night you can use a CHE <ceramic heat emitter> for added warmth, it provides heat but no visible light. The care sheet to the right under top content is an excellent source on care for your beardie. I hope this helps.

 

[Ophelia3178]

Thank you.

 

[Tonja]

You are very welcome.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Please let us know how your dragon is doing. I hope that he makes some improvements for you soon once you place the new UVB light over him.
You could consider getting some liquid calcium to help increase calcium absorption.

Tracie

 

[Ophelia3178]

OKAY I AM ANGRY. his uv bulb had been expired before I even took it home. is this possible, could he have been okay for 5 months :0 ps I went to the store to get him a new bulb. I'm too worried... seriously he seems really well! Alert and active everything! I'll let you know how he's doing.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

OH no, so he has been without UVB longer than you realized? That is too bad.
He should get back on the right track though with a new light you are getting. How is he doing today?


Tracie

 

[Ophelia3178]

Copernicus seems well. I sprayed him and he waved at me and his leg twitched a bit. he's eating well, but he isn't eating much greens anymore but he seems well. the lighting is in!

 

[Drache613]

Hello!

Great, I hope the new light really helps him out.
Sometimes it does take a bit of time for them to eat their greens. Have you tried putting in some small worms or brightly colored pieces of fruit or veggies in with the greens to see if that helped out?

Keep us posted on him.

Tracie

 

[Ophelia3178]

I've tried that. but he only eats the things that interest him, (grapes, raspberries, worms) I have even stuffed the raspberries holes with greens but he spits the greens out *facepalm* and eats the raspberry.

 

[CooperDragon]

You could try changing the greens up. They're all a little different and he may have a preference for one over the others.