Possible MBD

[Finleythebeardie]

I think Finley might have MBD, its hard to tell tho because his back is messed messed up already and some of the MBD symptoms he has could be from that. I looked at some photos of bearded dragons that have mild mbd and I can see a lot similarities to Finley. It’s also very plausible that he has mbd because for the first month or so I had him I was clueless and he didn’t have correct lighting at all. And I don’t know what his setup was like before I had him but he was still a baby when I received him. Now he has a reptisun T8 bulb that is about 8 inches up from the floor but he has some decor that is a little closer to it. It doesn’t have a proper reflector yet but there is tin foil on it to reflect. He has gets calcium powder dusted in his food every other day. And his symptoms haven’t gotten any worse at all but I just want to know if what I’m doing is correct. He’s my first beardie and I’m still learning but I hope I’m doing a good job. I also heard that if I’m using a mercury vapor bulb your calcium powder shouldn’t have D3 in it. My calcium powder has D3 but i don’t know if my bulb is a mercury vapor bulb. So if anyone could tell me if I should change to a calcium without D3 or not I’d be very thankful. I’ll try to attach pictures of his set up and if him in the replies.

 

[KarrieRee]

There is a picture of how to use tin foil on the General Discussion board at the very top it says Do You Use a Sunblaster T 5 fixture - bring up that post ---- scroll down and it shows how to set up the tin foil--- now there is a fixture w/ a reflector for $32 on this site www.pangeareptiles.com under fixtures go there and look -- can you afford $32 ? If so I would look at ordering it and you can change that T 8 out to a T 5 -- order the 24" if you can
Karrie

 

[Finleythebeardie]

This is his set up

In this photo you can see how his leg is folded under him which is how he normally stands

You can see how he has a big underbite but that could be because of his broken back

Here’s this photo taht really shows how messed up his back is. For Rosie if you who don’t know he broke his back when he was really little, before we got him. And his back legs dorm work very well.

This is the calcium powder I use

This also shows his leg being folded under him.

This is him on his rock

 

[CooperDragon]

An x-ray might help to show his bone density more clearly. His issues may stem more from the broken back than from MBD. You might consider using a T5 bulb instead of the T8 but at 8'' the T8 should be sufficient (not ideal). The calcium you are using should be fine. If his appetite is good you can include some calcium rich foods like collard greens and black soldier fly larvae.

 

[KarrieRee]

Do you have the tin foil on top of the fixture or behind the bulb - it looks like its on top of the fixture-- it need to be behind the bulb ---did you look at Brandons post on the tin foil? General Discussion Board?
Karrie

 

[Finleythebeardie]

The foil is behind the bulb but wraps around to the top. Finley normally eats collard greens or mustard greens as an everyday base vegetable (he eats his their things mixed in with it tho) and he has a good appetite. I’ll definitely try the black soldier fly larvae as well. Thanks!