Hello,
It sounds like he has a lot of fighting spirit, bless him. How is he doing today?
We are all thinking about him & hope that he gets better.
Which brand of UVB are you using now, the Reptisun 10 T5 tube?
Be sure you keep him a little warmer over night to help him feel better. Around
75-80F is usually pretty good.
Keep us posted on him.
Tracie
Dustie is hanging in there. His appetite is better than a week ago but his tremors / seizures are the same, which means they are regular throughout the day. Any change in environment--sound or sight--often triggers them. Anytime he is moved for any reason, will always trigger one. Sometimes it's just tremors where he shakes in place but more often he runs in circles with his mouth wide open. I'm thinking the amount of energy he is expending through this is not good so I'm trying to leave him a lone for the most part after trying to feed him and
bath him. He must be expending more calories than normal.
He is most alert in the late morning and eats a little by hand. The last two days he has eaten 2-3 mealworms and the veggie mix by hand each day. However, this morning I just got a few small squirts of liquid in before he shut me out. Yesterday, he accepted a small spoonful of the more solid part of veggie mix. After his morning meal and
bath he just wants to nap the rest of the day unless he's having a seizure.
To me, it looks like his fat pads on his head are gone. I'm trying to get him to eat as much as he can though.
We do use a ceramic heat lamp at night to keep his cage warm. Yes, the UVB is a 34 inch Reptisun 10.0 UVB T5 high output tube.
I feel like he could have MBD because of his tremors/seizures and receding nose/jaw. I don't notice a "rubber jaw" but his nose is definitely more rounded and shorter it used to be. (Long sigh....) Perhaps this is the case of too much calcium or an absorption problem causing MBD (since we gave him calcium powder w/ Vit D daily).
His mouth rot seems like it's improved with regular betadine treatment. His tail rot seems the same. There are a couple of small sores on the top of his head behind his eyes that I've treated with topicals and they are not getting worse at least.
My main question now is, will his seizures ever subside? Once it's in his nervous system will he always have them? Has anyone had a dragon who had lots of seizures and they went away? He's had multiple a day for a week now. What I've read about MBD is that it can be reversed with care IF it's caught early enough but not if it's set in. Caring for him for months would be okay if his seizures went away eventually. But they are so often it is definitely not a quality of life. It's hard to watch.
Here are a few photos from today. Sometimes I think he might have swelling in his legs, like one is larger than the other. I'm also wondering about his knees. Are they getting scale problems? Is it from seizures or rot? I've given him a few betadine/water baths too.