Dragonism
Member
EDIT: 8/27/2016 Jupiter has recovered from his ordeal. He started having bouts of thrashing and spazzing, which also included his head arching up and he couldn't control himself. After some time out in the sun, a vet appointment and a lot of patience, he has recovered. It appeared to be a case of MBD setting in. I'd like to thank everyone who helped me out with him; I was really scared I wouldn't be able to help him at all. He is alive and well now. This whole situation really taught me a lot about bearded dragons; keep in mind that MBD and other conditions can just happen very suddenly, and you have to act fast! If you'd like to see pictures or videos of his improvement, please feel free to browse the thread~
I originally posted in the behavior forum, but I was told to post here since it sounded more serious. So I'll just type everything thats going on.
Not sure what my little guy Jupiter is doing. But he recently started doing this thing where if I try to pick him up or approach him, he leans back real far and then starts bobbing his head really hard and fast with his beard blackened. Then he stops abruptly and waves his arms at me. Now I know from research that males beardies do this and its a dominance display, but I have no other beardies, just him. That and, I'm honestly kind of scared that he might be seizing or something because my last beardie's head went back in a similar fashion before she passed away. I know I might just be waaay over worrying, so I'd really love to know whats up with my boy and make sure that this is completely normal. I'm also 100% sure he's male.
His basking temps are 108, he is on papertowel substrate, he has a Zilla 18-Inch Desert 50 UVB T8 fluorescent bulb light mounted on top of the tank which I bought back in February I think. He last ate 2 days ago (he had 3 hornworms and a few dubia so he's still a bit full), his last poop was this morning and it was small but looked normal (he pooped A LOT yesterday). I calcium dust every other day. He likes to play with the papertowels and he has an exo terra mossy background that he can climb and snuggle against. Also he is about 1 year old; give or take a couple months. Here is a picture of him and his setup.
Aside from all of that, he's still pretty alert and active. He's not interested in eating though, but I'm not too worried. But he's doing the arm waving thing alot (he started doing it again as I typed this). I just wanna make sure I don't do anything to screw up with him. :c If it helps, only two sides of his tank are covered; the front and the right side aren't so that I can obviously peer into his tank. I'm not sure if he's reacting to his reflection or if he just doesn't like me lol. When I had my previous beardie, she never had a problem with the tank being partially covered. Jupiter has been like this since about yesterday after feeding him the other day. He's just been basking, beard has been black/grey but overall he's alert. He gapes alot too but I know he's just regulating his body temperature. When I take him out, he starts looking up really hard before observing normally. Idk whats up with the guy.
EDIT 1: I should also mention that he's seems a little disoriented before he starts the "bobbing" thing, which is whats scaring me and making me think something's wrong. Like he's roughly jerking his head back and disorienting himself before righting himself and start waving/bobbing. Kind of like he's throwing himself back/arching himself. Is that normal? I've only had him for several days so it could be that he's still not used to his environment. I noticed that in the morning he keeps on trying to "escape" through the top of the screen on the tank. I figured from his perspective it looks like he can get through but can't. I feel like because he kept doing this it might have disoriented him? Idk. This behavior didn't start until yesterday.
EDIT 2: I decided to take him out of his tank for a while. He was acting normal and looking around curiously. However, when I picked him up or pet him, his head went back again and he flopped all over the place before righting himself. I did some more research and... I think maybe he might have ADV or something. I'm crying right now. I JUST lost a beardie that was close to me. And now I'm starting over only to realize that I might be losing another one. Is there ANYTHING I can do? I don't want to say for sure he has it but... I'm scared and crying. Please help me. HE was acting just fine before and now this...
He was kind of acting weak at first and didn't want to move from the bottom of his tank, but then he got back up and basked. But then I heard him slip and looked to check on him. He was acting all discombobulated, however, he seems to be fine. He's alot more observant too. I'm REALLY hoping and praying that it isn't ADV. I'm going to try getting him to a vet tomorrow. Someone messaged me saying that it could also be MBD but he gets PLENTY of calcium. Right now, I'd really like if someone could just calm my nerves and tell some things I could do.
EDIT: Heres some videos of his behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWLMJYDZG-U&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsiXuHTKnuo&feature=youtu.be
I originally posted in the behavior forum, but I was told to post here since it sounded more serious. So I'll just type everything thats going on.
Not sure what my little guy Jupiter is doing. But he recently started doing this thing where if I try to pick him up or approach him, he leans back real far and then starts bobbing his head really hard and fast with his beard blackened. Then he stops abruptly and waves his arms at me. Now I know from research that males beardies do this and its a dominance display, but I have no other beardies, just him. That and, I'm honestly kind of scared that he might be seizing or something because my last beardie's head went back in a similar fashion before she passed away. I know I might just be waaay over worrying, so I'd really love to know whats up with my boy and make sure that this is completely normal. I'm also 100% sure he's male.
His basking temps are 108, he is on papertowel substrate, he has a Zilla 18-Inch Desert 50 UVB T8 fluorescent bulb light mounted on top of the tank which I bought back in February I think. He last ate 2 days ago (he had 3 hornworms and a few dubia so he's still a bit full), his last poop was this morning and it was small but looked normal (he pooped A LOT yesterday). I calcium dust every other day. He likes to play with the papertowels and he has an exo terra mossy background that he can climb and snuggle against. Also he is about 1 year old; give or take a couple months. Here is a picture of him and his setup.
Aside from all of that, he's still pretty alert and active. He's not interested in eating though, but I'm not too worried. But he's doing the arm waving thing alot (he started doing it again as I typed this). I just wanna make sure I don't do anything to screw up with him. :c If it helps, only two sides of his tank are covered; the front and the right side aren't so that I can obviously peer into his tank. I'm not sure if he's reacting to his reflection or if he just doesn't like me lol. When I had my previous beardie, she never had a problem with the tank being partially covered. Jupiter has been like this since about yesterday after feeding him the other day. He's just been basking, beard has been black/grey but overall he's alert. He gapes alot too but I know he's just regulating his body temperature. When I take him out, he starts looking up really hard before observing normally. Idk whats up with the guy.
EDIT 1: I should also mention that he's seems a little disoriented before he starts the "bobbing" thing, which is whats scaring me and making me think something's wrong. Like he's roughly jerking his head back and disorienting himself before righting himself and start waving/bobbing. Kind of like he's throwing himself back/arching himself. Is that normal? I've only had him for several days so it could be that he's still not used to his environment. I noticed that in the morning he keeps on trying to "escape" through the top of the screen on the tank. I figured from his perspective it looks like he can get through but can't. I feel like because he kept doing this it might have disoriented him? Idk. This behavior didn't start until yesterday.
EDIT 2: I decided to take him out of his tank for a while. He was acting normal and looking around curiously. However, when I picked him up or pet him, his head went back again and he flopped all over the place before righting himself. I did some more research and... I think maybe he might have ADV or something. I'm crying right now. I JUST lost a beardie that was close to me. And now I'm starting over only to realize that I might be losing another one. Is there ANYTHING I can do? I don't want to say for sure he has it but... I'm scared and crying. Please help me. HE was acting just fine before and now this...
He was kind of acting weak at first and didn't want to move from the bottom of his tank, but then he got back up and basked. But then I heard him slip and looked to check on him. He was acting all discombobulated, however, he seems to be fine. He's alot more observant too. I'm REALLY hoping and praying that it isn't ADV. I'm going to try getting him to a vet tomorrow. Someone messaged me saying that it could also be MBD but he gets PLENTY of calcium. Right now, I'd really like if someone could just calm my nerves and tell some things I could do.
EDIT: Heres some videos of his behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWLMJYDZG-U&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsiXuHTKnuo&feature=youtu.be