Slim may have MBD. Could I have some advice?

[Dreamwritten]

EDIT: Sorry, I just realized this is in the wrong thread! I'm not sure how to delete it, so hopefully the mods can? I'll post this in Health in the meantime.

Hi guys,

I think Slim may have a slight case of MBD. He doesn't have an entire underbite--the very tip of his mouth/lips line up just fine--but his bottom lip does seem to protrude past his upper lip on the sides. A few weeks ago, I noticed some scabbing/blood on the exposed part of his lower lip which thankfully has gone away for the most part.

Honestly, a slight case of MBD would make sense for him, as he's been a picky eater (especially with greens) his whole life. On top of that, he was in a low tank for a while, which meant the only place I could keep his ReptiSun bulb was over the mesh.

He's 3 years old now, in a bigger tank, and I recently put his ReptiSun inside his actual tank which should hopefully help. I've been giving him more feeders and dusting them for him in hopes of getting him enough calcium, and providing him with greens every day even though I rarely see him eat them (and when he does, it's only a few small bites). He has feeders probably about 3-4 times per week right now.

What can I do to help him out? Would dusting feeders and the better UVB exposure be enough for this? Should I give him dusted feeders every day? Forgive the lack of picture; I'm at work, but I'll post one of his mouth up once I'm home!

Thanks so much,
Cristina

 

[Dreamwritten]

Hi guys,

I think Slim may have a slight case of MBD. His posture/bones seem fine and he doesn't have an entire underbite--the very tips of his mouth/lips line up just fine--but his bottom lip does seem to protrude past his upper lip on the sides. A few weeks ago, I noticed some scabbing/blood on the exposed part of his lower lip which thankfully has gone away for the most part.

Honestly, a slight case of MBD would make sense for him, as he's been a picky eater (especially with greens) his whole life. On top of that, he was in a low tank for a while, which meant the only place I could keep his ReptiSun bulb was over the mesh.

He's 3 years old now, in a bigger tank, and I recently put his ReptiSun inside his actual tank which should hopefully help. I've been giving him more feeders and dusting them for him in hopes of getting him enough calcium, and providing him with greens every day even though I rarely see him eat them (and when he does, it's only a few small bites). He has feeders probably about 3-4 times per week right now.

What can I do to help him out? Would dusting feeders and the better UVB exposure be enough for this? Should I give him dusted feeders every day? I currently give him crickets and super worms with the occasional horn worms, but I'm thinking of buying some phoenix/repti worms too.

Forgive the lack of picture; I'm at work, but I'll post one of his mouth up once I'm home!

Thanks so much,
Cristina

 

[AHBD]

Hi Christina....a picture would be really helpful but it doesn't sound like he's in bad shape. It is a bit odd that it's the sides rather than the front that are slightly misaligned. Just lightly dust one meal a day, and if you can take him out in the sun that would be good, too. Most otherwise healthy beardies with slight underbites have no real problems.

 

[AHBD]

Hi Christina...I replied to your same post in the general forum.

 

[Dreamwritten]

Ah, that's so good to hear AHBD! Thank you!

Yeah, his lips line up enough that there isn't a significant underbite in the front or anything, but as you can see, the sides of his lips definitely protrude:

The very tip of his mouth is often open a bit with his little tongue sticking out, though. :? It'd be cute if I wasn't worried about it! Haha

 

[AHBD]

Aw, he is a cutie ! That looks more like a possible slight irritation of his gums rather than MBD. Is there any way you can get his mouth to open a bit ? If there's any infection then you want to have a qualified reptile vet check it out. You want to be sure there's nothing that can turn in to mouth rot. For now you can dab a bit of raw honey on those spots [ like from a health food store ] Raw unpasteurized honey is a natural antimicrobial. If you do use it though, be sure there are no loose crickets left in his tank.

 

[Drache613]

Moved & Merged both threads by Moderator from General to Health

 

[Dreamwritten]

Thank you to the moderators for merging the threads!

AHBD, thank you for your response. Sorry I've taken so long to get back. I hope you see this!

I took pictures of his gums as best I could. I see some pink/orange-ish coloring on his lips that are kind of scabby, but the inside of his mouth looks fine to me, no? Healthy and pink... no black rot or anything.

Here's what I could get:

Sorry if the pics aren't too clear! I put some raw honey on his lips as you suggested, but by this morning, his lips were stuck together and there was a small drool puddle beneath his mouth. I pulled his lips apart and they looked scabby again.

I'm getting a little worried and I'm starting to think about taking him to the vet. I've just been holding off to see what people here say first, as I'm low on money and the only vet with even slight reptile experience near me is $125 just for the base exotics visit. :\

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

His mouth & gum area look healthy to me. How long has the scabbing been occurring?
Have you bumped up the temperatures slightly for basking in case he may have a little bit of a respiratory issue going on? You can also increase his overnight temperature in the tank to around 80 for help with boosting his immune system also.
How is he acting otherwise, is his appetite good?

Tracie

 

[Dreamwritten]

Thanks for your input Tracie! His basking area has 2 75 watt lamps now that it's getting colder out, and it's usually in the low 100s. I'm going to start using the CME for nighttime temps again since my apartment gets to about 68 or so at night now.

Ugh, I'm a little worried. I don't know if it's from his lips being stuck together from the honey (I washed it off) or what, but I got home yesterday and they looked crusty and a tiny bit bloody I have no idea what this could be!

His lips have looked off for months now. At first they were just a bit off-center so I thought it was MBD and figured I could treat it myself with some extra calcium in his diet and moving his ReptiSun into the tank itself, but then he started exhibiting scabbing and whatnot. It's been very on and off, though. The first sign of dry blood/scabbing was a few weeks ago, then it went away, so I thought he was fine. Now it's occurring again.

His appetite is about the same as it always is, which is not very high. He's always been a picky eater and will barely nibble at his veggies, if at all, and he will eat feeders around 3-4x per week.

I did notice that he refused his crickets the other day, though, so I wonder if something is up. I'll try to get another couple of pictures tonight.

 

[Dreamwritten]

Hi everyone,

I took Slim to the vet and got an ointment to try on his lips. It helped with the scabbing/peeling/bleeding, but they are still protruded.

I'm thinking it's MBD or something but it'll require a costly X-Ray and bloodwork to be sure... should I maybe try getting him some extra calcium for a while to see if that helps? I got him some repti worms but he won't eat them so I've been trying to give him horn worms and dusted feeders as often as possible.

Thanks!

 

[AHBD]

Hi Christina....Slim's gums actually look good in all those pictures right from your first post. Any pooling under his chin after the honey application would have just been extra honey, and honey can't keep him from opening his mouth. Do you have pics from when it looked scabby ? If there was any slight scabbiness is there a possibility of a cricket hiding out in the tank decor that came out at night to nibble on him ? They can get in the basking logs and other objects and hide away pretty good.

Is he maintaining good weight still even though he's not eating ? Him not eating is likely related to the time of year, brumation is natural or at least a slow down when most beardies lose their appetite.

Can you post a picture of his body ?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How often are you able to get calcium into him now? Does he have any other physical deformities present?
His gums looks fine there in the picture. I am not sure what would be causing the scabbing unless it was just retained shed that had gotten stuck possibly. At least they have improved though.
He is probably starting to slow down for brumation somewhat, as a lot of them are now.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[Dreamwritten]

He's doing well! He doesn't really eat his veggies, so I try to get him dusted feeders around 5x per week. The lips are no longer scabby so that's good. Just protruding/a bit misaligned. I guess I'll just keep an eye on it.

 

[AHBD]

That's good to hear ! I'm glad that he seems to be doing well, good for you.