Strange way to stand?

[Sweetheart1016]

I'm pet sitting for someone with 2 bearded dragons, and I noticed her girl stands strangely on both front feet. At first I only saw one and assumed her crazy kids had accidentally broken it, but both being strange might have a cause. I tried straightening one to see if she could, but it seems not.

She shows no other signs of an issue. Back feet are fine, no under/overbite, no wavy tail, no droopy eyes or rubber jaw. She is small for a 1.5+ dragon (estimate: 14"), and pretty hefty, but otherwise she seems fine.





I didn't bring my standard equipment (ruler, scale, infrared temp gun), but will be measuring and uploading stats of the dragon/tank later tonight.

 

[CooperDragon]

That looks to me like it could be a form of MBD. Do you know what her diet consists of? And what they're using for UVB?

 

[Sweetheart1016]

I cannot find my scale anywhere, so I don't have a weight on her. She's about 14", though, and pretty fat.

Basking spot - 110-127 degrees F.
Cool side - 64 degrees F
UV and ceramic heat emitter about 3" from her basking spot.
UV - Reptisun 10.0 CLF (no idea when last replaced)

Tank has branches, hammock, tile for substrate, and a tinfoil dish of dirt/sand for digging. 40 breeder tank.

Diet - currently collards/red lettuce for greens and superworms for bugs. She switches between superworms and phoenix worms though. Looks like she does dust the worms, since the bug dish was caked with white powder (I cleaned it). She says she usually puts about 7-10 supers in the dish each morning. When I directly offered Bella the bugs, she wasn't interested in them, though it looks like she ate about 5 since yesterday morning. The other dragon ate every one when directly offered.

I remember the owner telling me that Bella was gravid at one point in spring of last year. Could the mild MBD be caused by the deficiency then?

 

[GothicDeath]

Looks like MBD also to me but not sure. As for basking I would get it to 102-110. Anything over 115 is to hot and the cool side around 75 is best. At night the tank can get as cool as 65 but i like to keep it at 70.

Also, don't use the compact ones. They can cause problems get one of the T5 HO ReptiSun® 10.0 UVB. Yes they are more pricy but worth the extra money and will not cause problems like the compacts do.

 

[Sweetheart1016]

I completely agree with you, but unfortunately I'm only pet sitting til Sunday and I don't necessarily want to step on any toes. So should I suggest a second low temp heat lamp on the cool side and switch the UVB to a normal fluorescent fixture?

 

[CooperDragon]

That's a pretty big temperature gradient for a 40g tank. I agree with trying to lower the hot side a bit but given that much of a gradient she should be able to self regulate. I would suggest that they replace the CFL UVB with a T5 linear bulb as well because that will provide a much more even distribution of UVB across the basking area rather than a very narrow, intense band that the CFLs produce. The Collars are a very good staple with plenty of calcium and the dusted supers and the Phoenix Worms should provide enough. You're right in that it's possible this is related to a deficiency from being gravid. Does she show any other signs of problems aside from the wrists?

 

[Sweetheart1016]

Not that I know of. No curved spine, no wavy tail, no underbite, no jerking, no swelling. Just the weird wrists. The house is chilly, and I can see she'd tried to help the temps by putting tin foil on top of the cages to keep heat in. I will say she doesn't seem to move much - She was cold when I picked her up yesterday, and I haven't seen her out of the basking spot where I put her since. She must have moved to get the bugs at some point, though.

 

[CooperDragon]

They tend to move around a lot over the course of the day judging from what I see in my webcam and a time lapse video another user posted. Does it seem to bother her to walk or stand on her wrists like that? If not, and there aren't any other symptoms, then it may not be a huge deal. Her diet is decent, she has enough space and a good temperature gradient. I'd still suggest the upgrades/changes mentioned but I'm not sure that it will reverse what's already done and she may not be at risk for further damage given the current setup.

 

[Sweetheart1016]

She didn't like when I tried to mess with them, but otherwise she's perfectly fine with them. Thanks for the help - I really just wasn't sure what it was. I'll suggest the changes, and I'm sure she'll be fine.