Sudden Aggression & Odd Behavior

[Jormungandr_22]

My beardie, Jormungandr or Sassy George, has always been grumpy since I rescued him 1 year ago but he's suddenly really aggressive. The gal I take him to for nail trims has always been really good with him as she has her own special needs beardies so knows how to handle him well. Side note, he has very obvious MBD due to his awful treatment from his previous owners. Anyways, he was very actively trying to bite her the last time I took him in a couple of weeks ago. A day later, he tried his best to take the end of my finger off, I'm just lucky he's not very strong due to his health. He used to ask for head and neck rubs each day but now if I try to get near him, he attacks. He has also been refusing to eat ANYTHING since his last, very rough, shed ended a couple of weeks ago. I'm kinda at my wits end right now because I can't get him to eat, drink, have a soak, nothing. Last soak I gave him he really tried to attack me which is very unusual since he loves his soaks and usually fall asleep in the water.

Any suggestions would be amazing as I just don't know what to do anymore. He is about 11 years old now which I think might be a factor but I'm just lost.

 

[KarrieRee]

My beardie, Jormungandr or Sassy George, has always been grumpy since I rescued him 1 year ago but he's suddenly really aggressive. The gal I take him to for nail trims has always been really good with him as she has her own special needs beardies so knows how to handle him well. Side note, he has very obvious MBD due to his awful treatment from his previous owners. Anyways, he was very actively trying to bite her the last time I took him in a couple of weeks ago. A day later, he tried his best to take the end of my finger off, I'm just lucky he's not very strong due to his health. He used to ask for head and neck rubs each day but now if I try to get near him, he attacks. He has also been refusing to eat ANYTHING since his last, very rough, shed ended a couple of weeks ago. I'm kinda at my wits end right now because I can't get him to eat, drink, have a soak, nothing. Last soak I gave him he really tried to attack me which is very unusual since he loves his soaks and usually fall asleep in the water.

Any suggestions would be amazing as I just don't know what to do anymore. He is about 11 years old now which I think might be a factor but I'm just lost.

Please go over the temps in the tank both ambient and surface basking temps- and your UVB those all play a role in everything you are describing- are there other animals around him that could of triggered this behavior - are you using any kind of colored bulbs in the tank? We need to rule out the husbandry of the tank and for this to come on so suddenly is odd unless something in the tank is off

 

[LittleFairySoul]

Sudden aggression usually means some sort of pain or discomfort - unless it's behavioral. I'm assuming with his age, it's most likely some sort of discomfort. Have you had his stool tested for parasites? Sometimes when they have parasites they can become quite uncomfortable and this can cause them to act aggressive.

 

[AHBD]

I agree with LFS, his age might already incline him to stiffness and some pain but having MBD on top of that is probably causing him even more pain. If you haven't tried already , use a syringe to feed him smoothies or some Oxbow Critical Care for reptiles [ find online ] or some Repashy grub pie , online or in pet stores.

 

[Jormungandr_22]

Please go over the temps in the tank both ambient and surface basking temps- and your UVB those all play a role in everything you are describing- are there other animals around him that could of triggered this behavior - are you using any kind of colored bulbs in the tank? We need to rule out the husbandry of the tank and for this to come on so suddenly is odd unless something in the tank is off

He's got a good gradient of temps and such. He's got great UVB lights and everything. The only kind of colored bulb is his lamp for at night that looks like a blacklight type of color. No new animals around him or anything. He's actually been back to normal the last couple of days now. I'm almost wondering if the last bit of shed he had, as this started, was painful. He's been having really rough sheds lately cause his mobility is really bad. He's 11 years old and already had pretty bad MBD before I got him a year ago. He's finally not trying to tear my fingers off and enjoying his soaks again. Still as picky of an eater as before but seems to be doing fine now.

 

[Jormungandr_22]

Sudden aggression usually means some sort of pain or discomfort - unless it's behavioral. I'm assuming with his age, it's most likely some sort of discomfort. Have you had his stool tested for parasites? Sometimes when they have parasites they can become quite uncomfortable and this can cause them to act aggressive.

I'm thinking it had to do with his last shed that was pretty rough. They've been getting progressively hard for him so I've had to assist more. We've also had some drastic and sudden drops in temperature then the opposite within a day of each other here in Utah. His joints are probably really bugging him. I'm looking into some stuff to help ease his discomfort.

 

[Jormungandr_22]

I agree with LFS, his age might already incline him to stiffness and some pain but having MBD on top of that is probably causing him even more pain. If you haven't tried already , use a syringe to feed him smoothies or some Oxbow Critical Care for reptiles [ find online ] or some Repashy grub pie , online or in pet stores.

I'm definitely looking into getting him some critical care and trying to find my blender.

 

[KarrieRee]

He's got a good gradient of temps and such. He's got great UVB lights and everything. The only kind of colored bulb is his lamp for at night that looks like a blacklight type of color. No new animals around him or anything. He's actually been back to normal the last couple of days now. I'm almost wondering if the last bit of shed he had, as this started, was painful. He's been having really rough sheds lately cause his mobility is really bad. He's 11 years old and already had pretty bad MBD before I got him a year ago. He's finally not trying to tear my fingers off and enjoying his soaks again. Still as picky of an eater as before but seems to be doing fine now.

Is the black light a ceramic heat emitter than has NO light and heat only or an actual black light bulb?

 

[LittleFairySoul]

I'm thinking it had to do with his last shed that was pretty rough. They've been getting progressively hard for him so I've had to assist more. We've also had some drastic and sudden drops in temperature then the opposite within a day of each other here in Utah. His joints are probably really bugging him. I'm looking into some stuff to help ease his discomfort.































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Srrapept ase































































































































































































































































I'm thinking it had to do with his last shed that was pretty rough. They've been getting progressively hard for him so I've had to assist more. We've also had some drastic and sudden drops in temperature then the opposite within a day of each other here in Utah. His joints are probably really bugging him. I'm looking into some stuff to help ease his discomfort.































































Serrapeptase is a great anti-inflammatory

I'm thinking it had to do with his last shed that was pretty rough. They've been getting progressively hard for him so I've had to assist more. We've also had some drastic and sudden drops in temperature then the opposite within a day of each other here in Utah. His joints are probably really bugging him. I'm looking into some stuff to help ease his discomfort.

Serrapeptase is a great anti-inflammatory if you can get your hands on some. @Drache613 sells it on her online store for a very reasonable price. Or, you can offer some silkworms which naturally produce serrapeptase. It would definitely help ease his discomfort.

 

[KarrieRee]

I'm thinking it had to do with his last shed that was pretty rough. They've been getting progressively hard for him so I've had to assist more. We've also had some drastic and sudden drops in temperature then the opposite within a day of each other here in Utah. His joints are probably really bugging him. I'm looking into some stuff to help ease his discomfort.

Humidity in the tank is imperative to shedding- are you using a digital probe hygrometer? Analogs are inaccurate?

 

[Jormungandr_22]

Is the black light a ceramic heat emitter than has NO light and heat only or an actual black light bulb?

It's a ceramic based bulb that does emit a small amount of light

 

[Jormungandr_22]

Humidity in the tank is imperative to shedding- are you using a digital probe hygrometer? Analogs are inaccurate?

I have multiple digital humidity/temperature thermometers in the tank. I also make sure he gets more warm water soaks during his sheds to help.

 

[KarrieRee]

It's a ceramic based bulb that does emit a small amount of light

No lights on at night--- you want a ceramic heat emitter it emits no light- how is the progress going for getting some relief for the pain? Did you look at Drache613's website? Humidity in the tank is imperative to shedding ---

 

[KarrieRee]

I have multiple digital humidity/temperature thermometers in the tank. I also make sure he gets more warm water soaks during his sheds to help.

Too many baths will dry the scales out - are you using digital probe gauges for the humidity and the surface basking temps? UVB is also important here - NO coils please --- all this must be on par for his health