destiny1998":18j3as9u said:Hi. Nice looking dragon. It looks like he could have gout. Usually caused by too much protein. You can give him some black cherry juice that helps break down the uric acid crystals. You probably should take him in and get a blood test to be sure and they'll probably prescribe some medicine for it.
Great! Thanks for the advice. I'll try and get him in asap. At the vet. He'll take a fluid sample to determine gout? Do you have any idea the cost? I have a second dragon as well, he was failure to thrive and I had to isolate him with an entirely new set up... Very expensive. He's doing far better and even growing. But the costs definitely add up. $85 just to be seen. Anything else would help.traildrifterphalanx":1cgx12as said:He looks so much like my boy Richter, hits close to home.
Black cherry juice is a great start to help break down the crystals, but I'd still recommend he be seen by a vet when you can. Gout can be very serious, and the fact he's dragging his foot says he's very uncomfortable and likely in pain. It doesn't look too severe, but as mentioned it's best to get confirmation on what you're dealing with
Drache613":3apc3jkt said:Hello,
He is a nice looking dragon! I agree, it is most likely gout developing, poor thing.
If you can, a blood test should confirm it so you can get him started on treatment.
For gout, Allopurinol is highly effective especially if caught early.
Black cherry juice extract or even Tart cherry are excellent for helping break down
gout crystals, naturally. So I would get him started on that as soon as you can. You can
give 1ml, daily of the juice & he should like the taste of it, also.
How many feeders do you give weekly?
Which UVB are you using, is it a compact/coil light?
Tracie
traildrifterphalanx":1kxvezm8 said:Hey Jenny,
I'm glad you have the tart cherry juice coming!
I'm unsure if this plays a direct impact on his gout situation (I have to imagine it does), but his uvb exposure is much too low. Those compact/coil bulbs are already pretty weak, but that 13w uvb light is not doing much for him. I'd recommend getting a 26w coil right away, or if you have the means/money to upgrade to a reptisun 10.0 t5 and fixture, I'd do that sooner than later.
The coil bulbs at a 26w above screen only put off rays about 6" from the source, meaning he'd need to stay 6" from that light at all time to benefit. With yours being a 13w I'd have to imagine that he'd need to be half that distance, or 3", to get any use from the bulb. Even a reptisun 10.0 t8 mounted above screen is 6-8" for benefits, where a t5 tube brings that to about 12" to benefit, huge difference. It's also worth noting those coil bulbs and t8 bulbs need to be replaced every 6 months as the uvb it puts off diminishes, whereas a t5 bulb is once a year. Food for thought.
It's possible his weak uvb exposure is making it difficult to process his nutrients correctly, resulting in gout.
mygirlz":2mpqy11i said:Here are some more pics.. I don't mean to be gross but I have posted a pic of his poo so that you can see he is not dehydrated, at least I don't think. Also I posted a picture of his uvb light. And him in his water dish. He let's his swollen foot float. I posted a close up of the swollen foot as well as the other one for comparison. I help him to the tree for his basking area. I also moved his uvb bulb over the top of him in hopes it will help.
Sigh...Invest in the following :
an ExoTerra NanoHood + 26W UVB200 , mount it near the basking globe UNDER THE SILLY SCREEN MESH viv lid (cable tires will do the trick) - need to be able bask about 8 inches or less from the 26W UVB200 in Nanohood
or
a 24W T5 reflector hood + a 24W 10%-12%uvb tube , mount under the mesh screen lid.
The 13W 5% UVB compact is inadequate for a bearded dragon , even more so mounted in a dome ONTOP of the mesh lid because
>> it only produces 5% UVB and it is very weak in wattage so not very bright in UV or visual, your beardie would virtually have to wear the dome as a hat to get sufficient UVA and UVB from it.
>> it is on top the mesh lid, so
1) it is too far away to be of any benefit (UVA and UVB) to your beardie
2) it is having over 30% of the UVA and UVB blocked by the mesh lid
3) it is mounted vertical so only a narrow beam of light is produced.
This is high priority because
1) inadequate UVA will result in a poor apetite and longer term neurological problems
2) inadequate UVB means he can not metabolise dietary calcium to make serum VitD3 the result longer term is MBD and other issues.
mygirlz":1v54esnz said:traildrifterphalanx":1v54esnz said:Hey Jenny,
I'm glad you have the tart cherry juice coming!
I'm unsure if this plays a direct impact on his gout situation (I have to imagine it does), but his uvb exposure is much too low. Those compact/coil bulbs are already pretty weak, but that 13w uvb light is not doing much for him. I'd recommend getting a 26w coil right away, or if you have the means/money to upgrade to a reptisun 10.0 t5 and fixture, I'd do that sooner than later.
The coil bulbs at a 26w above screen only put off rays about 6" from the source, meaning he'd need to stay 6" from that light at all time to benefit. With yours being a 13w I'd have to imagine that he'd need to be half that distance, or 3", to get any use from the bulb. Even a reptisun 10.0 t8 mounted above screen is 6-8" for benefits, where a t5 tube brings that to about 12" to benefit, huge difference. It's also worth noting those coil bulbs and t8 bulbs need to be replaced every 6 months as the uvb it puts off diminishes, whereas a t5 bulb is once a year. Food for thought.
It's possible his weak uvb exposure is making it difficult to process his nutrients correctly, resulting in gout.
Ok. I actually think I may have misspoken. My other dragon actually has the coil light. Elliot does have the 10.0 Reptisun as it came with the aquarium, which I bought in February. I will add a picture of it so you can see... I will also purchase a stronger ubv bulb asap. If you can give me any more info I'd appreciate it.
<<< is the reptisun 10.0 a T8 or a T5 tube , and is it in a reflector hood ? and is it mounted ontop or under the mesh lid ?
<<< how long each day are the lights on ?
Jenny
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