Symptoms of MBD or brain damage?

[Motherofdragons628]

Hey guys,

So my younger dragon Bebe is about 9 months old now, we got her at christmas & in the first week after we brought her home there was an incident with our older dragon who bit her on the head. Other than some eye bruising, she seemed to come out of it unscathed (and i thank all of the responses & support i got from the post immediately following that incident, thanks guys!)...

Now 6 months later, i'm worrying that she may be showing signs of MBD, but my husband is convinced she may have brain damage from the incident as a baby, effecting her motor function.

She has some of the symptoms, flipping hands, wonky legs, just generally a limited control of her limbs. She kind of throws her arms & legs forwards in order to run, it looks like she's just extremely uncoordinated.

But, she literally shows NO other signs. She is ALWAYS energetic, she has NO problem hunting crickets, always a hearty appetite, not lethargic, healthy poops daily, gets up on her basking spot for the majority of the day every single day, runs around when i take her out, she can climb anything with no problem, no tremors, no bumps on spine, tail, etc.

I have an exoterra 10.0 compact 26w uvb 150 on her, 8in from basking spot, temps are right, dust her crickets with d3 phos-free calcium powder at least 3 times a week, gut load them, she eats collards daily (mixed with other salad/fruit varieties that i switch out weekly, staying away from any that inhibit calcium absorption). She's in her "older brother's" old tank setup since he got a new larger tank & he has never showed a single sign of any health issue, he's now a year & 8 months old.

I am buying her the same bulb in uvb 200 on friday (when payday hits) & also have been looking at liquid calcium supplements to try to give her a boost. This issue has been going on for about a month & a half, it's starting to get worse with the motor function issues.

So my question is, does this DEFINITELY sound like MBD? Or could it be brain damage? I'm fine with having a special needs dragon if she'll always be a little uncoordinated, as long as she's happy & comfortable i don't care. But if it's something i can help & is possibly reversible if treated, i would like to try to do anything i can to help her.

Has anyone else experienced a baby who survived head trauma & had issues later in life? Also what liquid calcium do you guys recommend?

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, sorry that Bebe is having trouble. She does sound like a happy sweetheart though. I'm sure that it has nothing at all to do with the slight bite way back when [ I looked at the old pics ] There was no trauma to the head, just a little bruising to the eye which wasn't serious at all.

So it's probably a calcium or vit. deficiency. Do you give her any multi vitamin ? If you can get her out in the sun everyday for 45 minutes or so that may help.

 

[Motherofdragons628]

I don't currently give either of them a multivitamin but have been wondering if it would help with the issues she's been having at all. And i've been gradually getting her used to going outside, so she gets an hour or so of natural sunlight once or twice a week right now. She seems terrified of being outside still, & we don't have many window opportunities right now since we don't have central air so a.c. units are taking up the windows. But i try to get her in the natural sun as much as she can stand.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. I would buy a better uvb. Either a reptisun 10.0 t5 or a Arcadia 13% long tube. Those coils don't put off the proper amount of uvb.

 

[AHBD]

A good bulb like Destiny mentioned will help with better uvb strength as well as taking her outside. Try a good reptile mutlivitamin, just a very light dusting twice a week in case she has a deficiency.