totally new need some help

[energizerabby]

mine and my husbands bearded dragon just started having problems. we came home last night and the dragon was fine. when i got up this morning he had fallen between the basking rock and the wall of the aquarium and was just laying there. my husband picked him up gently and laid him down in the cage but he wont use his back legs at all. we started researching and found out that the basking light that the girl at the store helped me pick, didnt have UVB. so we just got the uvb light and put it on but im really worried about him. any other things we can do for him?
- Age: we have had him since feb of this year, and he was small then, dont really know how old he is
- Size maybe 8 inches total snout to tail tip
- Size of the enclosure 10 gal tank
- Temperatures i have just learned that the stick on thermo's are useless but they read cool 80 hot 90
- Type of substrate reptile carpet
- Diet crickets about 5-8 a day, and greens every couple days (salad mix from the store)

 

[KaylaElizabethM]

What kind of salad mix have you been getting from the store?
Do you have a herp vet?

 

[energizerabby]

Just regular salad mix, and we give him the lettuce and carrots. No onions or anything like that.
And no we don't have a herp vet

 

[KaylaElizabethM]

What kind of lettuce is in the mix? Spinach is not good for beardies.
You should probably look into finding a herp vet to get him checked out.
It sounds kind of like your beardie might have metabolic bone disease, because he went a bit long without a UVB light.

 

[diamc]

What brand & type of UVB did you get him and what is the distance of it? How often are you dusting with calcium and vitamins?

A 10 gallon tank is very small so it's hard to get the right temps. Can you tell us what the wattage of the basking bulb is? You really need to get either a temperature gun or digital with a long wire & probe end, it's critical that you find out what the temps really are.

Has he been pooping daily or every other day? What type of substrate do you have on the bottom of his tank? How often do you bathe him?

 

[energizerabby]

no spinach, it has iceburg and carrots. (i wont give him the red cabbage thats in it). we just tear it into tiny pieces or chop it up to feed it to him.
we got a reptisun 10.0 UVB desert for him that we just got setup.
the basking bulb is 75W and the red light we have for nighttime is 75 as well. we have been using the basking from 7am to 7pm and the red from 7pm to 7am *we have an automatic light switcher*we were told today just use the red one 24/7, and the UVB 12 on/12 off.
my husband has a digital thermo he has to get from storage tmw.
he poops every day to every other day, and we have reptile carpet substrate. hes never had a bath til this morning, and it was just warm water and some pedialite cuz we thought he was impacted but with the way his front ..."Hands" (?) are turned, we and the guy at animal jungle (who has had beardies for a decade, and breeds them as well, plus takes care of them at the store-they are the local "everything from normal to exotic" place in our area) are thinking MBD.

 

[energizerabby]

so we just tried to feed him a dusted cricket, and he kinda perked up when he caught the smell, but wouldn't even open his mouth to try to eat. i gave him a drop or 2 of water from an eyedropper (thats all he would take, he doesnt usually drink much at all just bathes in his water dish on his own), and put a few drops on his back so he wouldnt dry out.
we got the UVB set up,
the tank is 2 feet long by one foot wide by one foot high (regular 10 gal tank)
we had a screen on the top, and we were putting the lights on the screen but the UVB protrudes from the dome we have so we have taken the lid off for now. it sticks like 3 in. down into the cage, but its still like 8 inches from him.

 

[diamc]

Since they do much better with a bright white basking bulb, it's not a good idea to use the red bulb for that, rough on the eyes. Is the Repti-Sun a strip fluorescent or a coil/compact bulb?

Good that you will have a digital with probe to use tomorrow.

Sounds like he is walking on his wrists which certainly sounds like MBD. How often have you been dusting with calcium & vitamins?

A vet visit would be a good idea, may give him a calcium injection and possibly needs a B12 injection. Do you have a reptile vet near by?

 

[energizerabby]

we had been using the white basking light during the day and the red at night just changed it after talkin to the guy at the store. and the reptisun is exceptionaly bright.
and the reptisun is not a strip, its like 3 tubes that go down to the middle and come back up does that make sense?
looks like this

we werent dusting before today. when i got him in feb. i got "cricket feed" which is loaded with calcium, and was supposed to be the "better" way to do it, and i found out today its totally useless. so we got the calcium +D3 stuff, coated 2 crix and tried to feed him one with tongs and he wouldnt touch it. im kinda worried about him dehydrating too. we put a lil water in his dish,but idk that he can realy get to it and kinda worry he might drown if he does.

 

[energizerabby]

here is is tank and him.. the tall rock was originally for feeding, supposedly to induce "natural feeding habits" but the crix wouldnt come out so we just let him climb on it now and he loves it. the short flat rock is where he basks, just got it for him like 2 weeks ago and he seems to love it, we took it out right now because its what i found him between that and the wall this morning when we discovered he couldnt use his legs.normally it sits right where he is now, under the light. up til earlier today, the red light was a whight light, and the UVB wasnt there and there was a lid on the cage.

(*ignore the dates, i never reset the dates on my digital camera*)

 

[ziggy23]

lettuce has almost no nutrition whatsoever. iceberg is basically eating water. Greens should be offered daily.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html is a very good nutrition guide. Buying a fresh is cheaper than buying the bags, and in my experience last longer. They only cost me a buck or two and feeds all 3 of my dragons for the week with a little to spare for my crickets. You can chop it up all at once if you want to save time later in the week.

The red light, is not too good. For heat, you could actually use just a standard household bulb. They need bright white light. Their eyes were designed for living outside in a sunny region. They don't see very well without it. Unless you keep your house cold then at night you shouldn't need anything. I use a ceramic only during spring and fall. We can get some pretty big temp drops overnight. I understand those red or black lights can disturb their sleep.

I've also heard all those compacts uvbs are no good.

 

[diamc]

He does not look good at all. If it was MBD, you would have noticed some twitching and muscle spasms before now. I really think he injured his spine when he fell. The end of his tail is very dark and his eyes look like he is in pain, you need to take him to a vet asap, they may need to put him out of his misery. He can't go on like that, this is very serious.

 

[energizerabby]

he slid off the small basking rock, not the big one. and his tail has always been darker at the tip. his back legs and tail have spazzed a few times today, idk if thats "normal."
he did try to jump out of my husbands hands last night when he was being held and my husband caught the dragon against his own body *just found that out sorrys*

hes alert and looks at me, and moves a little but only by his front legs.

 

[energizerabby]

they dont have any problems with like, ultrasonic stuff do they? i got one of those "ridx" pest things you plug in the wall yesterday, and it says you cant use if you have "rodent" pets, like gerbils or hamsters, but i didnt think it would hurt a lizard. i know its proly a dumb question but .... never hurts to ask right?

 

[diamc]

I have no idea about the ultrasonic Ridx but I think it would be a good idea to unplug it anyway.

So, before today, you had not noticed any twitching or muscle spasms in any of his legs at all or any slight shaking of the head? He may very well have MBD but I also think the fact that he was jammed between the glass and a rock caused an injury to his spine, you won't know for sure unless you get an xray and any type of vet can do that. It isn't fair for him to be in this state, he can't go on like this. It isn't just the tip of his tail that is dark, it's 3/4 of his tail and that is a sign of pain.

ziggy23 is right, the coil and compact lights are not a good UVB light, even though it is a Repti-Sun, what you need is a Repti-Sun 10.0 strip fluorescent like this: http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html He also needs more calcium with D3 but phosphorus-free so should be getting it 5 days a wk, but only 1 feeding a day and also vitamins the other 2 days a wk, but only 1 feeding a day. Liquid calcium would be the best for you to use since he has been without any calcium and UVB for so long.

It's also true that they need a bright white basking bulb NOT a colored bulb so I suggest you use a standard household light bulb instead. Since he is so far away from the heat bulb right now since he can't move around and since you don't have a good thermometer, it's hard to say what wattage to use.

It's also true that beardies need to be fed better greens/veggies and the link to the list that ziggy23 gave you, will fill you in on what those would be and good staple ones should be fed daily. Had he only wanted to eat 5 to 8 crickets a day or is that all that he was offered?

Do you have dog or cat vet that can take a look at him right away & do an xray to find out what the real problem is? I feel so bad for the little guy.