UGH... I think my beardie is showing signs of MBD...

[BabyScorchDragon]

Poor Scorch has just been through the ringer... I'm really afraid we're seeing MBD and not shedding. (I'm holding onto a TINY shred of hope that it's shedding...)
It started 3 days ago. I noticed one front claw was a little floppy and misguided. Bent under sometimes. But no other issues at the time. He also got some random crickets on Monday. We were waiting on our first mail order shipment of dubias. The dubias came on Tuesday. I ordered small, but he's definitely been used to eating extra smalls. I really don't think the smalls were too big for him. He ate them without problem. And has pooed regularly. So, I'm ruling out impaction? Maybe? The next day I noticed his other front claw was also floppy and would bend back under him. His legs were just seemingly useless- but not consistently. By yesterday he only ate 1 dubia and the back legs appeared to be coming affected. He looked pretty rough last night. Dark stress lines and very dull color. Today, he got a really really good soak in warm water with a drop or 2 of liquid calcium. He seemed to perk up a little. At least his color appears better and the stress lines are lighter. He is still mobile (albeit very clumsy) and very alert. Just his limbs aren't fully functioning. Refused food. Pooped in his salad. The poo looked completely normal, minus the fact it was sitting in some liquid. He was very receptive to squash baby food with some liquid calcium mixed in and squeezed bit by bit on his mouth. He didn't eat much. But at least a little something.

He has also started a shed on his front legs.

So, here's the specifics: he's about 4-5 months old, was without uvb for 2-3 weeks about a month ago due to some bad advice.
UVB issue corrected. He has the repti sun 10.0 T8. Basking temps are spot on 95-105. Pic shows a stick on thermometer, but I'm also double checking with a probe. Substrate is paper towels.

You can see in the pic, he appears ok. But when he starts walking, his legs just kind of go wherever.

Is there ANY remote chance this is "just" shedding behavior?!?

My course of action is to continue with baby food/liquid calcium/multivitamin fed by syringe. Daily bath with calcium drops. I'm also going to order Phoenix worms and today I experimented with trying to get his uvb light in the tank and not setting on top of the screen. Am I missing anything????

 

[JessPets]

Being so young, she SHOULD be fine. Now that you have correct lighting, hopefully any adverse effects will disappear

 

[BabyScorchDragon]

The only thing is, these symptoms just came on in the last 3 days. He's had proper UVB lighting for at least 3 weeks now. He was doing amazing last week! Super appetite, in fact, he was going through so many dubias, it was no longer affordable to buy at the local pet store! I feel like we are always taking one step forward, 2 steps back with this guy. I absolutely adore him, but good gracious! I'm so ready for us to hit some smoother sailing!
I guess there's a lot of things still in our favor... he's not completely immobile. I got him out and he just scurried up and down my arm without difficulty. Occasionally his front feet turned under but for the most part he was ok. Then you set him down and he falls on his face because his front legs are folded up under him. I'm at a loss! I guess for now, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing... I do wonder at what point I should consider critical-care type supplements??? Anyone have thoughts on that?

 

[JessPets]

I just PM Drache613, hopefully she can be more helpful than me

 

[BabyScorchDragon]

Thank you... I'll take all the input I can get... poor baby... ??? keeping my fingers crossed for the little cutie... I did notice his back legs are starting to shed tonight... sure would be nice if this weird behavior was just him freaking out over shedding!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am sorry your dragon is having this trouble. It's never easy to reverse issues like this.
Hopefully you caught it in time before too much neurological damage was done.
Are you putting calcium drops in the water or giving them to him straight?
Be sure though, that you have adjusted his basking & UVB spot a little lower to the ground so that he doesn't have to climb so much. If his bones are compromised he could hurt himself if he fell too far.
The tube bulb should be 6-8 inches from him with no screen or plastic covering the light.
Is he still eating on his own? If so, then you shouldn't need to intervene with syringed or assisted feeding unless he is unable to eat on his own or losing weight.
He looks good physically & very alert.
Be sure to give calcium 5 days per week, once daily. I would recommend giving the liquid calcium right now because it's more readily absorbed than powder.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[BabyScorchDragon]

Well, this morning is almost the same, perhaps a smidge better. He ate one dubia on his own...snubbed any more. But one is better than none and the fact that he crawled to it on his own... He did quite well with a squash/chicken babyfood and liquid calcium and multi-vit slurry. I say quite well... he was interested in it and lapped it off mouth/nose, but total amount was MAYBE 1ml. I'll take it, given that he's very alert and seems happy... just struggling with leg control. I did remove a precarious "pillar" that he liked to lay across... he's been struggling climbing on it with the leg problem. So, now he just has his basking rock, which is multi-level enough, he doesn't seem to have a problem with it and his hide. Going to work on attaching the uvb light to the under side of the screen now.
I'll hold off on any critical care type stuff, as it does seem he *wants* to eat, but maybe just tires too quickly to get his roaches.
Thanks so much for your help! I'm really hopeful, that thanks to this forum, I caught on pretty fast and could make necessary adjustments quickly.

 

[DragonDMagnet]

Is he/she okay? Did he/she get better?

Also I once had a problem with my beardie being too tired to do anything and just lay down sleeping all day until I found out he was just a all nighter! He would stay up eating the dry meal worms and then glass surf having a good time! :lol:
I fixed the problem of coarse. :mrgreen: