Update on New Beardie with MBD!

[amberwor]

Hi everyone! I posted in the Beardie ER forum 2 days ago about my 6 month old beardie with MBD, I saved him from Petco and am trying to give him the best life he can have and hopefully get him as healthy and normal as he can be having such severe MBD. I got some great suggestions off of the Beardie ER forum and put those to good use, so I wanted to give an update on my lil guy Bean.

We went to the vet yesterday and it went well, he's been getting calcium injections every 8 hours and I'm still dusting his food with calcium w/ d3. I took advice from some people on the Beardie ER and redid his tank so that it could be perfect for him and this is what I've done:

I raised the floor of his tank to get him 6 inches away from the UVB and heat lamp. He's so tiny I prefer not to put any raised basking areas for him because I'm worried he'll fall off.

I cut out a rectangle shaped piece of mesh on my tank hood so that there was absolutely nothing blocking the UVB and I switched my bulb to the Reptisun 10.0 UVB.

and of course, here's the lil guy himself. He is such a cutie and I am absolutely obsessed with him haha he's my littlest baby and I couldn't be happier that I brought him home with me

So yeah, just wanted to update this for anyone who saw my other forum and if y'all have any more suggestions of what to do for baby Bean, I am all ears!! Thanks everyone who helped me out

 

[AHBD]

All the adjustments look great , the tank is much better suited for his disability. How's his appetite , what is he eating ? Are you giving him injections yourself ? Did the vet not prescribe a liquid calcium ? The injections can be helpful but can also cause pain and injury to a beardie, especially a baby. How many more are you supposed to do ? I would strongly suggest seeing if you can get liquid calcium.

 

[amberwor]

All the adjustments look great , the tank is much better suited for his disability. How's his appetite , what is he eating ? Are you giving him injections yourself ? Did the vet not prescribe a liquid calcium ? The injections can be helpful but can also cause pain and injury to a beardie, especially a baby. How many more are you supposed to do ? I would strongly suggest seeing if you can get liquid calcium.

Last night he didn't eat anything and I think it was because I tried right after one of his injections. When he does eat, I've been feeding him dubia roaches and I'm trying to get him to eat some greens but he is not interested in those haha. I am not giving the injections myself because he's so tiny they didn't want me to puncture any organs or anything, so I take him back to the vet twice a day to get them done. They didn't prescribe any liquid calcium, just told me to keep dusting his food. I have 2 more injections to go, one tonight and one tomorrow morning then we figure out a new plan to go from there with him. I will talk to the vet and see if liquid calcium is a possibility that I can get once his injections are over!

 

[AHBD]

Those injections are too stressful, on top of going back + forth to the vet. I'd ask for liquid calcium right away.

 

[AHBD]

Hi again, just wondering how your baby is doing ?

 

[amberwor]

Hi again, just wondering how your baby is doing ?

Hi there! He's actually doing pretty great!! I took him to the vet on Saturday and he got his last calcium injection, I asked for liquid calcium like you said and she was worried about giving it to me because since he's so tiny, the dosage wouldn't be a drop it would be like... PART of a drop. So instead she just said to keep dusting his food and if I see any decline in his health to bring him back and if I don't see any decline, I'll be going back in 3-4 weeks to get another set of X-rays to see how his bones are developing.

So far, I haven't noticed any declining, he actually has more life in him than I've seen when I got him and is eating just fine. He looks like he's going to be shedding soon which makes me so happy because that means he's growing He's doing absolutely amazing! I think the tank change was a big help, I usually never see him bask, but once I changed up the tank, I've seen him up against the small rocks I have as a basking area and he's standing up and soaking up the heat and UVB!!

Thank you for checking up on him and thank you for all the help!!

 

[AHBD]

That's great, glad to hear the little one is doing so well ! Hope he/she continues to improve.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

He is a tiny one for sure, very cute.
I am sure the new light will really help him out. Does he eat a good amount, to where he
will get enough calcium powder on his bugs?
I hope he continues to improve for you!

Tracie

 

[amberwor]

Hello,

He is a tiny one for sure, very cute.
I am sure the new light will really help him out. Does he eat a good amount, to where he
will get enough calcium powder on his bugs?
I hope he continues to improve for you!

Tracie

Hi Tracie! Isn’t he the cutest?? Hahaha, but yes he usually eats a good amount! Anywhere from 3-6 dubia roaches and I try to feed him twice a day.

 

[amberwor]

Hi guys! I don't know who will all see this since this forum is kind of old, but today Bean gave us a HUGE scare )-:

My mom went to turn the lights on in the morning for all my reptiles, and she found bean on his back stuck in between his hide and his water bowl. She said his arms were up straight and he was very stiff, she freaked out and pulled him out and placed him in her hands and rubbed his back trying to warm him up, he was so cold and stiff. And then his legs started twitching, she held him underneath the heat lamp and he slowly just started coming back to life and moving every body part. So even after this scare HE IS OKAY!!! He is alive!!

He ended up eating two roaches 2 hours after my mom found him so that he could have some time to warm up before eating anything. She said he just seems pretty stiff today after that whole thing.

We've decided to take out his hide so that we can prevent him getting stuck in between anything again, so that if he ever flops onto his back he can get himself out of it. It was a very scary thing to hear and I'm sure see for my mom, but I am just very thankful that we were able to bring him back from whatever state he was in considering we have no idea how long he had been on his back.

I'm not sure what to do for objects in his tank now since we're worried about this happening again. Also, does anyone know if he by chance was dead/close to dying and we caught him at a good time or if he was just in shock? I know they can't breathe when they're on their backs, but it was just amazing that he came back from that state.

 

[CooperDragon]

I can imagine how scary that must have been! I'm glad to hear he is OK. He may have just been stuck and gotten cold and started to shut down out of preservation. Either way I'm glad you got to him in time to help him out. I agree that it's best to reconfigure things a bit to help prevent him from becoming stuck again.

 

[AHBD]

Just checking in on Bean again, how is he doing ?

 

[amberwor]

Just checking in on Bean again, how is he doing ?

Hi! Sorry for the late reply! Bean is doing fantastic, he’s moving around a lot more, well.... more like flopping around but he definitely knows how to move haha. He eats like a horse, we’ve started giving some greens and he eats about 10 crickets a day and honestly I think he could totally eat more but we don’t want to push it. He’s currently going through his 2nd shed since we got him which makes me feel like a proud lizard mama cause that means he’s growing <3 all in all, I couldn’t be happier with his progress and I really appreciate all the help I got on my forums from you guys and I am so appreciative that you remembered him and checked on him

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

So sorry I missed your other update, that must have been very scary to have seen him in
that position! I am happy to hear that he was ok & still alive, bless him.
That's terrific he is doing much better now. Is he able to stand up on all fours yet, or
not quite? At least he is eating a lot right now!

I'll check back in for updates on Bean.

Tracie

 

[amberwor]

Hello,

So sorry I missed your other update, that must have been very scary to have seen him in
that position! I am happy to hear that he was ok & still alive, bless him.
That's terrific he is doing much better now. Is he able to stand up on all fours yet, or
not quite? At least he is eating a lot right now!

I'll check back in for updates on Bean.

Tracie

It was very scary but luckily we haven’t had that problem again!! He still can’t stand on all fours, his back legs kinda just get dragged around but he does stand alert on his front two! I’m not sure if his back legs will ever work but even without them he knows how to get around haha! Thank you for checking in on him