What’s wrong with my bearded dragon!

[Giligan06]

I have a 6 year old male bearded dragon who used to love climbing everything and running around exploring but now he rarely moves inside his tank and barely even when I let him free roam outside of it. He seems to have trouble supporting himself on his legs and spends most of his time laying on his stomach. He also has his eyes closed a lot and doesn’t even respond to being picked up sometimes. His diet consists of greens, red calorie pellets, calcium powder, and meal worms. Does anyone know what could be wrong and what I can do to help him? Thanks!

 

[Sue E.]

Can you share what you are using for his uvb light and his heat (basking) light? Size of his tank? If he is taking in any water? What greens do you feed? Is he pooping? How often? Does he have any other live insects or worms other than mealworms? How often does he get mealworms/insects? How long since hes had the change in behavior and health? If you can provide us some more info, we can maybe steer you in the right direction. Pics of your beardie and his enclosure will also help. Thanks!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

As requested by Sue E. please post the type/brand of UVB lighting, temperatures in your tank & how
you measure them, & nutrition & supplements given. Pictures of your dragon, along with your tank
setup would help greatly.
It sounds like he could possibly have some metabolic bone issues, but need more information first.

Tracie

 

[Giligan06]

Can you share what you are using for his uvb light and his heat (basking) light? Size of his tank? If he is taking in any water? What greens do you feed? Is he pooping? How often? Does he have any other live insects or worms other than mealworms? How often does he get mealworms/insects? How long since hes had the change in behavior and health? If you can provide us some more info, we can maybe steer you in the right direction. Pics of your beardie and his enclosure will also help. Thanks!

I am not ex

Can you share what you are using for his uvb light and his heat (basking) light? Size of his tank? If he is taking in any water? What greens do you feed? Is he pooping? How often? Does he have any other live insects or worms other than mealworms? How often does he get mealworms/insects? How long since hes had the change in behavior and health? If you can provide us some more info, we can maybe steer you in the right direction. Pics of your beardie and his enclosure will also help. Thanks!

Yes. We have the zoo med dual light set up with the heat basking light and uvb lamp.im not quite sure the size of his tank. He has a water bowl and I also frequently spray him water. I usually feed him spinach or kale for green and sometimes some cut up grapes or strawberry. He usually only poops when I let him free roam, so I’d say once a week. I only feed him mealworms and that’s about every other day. I’ve noticed these changes within the past couple of weeks, he’s gotten increasingly more lethargic and less alert to anything. I will attatch pictures of him from tonight as well. He seems to be doing worse, and now has weird breathing patterns.

 

[Giligan06]

 

[Sue E.]

It is the uvb. The pet stores lead a lot of people down the wrong road with uvb. What you need is a special kind of tube style uvb..this one:
Zoomed Reptisun T5 10.0 bulb in a zoo med hood fixture. NOT the coil bulb. The coil bulb is very bad. Please buy the tube type as soon as you can! It is literally like life or death for them. The zoo med white plain reptisun basking bulb is fine for him but replace the coil one with the tube type and then shut the coil side off or take it out when you get the tube.
Next, you need a digital probe thermometer. They are around $7 at petsmart..a yellow digital thermometer with a wire and probe. Lay the probe on your basking spot for at least 15 minutes to see what the temp is. He needs a basking temp of 95-100 since he is an adult. No lower or he wont be able to digest his food.
Now, his diet. He cant have spinach...it is very bad for him. The kale is good. You can also give him collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, or arugula. Dont bother with the fruit...its not very good for them, he needs leafy greens more. Pick up some Repticalcium with and without vitamin D3. Since he has not had the right kind of uvb light, you should dust his greens and his bugs with the Calcium/D3 2x a week and the Calcium without D3 the rest of the time. Only once daily with the dusting.
Lets start there. He needs to see an exotic vet as soon as possible. He looks like he may be suffering from MBD, which is a calcium deficiency that causes deformities.
Im going to flag some folks who can help you more with lighting, heating and diet. Not trying to scare you, but your little dragon is in very bad shape right now. Thank you so much for caring and coming to this forum to get him some help!
@xp29
@Drache613
@AHBD
@Claudiusx

 

[Sue E.]

Also, most dragons dont recognize a water bowl and wont drink from it. Try a clean plastic eyedropper and drip a couple drops of water on the end of his nose to see if he will drink that way. The only way he will get water is by his mouth, misting or bathing his skin will not help. I would skip taking him out of his tank for now, he needs the heat and uvb as much as possible, along with a vet visit as soon as you can. Good luck to you and your beautiful little boy!

 

[Sue E.]

This is the hood you want:
Available at Petsmart or Chewy.com as well as other places

 

[hdochow]

Agree 100% on Sue's comments, especially on the UVB. Here's a link for good foods for them. Ignore what it says about kale though. It has been studied further and has been found to be a great staple green. It is one of the many that we use.

 

[Sue E.]

And this is the bulb...a t5 10.0 high output bulb.

 

[Giligan06]

It is the uvb. The pet stores lead a lot of people down the wrong road with uvb. What you need is a special kind of tube style uvb..this one:
Zoomed Reptisun T5 10.0 bulb in a zoo med hood fixture. NOT the coil bulb. The coil bulb is very bad. Please buy the tube type as soon as you can! It is literally like life or death for them. The zoo med white plain reptisun basking bulb is fine for him but replace the coil one with the tube type and then shut the coil side off or take it out when you get the tube.
Next, you need a digital probe thermometer. They are around $7 at petsmart..a yellow digital thermometer with a wire and probe. Lay the probe on your basking spot for at least 15 minutes to see what the temp is. He needs a basking temp of 95-100 since he is an adult. No lower or he wont be able to digest his food.
Now, his diet. He cant have spinach...it is very bad for him. The kale is good. You can also give him collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, or arugula. Dont bother with the fruit...its not very good for them, he needs leafy greens more. Pick up some Repticalcium with and without vitamin D3. Since he has not had the right kind of uvb light, you should dust his greens and his bugs with the Calcium/D3 2x a week and the Calcium without D3 the rest of the time. Only once daily with the dusting.
Lets start there. He needs to see an exotic vet as soon as possible. He looks like he may be suffering from MBD, which is a calcium deficiency that causes deformities.
Im going to flag some folks who can help you more with lighting, heating and diet. Not trying to scare you, but your little dragon is in very bad shape right now. Thank you so much for caring and coming to this forum to get him some help!
@xp29
@Drache613
@AHBD
@Claudiusx

Oh wow thank you so much I will get right on all of this, you’ve been so helpful.

 

[xp29]

Your beardie looks like it has very bad metabolic bone disease. He needs very good uvb asap. He needs calcium daily. Mbd is not curable, at best you can slow it down. Please get him to a reptile vet and have him checked. Find out if he is in pain.
Set his habitat up so he doesn't have to climb to bask and get in the uvb.

 

[Sue E.]

Oh wow thank you so much I will get right on all of this, you’ve been so helpful.

Anytime! You come back as often as you need and ask anything you need to! We all love beardies here!

 

[hdochow]

There is no wrong question here outside the one that hasn't been asked. This forum saved Sir Henry of Scales. I am here as testiment. Here's a pic of him the night we rescued him, 6 months old, 8 grams, 9.5 inches, and almost dead. He's now going to be 5 at the end of June, and he clocked in today at 22 inches long and 517 grams. You keep coming back and we'll continue to help out in any way we can. (In the first pic, you can see the reflection of the dual dome sold to the person we rescued him from. I am betting it is the same as what you were sold.)

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Oh bless him. I concur, he has most likely developed metabolic bone disease
from inadequate UVB lighting. He is unable to properly absorb his calcium. You could consider getting him on liquid calcium to help him absorb it more quickly.
If he isn't eating right now he will need some nutritional support. Try getting
some chicken or turkey baby food, along with squash or sweet potato baby food. Just use a plastic dropper or syringe to drip it onto the end of his nose
so he can lick some food off that way.
Since he isn't feeling well, try to keep him a little warmer overnight, around
75-80F to help keep his system boosted.
Be sure he is basking on a lower branch so he doesn't' have to climb so much
to get his warmth & UVB. One of the mentioned T5 tube bulb brands are fine, they are very strong lights & will help him out a lot.

Tracie