Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all;
Ive been a reptile keeper all lizard for over 7 yrs now.
my girl delilah (7) did what i thought looking like brumating the most she ever has this winter. (we are in NY)

she would eat from time to time and we would get her to drink, but now spring is here and she is not perking up, lost a bunch of weight and the leg twitching started in the last 2 weeks...

she is NOT interested in eating, not greens, or any live feeders 2 weeks ago i was feeding silkworms and she was eating those but does not want crickets, waxies,butterworms nothing......ive actually been dripping water and shoving a worm in her mouth rolled in calcium when i can successfully get it in......

i noted what looks like bumps on her shoulders.......or its her shoulderblades from the weight loss......

Im getting scared now, none of my guys have ever been sick....

After doing a bunch of reading i mixed some calcium powder in water and been giving that too, because my gut now is that it IS mbd.... yikes......

I guess I had better find myself a reptilian vet........

any other ideas besides the obvious?
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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......

oh yeah....

also i noticed an occasional click she would do with her mouth and then i was watching closely today and the tongue goes sideways when im hearing this noise....

the tongue does not do this all the time.....just once in a while....
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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......

MBD can happen at any age...but with the age of your dragon, it could also be old age or something else. My suggestion, get her to a vet asap, this is the only real way to access her condition and what could be causing her problems. If it is MBD, the vet can inject calcium directly into the dragon and administer fluids etc.
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PHLdyPayne

is 7 considered old for a beardie?
i thought the lifespan was like 10-12 yrs?
Yes im calling from work today to make an appointment....Delilah is my sweet fav. girl.............and im feeling helpless........

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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......

I don't think 7 is old I'd look for other causes.

so I took her to a vet......yes he takes care of reptiles.

did some bloodwork her calcium is alittle low.....her phospherous is high......he feels that the diluted calcium (cal powder and water) i gave her helped already to reverse some of it.....

I also got some drops to help with calories to get her going in the right direction.

otherwise she is skinny, but he feels this is very reversable and that i caught it early..........

so yippee......

my husbandry has not been perfect, time to replace all my bulbs for all my guys.........

im hoping she gets more energy and starts eating on her own, in the meantime i will force her to eat.

he mentioned something about sluggish gut that can come with the calcium deficiency, she pooped a bit after we got home so that end is working.........

any other comments?

thanks

sue

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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......

If you get some calcium sandoz or calcium gluconate liquid from the pharmacy the calcium in either is supposed to be absorbed more quickly than the calcium in the powder.

The vet could give her injections of calcium until the blood calcium levels are high enough that she could be given a shot of clacitonin to draw the calcium back into the bones rapidly.

Are you using a calcium/D3 powder at all?

Make sure that the calcium you are using has no phosphorous in it...and that goes for any other supplements you use and anything that you feed to your insects.

Hope this helps!

Oops...forgot to ask are you using anything with vitamin A in it? If so, is it preformed?

Hi
I took her to the vet.....
got the liquid calcium........am soaking her, putting her in the sun besides the enclosure bulbs, and trying to get her to eat..

she is pretty much refusing to eat.........and im feeling like im losing the battle.....

her calcium was alittle low her phospherous was like 15..........

i was hoping i could get her to turn around.........i just dont know what else to do...........

thanks for caring, any other suggestions?

yes using the correct supplements, this all started happening during the winter slowdown............
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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......