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I have male beardie that I have raised since it was a baby that has contrated metabolic Bone diease. I made some bad feeding choices the first few months I had it and now I have fixed those, but I have not been able to fix the MBD. My male has a bump on its back and has a crooked, bumpy back and tail. I fear the worst. Is it curable? Or is it just cruel to keep this beardie under the circumstances? Please help me, and trust me I greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Adam Hallquist

the physical damage now, but with proper supplements, lights and diet you can halt the effects of it.

I commend you for taking the time to ask and learn what you can do at this point.

Get Calcuim supplements and dust every other day for a few weeks than go to 2-3 times a week after that. Make sure the dragon is under a good UVB light and change it out as needed, every 6 months for the tubes and yearly for the bulbs like powersum or active UVB heat.

Add a diet rich in greens like collards, kale, mustard greens and finely chopped veggies like green beans, snow peas, carrots and squash

ALso make sure the dragon has proper basking temps 95-105F. He needs all these to be able to process the UVB and get maximum calcium from his food.

Good luck with him.

Hello Adam. Yes, MBD is very curable. In my opinion it's not really a disease but more like a result of a poor diet and living conditions. I went through this with my first beardie. I didn't know enough about beardies and as a result he died after a year of MBD. He had a seizure and died of multiple organ failure. So, I've done a lot of research on this.

You see, if they don't get enough calcium and vitamin D3 their bodies will seek out the calcium in their bones so that the organs can continue to function. Not long there after the bones start to become weak for lack of calcium. That's where the hard bumps start. The body tries to make up for the weak bones by adding tough, fiberous tissues to the bones. These tissues can bulk up and make the beardie look like he's got a lot of muscle when in fact he's suffering. Beardies often break bones at this stage and sometimes don't recover. But the bumps on the back and tail will most likely not go away but shouldn't hurt the beardie. I'm not trying to scare you, but MBD is very serious and should be corrected asap.

What you need to do is replace the lost calcium in the beardie as quickly as possible without overdosing. I would start by feeding only items high in calcium. Stay away from carrots, corn, spinach,... Offer collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, squash, papaya... You can find a complete listing on my website (listed below). Stay away from items high in oxalates too. Oxalates, like in spinach, attach to calcium and render it useless in the beardie.

Then, get a good calcium powder that doesn't contain phosphorus. Just plain old calcium carbonate is what I recommend. You can do what I do and buy calcium carbonate tablets and crush them with a pill crusher. They are very inexpensive. Just watch out for added ingrediets to the tablets.

Next, you need to get a good source of UVB if you don't already have one. Remember, full spectrum is not UVB. You will need to get a mercury vapor bulb like the one that www.bigappleherp.com makes for around $35. They are great! Vets actually prescribe these bulbs for reptiles with MBD because they produce so much UVB. Remember, UVB is important because without it the beardie can't convert calcium to D3. The D3 that their bodies make is not the same as the vitamin D3 you can buy.

Good luck and please e-mail me if you have any questions! I've been through all of this and don't mind helping a fellow beardie owner. You've taken the first step in correcting the problem.

Veronica
Beautiful Dragons