Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a beautiful Yellow x Red beardie thats almost 4 months old (12-13inches) that i got at the white plains show a month ago. Hes been eating "well" but not like a "beast" like some beardies do...today he began to have soft spasms (not violent spasms) in his legs but he sat there like it wasn't happening...i picked him up and he jumped back onto the log and then his legs froze to his body and he couldn't move for a few seconds...now a few hours later just one of his legs have the light spasms...i don't want this to happen again or to the female beardie...is this just simply lack of calcium or much worse? write back with helpful info asap...

I would say to get him to a vet....he/she can probably give him a shot...have you been giving him calcium supplements? Does your beardie have UBV & UVA lighting?

theres uvb and i've tried calcium spray and they don't like the taste...i'll start to powder there food and crickets...any other ideas for a good sourece of calcium?

www.absolutecalcium.com Also, Outbackreptileco.com has some FCC Grade Calcium (very heavy stuff). You'll want to get some calcium powder and put it in the plastic baggies with your crickets and shake them up until they're all white. Also, sprinkle the powder on your beardies salads. If I were you, I would give the calcium powder at every feeding for at least a week.

absolutecalcium.com. As it was explained in it's simplest form, Commercial calciums are made from rock, absolutecalcium is made from plants. Their bodies can assimilate plants, much better then rock. Whatever you choose to do, do it immediately.

Dont forget, spasms can be other deficiencies as well. It could be stress combined with a vitamin B deficiency--are you using herptivite too? A lot of people remember the importance of calcium but then do not supplement the vitamins.
And then what dwedeking said--worms can sometimes cause the tremors for brief periods.
Dana

www.absolutecalcium.com Also, Outbackreptileco.com has some FCC Grade Calcium (very heavy stuff). You'll want to get some calcium powder and put it in the plastic baggies with your crickets and shake them up until they're all white. Also, sprinkle the powder on your beardies salads. If I were you, I would give the calcium powder at every feeding for at least a week.

What size are the food items your feeding him? If your giving him too large (like super worms too early) of a prey item it will cause this reaction. Try a warm soak to help him pass them and use smaller crickets
Scales

This, along with the AGE of the beardie (you said "four months old" suggests (and I forget the word for it) that happens when they ingest a food item/other, that is too large. Beardies up to about 4 or 5-months old can get things into their mouth that is slightly larger than their throat, subsequent swallowing therfore, impinges the item against the roof of mouth/back of neck, pinching nerves there that create 'spasms'. The spasms might last for a day or so.. then suddenly, the patient poops-out a stone, piece of inorganic material or carapactic wad from a superworm overdose or *something* that makes you go "OH!".

A warm soak in the bath tub might help them eliminate the item.
From age hatching to about maybe 4 or 5 months old, beardies are prone this. And not just from having eaten a single item that is slightly too large, but also can come from having eaten perfectly correct-sized items but in large quanties such as being permitted to eat several dozen crickets in one meal. 'Gorging'. -They can 'over-pack' themselves, although this tends to happen when feeding multiple juvies that are housed and fed in the same enclosure. -Feeling the competition for the resourses, juvie beardies will 'gulp their food' without chewing and also, over-indulge, causing this impaction.
The 'stiff leg spasm' is also statedly a calcium-related issue, but calcium deficiency takes many months to manifest itself and I personally feel it less likely to be seen in such a youthful beardie. If your patient were, say, a 2-year old female that just laid her third clutch of eggs this season, sure, I'd say "calcium deficiency" and believe it. But I am thinking what you're seeing is an impaction problem. If this the case, it will, um, pass.
-Joel