Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok so like a month ago my friend got himself too beardies about 9 inches long, the female is doing fine, the male, has beautiful coloring, but my friend got him for 50 cuz he has a kink in his tail which the breeder told him was from the egg being turned, both my friend and the breeer kept them on sand, i believe sinc ethey were hatchlings, anyways, now whenever the male moves around he shakes, and he can't really move his back legs normally, i think we've ruled out mbd, although, i just realized that his uv lights are i bit too high, but yea anyways, i think that its impaction cuould it be b/c when the egg got turned or w/e that his insies got a lil mixed up, and either way, what can we do for him, my friend doesn't have the money to take him to the vet....but has considered having him put down... thanks a lot
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my animals
1.0.1 leopard gecko (goliath, gebco)
0.1 hypo red bearded dragon (puff the magic dragon)
0.0.1 schnieder's skink (ghandi)
0.1 white's dumpy treefrog (un-named)
1.0 house gecko (geico)
0.0.1 red eared slider (carl)
0.0.1 fire belly toad (escaped..)
1.0 lop eared wabbit (oreo)
1.1.too many to count, brown recluse (i think)
the rest of the animals in the hizouse
1.0 westie puppy (gabriel)
1.0 plain ol' outdoor alley cat (joey)
0.1 indoor rag doll kitty (tinkerbell)
2.0 goulian finchs

impaction can cause hind leg paralysis. it needs to go to the vet as soon as possible.
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brandy

If you can't afford taking care of an animal...then DON'T GET ONE! ( I understand that this is your friend).

How much would "putting him down" cost...of course if you wait long enough it will probably die anyway! (a HORRIBLE and painful death...but then HEY, your problems will be solved...right).

I would also be interested in knowing how you ruled out MBD?

I would say that if the animal is paralyzed then it should be more about trying to end his suffering and less about "I can't afford it". I know this posting seems negative I just think people who won't (under the the guise of money) take their herps to a vet do no favors for the hobby.

I see this soooo often in this forum. Someone makes a plea for medical advice and gets..."take the animal to a vet"...to which they respond (if they haven't already stated it)..."I can't afford it".

Fine, kill your pet and then promise all of us to NEVER own another herp again.

I hope you take this to heart and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE find a way to heal your pet (who only has you to look to for its health).

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Hangin with the Herps
ZZ

Agreed 100%.

Shoot, I'm pretty broke right now, but when my pets need treatment I make sacrifices! It's part of the responsibility of being a pet owner.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

THANK YOU Ami! Im glad someone stood up and said what has been needed to be said for quite some time now.
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David - Kevin
--KDRKreatures--

3.3 Bearded dragons (Rocco,Chong,Big Bob,Artemis,Cheech, Anna Nicole)
1.3 Eastern Box Turtles (Snappy, Mercuria, Gizmo, Galapaga)
1.0 Ball Python (Carson)
0.0.1 Alligator Snapping Turtle (Unnamed)

0.1 Timneh African Grey (Roxy)

KDRKreatures-Home Page
Email

I don’t see how you get off saying I get sick of peps posting asking what do I do my lizard is sick and these are the symptoms. I personally live in an area that dose not have a vet that knows anything about lizards. Now my vet can tell you all about horses, cows, dogs, and cats but nothing about lizards. So some of us must post on here asking about the conditions that our pet has for me it is a several hour drive to the vet. So why should I run my lizard up there every time I think something is wrong when people on here that have experienced the stuff before can help me. Yes I would drive my pet to the vet if he needs it but heck id rather post here and find out if I need to drive first. people like you make me sick.

Another thing that kind of annoys me is you don’t know if he has recently lost his job and dosnt have the money or if he is stuck in a situation that he cant take the pet to the vet. Personally my dad would rather me just get a new pet because they are cheaper then the vet bills but he will let me but he just does not understand.

So before you go off on a person you should at least know them and find out their situation.

My point is that I see "I can't afford a vet" far too often. If I remember correctly, the animal was at least partially paralyzed! I hardly think that anyone on this forum could help. Besides, most of the people here will say..."take the animal to a vet".

The person KNEW this when they posted the original message because everything was prefaced with "can't afford to go to a vet".

I meerly wanted to vent to my "friends" here who have answered questions similar to this and always heard the same thing...I can't afford a vet.

I also live in an area that doesn't have a good herp vet. I work with the one I have. If she doesn't know about it she will do research and get back with me, but I hanen't needed her for anything too serious. I had an impacted Beardie. She gave instructions on how to fix it. She gave me some mineral oil and told me to find Papaya juice. That did the trick...I was out ~$30 (counting the papaya!).

I too have also been out of a job. It was for a short time (thankfully), but at those times you need to decide what is best for the animals AND your family. If you are out of a job then you need to re-prioritize...I would say that the internet and cable would go BEFORE denying medical attention. Lack of a job is no excuse for bad treatment. Truly, that is beside the point here.

I am sorry that you took great offense to what I said to someone else. I was actually responding to something that offended me. For the record, I don't even PRETEND to know everything. I really get offended when people use "lack of funds" to justify getting what I consider secondary advice. Although the people on this forum are VERY knowledgible...you can not COUNT on their qualifications...In other words, their advice should NEVER be used instead of medical attention. It is best used in CONJUCTION with medical attention/advice.
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Hangin with the Herps
ZZ

There isn't enough information given to determine if your friends dragon has impaction. Has your friend been feeding insects that are too big? (ie bigger than the space between it's eyes), what sort of insects has he been feeding it? What greens/suppliments has he been feeding?

Since you did mention he had kept both dragons on sand and the breeder was doing that as well, injestion of sand can be the problem. First thing I would recommend is get rid of the sand completely and use newsprint or paper towel as the substrate. Give the dragon warm soaks for 10-15 minutes changing the water if he does go to the bathroom. Lower the UVB bulb so the dragon can benefit from UVB rays. (for a flourescent tube style, should be 8"-12" above the basking spot, Mercury vapour bulbs at least 18" above).

Feed calcium rich greens (collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, enscarole and endive) every day. Dust insects once every second day with multi vitamine and calcium with D3.

If the dragon poos regularly and starts to recover with the soaks and good food, then count your friend lucky. If the dragon gets worse, loses more and more rear leg mobility, then he will have to take it to a vet. It could still be MBD and that is sometihng a vet needs to see. Severe impaction will need a vet check as well.

Oh one more comment, if your friend is housing these two dragons in the same cage I would recommend he separate them. From the size you indicated they sound like young dragons and if one is female or both are male, he's going to have troubles when they get older. Also, size difference could be causing one to eat most of the food and keeping the other from food and basking spots.

yea, i know about the problems with housning together, but he is a hard head and thinks that nothing is wrong with it
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my animals
1.0.1 leopard gecko (goliath, gebco)
0.1 hypo red bearded dragon (puff the magic dragon)
0.0.1 schnieder's skink (ghandi)
0.1 white's dumpy treefrog (un-named)
1.0 house gecko (geico)
0.0.1 red eared slider (carl)
0.0.1 fire belly toad (escaped..)
1.0 lop eared wabbit (oreo)
1.1.too many to count, brown recluse (i think)
the rest of the animals in the hizouse
1.0 westie puppy (gabriel)
1.0 plain ol' outdoor alley cat (joey)
0.1 indoor rag doll kitty (tinkerbell)
2.0 goulian finchs

Sorry, but your "friend" sounds like he shouldn't own pets, at all. If he won't educate himself about them and won't spend the money on a vet, next time he should consider getting a pet rock.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)