Reptile & Amphibian Forums

WHY ARE NOVIA'S BACK TOES TREMBLING LIKE CRAZY!?!?!

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Amanda
Herps and Fur! (Under construction- Tobias and Novia featured)

There's also something on her side, near her front left leg that is twitching, it looks like a rib or a muscle, it's twitching along with her toes, what the heck is going on!?! Please don't say this is MBD I don't know how many more illnesses I can handle!!!!

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Amanda
Herps and Fur! (Under construction- Tobias and Novia featured)

Early stages of MBD their toes and feet TWITCH or they have tremors ! Probably from when your UVB light was bad.

You said you got a new light UVB, have you been dusting your bugs with calcium?

Have to get Calcium into her. I just ordered liquid calcium to help my baby swift who was born having problems.

At this point you have to suppliment with EXTRA , A vet would probably give her an injection of it, if you took her.

Sorry Thats the only thing you can do is get more calcium into her.
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Eve / PHEve

So I put calcium in their baby food along with vitamins!!! She's really shaking and in the past three days has thrown up twice and got REALLY skinny but she shed!

I don't know what to do I am PANICKING!!
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Amanda
Herps and Fur! (Under construction- Tobias and Novia featured)

From Mellisa Kaplins site, makes it a little easier for you to see whats going on with Novia.
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Visible signs of moderate to severe MBD include jerky gait when walking, repeated tremors and twitches in the limbs and muscles of the legs and toes when at rest, and shakiness when being held. (The occasional single myoclonic jerk that happens is not considered indicative of MBD.)

Advanced cases of MBD include all the above signs plus constipation, anorexia and fractured bones. Severely deficient reptiles tend to be lethargic and may only be able to drag themselves along the ground. Arboreal lizards spend all of their time on the ground as they lack the strength to grip and climb.

Moderate to severe cases of MBD require the proper diet, temperatures, and light wavelengths as well as a more powerful calcium supplement than those found in pet stores. Oral administration of calcium glubionate (NeoCalglucon®, 1cc/kg PO bid prn) or injections of calcium lactate (Calphosan®, 250 mg/kg IV/IM, bid) or calcium gluconate (100 mg/kg IM qid prn) are generally prescribed by veterinarians. Mader (1993) reports faster recovery with calcitonin (Calcimar®, Miacalcin®, 50 IU/kg IM in front leg, repeated once a week for two weeks) when it is administered to iguanas who have been returned to normal serum calcium levels. Use of calcitonin before normal levels have been established, however, may cause hypocalcemic tetany and death. Mild cases, cases where the signs are felt or just barely visible, may successfully be treated by providing the proper environment and diet. In the case of diurnal lizards and chelonians, proper environment includes not only the proper temperature ranges and diet, but daily access to ultraviolet B wavelengths.
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Eve / PHEve

Her breathing is twitching, her front and hind limbs are twitching, her tail did a little twitch. I read somewhere about their jaws looking funny- hers looks swollen!!

We can't afford any treatments!
My parents wont even let me take her to the vet anymore!
The vet would end up putting her down anyway, he only gave them a 50/50 chance in the first place!!

I'm freaking out so badly its just, WHY ME!? WHY MY LIZARDS!?
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Amanda
Herps and Fur! (Under construction- Tobias and Novia featured)

stage. She could still be helped, but needs stronger calcium at this point. Kido I dont know what to tell ya, A Vet at this point would have want she needs as far as the calcium.

You could if your parents let you get to a drug store and ask for calcium, Just email me and I will tell you what to get IF your allowed.

EMAIL ME !
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Eve / PHEve

She's been struggling to live since the day I got her at the petstore. Three days she has refused to eat. What if she just wants to die?

My parents are saying let her go... no literally but let her pass away... I don't know what to do, they don't either, my mom is even almost crying.

my typing is calm but I promise you, I am NOT! This is NOT good. You know, it's so FRUSTRATING I just wanted to save her from that damn pet store!
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Amanda
Herps and Fur! (Under construction- Tobias and Novia featured)

or whatever before she would die. Some iguanas live for a long time, twisted bodies and deformed mouths, it is not a pretty site, and they suffer.

They have seizures, ect....

I'm not trying to make you guys feel worse, but letting you know by doing nothing yes she may just die,

but she may linger on and you will have to watch it! You will be Very Sad!

Either have her put to sleep or get the calcium suppliment is what I would do. Just my opinion!

I'm sorry, I dont know what else to do Amanda and I have to leave here soon, so if ya want to email me , I will be here for a short time.
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Eve / PHEve

And like going down into her head... were those seizures?
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Amanda
Herps and Fur! (Under construction- Tobias and Novia featured)

during a seizure they can have weird eyes yes, they can stiffen their body or limbs, they can have convulsions !

Like I say they usually dont just die !
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Eve / PHEve

i asked myself the same question when walter the first died. but you know things just kind of happen that way. i had never had a collared lizard before and i never realized that walter was really underweight because well he was the first one i ever saw. you also bought your lizards when they were really skinny, if i remember correctly and basically you just did not know that those people should not have even been selling them in that condition. i generally don't go into a store thinking i am being sold a sick animal.
however, as heart wrenching this whole situation is, you will never forget it and you will always know the signs now and you will be able to help other lizards. i look back now at walter's situation and i could just kick myself in the head for how stupid i was but i am glad that i learned from him.
i hope novia turns around. i have always heard it takes a lizard a long time to get sick, so this could have started before you even got them and that bad UVB bulb just did not help, which is not really something that you could control. how is tobias?
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

He shed today. He's lost a little weight. But he's still okay.
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Amanda
Herps and Fur! (Under construction- Tobias and Novia featured)

i am sure i have asked you this before, are they within 12 inches of the UVB light? if they are further than 12 inches away then they get nothing from the bulb.
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

Oh great. Now I'm told.
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Amanda
Herps and Fur! (Under construction- Tobias and Novia featured)

ok, do you have a box or something that can raise them till they are within the 12 inches of the light? maybe for novia's sake, something closer like 5 inches? nothing fancy, just like an emergency platform. perhaps tomorrow you can arrange something so that she is near the warmth of her basking bulb but directly under the UVB and lay her up there tomorrow. it could not hurt for tobias either. the only thing you can do is try to get her to absorb as much calcium as possible. of course you would have to check on her to make sure she is not getting too warm, help her thermoregulate.
i would recommend taking their hidespot out for 3 or so hours so that they won't be tempted to hide. it's not something i recommend that often but i really want them to get some UVB tomorrow! my heart is with you all.
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

Hey there,

Just to offer a little hope: I got a collared as a rescue from a pet store whose condition was very similar. I named her Rose because she was so deformed from MBD that I thought that she could at least have a pretty name . . . poor little girl. She had a severely swollen jaw, but it was also completely broken and the bone protruded into her mouth--it was the worst case I had ever seen. My vet could not do anything for the jaw because of her size, but he gave me liquid calcium to take home. Every night I mixed some of the calcium in with some Hill's Prescription Diet AD that he also gave me (it's a canned dog or cat food for anorexic animals) along with the regular vitamin powder. I fed it to her from a syringe. For months I did this, thinking she would always have to eat that way, then one day I saw her chase down and eat a cricket--I couldn't believe it! Her jaw had completely healed, and although it always had a lump where the fracture was, she was able to eat normally and live a normal lizard life.

The moral of the story: don't give up on your baby. I do not believe that it's too late for her.

I'm sorry I don't have any of the calcium right now, or I'd send it to you, but perhaps you can get it from your vet without having to take her in, thereby avoiding a costly exam fee.

élan
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