Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I work in a reptile shop and about 2 weeks ago a woman brought down a baby water dragon that has metalic bone desease and calcium defincientcies. The woman had the dragon without exposer to uv lighting and she wassn't dusting the insects with calcium and multi mineral supplements at all, so you can see why the dragon is the way he is now. The other day I decided to take the little guy home and try to get him back on his feet since no body in the store was having the time to take care of him. I brought him in and I have him in a 10 gallon tank with some climbing branches for basking, theres a small water bowl in the conner of the tank and i'm planing on buying a small plant for foliage and humidity soon. I have a 60 watt bulb over his tank along with repti glo 8.0 over his basking spot. Yesterday was the first day that I had him and I got him to eat 4 wax worms and 1 calcium dusted cricket, the wax worms were dusted also. I am monitering his food income every time I feed him. It really discusts me when I see the way that reptiles are treated as pets, If your going to buy a reptile make sure that you have the proper lighting and etc. Anyway is there any suggestions for getting this little guy back on his feet? I was thinking about administering calcium orally? also I was woundering if I should use a calcium sray on his food? I'm really sorry about the spelling errors in this post, I'm in study hall right now and i need to type fast before I get in trouble lol. Thankyou for all of your help!
-Paul

Have you taken it to a vet? MBD requires vetinary intervention. What symptoms does he have? I personally don't think that the sprays are worth a damn. My advice is not to depend on the lighting, make sure you have a good calcium suppliment with D3 and no phosphorous.

A vet willbe able to help you with the little guy. Depending on how far along he is he may need calcium injections. Make sure you have a good UVB light, and start supplementing immediately. But most importantly get him to a vet asap!

good luck!
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

In October I purchased a wild-caught water dragon from a reptile trade show. Less than a week later she stopped using her leg, and a visit to the vet discovered she had fractured it as a result of MBD (resulting from previous living conditions). Aside from the vet splinting the leg, I had to administer calcium syrup orally on a daily basis (luckily it's sweet, so they don't mind taking it), as well as provide plenty of calcium (dusting her food) and UV lighting, and I also had to make sure she got 3 hours of direct sunlight (outdoors) weekly. A few months of that, and she is as good as new, and a recent x-ray showed that her leg healed up quite nicely. Hopefully this will help you out. Also, since her bones are very fragile with MBD, try to handle her as little as possible. I recommend taking her to the vet as well, just be warned that it will be costly as they will most likely x-ray your dragon. I got a lot of slack from friends for spending $200 at the vet for a $12 lizard, but as any good pet-owner knows, you just do what you need to do in order to have happy, healthy animals. Good luck!
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2.0.0 Leptopelis Vermiculatus (Oggie, Toad)
1.1.0 Chinese Water Dragon (Yoshi, Spaz)