Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I woke up this morning and my beardie was shaking really badly and his eyes were opening and closing. I went to touch him and see if he would move and he jumped up and started running, but as soon as he stopped running he started shaking again. I just got home and the shaking stopped some but you can tell if you look closely. He's moving and breathing but he's shaking or "trembling"!! What could this be from and what should I do?!?!

Twitching in limbs is the first sign of metabolic bone disease (MBD) Do you use calcium supplements? Do you have appropriate lighting? Both UVA and UVB??

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3.4 Chavez, Lou, Little Lou, Olivia, Lucy, Lilly, LittleGirl

Yes I do, I dust his crickets everyday with ReptoCal D3 Vitamins and I use a Sun Glo Basking Spot Lamp!! I've had this Beardie for almost two months now, is it possible that he could've been getting this before I even got him? His appetite had been kind of iffy since I've had him!!! Could this activity be from something else?

Here is a classic example of misleading advertisement. The Exo Terra Sun Glo Spot lamp is advertised to produce UVA light, that it beneficial for your reptile, and many people take that as being the UV light that they need. When in actuality, the type of UV that reptiles need to synthesize the calcium and D3 is the UVB wavelength. What happens if your reptile cannot synthesize the calcium and D3 on its own, it's body will take what it needs from the next closest source, it's own bones. The bones' calcium is absorbed by the reptiles body, and often they become weak and flimsy, causing what many people describe as "rubber legs. This is what's considered Metaballic Bone Disease (MBD). And that's the reason behind why obtianing the correct UV wavelength in a bulb is detrimental to reptile husbandry.

So in response to 9200, it would be to your best interest to purchase a UVB bulb from your local petstore. A decent costing one, and one that has a decent life is ESU's "Super UV Coil Lamp". That one will put out decent UVB for up to 7 months before it has to be replaced.

If you do not notice a positive change in your BD after gettign the right lighting, I'd take it to your local PetsMart, that has a Banfeild Animal Hospital located in it, and have them prescribe you some meds (Neo-Calglucon for example)that can help "cure" MBD.
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragons (Pagona Vetticeps)
0.0.4.2 Gold Dust Day Geckos (Phelsuma Laticauda Laticauda)
1.0.0 Yellow Saharan Uromastyx (uromastyx geryi)
2.0.0 Bettas (Dark and Light Blue)
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www.funnymanreptiles.com

You deffinitely need to get a proper UVB producing light. UVA is not sufficient alone. Other than the bulbs recommended by other posters, you can also use florescent tubes such as repti-glo and repti-sun. These bulbs are rated for the amount of UVB light they produce. I would deffinitely get ones in the following ratings, 5.0, 8.0 or 10.0. Nothing less.

Calcium is also used in muscle control. Thus if your dragon is not absorbing enough calcium via the D3 injested in the suppliments, that would explain the twitching. However, other nutritional deficiencies can cause similiar twitching. Purchase the proper UVB producing bulb and if there isn't a noticeable improvement in a couple days, it would be best to take your dragon to a qualified reptile vet. They can do a blood panel and other tests to determine what exactly is wrong. Vets can also administer a liquid form of calcium or other nutritients to get your dragon back to a healthy state.

One more thing, if hte twitching is mostly around the hind legs and area, it could be an impaction problem or a too large prey item. However if this isn't severe, it should pass. If not then the impaction will need to be releived by a vet (either through injected laxatives or surgery if severe enough). Daily luke more soaks in water for 15-20 minutes could also help to pass the obstruction if food related.
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PHLdyPayne