Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In the last hour my bearded dragon has began to have a constant shaking in its limbs and fingers. she is 7 months old and the vet is closed today if anyone can help i would gladly take any advice. thank you

Can you list her length/ weight, also everything about her set up, including lights and how far the UVB light[ if you have one] is to her? What you describe is probably [ almost definitely] calcium deficiency. Even if you use the calcium powder [ which should have D3] it will not be absorbed if the dragon has no UVB bulb, like Zoo MED repti-sun 10.0[ that type of bulb needs to be no more than 10 inches away for it to help ] or a Mercury vapor bulb. There has to be a 105 basking temp. [ or close to it ] while the cool side of the cage stays around 80F. If you live in a warm climate, get her out in the sun for a half hour daily, and give her some liquid calcium, or mix a bit of the powdered cal. and get a needleless syringe to give it orally.Hope that helps !

she is almost 12in weight i dont know i'm going to try the calcium in the suringe that u suggested but her condition has worsend it has become very difficult for her to walk she struggles so much she starts to fall over. with the calcium mix do i just take the powder and mix it with some water to make the mix?

Try mixing with some turkey, chicken, peas or squash baby food. Water is O.K. for now if you can't get any right away. Are you in a warm climate, that you could get her outside ? And you can get a feeding syringe from any drug store.[ don't leave her alone though]

Sorry, my last post looked was a bit confusing. I meant to say don't leave her outside alone.

If her condition hasn't changed or is worse, get her to a vet tomorrow asap (Tuesday). If the cause is MBD its going to need vet attention right away to ensure it doesn't get worse. Mixing calcium powder with water and trying to get a dragon to drink it, may not work very well. A vet can administer a shot directly into the blood stream which will be much more effective.

Also, shaky limbs may be due to something other than low blood calcium and weakened bones, other nutrient deficiencies can cause this.
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PHLdyPayne

Forum Princess

Yes, the dragon should be seen by a vet. The things I mentioned were the " what can I try" because she said there were no vets that the dragon could be taken to right then. I would like to say though, if it is low blood calcium, I have seen with my own eyes on several occasions that a dragon can go from twitching in all limbs to complete recovery in one day by exposing to the sun. Of course then you must be vigilant in correcting nutrition/ husbandry problems ASAP. That's why it would be good for the o.p. to list her set up which could give an idea if something is obviously amiss and can be adjusted.