Bearded dragon help

[GregDragon]

I have an 11 year old male (I think) bearded dragon. He drags his legs/ moves very awkwardly. He eats collard greens and super worms (occasionally Apple as a treat). I keep his basking lamp on 14+ hours a day. Is he sick?! MBD? CALCIUM DEFICIENCY? WHAT IS IT??? He also poops very rarely. (About once a month or less) I've tried massaging his lower abdomen in luke-warm water (recommended on reptile forum site), but it doesn't seem to work. I adopted him in August, and he had orange sand in his tank. (Coconut fiber now) does he have an impact ion? PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[PatsyB]

Sorry he's not doing to well but 11 years WOW, he looks good! Get rid of the substate all together don't put him on anything that he can ingest. Reptile carpet, tile, paper towel, even shelf liner are all good alternatives. What are you using for UVB? Dragging legs is a sign of MBD but it's also a sign of impaction. When he does poop does he walk a little on his back legs at all? You can feed him some canned 100% pumpkin/baby food prunes with no additives/apple sauce again with no additives or even a bit of olive oil dropped on a leaf of collard greens, these are all things that may help him poop. Try to mix up his diet too instead of just collard greens give dandelion greens or mustard greens and maybe a vegetable like squash. Super worms can be hard on a stomach too, try giving a different type of bug like dubia, or hornworms, silkworms, or butterworms.

I would take him to a vet for a checkup just because he is old and if he can't use his back legs you want to make sure there is nothing else going on.

 

[GregDragon]

Sorry he's not doing to well but 11 years WOW, he looks good! Get rid of the substate all together don't put him on anything that he can ingest. Reptile carpet, tile, paper towel, even shelf liner are all good alternatives. What are you using for UVB? Dragging legs is a sign of MBD but it's also a sign of impaction. When he does poop does he walk a little on his back legs at all? You can feed him some canned 100% pumpkin/baby food prunes with no additives/apple sauce again with no additives or even a bit of olive oil dropped on a leaf of collard greens, these are all things that may help him poop. Try to mix up his diet too instead of just collard greens give dandelion greens or mustard greens and maybe a vegetable like squash. Super worms can be hard on a stomach too, try giving a different type of bug like dubia, or hornworms, silkworms, or butterworms.

I would take him to a vet for a checkup just because he is old and if he can't use his back legs you want to make sure there is nothing else going on.

Thank you so much! I'll definitely take out the substrate. Might use tile. I'll mix up his diet too! I've gotten suggestions of pumpkin purée before too, so I'll try that! I use a ZooMed fluorescent UVB light over the tank. He does seem to move a bit more after he poops, but it seldom lasts more than a few days. (When he DOES poop!) I'll definitely take him to the vet. I work at a reptile store, so I'll pick up some dubia's and hornworm's. I've been hoping it wasn't MBD, so I'll see what the vet says. Thank you so much!

 

[PatsyB]

Oh, also give him baths and drip some water on his nose and make sure he drinks and gets hydrated. Hornworms are good for hydration. I don't have much experience with illnesses but from what I see in the photo it doesn't really look like mbd. I would bet it's a pooping thing.

 

[GregDragon]

Oh, also give him baths and drip some water on his nose and make sure he drinks and gets hydrated. Hornworms are good for hydration. I don't have much experience with illnesses but from what I see in the photo it doesn't really look like mbd. I would bet it's a pooping thing.

Will do! I just got finished giving him a bath in Luke-warm water! And thank goodness! Hopefully an impaction will be much easier to treat!

 

[Canicke]

Welcome – it's so hard on us when they're not well. I'm kind of thinking impaction too. But like Patsy said that check would probably be a good thing. Please keep us posted?

 

[Hdrydr31]

Yep I agree with all of the above! Nice warm baths, nice juicy bugs, no substrate. Vet trip to rule out MBD doesn't look like it from my opinion, but they may be able to help out with what is ailing him. Keep us posted

 

[GregDragon]

Welcome – it's so hard on us when they're not well. I'm kind of thinking impaction too. But like Patsy said that check would probably be a good thing. Please keep us posted?

Spike has now pooped twice, and is doing a lot better! The vet said that it wasn't MBD, and that it was most likely an impaction. Spike has started walking normally (not completely yet, but a lot better!), and isn't as sensitive to me touching his belly! (It was probably painful)

 

[Hdrydr31]

Spike has now pooped twice, and is doing a lot better! The vet said that it wasn't MBD, and that it was most likely an impaction. Spike has started walking normally (not completely yet, but a lot better!), and isn't as sensitive to me touching his belly! (It was probably painful)

Thats great news!!

 

[PatsyB]

That's great! I had a feeling it was just impaction.