Curled toes

[Jintyh]

Hi folks. I'm new to the forum. Really could do with some expertise. My grandsons beardie Oscar has stayed with me for 9 years and has always been healthy . The only problem is that his toes are curling round on his front feet. Seems to be getting worse. He never eats greens or anything which doesn't move. I still put fresh greens and peppers in every day in life but hes just not interested. What could be causing this. All his live food is calcium dusted.

 

[Skybug]

Can u tell us what UVB type of bulb he has? Compact coil bulbs are bad, they cause eye issues, offer either way to much uvb or not enough, you should have a long tubeular uvb, the fixture needs a reflective layer inside of it , what type of calcium does he get, does it have d3? They’re toes are very bendy and weird, if u can take a picture thatd help us.

 

[Skybug]

I recommend this type of bulb (brand is “reptisun”) , it’s important that it takes up 60% of the enclosure, with places for the lizard to hide from the light if he so chooses.

 

[Jintyh]

I recommend this type of bulb (brand is “reptisun”) , it’s important that it takes up 60% of the enclosure, with places for the lizard to hide from the light if he so chooses.

Hi there this is the bulb I use in his Viv. I'll send a pic of his toes

 

[Jintyh]

This is his left

 

[Skybug]

Oh dear,…. He NEEDS his nails trimmed badly! there’s nothing wrong with his toes, but his nails are awfully long.

 

[Skybug]

Get a pair of “cat” nail clippers and just take off the very very tip, ONLY the pointy part, dont cut anything further, its gonna take some months for those to get back to normal

 

[Skybug]

Have on hand corn starch or flour, If u accidentally cut to much and make him bleed blot his toe in the starch or flour to clot the blood, please be careful and dont cut to much.

 

[Skybug]

In between nail trimming, if you can get some abrasive tile in the bearded dragons enclosure, thatd help him naturally grind down the nails, you can also buy sand paper and put that down inside the tank (500-800 grit)

 

[Skybug]

My bearded dragon doesn’t Necessarily need her nails cut but I’ve marked in red which should be cut it’s called the “hypodermic tip” you only want to cut off a pencil lines width of nail, you DO NOT want to cut into the pink part inside the nail, that’ll make em bleed, its not hard to do, if your scared of making him bleed, get a dremmel or a nail file and do one to three passes on each nail.

 

[Yvonne G]

Just in case you don't know, calcium needs the UVB either from the sun or from a good light in order to make strong bones and nails. Curly nails are one indication of MBD. The compact fluorescent lights are NOT good UVB lights. You need one like Skybug pictured.

 

[Jintyh]

Get a pair of “cat” nail clippers and just take off the very very tip, ONLY the pointy part, dont cut anything further, its gonna take some months for those to get back to normal

Yeh i usually do that. Just the wee black bit at the point xx i let him have a bit of excersise out the back on our patio in good weather to file them down a bit. They've only grown like this in the past year or so and yet nothing has been changed for him. Strange xx

 

[Jintyh]

Just in case you don't know, calcium needs the UVB either from the sun or from a good light in order to make strong bones and nails. Curly nails are one indication of MBD. The compact fluorescent lights are NOT good UVB lights. You need one like Skybug pictured.

Hi Yvonne thats the one we use . He seems to thrive apart from his toes .

 

[Skybug]

Its not a huge issue at the moment, but it’ll become a problem very soon, if you’re able, id cut the dragons nails every 3-4 days, you should have them under control in about 2 months, they need to be taken care of soon, with no surfaces to grind them against they’ll just continue to grow, if you can put a paver or flat brick in the enclosure thatd help out too.

 

[Jintyh]

Thank you so much for your help. Really appreciate it.