Please help

[Dragon_Lover_85]

I need advise please re some problems I am experiencing with 2 of my lizards.

1st is a 4mth old bearded dragon who appears to maybe be depressed? It has the stress lines on its under belly and has gone a deap grey to black in colour (hes a yellow phase). It is still eating however prob not as much as normal, still drinking and deficating as per norm. :? What could be wrong?

2nd is a 7mth old blue tongue who is showing signs of MBD (occasionally dragging the hind legs) however this is not constant but I am concerned it is in the early stages and I would like to know how to stop it please.

I have other dragons and skinks that are quite happy and healthy its just these 2 have me very concerned.

If any1 can give me advice it will be grately appreciated.

 

[Lollypop]

Hi! Could u let us know what temps u keep them at - basking, cool side. What lights you're using to heat & what UV you've got.
Are they housed with others, & how long have u had them?
Thanks - Kathy

 

[Dragon_Lover_85]

Sure, the dragons under a murcury vapour basking at average 37-38c cool average 27c he is housed alone, have had him around a month now. When I get him out he goes nice n yellow n the stress lines lighten. (I have him out now)

The bluey I only got last week apparently has never seen uv is under a 60w incandescent as their tank (2 in tank) in not very high temps around the 34-35c basking and 24c cool. I take them out in back yard daily for hour natural uv till weekend where I intend on investing in uv light.

 

[Lollypop]

OK then......
The temps u have them at should be fine, although u could try bump the beardie's up to about 40C if u can. What's the invironment around the viv - high traffic, see other lizards, etc.
With MBD, I had one displaying signs around the 7mth age - I invested in a cheap bird cage, made sure there was water, shade, a hide & climbing stick & left him outside all day every day for a fortnight - signs disappeared. Them organised his cage so my husbandry was right.
With heat & UV once u get the lights (have u also got uv for your beardie?), hopefully all will go better.
Do u supplement them with calcium with Vit D3 2-3 times / wk with their feeders, & what are you feeding them, do u gutload the feeders? Can't think of much else, maybe someone else can......
PS - if you're really worried about the blueie with MBD, easiest (but not cheapest) is to go to the vet & get a blood test to check calcium levels in case he needs a calcium injection - with one so young though, a wk or 2 in the sun all day may be enuf.

 

[Dragon_Lover_85]

Thanks, the beardie has a stick he climbs to get up closer to the heat and it can get alot hotter up there than where he normally basks. the environment had high traffic so I invested in some backing stuff and closed in 3 sides of his viv with no improvement in him. I will def try puttin the bluey's outside like you say as it worth trying anything to save the poor lil buggers.
the murcury vapours are ova the beardie and the other dragons, jus not the blueys as it gets too hot. All my reptiles get calcium and multi v supplements approx 3 times per week havent gutloaded them as such however the insects are fed the same greens as the lizards and extra carrot. The blueys are on supa worms and woodies while the others get the same plus crickets. These along with daily fresh fruit and veg.
Thanks so much for the advice.

 

[DragonOwner]

1st is a 4mth old bearded dragon who appears to maybe be depressed? It has the stress lines on its under belly and has gone a deap grey to black in colour (hes a yellow phase). It is still eating however prob not as much as normal, still drinking and deficating as per norm. :? What could be wrong?

Does your beardie look to be doing the same as mine picture below. If so it could be that its trying to soak in more heat. My girl has also droped how much shes eating she use to eat 40 or more crickets a day now she will only eat 20 to 38 crickets a day some days she will eat 40. My girl is also eating 3 mouthfulls of veggies a day for now. So when you have him out his stress marks go away if this is correct i reckon he is just soaking the heat up more by going darker.

 

[DragonOwner]

Also how much crickets is your beardie eating a day? theres really no set amount a bearded dragon should eat in a day. Some days there hungry some days there not. Just like us humans some days we feel like eating alot other days you don't feel to hungry. If people say to you they should be eating 40 to 100 crickets a day tell them to go jump. Its like saying a human needs to eat 50 to 100 sandwiches a day, some people can eat 2 sandwiches while others can only eat 1.

 

[Dragon_Lover_85]

Yeh maybe doing similar. He has as much as he wants as he is a tad skinny, somedays I give him crickets but not often he doesnt really like them, but others he can eat like 40 woodies in 1 feed he has access to veg almost all day just this week he started on supaworms but i think he a bit turned off by them as 1 nipped him on the nose. he's not a huge eater particularly of veg (if it dont move hes not interested)
By the way gr8 picture!

 

[DragonOwner]

Well if his eating 40 woodies still he should be fine, Trust me will eat the veggies my girl use to be the same would not touch them unless it was moving. What i did was kept putting veggies in her enclosure everyday i still kept giving the protien eg crickets. It took her 6 weeks and bam she finally decided to try the veggies. What i did was kept puting her near the veggies and playing with the veggies eg moving the vggies with my fingers and then one day she ate them. Altho shes not eating much 3 mouthfuls but its something at least.

 

[Dragon_Lover_85]

Thanks for the advice, he doesnt eat that much all the time maybe once a week? will def try the veg thing. I noticed this arv that he is shedding on his tail so maybe that got something to do with it?

 

[DragonOwner]

Shedding can put them off there food. So how much is he eating right now? if he seems to prefer woodies feed him woodies. Also i think i got told that superworms shouldn't be feed till the dragon is 14 inches i could be wrong. I stick clear from mealworms as there shell is hard and plus theres not much nutrince in them. I'm not sure if superworms are the same as mealworms. How big is your beardy my girl is 8 inches long from nose to tail.

 

[Dragon_Lover_85]

He ate around 15-20 woodies this am, he def prefers woodies as he a lazy bugger when it comes to food. supaworms are apparently different to meal worms as they have a slightly softer more digestable shell. I don't feed meal worms either as my oldest lizards are only 7 months. Mealworms for some are a choice feeder as they are very fattening and easy to feed to your dragon however i am told that if fed too much of them can cause obesity if not impaction. Crickets are low in nutrition though. My boy is 7 inches but is missing the very tip of his tail.

 

[DragonOwner]

crickets are only low in nutrince if they haven't been fed properly. Eg you feed the cricket high nutrince food a couple of hours before feeding to your dragon. That way all the nutrince the cricket has eaten gets past to your dragon. But woodies are the best they have more meat to shell ratio, I'll have to set up a container for woodiesas i have no way of keeping them other wise.

 

[Dragon_Lover_85]

Fair call I can see how that works. lol keepin the woodies in is the fun part. Invest in some fluron off herp trader website its fantastic the woodies for some reason cant pass it. what you feed your crickets?

 

[Ozzie Python]

as far as the blue tongue is concerned i am a bit sceptical about the need for uv, if they are provided with a substrate they can dig in they will often spend the entire day buried and not getting a lot of uv exposure. I always had a uv light in their tanks and fed them with calcium rich foods anyway, but rarely saw them basking close to the uv light.

dragging their back legs isn't always associated with mbd, i quite often have seen them moving along in a snake like fashion with their back legs tucked in.

 

[DragonOwner]

HI i feed my crickets endive,bok chok,pumpkin i also sprickle the gutload powder i get with the crickets. You could also crush up some dog or catfood too.