calling all beardie keepers....mbd?

[tegu66]

i have a sickly little beardie i havve had for a few months i bought him out of sympathy as he was the runt and all alone after i bought his very hhealthy and fast growing sisters.

his sisters were always slightly bigger but now completly dwarf him they are almost 3 times his size they eat wel have a lovely viv etc but

tiny (for obvious reasons) last week stopped eating we had to force feed him and massage him to get him to pooh etc after losing a heat bulb we put him back in with the others for a day while we went and got a new bulb and he's started hunting again?????

he has sunken eyes and lose skin so i know he's dehydrated and regularly syringe him water which he takes gladly but i'm wondering if he also has mbd???

here are some pics so you can see for yourselves..... i just want him to get better i dont care what i takes.


this is a barbie hair brush!!!!

[zemanski]

he doesn't look like he's got mbd - his bones look straight and the joints sharp, no jutting jaw and he looks to be moving right

I'm assuming you have the right uvb and are dusting with calcium?

Some beardies seem to have something wrong from birth that doesn't appear till they're a couple of months old, so they seem normal, if on the small side, but then they don't grow properly and, unfortunately, may die quite suddenly at a few months old.

try raising the temps to about 115 at the basking spot to make sure it's not down to digestion problems

I would get him checked by a vet

[TCReptile]

At I guess I would say it wasn't MBD, if his sisters appear fine and healty and showing no signs as they would've been kept in the same environment. It may be worth visiting the vets to rule this possibilty out, and hopefully find out what is wrong with the little guy.

Is he housed with his sisters or does he have a seperate viv? They may have been bullying him as he's the 'runt' of the litter and you hadn't noticed.

Also this case of slow growing can occur when the parents have underlying problems or are closly related (Often not of the breeders fault as they may well of come from two completely different areas, but are cousins) Have you spoken to the breeder at all? Perhaps this has happened in the past with some of their other clutches. He does look very small for a few months old, I have babies that are a few weeks old that look bigger!

[tegu66]

they were born on the tenth of october so will be nearly 6 months old

he was on his own and they have all been wormed etc the vet said next step is bloods he has calcium and uv bulbs yes and is fed a variety of foods the others are doing so well i'm sure i'm not doing anything wrong... when one of my heat bulbs went i put him baack with the girls for a day and he started to hunt again which he hasnt done for nearly 3 weeks now? my oh seems to think he missed the others? we feed ours seperatly so that we can keep an eye on the intake etc plus we have a big male who'd eat everything given half the chance.

i wonder if he's from a different batch and they put him with the girls because he was of a similar size and that he's either alot younger or alot older with worse issues than i thought!

[tegu66]

the other thing is these are pics from a few weeks ago he haasnt got that little pot belly anymore!

[tegu66]

just taken some more pics so people can see just how ssmall he is compared to his siblings. and obviously up to date pics

[zemanski]

he's unlikely to be missing his sisters, much more likely to be stressed by them, although that doesn't seem to have been the case

glad the vet is on the case and he's getting such good care - if he has got an underlying problem that can't be sorted at least he will live out his life loved and in comfort

good luck with him and I hope he just turns out to be a bit on the small side

[tegu66]

i really hope so too i love the little man to bits he used to have such an attitude...(little man syndrome) lol

here he is with one of the others so you can see the size difference.




and him on his own. these where taken just a few mins ago.

[Aunty_Lizard]

I don't think that he has mbd. It is difficult to say what is wrong seeing as his two siblings are doing so well.

All Breeders will tell you that you get runts in clutches. We have. Some go on to be quite healthy adults albeit a little small, some however just never grow and make it into adulthood no matter what you do to help them.

If he does not hunt for himself and your having to basically force feed him, I wonder if he has some problem with his eyes is he not seeing the food?

Liz

[tegu66]

he looks alert and standss up on his legs rather than laying flat out he'll tilt his head as bd doo when in hunting mode but then just lays down and goes back to sleep almost like he cant be bothered.

he'll quite happily dig a hole under some chip bark and go sit in it! that or he sits on the others backs all day so that he doest have to find a basking spot he's really lazy! but then if he doesnt eat he's gonna be? i've stopped force fedding him because the last few days were getting to be a nightmare he bit my oh (wich was quite funny) but he was spitting it out despite all our efforts..but then as if by magic he's gone back in with the others and we have seen him hunt twice now in as many days!

i can only do what i can for him and hope for the best...

it was suggested that i should put him in the freezer as he would probably starve to death but i couldnt do that! i dont want him to suffer but theres no way i could do that!