Zilla has early MBD :(

[Aardbark]

Hi all

I took Zilla to the vet today, because she is still going through a bad shed. ts been almost a year now for her bad shedding problem.

I did not know that I had to replace my UVB bulbs after 6 months, I thought I had to replace them when the bulb went out. So she hasnt been getting proper UVB and is now starting to show signs of twitching.

I am working with my vet to heal her up, and get her to being a happy healthy tegu. Im changeing her diet too, which I hope will help with her shed. The vet recomended pinkys, which I have not tried yet.

My question to you all is, can a tegu recover from MBD? If I give her proper sun and diet, will she get better? Can she get better?

Also, I dont need people telling me I screwed up, I already feel bad.

 

[LizardzRock]

I heard and seen cases where they did and they didn't depending on the severity. I would consult more with your vet about this question, and ask how you can optimize Zilla's treatment plan. good luck to him.

 

[TeguBuzz]

If caught early enough and then treated for in the proper manner, the affects are reversible.

 

[ReptileGuy]

I'm sorry. Like TeguBuzz said you got great chances if caught early on. Best of luck to you and zilla!!

 

[Aardbark]

Thants for the replys. I think its early on, because she shows little signs of it. She twitches a tiny bit and her legs are puffy. Also the vet ddint seem to worried about it and said that we dont need to do an xray for a closer look.

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Followup question: What is the best UVB / Heat bulb that I can get?

 

[ReptileGuy]

Powersun FTW!!!

 

[Aardbark]

There are so many different bulbs, and so many different opinions on each bulb. Ive narrowed it down to the PowerSun, Solar-Glo, Sunforce and Mega-Ray.

Which is the best?

 

[KABIKANO]

Sorry to hear about Zilla. Good luck and I hope everything turns out alright.

 

[DavidRosi]

Just out of curiosity; how long had the said bulb been in place?

I'm really sorry to hear about it though; would break my heart if anything happened to my little lad; he's well and truly part of the familia. Hope it all works out

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

How old is she? you mentioned that shes had bad shedding over a year, which would make her at least a year old so I would be curious as to why the vet would recommend pinkies when she can take larger sized rodents and get way more nutrition and calcium benefits from them? Pinkies have a lot of fat and not much in the way of bones... The vet is right by saying that more rodent (or any whole prey - quail, chicks) would help with the calcium intake for her MBD but pinkies???? I'd disagree...

 

[LizardzRock]

I use the 100 watt Zoo Med Power Suns always. On Zoo Meds site they have a bulb replacement reminder(http://zoomed.com/Join/UVBSignup.php) that you fill out and it emails you when the avg bulbs UVB lifespan has diminished so you can replace and or check it strength if you have a meter. The solar glo's are known to go bad pretty fast from what I read, and are not as robust as the Power Suns. Plus the UVB output is higher and more efficient based on lab tests for the power sun than most of it's competitors. I heard a lot of the companies started manufacturing outside the U.S. and the quality went way down and this included Zoo Med, but they learned quick and reverted back to U.S. manufacturing. Hope this helps and Zilla sounds like he will be fine

 

[Aardbark]

I ended up ordering a Mega-Ray bulb, so we will see if that one is any good.

Zilla is about a year and 3 months old, give or take a few weeks. I got her at the end of july in 2011. She has definitly grown a lot, but she doesnt look big enough to me to be able to eat full grown mice. Ive never seen pinky mice so I dont know how big they are, but a full grown mouse looks like it wouldnt fit in her belly, let alone her mouth.

 

[LizardzRock]

yea the mega rays I hear are good too i have just never had one personally. Pinkies are new born baby mice. They have no hair and are bald all over, eyes are not even open yet. I fed pinkies then fuzzys (stage after pinkie has little bit of fur, eyes open, small) I never have fed full grown mice, they just have too much hair which controversially is known to cause compaction in the digestive tract. But that is controversial among herpers, studies have been done of which find that it doesn't, but apparently that has been refuted too(mostly in the monitor community). Its like a herper soap opera... i know ppl who buy the frozen full grown mice and shave them of their fur prior to giving them to their gu or monitor. But yes all in all whole prey like mice, chicks, feeder snakes, pretty much anything without a immature bone development so the calcium in-take potential is higher like SnakeCharmr728 said as well.

 

[james.w]

A year old tegu should be able to easily take a small mouse.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

What have you been feeding since you got her and exactly how big is she? Recent pics would be nice. At over a year old she should be big enough to take much larger prey than pinkies as previously mentioned, mouse or rat doesn't matter.

The appropriate prey size should be nothing larger than the size and width of their head. Anything bigger and they won't be able to take it whole, just tear it apart and make a mess instead. Which can be good exercise at times but in her condition and not knowing the extent, I wouldn't risk it.

Mila is a Colombian and at almost two years old she's taking small rats. Everyone's different but with rats I choose to feed one appropriate sized, instead of a bunch of smaller ones.

 

[Aardbark]

Thank you for all the responces and careing for my tegu, I really apretiate it.

Zilla has always been an extreemly picky eater. Ive tried to give her many things, from fruits (cherry, bannana, apple, strawberry, orange) and tried various meats (tuna, sardines, ground beef, ground turkey, ground pork, gizzards, chicken necks, meal worms, crickets, super worms, liver, just to name some that I can think of)
And the ONLY thing she would eat is ground turkey. I tried starving her for a week, and she still wouldnt eat anything else. So she has been eating ground turky for the past year. I always dust it with vitamin and calcum powder. The only thing I havent tried is whole prey. So Im hopeing she will take that.

I will try to add some pictures in a little bit.

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She is 25 inches long from nose to tailtip.

I tried to upload some comparison pictures.

 

[TheTeguGurl]

[attachment=5732]<<Now[attachment=5731] <<<before

Let me just start out and say I am really sorry to hear about Zilla.. My tegu murphy is a survivor or MBD, he had it so bad when I rescued him the vet wanted to put him down. They did xrays and bone test. He was pretty rough shape. I took him home and treated him . Calcium shots every day, brand new powersun bulb, natural sunlight. I had to force feed him for 2 mos before he ate on his own. His limbs were deformed. BUT NOW he is like a normal tegu eats healthy gets around. Althou the limbs on him will never be the same he is a fighter. If Murphy can do it so can zilla. Are you using a calcium dust for him? Zilla looks big enough for a mouse.. Also you may try chicken necks.. GREAT source of calcium. Just cut up in small bites for Zilla too.

 

[Aardbark]

Well its great to hear a recove story like that. Is Murphy the guy that kind of scoots around cuz his front legs dont work so well? I think Ive seen some youtube clips. Zilla isnt nearly as bad as that though. I do dust all her food, but she wont eat much. Im going to get some pinkys and some small mice and see if she will eat them. How exactly do you force feed tegus mice?

 

[TheTeguGurl]

Yes that would be him he has this like army crawl things going on.. Well when I was feeding him throu a syringe for mice.. This is going to sound gross, but i took a f/t mouse and put it in a blender. with either warme water or pedilight and blended it too a mushie smoothie.. Worked great

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Yes that would be him he has this like army crawl things going on.. Well when I was feeding him throu a syringe for mice.. This is going to sound gross, but i took a f/t mouse and put it in a blender. with either warme water or pedilight and blended it too a mushie smoothie.. Worked great

Most of the food he was eating was thru a syringe for the first 2 mos.. chicken baby food to other things I would put in the blender to make my own stuff.. Mice and bugs were one of them

 

[Aardbark]

Lol mouse smoothy.

Ok I got Zilla a brand new bulb and I sectioned of an area for her to bask in. My plan is to moniter her constantly, and sort of force bask her so she can get a lot of sunlight. I will watch her to make sure she doesnt get to hot. I also got some small frozen mice for her to munch on, which I will test to see if she will eat tomorow.

After a lot of basking with a good bulb and a proper diet, how long do you think it will take for her arms to stop shakeing?