Bearded dragon shaking

Question
QUESTION: My bearded dragon's front arms and claws shake when he reaches to grab onto something. i dont think its MBD because he has uvb and gets way more than enough calcium supplement. is this normall nothing else is wrong with him, his back legs are fine and he is active and eating also, he is walking fine. whats wrong? is this naturall?

ANSWER: Hi Jordan,
You say that he gets more than enough calcium.  The problem there is that too much calcium can also cause problems. Its important that they only get what is recommended....dusting the insects and if necessary, dusting their greens once a week...when dusting the salad you mist the salad with water, and sprinkle the calcium on..if you can see the calcium, then its too much.
With uvb, there are good sources, and bad sources..I'm including my information on lighting/uvb.
If you are giving too much calcium, or if your uvb isn't correct, make the needed corrections and see if it makes a difference in a week or so. Of course if it gets worse, or doesn't change, then a vet visit is needed.


LIGHTING:
BD's need UVB, which is the special lights that come in fluorescent tubes or special screw in bulbs(mercury vapor)that are designed to produce uvb and heat. The tubes do not produce heat. UVB is needed by the BD to be able to absorb the calcium in the foods they eat. Without the uvb, they will develop metabolic bone disease. With the tubes, they must say that they produce BOTH uvb and uva. The uvb needs to be 5% or higher. Repti Sun 5.0 and 10.0(not compact) are TWO of the best uvb tubes on the market. The repti glo 8.0's are a great uvb source also. Arcadia 5.0 (UK), which is the uvb tube available in the UK is a good uvb tube. These need to be positioned 6-8 inches(for the 5.0 and 8.0 and 8-10 inches for the 10.0) over the BD so that they get the uvb that is needed. Recommended length of the tube is 24 inches or more. They need to be replaced every 6-9 months as that they stop producing uvb long before they stop producing light.  They need to have access to uvb and basking

temperatures for 10-12 hours daily.  At night, no white lights!!!

There has been new studies that have proven that compact uvb lights, both the spiral/coil type and the ones that look like long "U's" laying on their side and a few other brands are causing what basically amounts to snow blindness in reptiles. The companies have corrected the problem but, there may still be some of the earlier manufactured bulbs out there so be sure to double check what you are using, or even if you are using proper uvb source.  To read more on this, you can go to

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm  

The companies have been working to correct the problem with the lighting so its important to know if the light you have MAY be the old version.

This link will take you to my discussion group and to a post that tells how to tell the new compacts from the old ones.   http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/UVB_Meter_Owners/message/6721

There are tubes and bulbs that say ''full spectrum'' but they do not produce any uvb.

On the mercury vapor , they also produce heat. They also produce the uvb and uva. The best on the market now are the MEGA RAY or the T-Rex.  www.reptileuv.com has more information on the Mega Ray lights. When using these, the distance is much greater than the uvb tubes and the directions must be followed that are listed for the light. When using the mercury vapor lights, you don't need to have one light for uvb and one for heat. The Mercury vapor lights provide both.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you my bd loves the calcium powder he justs eats it plain then i feed him crickets he normally eats like 7 licks of the calcium dust sometimes maybe 14 if he hasnt gotten for a while.

Answer
Hi Jordan,
Please, please be sure that he isn't getting too much of the calcium.  Even getting too much calcium in one feeding isn't a good thing to do. Are you also feeding a daily salad of dark leafy greens such as a mix of collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, etc?  This is very important to them as that when they are a yr old and older, their diet is mostly the "salad" and limited insects.  This diet is keeping beardies healthy and living longer...many people are now having healthy beardies that are over 10 years old!!