what is wrong with my CWD

Question
QUESTION: i have a babe chinese water dragon that is only about 7in snout to tail and about 3in snout to vent. I believe he had MBD, what i do know is that there is something wrong with him. i want to take him to a vet but i work full time for the state and the nearest herp vet is over 100 miles away from were i live and i just cant make that kind of trip...i need to treat this myself before it gets worse...whatever is wrong with him.

my enclosure measures 4ftx3ftx2ft. the temps are 90F at the top platform of his cage 83 to 85F at the middle and about 70F at the bottom. the humidity is around 50% to 70%. i use a exo terra UVB light, night time heat wave, and daytime basking light (all brand new and all exo terra). his substrate is moss from the brick (exo terra). he has a 3gal water dish with a water filter/waterfall. (im sure i have his living conditions right, if not correct me, thanks).

Now to my problems....he wont eat any of his crickets that i feed him, so i tried them without his calcium/vitamin dust (zoo med) and he still wont eat them (they are small pin heads that he can easley eat) just the 1 meal worm a day...maybe he is small enough that this fills him up. this has been going on for a week, i thought maybe he was just stressed and still getting used to his new environment..but now im getting worried about him not eating like he should. he also has this scab thing on the bottom of the inside of his mouth that is swollen. i was picking him up about 1 1/2 weeks ago and he jumped and head first into his cage door and after that i saw his mouth was swollen and figured it was from that, but now that it hasnt gone away i think it might be MBD, but can he get that for such a young guy? i believe he is only 2 1/2 months old at the most.

now today has got me worried the most. i was holding him and checking out his mouth (witch seems to be getting a lot better, except for the swelling) and he started to freak out so i put him down one of his lower branches and he wigged out, i believe he was having a seizure, fell off his branch and started to shake. so i just left him alone.

The thing that i dont get form all this is that i have done everything every care sheet has told me, temps, humidity, cage size ect. how can he be sick? i also dont understand this because he is so active, he is always running up and down his logs and swimming is his water dish. his eyes are clear, no crust, his nose has no mucus, he dosent seem to be skinny and his belly is round and firm.

Is this MBD? am i doing something wrong that is causing this? am i over stressing him? i dont think it is parasite because his stool is firm and normal looking...or could it? i have no idea what is going on, can you give me some advice????
thanks

ANSWER: Hello Luke,

Sorry you are having trouble with your Chinese water dragon.  Wow, he is sure tiny isn't he?  I bet he is so cute though.  Do you have a picture?  Only 2.5 months old huh.  How long have you had him & where did you get him from, a pet store?  Do you know if he was under a UVB light before you got him?   
Could you post a picture of him for me, & his tank setup too?
The tank setup looks good.  The only thing that needs to be changed is the UVB light.  Unfortunately, the Exo terra Reptiglo 10 fluorescent tube bulb is not very good.  The wavelength of this light is not conducive to D3 synthesis & doesn't allow for very good calcium absorption.
I think that is probably most of the problem.  
Are you using a digital probe or a temp gun to measure the temperatures?
Since he is not eating very well he is not getting much supplementation right now.  When they are young, it doesn't take very long for their calcium levels to fall to low levels.
His conditions are fine so I don't think it is mouth rot or an upper respiratory infection.  His mouth being swollen, could indicate metabolic bone disease.  Is the jaw softer than it should be or does he seem to have any trouble chewing?  Does his mouth close completely or does he have an over bite or an underbite?
If his stool looks normal, he probably doesn't have parasites or worms right now.  
It sounds like he did have a seizure, poor baby.
First thing we need to do is get him a good UVB light.  The Zoomed Reptisun 10 fluorescent tube bulb & here is a site where you can get it for a great price:
http://www.petmountain.com/category/286/1/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs.html

I think that you should probably be proactive with this now & go ahead & get some liquid calcium to boost his levels.  It absorbs better & more quickly than than the powdered type.  I do sell liquid calcium too, so I will include my site if you want to take a look at it & get some for him.
The UVB is very important though so you do need to get that as soon as you can.  If he is not eating, you can try to get some chicken, turkey or beef babyfood & mix that up with some squash babyfood for bulk, & use a plastic dropper or syringe to feed it to him with.

Here is my site:
http://www.bug-de-lite.com/


Let me know how he is doing.

Tracie

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


CWD   QUESTION: Thanks you so much for your help, i was freaking out that maybe he wasnt going to live the rest of the day, the all of a sudden he jumped down to his worm bowl and ate a meal worm, so then i offered him a dusted cricket and he ate it also!!!! I just dont get it...all of a sudden he looks and acts almost dead and then 5 min later hes eating like a champ and running up and down his logs and swimming in his water dish. Maybe im just paranoid that something is wrong with him all the time...hes going to give me a heart attack soon if he keeps doing this to me!
To answer you other questions i have had him for a month now and before i got him he was smaller and i felt sorry for him setting in that pet shop. Yes he had UV lighting before i got him...i think, he had a tube light that was in his cage, dont know if it was UV or fluorescent. He dosnt have a problem chewing or swallowing his food, it also dosent look like he has an over or under bite just looks like he cant close his mouth all the way. i have a digital probe to check the heat through his cage. but ever sense the first time i checked it it hasent changed.
Thanks a lot for the sights!!!! the UVB light i bought at my pet store was $45 (just the light). And cant wait to try that liquid calcium, hope it helps.
Wen i left him this morning for work i felt sick to leave him alone like that but now after i got home and he is acting %100 i feel sooooo much better.
Could not send 2 photos so here is one of his mouth, could you tell me what might be wrong with it so i can treat it..thanks!

ANSWER: Hello Luke,

Oh that looks like metabolic bone disease, especially if you said he can't close his mouth all of the way.  That means his jaws are starting to soften & deviate now so you do need to begin treating that immediately!  Otherwise, it will get so bad that it will affect his ability to chew & eat as well as his health.  
Wow you paid that much for the Reptiglo 10 tube light?  That is too bad.  The Reptisun 10 is a better light & you can get it cheaper online.  I figure that he had been underneath the Reptiglo 10 at the pet shop so he has not had very good UVB exposure.  
The liquid calcium will give him a great boost, yes.  
I am happy to hear that he did eat something, that is great.  His temperatures are fine then since you are using a digital probe.  

Let me know how he is doing.  
EDIT*************
I have a favor to ask.  Would you mind helping out with testing & data gathering for a friend of mine who does UVB meter testing for various bulbs?  If you would like to help, let me know.  You can email me at:  Drache613@cfl.rr.com  so that I can send you her email.  She will ask you questions regarding how long the bulb was used, the distance it was from your dragon, etc.  
Thanks!

I hope you are able to get some calcium soon, so we can get him fixed up.  How is he doing today?

Tracie


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


CWD   QUESTION: He is still about the same, today i went in and got the liquid calcium and used it on a meal worm and 2 crickets....didnt seem to mind it. I picked up a 36in, 30watt, 10.0 UV bulb and you were wayyyy right! he loves the new light, i hope he pulls out of this. Do you know anything about a liquid UVB source?
Yes i will e-mail you so your friend can ask me questions...please no spam.
Thanks for all of the help.

Answer
Hello Luke,

I hope he likes the light!  It should help him a lot.  
Which liquid calcium did you get, the Zilla or bone aid?  You need to dose it though.  Let me know which brand you got so I can dose it better for him right now since he has metabolic bone disease.  
The liquid UVB is no substitute for the UVB light source.  It should be used with caution, if at all.  It can easily be overdosed as it has D3 in it, & there is no set dose for that in reptiles.  Too much can become toxic to him.
No worries!  No spam at all.

Keep me posted on him.

Tracie