mountain horned dragon twitching

Question
QUESTION: I recently noticed that my 12 inch BMD twitches his head slightly every now and then. He does not have a UVB light, but i let him sit in a tree by the window. I was wondering if A) the window glass is just filtering out the UVB rays and he needs a light, B)he's twitching because he feels i'm a threat, and C), if the UVB light they require allows them to utilize the calcium in their bodies or if it allows them to create the calcium they need? Thus, if i fed him regularly on earthworms he would not require the light?

Thank you,
Aaron

ANSWER: Hello Aaron,

I am sorry to hear your horned dragon has some twitching going on.  
The glass unfortunately will filter everything out so that he is not receiving any UVB benefits at all.
You will need to get a UVB light for his tank to where it does not go through the screen on his tank.  You can mount it underneath of the screen top with 3M command hooks.    
That is correct.  Their system cannot fully absorb or utilize calcium as well as synthesize D3 without the exposure of UVB.  He is in the early stages of hypocalcemia but should be easy to get fixed.  
They do not have a liver like geckos which store D3 & make it without D3 exposure.  He needs a UVB source.
You can feed him most insects, but you also need to gutload them with food that is calcium rich for optimum health.
What are his basking temperatures like?

Do you have any pictures of him?

Tracie

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

QUESTION: Thank you for the reply! His basking temperature is somewhere around 70 to 85 degrees, depending on the daytime temperature. It's been getting colder, though i have a heat lamp i can use if he requires higher temperatures, i was unsure of how cold it got in their native forest habitat. I regularly mist him, and douse the worms in water before feeding to ensure he gets all of the moisture he needs. Would you happen to have a list of calcium rich foods i could feed the worms? I recently purchased a UVB lamp for him and he seems to be enjoying it. Is there specific time that it takes for lizards to recover from a calcium deficiency?

ANSWER: Hello Aaron,

You can increase that basking temperature to around 90 or so, but no higher than 95.
Do you have a mister in the tank to help with humidity?  The humidity needs to run around 75% or so.  
You can give powdered worms for him to help ensure he gets enough calcium, too.
Here is a food chart to help with calcium rich foods for you.
You can gut load the worms a gutload which is rich in calcium & vitamins.  Chicken laying mash is a great bedding for worms & other insects which is high in calcium.


There really isn't any specific time frame for recovery as they are all unique & recover in different ways.  A lot will depend on how much damage has already been done.  
Do you have any pictures of him I could see?

The best UVB is either the Zoomed Reptisun 10 tube or the Arcadia D3 12% tube bulb, for him to help him out with UVB lighting.

Let me know how he is doing!

Tracie

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


bump on hand  

mountain horned dragon   QUESTION: He doesn't have a tank, more of a section of my room that he can live in, though i have a mister he uses. I got him the 26W ExoTerra ReptiGlo 5.0. After using it yesterday the side of him which had been facing the lamp had a green sheen, which i assume means his skin is responding well. Would i be able to dip the worms in raw egg or milk, or would that be dangerous/ would he not be able to digest it? Also, his stool is nicely formed with a brown section and a white section, though there's usually a lot of watery mess that goes along with it. Is this a problem related with his inclusively earthworm diet, or are there parasitical problems I should look into? Here are several pictures of him that I took this morning. I weighed him in at approximately 8.1 ounces last night, and he's about a foot long, do you have any information on if this is a healthy weight for his size? Also, I took a picture of a bump on his hand which could either be metabolic bone disease or simply a healing injury.

Thank you,
Aaron

Answer
Hello Aaron,

The Reptiglo 5 bulbs are not good though, they don't produce enough UVB emissions to synthesize D3.  I really recommend either the Reptisun 10 or the Arcadia D3 12% tube bulb.  
Is the Reptiglo 5 that you got, a compact/coil light or a tube bulb?
No, they are not able to digest dairy in that manner.  I would stick with powdered calcium & vitamins for him.  
The white portion of the stool are the urates & it is normal for some water to come out.  As long as the stool is not completely liquid or diarrhea, then it sounds normal.  
He looks very colorful & alert.  
The bump looks like a possible scale injury.  He could have rubbed it on something in his tank or had retained shed which got infected.  
You could try putting some antibiotic ointment on that area daily, in case it is a little infected right now.  If needed, you can also use some diluted betadine to rinse it before applying the ointment on it.

Let me know how he is doing.

Tracie