Possible MBD Issue, please help

[annamarie61]

About your leo:
- Sex: Male
- Age & Weight: 2 years & approximately 35 grams
- How long have you owned your leo: 9 months
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend): friend

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo: 3-4 times a week
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now.: Not eating properly, struggling to eat and has what appears to be a soft jaw.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe. Has occasionally had issues with stuck shed but generally only a little on his feet. He has also had issues with loss of appetite or refusing to eat off and on for the last few months.
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal): normal
- When was the last time he/she went: last night
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on: see below.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: 20 gallon
- Type (ex. glass tank): glass tank
- Type of substrate: reptile carpet
- Hides, how many, what kind: 4 hides (1 warm, 2 cool, 1 moist)
B) Heating
- Heat source: uth
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side): ~92-95 F & ~72-75 F
- Method of regulating heat source: Zilla Thermostat
- What are you using to measure your temps: a digital thermometer
- Do you have any lights (describe): I have a uvb light but I haven't been using it since I thought lights were generally bad (see my description below).
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females): none, he is alone
- Describe health, or previous problems

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much): I alternate between crickets and meal worms. He recently hasn't been eating the crickets much so he has had more meal worms. When he eats well, he generally eats like 7-8 meal worms or up to 12 crickets. I just feed him until he is no longer showing interest in food. Every other day.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect): worms are left in a dish, crickets are dropped in a couple at a time until he stops eating.
B) Supplements (describe how often): was doing every other feeding, now doing all feedings
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands): ReptiCalcium (with and without D3. Recently I have only been using the one with D3 as that is what the vet recommended)
- What are you gut loading food with: for the crickets, I use Flukers cricket food and quencher or sometimes I throw in a carrot or potato or grapes.


This gecko was given to me a while back. The previous owner didn't do much with him other than occasionally throwing some crickets in to feed him and changing out his water once in a while. He only had a rock in his tank and a uth when he was given to me. I cleaned out his tank really well and set him up with 3 hides, a calcium dish, ect. He hasn't really used the calcium dish much and generally refuses to eat any insects that have been dusted with calcium. I'm not sure if he doesn't like it or what but he just won't touch it. I have been kind of forcing him to eat as much as I can that is dusted before offering any that is not dusted. He has lost his appetite and it has been difficult to get him to eat much of anything. He has lost a little weight and that worries me. Recently he has started acting like his jaw is soft and struggling to eat his food. He will kind of grab it and drop it several times before actually eating. I took him into a vet to figure out what is going on. She described it as a vitamin D deficiency and gave me a liquid vitamin (AD) to give to him once a week. She also recommended dusting all his food with Calcium +D3 so he is getting extra vitamin D and adding a light to help give him vitamin D. I'm not 100% sure I trust the vet and everything she told me. She was very kind and seemed to know what she was doing when handling him but some of what she said went against things I had read and learned when researching leos and how to care for them. This is my first gecko as I have really only kept frogs up until this gecko was given to me. I am wondering if he could be developing mbd and this issue is really the calcium not the vitamin D. My question is if there is a calcium and or vitamin supplement that would help him more than what I am using and what are your thoughts on using a light. I thought lights were not the best for leopard geckos as they have sensitive eyes and they don't bask in the light like other reptiles. I just want to make him as healthy and happy as I can but I'm not really sure how. I'm open to suggestions. Thanks!

 

[indyana]

Your gecko needs calcium, but he also needs D3 to be able to absorb it. Calcium alone won't do much. I would trust the vet here; she is recommending a standard treatment regimen for MBD. Because he needs to absorb more calcium to combat the effects of deficiency, she is temporarily boosting his vitamin D intake.

My only suggestion is that if you use a UVB light, be sure he has hides that are dark on the inside to get away from it if he needs to.

When he recovers and his bones harden up again, she should be able to help you come up with a more normal level of vitamin supplementation. A common method is to alternate dusting food with calcium+D3 and a reptile multivitamin, while leaving a bit of pure calcium (no D3) in the cage. Juveniles and breeding females need to be supplemented almost every feeding, while healthy, non-breeding adults can usually go down to only dusting a 2-3 times a week. Your gecko will need more intense supplements for a while though; your vet can help you determine for how long.