# Baby tegu trembling and not acting right



## OpalRaven (May 25, 2016)

So my baby b&w has been super healthy acting although very skittish, i posted another thread about that. I have had him for 3.5 wks now. Last week he was perfectly active. I admit this wk i have been working alot so leave the hous before he wakes and am home after he goes to sleep. I am home today and he is trembling uncontrollably. Did not eat yesterday and has not eaten yet today. Not as active. Could he have gotten metabloc bone disease this quickly?? Please any help is greatly appreciated!! I dont know what to do.


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## beardeddragon111 (May 25, 2016)

Does it look like this?




This is a video I found on youtube. I believe it shows trembling due to a calcium deficiency.


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## OpalRaven (May 25, 2016)

Yes, i think its a bit worst than that, his whole body. How do i fix it?! How do i get him to eat??


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## beardeddragon111 (May 25, 2016)

I think a exotic vet trip would be required. I'm really not sure what to do.


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## OpalRaven (May 25, 2016)

My reptile vet is off today... he just walked a lap around his tank and seemed a little better. Back under the heat lamp now still hasnt eaten though. He is also very skittish and fearful of me... could it also be stress/fear related?


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## beardeddragon111 (May 25, 2016)

Could also be stress/fear related. What is your lighting and supplementation? When he goes to the vet he can probably get calcium injections. Hopefully he doesnt have MBD yet.


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## Walter1 (May 25, 2016)

It may have been Roadkill that noted liquid calcium is absorbed faster than powdered. Likely a step a qualified vet will do if this is the cause of his trembling. Good luck and please keep us up to date.


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## OpalRaven (May 25, 2016)

I have a 60 watt black light on 24hrs, a 100 watt day white incandescent spot and a 5.0uvb reptisun on during the day. Im using zoo med reptivite with out d3, i thought it was calcium when i bought it. He is mainly eating raw ground turkey and mealworms, he also gets hard boiled egg and grapes every few days. And crickets probably once a week since i havent set up to keep them alive for very long.


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## beardeddragon111 (May 25, 2016)

You might want a source of UVA, as well as a better UVB. I prefer Solar glow bubls. Also, is he big enough to feed at least pinky mice? It would be good to add things with bones in his diet when hes fixed up.


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## OpalRaven (May 25, 2016)

Im not sure if he is big enough for a pinkie. He drank some water so u feel a little better. He still didnt eat though. How long can a baby go with out eating? Also he goes to bed very early, buries himself under the substrate at 4pm today, us that normal


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## beardeddragon111 (May 25, 2016)

Im assuming he doesnt have much energy . He should be good until you get him to the vet on eating.


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## Walter1 (May 25, 2016)

OpalRaven said:


> Im not sure if he is big enough for a pinkie. He drank some water so u feel a little better. He still didnt eat though. How long can a baby go with out eating? Also he goes to bed very early, buries himself under the substrate at 4pm today, us that normal


Spending a lot of time in a hide is typical.


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## dpjm (May 25, 2016)

I read that you were giving him a multivitamin that you thought was calcium.. Since you realized this, have you started supplementing with calcium? You can use all the UV lamps in the world but without dietary calcium they will of course be deficient in calcium. All the foods you mentioned (raw turkey, mealworms, egg, crickets) are very low in calcium for what a tegu needs, so make sure you always supplement. From the information you have given us, calcium deficiency is the most likely cause of those tremors. If it is at that stage, a vet visit is pretty much mandatory and calcium injections are a solution your vet will likely use.


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## OpalRaven (May 25, 2016)

Im an jerk and only just realized about the vitamins now. I thought reptivite was the brand and saw without d3 and i guess just assumed it was calcium. It does have calcium in it, im just assuming not enough. Ill go get some real calciym tomorrow when im out to the vet . How much calcium should he have a day? Is there certain types that are better?


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## Walter1 (May 25, 2016)

Should have whole prey items included in diet. Young adults with calcified bones. Regardless, dust with calcium.


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## dpjm (May 26, 2016)

[QUOTEHow much calcium should he have a day? Is there certain types that are better?][/QUOTE]

My favorite calcium is Zoo Med Reptical because it is not ground oyster shells.

You should give him enough calcium to ensure that his diet has a 2:1 calcium phosphorus ratio. So it really depends on what you are feeding. Whole animal prey need none, pretty much everything else needs calcium.


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## OpalRaven (May 26, 2016)

How do i know how much phosphorus he is getting to know that the ratio or correct?


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## Justsomedude (May 26, 2016)

OpalRaven said:


> How do i know how much phosphorus he is getting to know that the ratio or correct?


By feeding him more crickets it's very important when they are young


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## dpjm (May 26, 2016)

It's easy for some items and not so easy for others.

For insects, just dust them with calcium, there is no other way. All insects need calcium dusting every time.

For produce, use this resource http://nutritiondata.self.com/ 

Just use it to find out about foods that you commonly feed him, check out the calcium and phosphorus amounts and see which items needs adjusting through calcium supplementation. The lower the ratio of calcium to phosphorus, the more calcium to add.


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## OpalRaven (May 27, 2016)

I did get him to eat yesterday so i feel better The vet is having me order liquid calcium. But with the holiday and what not im sure itll take a little bit to come so we will be doing a calcium inj tomorrow when i get out of work. I bought real calciym powder and also the gut loading stuff for the crickets with calcium in it....His tremor episodes seem to come and go. Another question on the calcium supplementing. Some come with and some with out d3, do they also get d3 from the lighting?


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## dpjm (May 27, 2016)

If you have UVB lighting then use calcium without D3. If you don't have UVB lighting then use the calcium with D3.

However, the amount of D3 added to the calcium supplement is such a small amount that I would add additional powdered D3. This needs to be done cautiously as D3 can accumulate in the body and the body has no way to regulate it without UV light.

In other words, your tegu could overdose on D3 if it's provided in the diet but not if it's produced in the skin from exposure to UVB light. That is why providing UVB lighting is a safer route than providing D3 in the diet.

Here's an example of how little D3 is added to calcium with D3 supplement. In the case of Zoo Med Reptical with D3, there is only 23 IU of D3 per 1 gram of calcium carbonate powder. One gram of calcium carbonate powder is way, way more than you would ever use and 23 IU is a tiny amount. To make my calcium/D3 supplement that I use on some of my animals that don't have UVB, I add enough D3 so there is around 450 IU per gram of supplement. That has worked well for the last few years and I have not noticed any problems. Again, this approach would only be used with animals that have no UVB lighting.


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## OpalRaven (May 29, 2016)

Well, I guess I caught it right away. I made an appt saturday after work for his calcium inj since I only worked half a day it would be less stressful for him at work then a full day. But he was back to eating and very active and not a tremble the whole day! Still had the Dr look at him but no inj, just keeping an eye on him. He is 96 grams. Thank you everyone for all the help!


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## Walter1 (May 29, 2016)

Good work.


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