• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Need some help with my dragon's leg... VET UPDATE... X-ray pic..

bliss

bliss

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Hey guys,

I have a situation with my biggest male, his name is Gremlin.

I've raised him since he was just a wee thing. He is now at 18".

Well, tonight I have noticed something funky about his right back leg. I noticed it as I was feeding him. As he was coming over to the Phoenix worms, I noticed he was holding his leg up and was twitching it as he was walking.

Here are the symptoms I have noticed:
- When walking, he holds foot above ground and it twitches.
- The "thigh" of the leg in question is VERY swollen, about 1.5 times that of the other, normal leg..
- When I feel of his left (normal) leg, I feel no bump. When I feel of the right leg, I can feel a big knot.

Could this be a broken leg?
If so, what kind of vet bill can I expect?

Also, it is important to note that this boy has always been housed alone. The only time I have ever seen him get rowdy is when he was head bobbing at my female the other day. He eats very well, gets all sorts of greens/veggies, phoenix worms, crickets, dubia roaches, and all the supplements..
 
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Can you show a pic of him AND his cage set-up. Just want to see if there's anywhere his leg could have gotten caught...between rocks,logs,etc.....or a basking height that,if he had weakened bones due to low calcium,MAYBE got hurt when he jumped down? Or same if you had him out+ he jumped down ? Could he have been bitten by something?
 
angie.h said:
Can you show a pic of him AND his cage set-up. Just want to see if there's anywhere his leg could have gotten caught...between rocks,logs,etc.....or a basking height that,if he had weakened bones due to low calcium,MAYBE got hurt when he jumped down? Or same if you had him out+ he jumped down ? Could he have been bitten by something?
Click to expand...

Hey Angie,

Yes I will get some pics here in a couple hours, I"m going to have to run to town and get some batteries lol.

Ok, well, I can go ahead and answer a couple of these. The only thing that is in his cage is newspaper on the floor, and a single brick for him to lay on, half of the brick is under the light beam and the other half is not, so if he doesn't want to lay under the direct beam he doesn't have to. But that's it. He has been given a ton of calcium, and eats phoenix worms every other day and dusted dubia and crickets every day. When I take him out I'm very careful with him, I can't remember any times in the last couple months that he has taken a dive off of something while he was out? And he definitely wasn't bitten by something. He doesn't have cagemates and any time he is outside of his cage he either chills on my bed, at my computer desk with me, or on my shoulder wherever I may be.
 
Notice the right leg? Right there about where the thigh connects to the hip it feels sorta like a solid.. mass, or ball, inside of there. It's really weird. He can barely move his leg up and down. He's been getting around and eating just fine, but I really want to know what's going on. I guess I'll call the vet on Monday and see what they can tell me.
017-10.jpg


Cage setup. I keep my cages as clean as possible, and hazard free as possible.
018-12.jpg
 
Hi Daniel,
What kind of lights do you have on him? Also, what kind of calcium are you giving him and does it say it has D3 in it? If he's not injured, he could have a calcium lump growing on his hip or leg.
When they aren't utilizing calcium properly, it can attach to bones and joints and become hard, forming calcium lumps. Reasons calcium might not be processed properly are, either he's not getting enough uvb to allow him to create D3 in his skin, which allows him to utilize calcium and other vitamins.
Could be a variety of reasons. Your uvb bulb has gotten old, or it's not strong enough. Could be it's not close enough.
Or if you don't use uvb and rely on calcium powder, you may have inadvertantly used one that doesn't have D3 in it, that's necessary to utilize calcium. Older vitamins should be disgarded after expiration date.
Also, other ideas are, if he's calcium deficient he's got mbd, which besides lumps, can just cause swelling and twitching. It can be treated by replacing bulb with a new uvb bulb, being sure it's close enough. Length depends on strength. If your using a strong uvb/heat, mercury balist bulb, you don't want to get too close. 10 inches distance from highest basking site.
I use the exo terra esu uvb/heatbulbs but there are reports of blindness if they can get too close so you have to read up on them if you use them.
Last but not least (well maybe not last, but last I can think of:), is, sometimes too much calcium, can be as bad as too little. You want to go over quantity of calcium your giving to make sure it's not too often. It's not easy to find out exact dosages on vitamins. It requires comparing weight, age, brands of vitamins and their strength, etc.
And I'm half Italian, so my idea of measurement is a pinch of this and that, and sit him in natural sun an hour a day. hehe!:D
 
calcium binding..

Also, not to befuddle your mind with more questions. But if you don't vary his veggie diet, some varieties of greens can cause calcium binding because they're high in oxalates, such as kale, broccolli, spinach, etc. Even collard greens has oxalates but it's got the highest calcium in it.
The main thing, is, variety, variety. I use collard greens, kale, and dandelion greens regularly because they're beneficial, but I vary them, switching them weekly or when I run out. In those I mix in other veggies, like finely shaved and chopped zuchini, summersquash, carrots, greenbeans, pumpkin, butternut squash. Not all at once, but switching weekly. I find they like their leafy greens best, but also like a little color so add a smaller amount of collard veggies. In hot months I add a little bit of cantelope or blueberries. Nothing acidy.
Melissa Kaplan has a website on mbd and it has a list of food items, both good and bad. I'll send a link.
 
Good advice Gina...I was going to mention natural sunlight as well. The other greens that I use as staples are turnip and mustard. My dragons love those from the time they are tiny,and they are not as tough as collards. In summer,I get mulberry leaves from my tree and clover [ a legume with decent protein] that they love.
 
Thanks Angie!

http://www.anapsid.org/ is Melissa Kaplan's site. It's got lot's of info for many species, but check out the links for mbd and food items. It happens to all of us! I inadvertantly used a calcium with no d3 on some babies last year and ended up with a few problems as well.:eek:
 
If you are dusting every day,and it's calcium with D-3 it is too much for an adult,or even sub-adult. Try cutting back,twice a week is plenty...greens themselves are loaded with calcium. A few times a week in the sun,if your'e able,eliminates the need for a uvb bulb altogether...until cold weather sets in again.
 
Hi Gina, and Angie

I keep him under a 45watt halogen light, and a 10.0 UVB fluorescent from Exo-terra. I inserted the UVB bulb back in January, So I was going to wait until July to switch it out (6 month period).

I will take him out into the natural light more when I can.

It's true, I do dust his food everyday, no matter whether it's greens, insects, veggies, etc. Also, I do switch up my dragons greens every so often. I try to keep two varieties on hand, one week i'll do mustard/turnip greens, next week i'll do dandelion/collard greens, then after that the next week I'll do Swiss chard and Mustard green. I do use Mustard greens more often than the others, I find that it's one of my beardies' favorites. That's not to mention that one week I'll offer Yellow Squash and Zucchini, the next week I'll offer Cucumber and some sweet potato. Often I will also offer the mixed veggies that come frozen in the plastic bags. I always offer them apples and bananas at least once a week. I need to get some strawberries and blueberries and try them out too.

And, his calcium is Rep-cal Calicum ultrafine powder, with D3. It's the pink label.

So basically, I will cut down on the calcium, and the phoenix worms, offer more undusted food items and try to switch the variety a bit more than usual, buy a brand new UVB bulb, and try to get him outside on some days. Does that sound like a good plan?
 
Hi Dan....do keep in mind that we are giving opinions and suggestions. We don't have a diagnosis,only a qualified herp vet can give one. So a trip to the vet is still the best way to determine what the problem is by X-ray. Hope everything turns out O.K. !!
 
angie.h said:
Hi Dan....do keep in mind that we are giving opinions and suggestions. We don't have a diagnosis,only a qualified herp vet can give one. So a trip to the vet is still the best way to determine what the problem is by X-ray. Hope everything turns out O.K. !!
Click to expand...

Well, yeah, but I was just laying out a plan if that was the case... I guess. lol

I am going to call the herp vet here sometime this morning.

Thanks for all the help!

Dan
 
Talked to the vet just a second ago.

Seems as though it will cost $175 - $225 to have him checked and X-rayed, they said it was going to vary between those numbers because if they had to sedate him that the drug would cost a little extra.

Well, I guess he is off to the vet at some point either early next week (vet was already filled with visits and scheduled operations this week). Wish him luck!

Thanks,

Dan
 
Ouch!

Well maybe after the vet examin's him, and you tell him how much vitamin's you've been giving him along with what he's eating, maybe he can see what your doing wrong (it's always our fault!;) and you might not need the xray. I'd bring the vitamins along so he can read the label for percentages, etc.

Good luck!
 
Gina Gauvin said:
Well maybe after the vet examin's him, and you tell him how much vitamin's you've been giving him along with what he's eating, maybe he can see what your doing wrong (it's always our fault!;) and you might not need the xray. I'd bring the vitamins along so he can read the label for percentages, etc.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Yep, will do!

I've heard that the Rep-Cal herptivite multivitamins and the Rep-cal calcium w/ d3 are some of the best you can get, but i'll take them along with me.

Thanks!
 
Just got back from the Vet..

Well, the Xrays came back inconclusive.. the Dr doing the xray showed me the xray pics, she said that he has excellent bone density, great size at only 9 months (18", 350+grams), and that he was in excellent condition.. the mass in his leg, which appeared as a very round accumulation on the Xray picture, was his only problem. She said it was not MBD, nor was it an overabundance of calcium... She said it was a "problem with absorption and reabsorption", and that it could possibly be cancerous. :( There is nothing she could do, nothing she could prescribe, I described the care to her and she said from what I described he was living an excellent life. She is going to show the results to other Dr's and give me a call sometime this week or next week.. She said she would also send me the xray pictures to my email so I could post them here for others to see.

I am going to take him back around the beginning of July, for a Biopsy.. She will then send that off to a radiation lab and they can probably tell us exactly what the problem is. I really hope is isn't cancerous, like the Dr. suspects it to be!
 
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