Flame's Tremors

Last year, I posted a picture of Flame (the only bearded dragon fire victim from last April's fire) and how his head tremors and trembles. My vet and I are pretty sure it is a byproduct of sloppy breeding. He's got a lot of "Fancy" genes in him-- translucence and all those other fancy things I never learned-- and I think a lot of those specific genes were mixed by mating beardies who were related too closely to each other. That might not be exactly it, but it's our best guess at this point.

Today, sadly, I noticed the tremors are spreading. Flame's tail is now trembling too. :( And I think the other day I saw some leg tremors. I haven't even had him a year and already the shaking is spreading.

We figured that the neurological causes behind his tremors would most likely shorten his life. I just didn't expect them to spread as fast as they are. :( 

I touched his head to get him to look at my camera and he closed his eyes so I could pet him. Aw, sweet baby boy. I gave him a good head scratch before I took the pic. 

Another example of the bad outcomes of sloppy breeding. Specialty body & eye colors are very trendy and popular in most reptiles, but it significantly limits the gene pool they draw from. A smaller gene pool means that problems get amplified. My last translucent beardie had head tremors too. She only lived 3 years. If you want the healthiest possible beardie, pick a "mutt" beardie that has been been bred from a reputable breeder with a good gene pool. They might not be the brightest or prettiest, but they are more likely to live the longest. 

Flame at the Vet

Flame is the only reptile of the 11 Fire Victims that I'm choosing to keep. He did test positive for adenovirus and, in the last three months, he's had problems with head tremors.

I talked to my vet about it last  month and he recommended we test Flame's calcium levels to rule out tremors caused by calcium deficiency. Since I was taking the two chams in today, I brought Flame along for the ride.

While he was at the vet, I was able to take a video of his head tremors. This is moderate for him-- so sometimes it's less noticeable and sometimes it's worse.

The calcium levels are right on track and so the vet tested the phosphorus levels (which can indicate kidney disease which also causes tremors). The phosphorus levels were right on track too. That leaves us with our original guess-- that he has a neurological issue due to inbreeding.

It is VERY common for "Fancy" bearded dragons to end up with genetic problems because of too much inbreeding. When you want a specific trait (like a leatherback or translucence or red coloring), you must use a specific set of genes to get it. There's not as much variation in the gene pool for these traits. With "Normal" colors, there are hundreds of thousands of beardies to chose from and there are far fewer problems that manifest. Silkies (what you get sometimes when you breed two leatherbacks) are, in my opinion, the most genetically messed up beardies. They have the most problems and difficulties.

So Flame is not fixable and, based on my previous experience with translucents with tremors, is not likely to have a long life. He will be loved and cared for while he is here. I won't adopt him out because of how valuable he would be as a breeder. It would be absolutely WRONG to breed him since he's already genetically messed up. To make sure that never happens to him, he's staying with me. Plus, I finally got him to let me pet his head without him biting me. I can't pet anywhere else, but I can give him loves on his head.

Checklist for Head Tremors-- 
1- rule out Metabolic Bone Disease caused by calcium deficiency (blood test)
2- rule out phosphorous deficiency caused by kidney disease (blood test)
3- conduct an overall blood panel test to make sure there are not other underlying issues
4- look at genetics

Benign head tremors are really only a problem when they are unable to control their heads enough to eat. If this happens, the beardie will have to be assisted with its food (like crickets on tongs) or tube fed.