Caring For a Bearded Dragon With Metabolic Bone Deficiency (MBD)

Just a disclaimer, I am not a animal doctor and cannot offer any medical advice. If your bearded dragons shows signs of MBD, visit your local vet immediately. So around October 2012 my bearded dragon, Slug, was showing signs of MBD. She acquired the disease from a light fixture that had plexiglass covering the UVA/UVB light. UVB rays have a difficult time of traveling through plexiglass. So if you have one of these fixtures, carefully break the plexiglass exposing the light bulb. After a couple months with this fixture, my beardie was showing signs of MBD. I didn't know about the plexiglass, UVB problem so the fixture was robbing my lizard of her precious light for months. She stopped eating, hid from the heat light, and was extremely lethargic. After about a week or so with these symptoms I did a little bit of research. I found that  she was showing strong signs of MBD and it finally clicked that the plexiglass was blocking the UVB rays. Brushing off my stupidity, I quickly broke the plexiglass. I didn't have money to take her to the vet, I just couldn't afford it at the time. They would just tell me to make sure she was getting UVB rays and to dust all her food with calcium, maybe even giving her a calcium gluconate shot. After a few months she started showing more energy and eating more, but she only ate when hand fed. I dusted all her food with calcium, and she was getting her rays from the UVB light. She would only drink water from a dropper, her motor skills were extremely damaged due to her condition. This sickness effects everything from their neurological functions to bone formation. She started showing signs of improvement, basking a lot more and a bigger appetite. I was constantly giving her calcium and vitamin supplements with her food, and giving her doses of REPTI-BOOST. This product is great for giving your reptile the electrolytes and energy it needs to get through a sickness. This disease though, is not something you can cure but help make the symptoms easier for her to live with. 

WHAT HELPED MY DRAGON THE MOST WITH MBD

Now keep an open mind. This is a bit unconventional medicine that I gave to my dragon. I am in no way telling you to do something illegal or to go and buy and posses something illegal. I'm just telling you what worked for me and the effect this medicine has on my dragon. With that said, I used marijuana to help with the worst of my dragons condition. I used one ounce of low-grade cheap marijuana, meaning high in CBD, and low in THC. I ground up the ounce in a coffee blender and cooked it in 28 fl. ounces of vegetable oil. I cooked it at a low simmer for about 30 minutes. I let it cool down in my refrigerator over night and the next day I gave about 5 ml to my bearded dragon. Her condition improved almost instantly over the course of the day. I noticed her moving a lot more and her movements seemed less robotic and more natural. I tried this after seeing a special on television about marijuana and the effect CBD (a cannabinoid) on the epileptic brain and that it over time helps rebuild the brain. I truly believe this is a miracle for my dragon because now she eats out of her bowl by herself, moves around her tank with ease and can actually shoot her tongue out at her prey with precision. Where before she would shoot her tongue out to the side of her mouth like she couldn't control her aim. She is doing a lot better and is a lot more independent. Please respond with comments if you think this idea is interesting.