|
Without knowing anything about your gecko, or even what you're feeding it, chances are about 999 out of 1,000 that it does not. The term "MBD" gets thrown around all over the internet by people who are just confused by reading too many articles about too many different reptiles. I've raised over 10,000 crested geckos and I've literally never seen one of them develop MBD...and I have never, not one time, hand fed a gecko. The "real" Metabolic Bone Disease is generally something you see in reptiles that have UVB light requirements, and it will cause all kinds of bones to bend and curve...limbs, digits, spine, ribs, you name it. The body is literally using or metabolizing the calcium in the bones. A wavy tail, on the other hand, is just a sign of slight vitamin or mineral (usually calcium) deficiency and it apparently lies in the joints of the tail, and is not actually a curvature of the bones. The wavy tail will go away if corrected early on. In fact, a lot of other Rhacodactylus "cousin" species, like leachianus, gargoyles and chahoua, will commonly hatch with a wavy tail. I liken it to a human baby's soft spot on their head...more a matter of being in development than an actual deformity. Moral of story: 1. Crested geckos fed a halfway decent diet do not develop MBD. 2. You should take what you read on internet forums with a grain of salt - most of those people who sound like experts are just newbies who have done six or twelve months of reading articles and chatting online. They're just trying to be helpful, and usually they are, but sometimes it turns into a "who can look the smartest" contest and that can be dangerous if you take the wrong bit of advice at the wrong time. My advice on getting advice: Knowing that several internet forum "experts" will gladly give you their opinion when they have absolutely zero hands-on experience with a particular issue, be sure you ask someone who has actually seen, and dealt with, the problem before. If they have not, keep looking - no matter what the issue is, someone out there has seen it and will share their knowledge with you. |