First and foremost I would highly suggest that you treat your animal for parasites. The caving in symptoms at the base of the tail only leads me to believe that you are working with a heavily infected animal. I strongly recommend taking a fecal sample to qualified veterinarian to find out what type of parasites you are working with. But I can take a fair guess that your animal is infected with nematodes, flagellates, or pinworms, or all three. Each of which has a direct life cycle and without a compulsive attitude towards cage cleanliness will continue to reinfect your animal.



I had the same symptoms with one of my ornates, but after many weeks of working hard with a compulsive attitude towards cage cleanliness and with proper treatment, my uro had gained full weight back and the caving in disappeared. The drug that my veterinarian prescribed me was Panacur, which is an extremely safe drug to use. The only concern is that if used too much and too often, reports are beginning to show that these drugs for parasites are wiping out these small lizard’s livers.



Parasites and bacterial infections are among the top three killers in captive reptiles. I believe that your uromastyx has both. To address your uro's swollen foot issue, all I can suggest is to take it for an examination to a qualified reptilian vet. Hopefully your vet will find out what parasites you’re working with, and then diagnose the issue. It’s going to take a lot of patience and time into getting your uro healthy again.



Please keep us updated on the issue and make sure you get to a vet as soon as possible. My suggestion for now would be to get your uro into a smaller quarantine cage with a paper towel substrate. Use simple low to the ground hide spots (I used the flat pieces of terra cota and then used a hammer to make cut away a entrance under the terra cota. Use regular soap to clean all cage hide spots EVERY time your uro defecates, as well as replace the paper towels. The cage must be cleaned as well. You must think as though everything is contaminated when dealing with parasites with a direct life cycle. Even your uros tail may have fecal smears on it. Using dawn dish washing detergent with water on a paper towel, you can gently scrub away the poop off of the tail base.



Best of luck,



-Paul

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