My father stumbled upon a reptile at one of his friend's house, and even though he doesn't know a ton about reptiles, he could tell that this one needed help.



It's a mali Uromastyx. We've named her sam, because it's a unisex name (sort of) and we're not quite sure of the sex yet. The tank she has been living in for the majority of the past two years was a 10 gallon tank (a little small for a uro that's about 14" long...probably why she's so overweight right now). All she had for heat was a hot rock and no lights. Just that, a ton of feces, old lettuce, a large rock that took up a lot of space, and a water dish that was very dirty. The tank was so disgusting that you couldn't see through the glass. I promptly threw it and it's contents away. The guy had a 29 gallon tank with a heat lamp that he used for a little while, but I have no clue why he would choose to keep her in such a disgusting place then. I took that tank and the lamp, and the day after I got her and the tank setup was christmas eve, so I called to see what petshops were open and went and got a top for the tank and a stand for the heat lamp. I was using one of those cheap dial thermometers and I just recently realized how far off it was. No wonder she was sleeping all day. I thought she had a skin infection, but we took her to the vet the day after christmas and he informed us that they were scars from third degree burns, and from the shape of them I suspect that when she did have a heat lamp it fell on her. Other than that he said that she should get better with a little time and the right setup, but she may never be quite normal (she'll probably always have the scars, and her life span is probably shortened). I was surprised to see that she doesn't have metabolic bone disease. The guy that we got her from told us that light was mercury vapor, but I looked at it and it said "phillips heat lamp 125 watts). I did get her a brand new mercury vapor bulb though and I've been working on getting her temps up.



I think she will do fine once she starts eating and pooping well. She'll be able to burn off the fat once she gets a little off and becomes more mobile. I plan on getting her a new tank this summer. Probably 48"x13"x12" (to make it easier to get the high temperatures). I might also get her a just a normal heat lamp and normal UV tube, since the mercury vapor bulbs are a little harder to work with.



All in all, I feel good knowing that I'm doing something to help out a reptile in need. I made her christmas better than it would have been.



I'll keep you updated



-ryan

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