Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I need some help!

I've been keeping my mali uro for several years now and he's always been a healthy guy. Today I noticed that he's tilting his head a lot and sometimes as he's running around the tank, he tips over onto his back and rolls right over onto his back with his belly up, and then rights himself and keeps going. I'm not sure what could be wrong. Has anyone heard of anything like this before?

His temps are correct, he has a large tank with lots of hides and basking spots, his diet is primarily vegitarian, with lots of greens, and I occasionally give him two or three crickets for a treat.

I haven't used any chemicals around the tank, and although I live in an apartment building, I haven't Noticed any smells of chemicals being used in the building.

I haven't noticed any rocks having been moved to the point that it looks like anything could have fallen or hurt him (they are very steady).

Any ideas?

Thanks!

the best thing you can do is take him to the vet. i am not sure about the whole rolling around thing but holding their heads pointed up in the air can be a sign of a respitory infection which will have to be treated with antibiotics.
i hope you uro gets better really soon!
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vonnie
***The first law of dietetics seems to be: if it tastes good, it's bad for you. — Issac Asimov ***

I agree, taking it to the vet is in good order.
It could be one of many things that's causing its nervous system and/or equilibrium to be off track. I've seen this in lizards with poor calcium levels. Have you notices any symptoms prior to the loss of balance and trouble in trying to right itself ... like some lack of movement especially in the hind legs, swelling in the joints or even tremors in the legs and/or toes? I've had lizards come in with advanced cases of metabolic bone disease (mbd) which displayed similar behavior/symptoms. Is your UVB/A lighting fresh and up to date. Do you offer calcium/vitamin supplementation w/vit-d3 regularly?
If it were mine, I would get it to a vet who works with exotics asap. Make sure they do a blood panel (including blood calcium levels) which should be sent off to the lab for analysis. Your vet can give it a series of calcium injections if lab results come back showing poor calcium levels. They can also administer fluids if necessary. If you have a fresh fecal to take with you, so much the better.

Let us know how your mali does and what your vet finds.

Good luck,
John

The behaviour you describe "head tilting and rolling over" can be explained by a number of causes.

If the tilting is sideways and the rolling is in the direction of the tilt then we may have an ear infection.

If the tilting is backwards with an arched back causing a roll then this can be "tetany". Tetany is caused by a Calcium/UVB/Vit D3 imbalance. Low blood calcium levels causing spasms manifesting themself in this behaviour.

Further, all of these behaviours can be explained by parasites, neurological problems (both unlikely), an injury from shifting cage furniture (you judge this one), or other unexplained disease processes like a bacteria or viral or fungal origins.

As the other posters have mentioned a vet visit is in order.

Best of luck. Post your findings here so we can all learn.
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Thanks for your replies. I definitely already had his vet visit scheduled, but the first I could get was tomorrow morning. I'll let you know what happens.

The tilt and roll is always to one side (as near as I can tell) and I don't think anything has fallen on him, as everything is secure, and nothing has looked like it's been moved out of place. So I'll have the vet check for infection or parasites, or it may be chemical. The spring mix I feed is supposed to be pre-washed, but maybe that's not enough. I'll be rinsing it again now, just in case! And the frozen veggies should be fine, and anything else gets rinsed.

I can't wait till the morning, I am really hopeful that we'll find something that can be done to help him out!

Thanks for your support!

Well, I took Spike to the vet, and we had x-rays done. First off, the presence of egg folicles proove that Spike's actually a female!

The xrays did show strong bones, but her tongue was tremoring a little, so the vet suggested 0.15cc of Calcium injected sub-cutaneously twice a day. I also put a fresh UV light in, as it was time to change it. The calcium treatment was for two weeks, and then back to supplementing calcium powder to her diet.

Also, the xrays showed some sort of blockage in the ear that tilts towards the floor, which looked to the vet like an ear infection. So I've been giving her 0.1cc of Baytril orally for 2 weeks as well to try to clear that up if it's the cause of the tilt.

After two weeks, there was not much improvement. We went back to the vet's and he has taken a blood sample for testing. The results will be in next week. In the meantime, the calcium injections can be stopped. But I'm still giving her the Baytril, and we've added .2cc of Panacur orally once a week for 3 weeks to see if it might help if there are parasites causing the problem.

The best solution to tell for sure what the problem is, would be an MRI or catscan, but that runs about $1800 Canadian dollars, and that's out of my price range.

So, the tilt continues. Spike is still eating well, running around her tank, and doesn't seem much bothered by the tilt, except that every once in a while as she's running she does a barrel roll and keeps on going. I'll keep you updated with the test results as they come in.

Spike's blood was checked at her last visit in mid-March and all is normal there.

Her protein levels are good, her liver values and kidney values are good, her calcium to phosphorous ratio is 3:2 which is fine, and her white and red blood cell counts are normal.

But her head still tilts. I'm still giving her 0.1cc of Baytril every day, and did a 3 week treatment with Panacur just in case. None of this seems to be helping.

She's still eating well, and is otherwise healthy though, so we'll keep waiting to see what happens.