Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everybody. I'm looking for some help with a baby born in the mid-July, healthy up to now, but looking too fat and bloated on the back legs and around the neck. "tyger" waddles when he walks! I have raised healthy hatchlings in the past and am feeding him the same food with reptisol liquid once a week and reptical powder on his food every third day or so. I cut out the "rich foods", (dandelions, herb lettuces, honeysuckle bits), and now am giving him reduced food in his cage. He gets kale and fine broccoli. He has a UV light bulb. I can't figure out why he waddles. Any help from the forum and all the combined wisdom will be appreciated! Thanks in advance!! Maureen

Hi Maureen. Really sorry to hear about Tyger. I am not sure what to think. What exactly do you mean by "waddle"? Does he seem to not have full movement of his hind limbs? From what you describe it almost sounds like MBD. I have never delt with gout or at least not that I know of.I have seen it in iguanas where the limbs look "puffy" and they do not have full range of motion. Also have heard of some chemical inbalances causing the puffyness around the throat area-pretty common in collareds and chemeleons. I don't know how involved you want to get but it would be interesting to see the calcium levels. I know any lab work is very expensive though. I have never used the drops you refered to but have used the rep-cal with d3. I use it very lightly daily with the chucks. I wouldn't think brocolli would be the best diet. I would try to stick with the leafy greens and maybe some grated winter squash and/ot carrot. Have you ever looked at Mellissa Kaplans iguana web-site? It has very good diet info and why you should not feed certain foods etc. I really have no good advice but just some avenues you can look into. Sorry. Tom

Thanks for your quick response, Tom. I will take a good look at the Kaplan website. Yes, the back legs look puffy, and I would also think MBD, but why this little guy and none of the others I raised? I will try stepping up the calcium and d3 levels and getting him into real sunshine as much as possible. Your advice is always appreciated, Tom. Thanks again. Maureen

but i don't have an answer. I have had this happen several times in the past. Once with a small group of baja blue rock lizards and once with a Group of collared lizards. It happened to one out of 4 in the bajas and 1 out of 5 in the collareds. Maybe they were just weak out of the egg or something. I wish I had the answer. Tom

Hello Maureen! Sorry to hear about your sad situation! As always Tom offers great advice. I do not recommend broccali, especially with young chucks, collareds, uros, really most herps. Also too much Kale is not good as well. Both kale and broccali have extremely high levels of calcium, which may be good, however herps have a very difficult time breaking dow nthe calcium stored in these items and can solidify in their bodies, expecially young ones. I totally agree w/ Tom on checking calcium levels, though not cheap if you so choose!

Additionally, these food items on top of your supplements (which are fine with "normal" greens of course) can be added toxicity in the herps with the kale and broccali. Typcially you will find kidney and liver problems, which can manifest wit hthe bloating you are seeing, especially in the lower abdominal region, draining into the leg regions. MBD in such a youngster may be noted, though in chucks a more dehydrated appearence may be seen versus bloating.

A herp vet may be a good step at this point Maureen, again though, not a cheap step to make.

My best wishes and hopefully Tom will have some more ideas!!!

Greg

Thank you, "lizardmania" and Tom. I immediately stepped up the powdered viatmins with calcium and the liquid vitamins with D3. It is amazing that, after just a few days, I believe I am seeing a change, with the back legs losing some of the bloat and DEFINITELY better range of motion. His body is returning to its proper wrinkled relaxed mode and the "goiter" around his neck is much diminished. I will keep the forum posted. I think Tom's observation that he may have been a little short of calcium at birth sounds possible, and lizardmania's info is very helpful. We always feel SO RESPONSIBLE for our "babies", don't we? Maureen

I'm glad to hear your little guy is doing better! I just wanted to chime in with a word of warning on the liquid D3. Vitamin D3 has a very low threshold for toxicity, and I've had friends using those types of supplements overdose their lizards. I hope he continues to improve.
-Alice

Thanks Alice. I'll take that warning to heart! The "Tyger" is almost completely back to normal! He's running around like before, no leg problems or gouty look. He has been chowing down on the grated carrots and yellow squash recommended by Tom and I immediately cut out the Kale and Broccoli. I will try not to bee overzealous with the liiquid D3. Thanks for the warning. I can't believe he seems almost fully recovered in a matter of days. Thank again to all for the well-wishing! Maureen