Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently bought two uros. The female is doing great but, the male is really really skinny and I'm starting to get scared for him. I provide greens, bird seed, crickets, and meal worms. Is there anything that I can offer to him that he would gladly eat or something that would put some meat on his bones. I would appreciate ANY advice that I can get. Thank you!

This guy sounds like he's past the point of oral help. Putting weight on is not the first concern for this animal. Rehydration and stabilazation is. Now as I've said already, oral fluids aren't going to work as the body will be in absolute survival mode. Electrolytes, nutrients, calcium and other vital elements are drawn from the tissues to try and keep the blood levels stable. The blood is directed to the vital systems only, that being the brain, heart, lungs and kidneys. Thus the result is the gastrointestinal tract is not up and running. To get around this, parental fluids can be given intravenously or intraosseously. Once blood values and hydration have stablized to normal, feeding can be slowly attempted. Once the animal is eating on it's own normally, then you can worry about fattening him up Your vet will help you up until this point, good luck!

Ian

Ok now an update. I bought some baby food, the pea kind (the label says that it only contains peas and water, no preservatives). He acted really interested in eating this but seems not to know how to get the mush in his mouth. So I dipped a cricket in it and fed it that way. He has four crickets that way for the past 3 days. This is an improvement in my eyes, but still I wish I knew more of what I can do. The only vets around do not deal with reptiles so I'm kind of stuck doing it on my own. I was thinking of getting a suringe and help him get things down that way. ???

See www.arav.com and check out the member list. See below threads for other ideas on how to find reptile vets. Where about's are you?

Ian