Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im working with local animal control, who called me to ask about an iggy found with 36 dogs, many small furrys, and some livestock, all with no food or water.

when i first saw him i though it would be a hard road, but worth a shot. he is skin and bones, legs have the MBD look, has i have no idea how many sheds stuck on him, sunken eyes...you get the idea. he was in the corner of his cage (the 40 breeder the owner had him in) they did get him a heat light (didnt have one at "home" he had a uv light, but im guessing the bulb was old as dirt. the thing that broke my heart when i suggested to give him a horse feeder they have (we are way out in the country) to give him a bath, i lifted him up to put him in the dish, and he could not get in, the half of a tail he has is fused solid and he just kinds planked across the dish if you can understand.
at this pont, after i held back my vomit from horror, i told the lead tech (they dont have a vet on staff) that any vet would probably be ok with putting him down if its that bad, she asked if its worth a shot, i said id call my herp vet friend, he thougt it was worth a shot and we came up with his health paln.

im not sleeping well, im worried about this guy, im ready to foster him so i can manage his care because they dont know herps at all at animal control im out of the county but they said its an extreem case so they would let me take him (this is the county where i work, not where i live)

i may be babbeling a bit, but my thoughts are running, has anyone seen an iggy this bad have a quality of life? should i bring him here? should i just give advice and hope animal control gets everything done for him? they seem to have the stuff i told them down ok, and they know they can call, and they are there all day for him, here he would have a large supply or herp stuff at his disposal, but only when im not working 11 hrs a day 4 days a week, and somtimes a 5 hr sat.

sorry if im babbeling, needed to get this out and this is about the best place to get it out to get some kind of good feedback!

crossposted on herp health also
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hanging out under heat lights burns up my brain cells!!

if this guy makes it, all be writting up for something or other for sure!!
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hanging out under heat lights burns up my brain cells!!

Tough call. We have seen a few cases over the last several years where our first impression was to euthanize immediately. What I do in those cases now is care for the Iguana for a few days and observe their behavior. If they seem to have some strength and show some will to survive we will try to rehab. You can usually tell within a few days whether the lizard has given up on life.

This guy came in this past Thursday evening. He's close to 10 years old, one owner/caretaker his whole life, poor husbandry most of those 10 years. My first thought was to euth but I brought him home and set him up. I watched him eat and drink in the first 6 hours that he was here. He hisses when I touch him and runs away. He still has some nice cranial fat on his head. So, he's now at my vet's clinic and we're at least going to run some blood work and get an ultrasound of the mass in his throat and of his eyes. I've never seen anything like this in our 12 years of rescue. If there's anything we can do for this guy we will, and maybe we can all learn something from it.

Lumpy squared

np
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hanging out under heat lights burns up my brain cells!!

Hi Jiffypop,

Any news yet on what's going on with this guys eyes? This
is something I have never seen.

Thanks
Linda

That's awful!!!
I'm sure he'll be ok in your care!