Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed a couple days ago, my Mali Uro has blisters covering his back. I thought at first, maybe he was just shedding, but today I noticed a watery discharge coming from them and he's been acting really "disgruntled" lately. he's not usually the friendliest anyway, but he's been more aggressive lately, hissing and carrying on and he tried to attack the dog a few days ago and ending up cutting himself on his rock. Should I take him to a vet or is this something that I could fix by changing husbandry tactics?

-----
~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings
1.0 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Brooksi
0.1 Red Belly Piranha

very serious, vet ASAP - looks like they're probably burns. Other than checking that your temperatures, including that the surface temps are within range... get the sunflower seeds out of the tank. When the shells are opened they become very sharp and will damage the internal organs. But that is obviously not related to the blistering. Do not pop them, do not soak him, or do anything until the vet sees him. You didn't list any husbandry information to suggest changes for. Keep us updated on his status after the vet and during his treatment.

Well, he seems to like the sunflower seeds, and he doesn't eat the shells, and he's been on them for 4 months now without a problem there... in fact, nothing has changed in his aquarium since I got him... the only temp change has been the temp in the house, but it has dropped with winter coming...
As for a vet visit, there isn't one close enough to were I live that knows anything about reptiles...
-----
~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings
1.0 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Brooksi
0.1 Red Belly Piranha

I agree with the last post, get your little guy or girl to a qualified reptile veterinarian ASAP. Can you give us a synopsis of your current environment? Whats his temperatures, high and lows? I agree about changing the seed containing the sun flower seeds. If your going to use seed, I would use the millit or take some suggestions from other folks, on the forum, using seed. Do you have a undertank heater or hot rock? Both of these cage accessories are known to malfunction and cause burns, especially with the hot rocks. How close are your heating fixtures to his basking spots? What types of hiding dens or crevices do you have, such as wood, rock, hid box, etc.? If you can add any additional information on his housing, it would also help folks to adjust your setup.

-Paul

I have him in a 55 gallon long aquarium with a 150 watt basking bulb clamped on the top up a little away from the screen. He has a small rock to climb on and under sitting underneath the light and the rest of the cage just has seed in it, which he burrows in a lot.

On a side note, I wanted sand for him, but Wal-mart only carries play sand seasonally and there isnt any were else that carries it and none of the feed stores will special order seed without sunflowers for me, so I didn't know what else to do with him.

As for tempratures, the thermometers in his cage quit working and I haven't been able to get new ones yet, but I do know the temp on the cool side of the cage has dropped with the temprature changes in the house due to the weather changing.
I first noticed the blister problem when the weather changed.

The soonest I can get him into a vet is Monday the 26th, so he has an appointment then, and while I'm in Erie, I'm going to see if I can find different substrate for him and new thermometers so I can keep track of his temps.

Someone commented on his tail not looking right in the pictures too, so I'm going to have the vet look at that too...
-----
~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings
1.0 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Brooksi
0.1 Red Belly Piranha

Hi Maggie,
I'm glad you found a vet in Erie. I hope the VetConnection
link I sent helped you out and that it's not too far of a
drive.

You can find playground sand at a Home Depot or
ToysRus most of the time.

If it were me, I would clean the seed out at this time and
only use a paper substrate as of now. The vet will likely
send home some antibiotic topical cream home with you
and it's a good idea to take away any substrate that will
stick to the medicated areas.

Be sure and get two thermometers (one for the cool end
and one for near the basking site. Try to get the temps
up to 85 in the cool end and at least 120 near the basking
surface. Room temps should be good enough during the
night.

Let us know how it goes,
John

Thanks a lot for the link, the office I decided to take him too seemed very helpful over the phone. I just hope a Monday appt. isn't to long of a wait for him.
I'm going to disinfect his aquarium tomorrow while before I clean my snake cages and line it with the soft paper towels like the ones I'm using for my 2 hatchling Kings, he should be ok on those.
My friend who pawned him off on me 3 months ago was determined she wanted him back when she moved back home, but if she doesn't reimburse me for his vet care, then I think she's out a Uro and his cage...
-----
~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings
1.0 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Brooksi
0.1 Red Belly Piranha

I'm mostly a lurker here, but I remember reading past posts where people had uros with blisters that were diagnosed as fungal or bacterial infections (blister disease).

It looks like your guy is also missing most of his tail spikes (whatever infection caused him to lose those might still be plaguing him and causing the blisters). If he's dealing with an infection, he's going to need veterinary intervention to get it sorted out. A vet's going to have to figure out whether those blisters are from a bacterial or a fungal infection and prescribe an appropriate treatment.

Here's one of the threads on the topic: http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1315121,1315121

These are pretty serious infections and it's imperative that you get a diagnosis and start treatment ASAP to give your uro the best chance of surviving this.

-Alice

Well if someone can tell me were I can find a good vet closer then 100 miles away that isn't going to charge me $150 just for an office visit, then I'll take him to a vet... Unfortunatly, I live in Clarion, pa and there isn't a reptile vet anywere near me... So I don't have a choice but to try to treat him myself...
-----
~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings
1.0 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Brooksi
0.1 Red Belly Piranha

Well, not being familiar with PA, I couldn't say if any of
these are within a hundred miles of you.

Here's a link to some vets in your state. You can see if
any are within range of your location. There are phone
numbers and some info on each so you can pick and
choose just which one(s) you might want to call.

You can ask them if they have experience with uros and
possibly be able to talk with the vet over the phone prior
to making the trip so you can explain what's going on
with the lizard.

The link is:
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/penn.shtml

Good luck,
John

There is no question in my opinion that this is a serious, serious condition.
I have lost some very healthy animals to this condition. If you do nothing the uro will most likely die.

I have spent a great deal of money on vet exams, medications, biopsies, lab results and the net outcome was not very forthcoming.

A vet I believe to be very knowledgable with reptiles, has done extensive work ups, only to get negative results to an infectious agent.

I have had this condition show up in animals that have never had contact with each other, and I am pretty good with my sanitation techniques especially since the infection started.
So in my humble opinion this is contagious.

The only thing that has been effective has been subcutaneous injections of baytril in the forelegs of infected animals.
Treatment baths, silvadine creams, betadine baths did nothing to stop the spread. Maybe if the vet would have received results to some specific bacteria, more accurate treatment would have been effective.

There is my two cents.
The scarring, resultant of the blisters, will take a tremendous amount of time to heal. Blisters are a big symptom of a more sinister problem.
I do not know if the blisters are ultimately responsible for the death of the animal, or if secondary infections kill the uro.
Good luck, but get help for the uro.

thanks for the help, I'll keep everyone updated with how he's doing...
-----
~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings
1.0 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Brooksi
0.1 Red Belly Piranha

If I woke up and any of my animals looked like that, I'd drive 200 miles if I had to. Things happen and you need to consider the what if's before taking on the responsibility of caring for a living creature. If your nearest vet can't treat reptiles or wants to charge $150 for an office visit and you can't afford it, then maybe a reptile isn't your best choice of pet.

Well if I woke up and one of my snakes looked like that, I wouldnt hesitate to get it to a vet... but when I was given an animal to "babysit" that I really didn't want and its owner is determined she wants it back when she has a place were she can keep it but doesn't want to offer any money to help with vet bills, I have a little bit of a problem spending money I don't have... If I had done any reasearch on these animals before I had one dropped off on my porch and told to take care of it, I would have never gotten one... not because I don't like them, but because finding a vet that even knows what they are is close to impossible... so if you want to criticize me for for not wanting to spend the money on him, fine, you want him? I can drop him off on your porch as is and tell you I want him back when he feels better... doesn't sound like such a great idea does it...
-----
~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings
1.0 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Brooksi
0.1 Red Belly Piranha

The animal not being yours doesn't make it less entitled to receive vet care. You did agree to take it. Also, this other person doesn't sound like much of friend if they are putting you in this situation. I am glad that you did find a vet for him and are taking him. If you run into more problems in the future, you might consider a shelter. http://clarionhumanesociety.com/ is 8 minutes from you if I read correctly and takes all species.

That humane society is being shut down at the end of the year, and any retiples taken to them are euthanized on the spot... Not really an option there either...
-----
~Maggie~

"Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious."
1.1 Cal Kings
1.0 Mali Uromastyx
1.1 Brooksi
0.1 Red Belly Piranha

Euthanizing an animal is better than leaving it in the hands of people that can't care for it.