Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just had a uromastyx signed over to me by someone who could not care for/treat it. I am very much clueless on how to care for it, what to feed, what NOT to feed, etc. I currently own a bearded dragon and have reptile experience. I would appreciate if someone could give me a crash course.
As soon as I post this, I will be doing research- as info is needed immediately.
This is a rather large uro. big belly. He has an obvious neurological problem- keeps his head tilted, and if you pick him up and turn him slightly, he will begin rolling over and over. He also flips over and gets stuck on his back.
His diet prior to coming to me was iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, crickets, hornworms. He also had a hot rock.

Right now I have him in the only available tank I had- a twenty long with reptile carpet. I am in the process of setting up his ceramic heat emitter.

I am a technician who works with an exotic vet. I will ask her for advice on Friday, when we work together again.

A couple of good places to start looking for information:
Kingsnake uro page
Deer Fern Farms care sheet

You'll find that a lot of info out there on uro care is contradictory, so read LOTS before deciding what to trust. Big things that are usually agreed upon are BIG terrestrial cage, wide temperature gradient (120F or higher basking down to 85F or so cool end), and wide variety of food with dark leafy greens as the base of the diet. If you choose to feed bugs (I feed none), keep it to a minimum.

Good luck with him - I hope the vet is able to help him with the rolling problem.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, and Tank)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
0.1 Collared Lizard (Rorschach)
2.0 Green Anoles (Bowser and Sprocket)
1.1 Chubby Housecats (Roscolux and Jenny)

If you could find out if this uro was offered any UVB/A
lighting at all from the previous owner it might help to
determine what might be going on with it.

Does it seem to walk normal with the exception of the
head tilt?
Do all four limbs seem to be working normally?
Do you notice any stiffness or swelling in any of it's
joints?
Any bumps on it's back ... near the area of the spine?

Try to get it on a calcium fortified diet such as collards,
turnip and mustard greens for starters. You can finely
chop some yellow squash, carrots and peas to the
mix then sprinkle a little calcium/vit powder w/ vit D-3
and mix it in good. You have to know that your uro
is first of all a herbivore so greens and veggies are a
must. Forget the insects all together for now.

Your set up should have a UVB fluorescent lamp for
cage lighting and a mercury vapor lamp at one corner
for heat as well as it's basking site. Toss the heat rock
or at least cut the cord off if you want to use it as a
basking surface. You don't need the heat emitter.
Lights out at night for a cool and restful sleep at
room temps.

If it were mine I would have your vet run a blood
calcium level panel on it. It is possible that it was
calcium deprived (whether by lack of proper UVB
lighting or proper diet) and could really use a calcium
boost at this time. You should know soon enough as
after the lab results come back.

Whether it's Neurological or Calcium Deficiency or even
possibly early signs of Metabolic Bone Disease you should
know more about what's going on from the lab results.

Good luck with the uro,
John

have done so far:

I gave him a ceramic cave-type hide, and have the ceramic heat emitter above that- next to that I have a repti-sun 10.0 coil bulb.12 inches above him. Not ideal, but all I have right now to work with. Temperature on top of the hide is registering at 122. He does walk, he has a major head tilt though-but is able to move around the cage. He will roll over though, all four legs sticking straight up in the air- looks very dead. THen he rolls back over, and continues walking.

I gave him a "bath". Basically, I put a half inch of water in the sink, and held him on my hand and used my fingers to try and wash some of the filth off of him. (There is no way I could let him sit in the water on his own, he would have rolled over-therefore submerging his nostrils.) I then discovered that he is not solid black, but has yellow designs on his back and his feet are more yellow than black. His back legs are rather wrinkled, not skinny but not fat. They look like they have no muscle mass, yet they are approximately the same size in diameter as his front legs-a little larger. He is not as big as I thought- apparently he was inflated last night when I was handling him, because today his abdomen is flat and wide and sort of wrinkled. He is still dirty, but much better than he was. The base of his tail has white stuff on it- looks like urates, actually- but its on the top of his tail. That makes me wonder if he was housed with another lizard/uromastyx. Or I suppose he could have rolled in his own. I will never know. No way to contact the person who owned him. The white stuff wouldnt rinse off, and I was trying to be quick for stress reasons. I figure that is the least of his troubles.

He has a burn on his abdomen-not a big one, missing some scales.Smaller than a dime. I treated that with Neomycin. Also, his hind feet look rather pink, so I put neomycin on those also.(pretty obvious that it is from the heat rock he had- either that or the filth that was on him). Because he sticks his tongue out very well, I diluted some calcium gluconate injectable with distilled water and gave him approx. 1/2 cc, orally. After all that torture, I placed him on his hide, under the heat.
I acquired him in the worst possible way- get an animal and then figure out how to care for and feed him. I didn't want him put down without giving him a chance though. So, here we are. We were hit with a HUGE snowstorm overnight, and I work today but will go to the grocers this evening. So, working with what I have on hand- I soaked some mazuri tortoise chow, mixed in some Critical Care for herbivores, added some thawed carrots/corn/Lima beans and put a pinch of Repti-cal on it. I really do not expect him to eat it, but I can offer a better meal this evening.

It may be that someone dropped him in the past. It sounds like he's had an injury to his spine or neck.

I came into possession of a female mali that was paralyzed in the hind end. She could crawl and move about only with her front legs but did so fine. She eats well and was very friendly. She too could not 'right' herself if flipped over.

She was rehomed to a nice family who cares for her despite her handicap. If yours is a permanent injury he can more than likely survive with some extra care, such as bathing him to remove feces, providing easy access hides, etc.

Everything I have read says sand or millet. I would love to give him that, however I worry about suffocation, respiratory irritation, etc. If he rolls, I wouldnt want him to inhale either of those. Do you think the reptile carpet is okay to continue with? It gives more traction than newspaper.

I brought home a wonderful assortment of leafy green veggies and some blueberries. I chopped everything up to bite size, placed a nice size dish in his enclosure. He popped his head out of his hide- and ignored it all. Typical reptile rejection, I guess.

Leaving it on the carpet sounds like a good idea. At least
for better traction in trying to right itself.

Don't keep the hide under the basking spot or he will
have no reason to exit as he feels safe and secure as
well as being nice and warm. Use a flat rock or a piece
of slate for him to stretch out on in the basking area.
Next time you feed it take a good size pinch of the salad
and put in on the basking rock. Often times they are more
apt to eat when their body temps are up to snuff and when
the food is well lit and not cold (just out of the fridge).

The Critical Care is a great way to assist feed a non eater.
If it doesn't start eating on it's own you should continue
with the CC. It won't help to sprinkle it on it's salad if they
don't have any interest in eating so simply water a little
down to where it will ooze through a feeding/tubing needle
and feed it in this manor starting with 2-3cc at least twice
daily. If it eventually starts eating you can cut out the CC.

One last suggestion,
If you think it's shy and hesitates in coming out from under
it's hide, try covering the front and sides of the tank so that
it will have a little privacy. Besides it needs this in order to
acclimate to it's new home.

John

just went into the room and checked on him. He is basking right now on top of his hide, and I am very happy to report all his breakfast is gone- right down to the last leaf. However, he left the blueberries. I didn't disturb him, I know if he would have seen me peeking, he would have made a mad dash/roll to his hide.
I will make adjustments later on once he has gone back to hiding.

In most vertebrate a tilted head (and also the spinning behaviour described) is clear indication of an inner ear problem. Parasite or infection I could not say but something is making the animal "off balance".

Have your vet investigate. Perhaps a simple worming corrects it.
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