Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all
I need some help for this poor guy, and pretty quick too if I'm any judge of a reptile's health. I'm not a complete dummy when it comes to monitors, but personally have only ever owned savannahs, and I know these guys are vastly different in many ways. At least I knew what he was on sight, which is more than I can say for the former owner, who was keeping him in a cardboard box, no heat, no basking light, no bedding, no water dish, and feeding him fresh pork slag from the local grocery store
A friend of mine kind of confiscated him and immediately brought him to me for care. I have housed him in a 75g tank temporarily which has a nice sized undertank heater, sheredded newspaper bedding, plus I've thrown a flourescent UV (5.0) and 2 heat lamps on top and given him a fair sized piece of driftwood furniture and a large water dish. Hope this is ok for the time being.
S/he is about 2' from snout to tip of tail, seems to be well fleshed out, skin looks fine, I don't see any lesions or abrasions just some patches of old shed here and there. No mites. Nails are long but nothing a clipping won't take care of. The eyes seem to have small cataracts in them, right in the centers, and I haven't seen them close yet (has been here about an hour). S/he seems too weak to move, and certainly can't support it's own weight right now despite it's legs being fairly well muscled and having a nice fat tail. There is minimal tongue flicking, although it does move it's eyes to look around. The thing that is really bothering me is the twitching. It's almost like it's having seizures...maybe it is, that's what I'm trying to find out here. When it does try to move it's limbs shake seemingly uncontrollably and it can barely drag itself a few inches. It seems similar to someone with Parkinson's, that's the best way I can describe it.
What do you guys think is wrong with him? And what should I do to correct it, if there is anything I can do It's really breaking my heart to watch him, he's beautiful, but obviously suffering.
PLEASE HELP!!!! Thankyou.
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"

without questions, SEE A VET!

you will need to start from the ground up, and get a great setup with great temps and a great diet. see our caresheet for those details, but please start with an absolutely essential vet visit ASAP!
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Sounds like medobolic bone disease most likely fomr no getting clacium like he should eb getting form mamal prey aka Mice and/ or rats.
Bring him *BRING HIM TO THE VET ASAP*

Sean
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1 Black roughneck Monitor (Slick Rick)
3 Crested Geckos (red, neon orange, and neon orange dalmation) (Rocky is the oldest other two havnt been named yet)
1 Vieled Cham (Tony Montana)
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2 Niger Uromastyx Spike and Mike

My Email

Well of course I was going to take him to the vet, but you guys must have forgotten what day it is...Saturday, and a holiday weekend at that. The ONLY herp vet within 2 hours of me is closed on Monday due to it being Labor day, so the soonest I can get him in is first thing Tuesday...which (if he's still alive by then) I certainly plan on doing.
What I'm looking for is some kind of probable diagnosis on what he has, and how to help keep him as comfortable as possible and going til then.
The diagnosis of Metabolic Bone Disease seems likely, as including myself that makes 3 people who have come to that probable cause. I have heard of it in baby bearded dragons and chameleons, but never thought it would effect a larger monitor (walking garbage can) like this, but once I thought about what he was apparently being fed it makes sense, poor guy. I just hope it hasn't gone too far as I have no idea how long he has been in this condition. I did manage to dribble some vitamin fortified water down his throat, and after a bit he was drinking weakly from the turkey baster on his own. He refused a fresh killed mouse, and I wasn't about to stress him more by shoving it down his gullet. Lets just hope the vet can help when I finally get him there.
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"

np

Apparently his former owner is a 12 year old kid...somebody who has NO business owning an animal of this caliber to begin with IMHO.
My friend who brought him to me is going to find out (from the kid's mother) how long he's been immobile & shaky and just how old he is. We're guessing around 3-5, hard to know for sure he's probably been incredibly stunted in growth.
Good news though: The twitching seems to have stopped, he is still very weak and pretty much immobile, can only move himself a few inches at a time. But he is still drinking for me and I put him out in the bright sunlight today for a while, he seemed to enjoy it. *Fingers crossed* he makes it til Tuesday.
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"