Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On Friday, a teacher at one of the schools my wife works at found a collard lizard in a flower bed at the school. It was and still is in bad shape. After the teacher asked around if anyone knew anything about lizards, my wife spoke up because we have a beardie, so the school gave us a 15gal tank and the lizard. Friday night my wife and a neighbor force fed it some pedalite, and a mush version of dragon pellets. By the time my wife went to bed the collard was starting to keep its own head up. Saturday, my wife force fed more pedalite, then went and got a dozen small crickets. She gave 2 crickets which the collard tracked even before they were in the cage and quickly tried to eat. After the collard figured out how to eat the crickets being so weak it continued to eat the full dozen. The collard began moving around the tank and was able to keep its body up. Sunday, offer more crickets only at a few, but did defacate. Also moved around a bit more. the current tank setup is a 15 gal tank, one rock, green lizard carpet, small dish with water, 10 gal under tank heater, 75 watt infrared light, 10.0 uv light.

Is there anything else that we can do to get this lizard back from the brink of death?

We are planning on taking it to the vet this week, but by the looks of it we are afraid that the vet may want to put it down.

Thoughts or suggestion welcome
[email=victor.cooke@sbcglobal.net]

You need to get a good thermometer, a digital with probe. You need to create a absking spot and lay the probe directly on it wait thirty minutes and start trying to get it up to 98-110. Then the other side of the tank needs to remain in the low 80s, much like your beardie.

The crix that you are feeding need to be gut loaded just as they do for your beardie. It can also eat soft bodied worms, and some eat salad. Mist it as you would the beardie and you can even soak it if it seems dehydrated.

Exactly what kind of UVB are you using? Also, those infared bulbs are not good for the collared or your beardie. These are desert/semi desert species and need bright light, especially if you are using a florescent UVB source.

the UV is a repti glo 10.0, the infareds are just for heat not a light. On my beardie I use it only for an aux heat source if the other heaters can't keep the temp up, for the collard I haven't gotten a chance to go and get a ceramic heater yet for a primary heat source.

Some pics, we named it Smeagol since it kinda looks and acts that that character.

more pics

Please get that baby to a vet ASAP for a fecal!

In the meantime, you can get a product called reptiaid, and try giving him some of that. Its a stress formula that has electrolytes, and nutrients that replenish what a sick animal might have lost.

Also, the ReptiGlo 10 UVB tube bulb is not a good one. I belong to a bearded dragon forum and have a friend who is participating in studies on UVB sources, and I am arehabber who sees the evidence of what the studies are showing. The Reptiglo 10 is very hard on the eyes and isn't producing enough UVB to do the animals any good. We have seen metabolic bone disease in beardies kept under these, and blindness when the bulbs were not used with very bright lights. Please consider switching to either a REptiglo 8, which is fairing better in tests, or a Reptisun 10. You could do even better by your reptiles to switch to a Mercury Vapor bulb. You would get the best UVB possible plus a super heat source, and they produce healthy levels of uvb for three times as long as the best florescent, so you save money by not having to replace the bulb every 6-8 months.

BTW, the compact and coil UVB bulbs are causing terrible health issues in reptiles and birds, so please stay away from those!

Are you keeping tabs on the temps? What are the basking temps and cool side temps and how are you measuring them? With an animal that down, the temps are critical.

I would also order some silk worms or very small crix. You are risking impaction if you try to feed an animal that thin anything bigger than the space between her eyes, or soft bodied worms, especially if she has a parasite load. It is very good to see that you are using reptile carpet. Don't go with loose substrates like play sand at least until she is gaining and getting normal, and i strongly urge against EVER using calcisand!

Well, thats a crash course in rehab! LOL! I hope this helps, and you have a good heart for taking the litle darlin' in. She has a good chance. I have seen lizards in even worse shape survive and recover.

uhh i use a reptiglo 10 at the moment should i change it out immediately, or just not buy one ever again after it burns out. dont have the money for mercury vapor bulb.
good luck with your lizard by the way.

You shouldn't be waiting for it to burn out, anyway. The best florescent UVB tube needs to be changed every 6-8 months, as they can no longer be trusted to produce usable UVB after that, so yes, I would say that you need to replace yours ASAP. The Mercury Vapor bulbs are about a third more expensive that the tubes, but as I said, they last three times as long. This is the cheapest place to buy a MVB:
www.reptileuv.com

which one am i looking for? they have alot of options!!!

Well, we are kinda hijacking this thread. I will start a new one.

It's great that you will take care of her! She is so lucky that you can get her to a vet and have her checked for parasites. I would advise reading Eve's care sheet at http://suncharmers.com/id15.html - she has a lot of great information that is all in one place and easy to refer to.

I would not purchase a digital thermometer with a probe, instead I would advise a temp gun which I believe are much more versatile. And I, personally, would not throw away the 10.0 bulb if it is reasonably new. I don't want to argue studies, or brands, but, it is what I have been using for years with my collareds and hatchlings; they have all done great. That is not to say I would not buy something else in the future when it needs to be replaced, I just wouldn't replace new bulbs that I already have. Getting the proper temps and a nice basking place is just as important.

Wax worms are high in fat content and might help plump her up, but they are rich, so don't feed more than one or two a day. Get some calcium with Vitamin D powder and dust her food several times a week with it, backing off to a couple times a week when she is better. An outdoor enclosure with some real sun for a couple of hours a day would be great too, if you can manage it. Not in the glass container tho, or anything that would get too hot. I have used mesh laundry hampers in a pinch. They are less than $3 at Walgreens. I topped them off with a piece of lace from the fabric store and a big, heavy rubber band to secure the lace around the top of the hamper.
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Valerie Rae

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--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

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