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I have a friend with a Juvenile Collard Lizard. She took his heat rock out of the cage a few days ago because it seemed like the heat lamp and UV lamp were enough for him. about a day or two after he stopped eating, he hasnt eaten now for about 2 days, normally he eats between 5 and 7 crickets a day. When she discovered that he wasnt eating she took him out and noticed that he was cold. He is also blowing up his stomach then letting it out with a hissing noise. I dont know if this is normal or because of being cold. She also says that she thinks he hasn't gone to the bathroom in a while. Is everything ok with him? She has just put the heat rock back in his cage and it is warming up now. she is trying to keep him warm in the meantime. does anyone know if there is a problem with him and if so, what can be done to help him?

TIA

If taking out a heat rock bring down the temp that much that hes cold,I would say your temps are not good ! The basking area should be 95- 105 and the rest of the tank should be high 80's to 90 The not going to the bathroom would occur from not being warm enough. They do not digest properly when temps are not right. So see if yours are in the range I said.
Also the puffing up and hissing is ( hes defending himself) apparently he has not be handled much???????? Sounds like hes being a bit aggressive. That stops as he becomes tamer ! Hope he does better, take care, Eve

Hi Eve! Thank you for letting us know about the heat temps.. What happened is that we had been keeping them at 87 to 98 during the day.. but we had to move him into another room where the temp is much cooler.. as we were having him moved to that other room, we took out the heat rock. I guess with the new atmospheric temperature and no heat rock it only got barely in the 80's.. and that was still using a basking lamp and uvb light... we were away for 2 days.. in that time he was being fed as normal, but he wasn't eating.. Last night after talking to a few vet's.. they told us to use a heating pad on the bottom of his cage, along with the basking light to raise the overall temp. He warmed right up But his stomach is still swollen And he hasn't gone to the bathroom in those 2 days either. Last night he did eat 2 crickets.. but still hasn't gone and I'm really worried about him. (*It's Sabastian.. she had just posted pictures a few days ago of him..) Other than his stomach seeming bigger and almost like he is "bloated" he is doing great Is there anything that you know of that we can do to help him go to the bathroom? We just bought him a longer cage but shorter than the one he was in so that he can feel the basking heat better (the other one was way too tall for him).. Thanks for replying..

Heather & Jason

asked about my male Kong ! Hope it can be of some help, Eve