Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a year old Uro at an expo from a very experienced breeder last weekend. It's only been a few days and I think she has a respiratory infection. She opens her mouth and gasps for air. I can hear a noise that sounds like a croupy cough. It's very raspy sounding. And while she's breathing like that she violently thrashes her head from side to side with her mouth open. It's almost like she has something in her throat, but I can't see anything and she hasn't eaten anything yet. I'm stumped and I'd hate to send her back if there's something I can do to help her. The basking spot is aroun 115 and the cool side is 85 and I don't let the temps get below 75 at night in her cage. She's on bird seed (millet). I've followed the breeders instructions to the T and he wants me to send her back on Friday. But I don't think she will last that long. She's getting worse and worse each day. Any help please?

Veronica
Beautiful Dragons

pick the basking spot up to 130, sometimes if its early and u pick up the temps they may just get through it in a couple of days plus the basking spot should be at 125-130, and that subsrate is kinda shady even though alot of people use it, i'd go with sifted playsand or even better if u have the money zoomed repti-sand

i agree about picking up the basking temp. Also, i used millet for about a month and noticed that my mali's behavior changed drastically with it. His eating habits, sleeping habits, temperament, etc, changed. I now have him on paper towels until i get him the playsand. When i cleaned his cage, you would not believe the amount of dust on teh sides and ceiling of the tank from the millet. I'm not a fan of it anymore, so maybe it might be the substrate. I would take him off it and clean the cage thoroughly.

Best of luck.

tara
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I, in my infinite knowledge (haha), think that playsand is far worse for dust than millet. I just switched to millet from playsand and like the millet much better for dust. I haven't tried the repti-sands, so I don't know if they are less dusty or not. Maybe paper towels or reptile carpet until you get it figured out.

Temps (as I understand it) should be 115-120 in the basking spot, though I've read that up to 130 is ok for a Saharan if the cage is large enough to handle the heat gradient.

Poor Houdini! I hope he's ok! Is the vet an option? I don't remember now if you said...
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Torey
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (??? and Arthur)
0.1 Anolis Carolinensis (Leeloo)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

I considered the millet, but it's what they were raised on. I got the uro from Deer Fern Farms and Doug Dix uses millet on almost all of his uros as a substrate. I think it's a combination of stress from a new environment and a different cage and cage mates. Not sure. I've been in contact with Doug and I might have to ship him back. I just wanted to see what I could do on my end to help. I would really hate to ship him in this condition.

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll raise the basking temp to 120 or maybe bit higher.

Veronica

I had a uro abou 5 years ago. He would stand up tall and deeply breath and make gurgling noises. Every so often he would also thrash his head and body around. Then it seemed as if it went away. Then a one day later he started foaming at the mouth and died within a few hours. I dont know what this was but if your guy stands up tall, takes deep breaths, makes gurgling noises, and thrashes around that is not good and take him to the vet ASAP. I dont know what it is but to me is seems like it is nearing the end.
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Mike
1.1.3 maliensis (Spike, Marshmellow, Brown, Green, Orange)
1.3 geyri (Fire, Flame, Sunset, Princess)
0.1 Pit Bull/German Shephard/ Lab/ ect. mix (Kodak) - looks like an over grown toco bell dog.