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I want to share this info with everyone because her death could've been easily prevented. Please let my stupid mistake help you...

It's a long story, but I ended up taking my uro's to Doug at Deer Fern Farms near Seattle, WA. The male (Houdini) was ok and sent home with me, but the female he kept because her eyes looked swollen. When she was in my care, she would arch her head up and swing it wildly from side to side like there was something caught in her throat. She would also gape her mouth open a lot. But we couldn't find anything. She also had very raspy breathing and watery eyes.

I just found out that she died two days after I returned her to Doug. He had an necropsy done and the cause of death was aspirated water in her lungs. How does that happen? Easy, if you bathe them in water that is too deep, they will inhale water throught their nostrils and get it into their lungs. Also, if they are scared and thrash about in the tub, they can also get aspirated water into their lungs. She was pretty scared, but Doug told me to bathe her and the water wasn't even up to her shoulders - but it was still too deep for her.

Please learn from my mistake. Although Doug replaced my sick female with another female I still feel horrible about the little girl dying. I know it was all my fault. But it was such an easy mistake to make.

Take care everyone and have a good weekend.

Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

Poor little girl! Thank you for posting. I'm soaking my new male Joe every couple of days (on Doug Dix's advice) until he gets his weight up. I'll be more aware and careful of how I do it now!

What's your new little girl's name?
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Torey
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
0.1 Anolis Carolinensis (Leeloo)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

Oh I am sooooo sorry! I was really hoping that you little one was going to make it.
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1 Mali Uromastyx named Drake Owner named Kirsten

Sorry to hear your sad news Thank you for sharing your
story with us it will help us new owners to be careful ...

Please don't feel to bad , you NEVER meant this to happen !

sara xx

Hello Torey,

I'm extremely careful now when bathing my uros. I had no idea that could happen. I think it even surprised Doug too.

In memory of the sweet little girl that died, we decided to name the new girl after her. So we kept her name the same, Maya.

How is Joe doing? Any improvements?

Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

It's hard to tell about Joe. Doug suggested I just move him in with Arthur both for the competition and, of course, the larger cage. He said that all WC come through the same importer, so I can't be exposing either of them to anything new! He's more active with much less glass dancing. He's not LOST any more weight this week, but he hasn't gained any, either.

He and Arthur get along fine - they mostly ignore each other. I am at work most of the day, so they could be partying in there and I'd never know. Yesterday was the first day since he moved in that both salad plates were pretty well demolished. Arthur couldn't POSSIBLY have eaten that much herself, so I'm hopeful!

I'm glad you decided to carry on the name - I like it! How are Lumpy and Socket, BTW? I saw on your site that Socket's looking pretty good, but I worry about poor bent Lumpy.
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Torey
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
0.1 Anolis Carolinensis (Leeloo)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)