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My father stumbled upon a reptile at one of his friend's house, and even though he doesn't know a ton about reptiles, he could tell that this one needed help.

It's a mali Uromastyx. We've named her sam, because it's a unisex name (sort of) and we're not quite sure of the sex yet. The tank she has been living in for the majority of the past two years was a 10 gallon tank (a little small for a uro that's about 14" long...probably why she's so overweight right now). All she had for heat was a hot rock and no lights. Just that, a ton of feces, old lettuce, a large rock that took up a lot of space, and a water dish that was very dirty. The tank was so disgusting that you couldn't see through the glass. I promptly threw it and it's contents away. The guy had a 29 gallon tank with a heat lamp that he used for a little while, but I have no clue why he would choose to keep her in such a disgusting place then. I took that tank and the lamp, and the day after I got her and the tank setup was christmas eve, so I called to see what petshops were open and went and got a top for the tank and a stand for the heat lamp. I was using one of those cheap dial thermometers and I just recently realized how far off it was. No wonder she was sleeping all day. I thought she had a skin infection, but we took her to the vet the day after christmas and he informed us that they were scars from third degree burns, and from the shape of them I suspect that when she did have a heat lamp it fell on her. Other than that he said that she should get better with a little time and the right setup, but she may never be quite normal (she'll probably always have the scars, and her life span is probably shortened). I was surprised to see that she doesn't have metabolic bone disease. The guy that we got her from told us that light was mercury vapor, but I looked at it and it said "phillips heat lamp 125 watts). I did get her a brand new mercury vapor bulb though and I've been working on getting her temps up.

I think she will do fine once she starts eating and pooping well. She'll be able to burn off the fat once she gets a little off and becomes more mobile. I plan on getting her a new tank this summer. Probably 48"x13"x12" (to make it easier to get the high temperatures). I might also get her a just a normal heat lamp and normal UV tube, since the mercury vapor bulbs are a little harder to work with.

All in all, I feel good knowing that I'm doing something to help out a reptile in need. I made her christmas better than it would have been.

I'll keep you updated

-ryan

Thank goodness you came along Ryan! That uro would've certainly perished. I have two Saharan uro's that I love so much! They are great companions. Good luck with him/her and keep us updated. You might also post this in the Uro forum if you haven't already.

Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

BRAVO!!

glad to hear about it!

and YUCK! sounds like the poor kid was lucky as heck overall to even be alive when you got him/her.

best of luck! I hope it works out!
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Today I finally got her temps up to 115 without getting it too close to her (the powersun bulbs aren't supposed to be any closer than 12". When she basks she still doesn't hold her head up, but that's probably from habit of living with only a hot rock for 2 years. I think she'll probably be that way for the rest of her life.

BUT...I took her out of the tank today and instead of hovering around her like I usually do (it's habit from my beardie, since he seems to like my involvement in his playtime), I just set her on the ground and went and sat on my bed. She was very alert. She has some skin on her face that's shedding, so she was just waddling around rubbing her face on every thing. I think if I do this everyday, and get her on a good diet, she'll be thin in no time.

I also have not been sure if she was eating...until today. I was just sitting in my room watching tv with my girlfriend and we heard a tiny bit of noise. I looked over just in time to see Sam gobble up some greens. The vet told us we should have her eating mostly iceburg right now and transition her over to greens, since she doesn't know anything other than iceburg...but I'm pretty sure what she was eating wasn't iceburg. It looked like dandelion greens. Hopefully she is eating the dandelion greens so I can take the iceburg out of her diet completely. I think I'm going to feed her a couple of crickets each week once she gets down in weight. Not sure though, I still have to do research on that. I know uros are mainly vegetarian, and I thought I heard that they only eat crickets when they're young, but I'm not sure.

Anyways, sorry to ramble on, but basically she's getting more active, and we know she's eating. I have been worried that she might get really hungry and not know where to get food, but at least now I know she's not going to starve. Hopefully we'll see a nice "present" in the tank in the next couple days, and we can send it to the vet to have it checked for parasites.

-ryan

P.S. I think when I get her her new tank this summer, I'll get once of those stands that have space for another tank below...or build one. I think you get the idea behind it. Basically I think once I know whether or not I will be able to go to college around here (if I don't I'm going to be coming home every other day to take care of my babies ) I'm going to look into getting another beardie. That is of course, if I do end up going to college somewhere close enough where I can stay at home. I've been eying these nice red phases they always seem to have in stock at this local petshop. I think I would go with a female because generally they would do better in a tank that's only got a floor space of 48"x13". Maybe a rankins?

I've already rambled on far too long.