Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When i fed all my uros i noticed that my gravid female malis, my ornate, my other hathling malis, and possibly one of my moroccans are showing signs of respitory infection. So i am going to make an apointment again. How much would it cost to get the proper medication for 6 uros with respitory. Just wondering how much dammage this is gonna be. 4 of them are showing signs but i am going to bring in the other two just in case. This is not a good day.
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Mike
1.1.1 maliensis (Spike, Marshmellow, Hummer)
1.1 acanthinurus-werneri (Mongas, LS)
0.1 ornata (Chubs)
0.1 Pit Bull/German Shephard/Lab/ect. mix (Kodak) - looks like an over grown toco bell dog.

Uromastyx Pics

get it taken care of and looked at quick, they go down fast with Breathing problems !

Let us know how thye do, Gosh, I hope they all get well soon,

Eve

Mike---
Post these questions on the Health & Breeding Forum also! There are several "Vets" who read it regularly...Invite them to follow along with your earlier post here. Isolate each of them if possible...Baytril comes to mind, but I know there are other-better meds out there. Before any treatment..you've got to know what's going on with them. Get at least 1 to your "Vet" (perferably the weakest) so a diagnosis came be made. Bring weights-ages-sizes and symptoms of the others-- Vet may be confident (by his/her diagnosis) to give you treatment instructions for your others. Don't forget to mention possible gravid female mali.
Good Luck.. we will be with you
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JDBlackdog
Blackdog Uromastyx

seriously i don't know why nobody pays any mind to me but i said it before on my last post its the dirt probably holding too much humidity , maybe its good in the begining but no one knows in the long run, maybe thats why all of our known respectable breeders don't use that substrate , they have been raising and breeding uros for years they must know, they tried it and then let i go it must have been for a reason, in the long run maybe this is what happens, maybe robyn knows how to do it perfectly and maybe thats too much work to maintain the dirt right, and then when u slip on it this is what happens, because look all your uros have it know, it has to be the dirt, man i hope u good luck , i hope u don't loose any of them

I agree with your view.... but only to a point! It's absurd to blame this possible calamity solely on Dirt with the lack of facts. The only one here on this forum who knows the "Intire" picture is Mike! And unfortunetly he needs a "Vets" advice, Professional opinions are what's needed at this time! The dirt disscussion.. can always be continued through another post. Just for the record..I tried several dirt recipies. After careful consideration, research and input from "Old Timers" (no offense!) I decided to abandon the idea. As far as those who use Dirt, I wish them nothing but success. If they can get it down to a science, and it resolves my concerns, I may try it again. I like the idea. Just not practical for me with the knowedge I currently have. Keep in mind..Mike and his Uros need our Support and accurate sound information. Good Luck Mike!
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JDBlackdog
Blackdog Uromastyx

np
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0.1 Hypo-Tang Leopard Gecko
0.1 Tremper Albino Hypo Tang Leopard Gecko
1.0 Hypo Tang Leopard Gecko
1.0 Crested Geckos
0.0.1 CB Baby Saharan Uromastyx

There are ways of using a good dirt substrate without having high humidity, what ever you call high. I have two juvenile mali's, two juvenile ornates, anf one juvenile saharan on dirt with a daytime humidity of about 50% and a night time humidity of about 70%. They come out of their burrows an hour or two after the lights come on and are active and feeding and crapping till the lights go off. I keep the temps high, with several basking areas ranging in temps from 115 degrees to 150 degrees and they find what they need at any given time. The ground temp is 95-100 degrees. One of the ways I keep the ambiant humidity down is to cover the dirt with a layer of play sand except under the large rocks where they tend to burrow. I just leave that ditrt so they recoginize it as a burrowing substrate. I know Robyn from Pro Exotics disagrees with this but I feel more comfortable doing it this way. Don't be afraid of the dirt. The big breeders don't use it only because of maintenance reasons, sand, bird seed and news paper is a lot easier to clean.
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Rick
1.1.2 Mali's
0.1.0 Nigerian
0.0.1 Ornate
137 lb. Male German Shepherd named Sabbath. Don't come knocking on my door unless you have an extra pair of skivies.

you are so eager to knock the dirt, and i haven't seen one piece of evidence that you even understand it...

heath problems like this have little to do with substrate, and more to do with geneneral husbandry. respitory infections have more to do with temps than anything else. you can get resp infections keeping your animal on cool damp newspaper, or cool soggy seeds, but it is not the fault of the substrate, that is the fault of the keeper.

and a soil substrate has nothing to do with tumors either (neither does most husbandry, they are in most cases undetectable and unavoidable in the early stages).

mike does his own modified thing, he has taken a bit of info from here, some from there, and has his own method. i am expecting him to have some mixed results, but that is his choice. tumors are just an unfortunate event. his diagnosis of respitory may in fact be incorrect altogether, as it is easy to confuse any number of "symptoms" with any number of problems.

he really hasn't shared enough details of the overall setup to reliably offer an "internet diagnosis" but you want to immediately attribute it to dirt and soil, hastily and incorrectly.

and on top of that, the implication ("HELLLOOOOOOO...." is that folks here are "suckers" not to realize it.

i think you are mistaken, and you should look at substrate, husbandry, setup and temps from a more logical perspective.

keeping Uros on soggy cold substrate of any type would be harmful to the animals. that is not what we are doing or recommending, even in the slightest.

if you are a true believer, then break down your reasoning and let's discuss it (again), but don't just pull the trigger everytime someone has an unrelated husbandry problem and say "it's the dirt!".

that is too much chicken little, and not enough chicken logical
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

to say that having the humidity a little too high as a result from the moist dirt is definately not the cause, well, that statement seems more like an attempt to simply defend dirt and not to actually lend any insight as to why it simply couldn't be the dirt.

As I see it, if you do the dirt right, you shouldn't have problems, but there are a lot of factors to control. You have to water it once or twice weekly, and right when you water it the humidity is going to be very high. High humidity IS a major cause of respiratory infection in desert animals, regardless of whether or not temps are a bigger cause. Also, you said that they could get respiratory infection if you keep them on damp newspaper or soggy seeds...well...simply put...that's why you don't put them on damp newspaper or soggy seeds. But, the dirt substrate can get a little damp at times. So, if damp newspaper or damp seeds can be a cause of respiratory infection, why is it that damp dirt cannot?

However, if there is a solid reason why it can't be dirt, I'll take back all of my statements. I just haven't heard the reason yet.

-ryan

P.S. My little mali is going through treatment for respiratory infection now from her nasty past home. She got a first injection of antibiotics last month, and she was looking better for a week or two, but it's gradually getting back to where it was before. It does't always just take one treatment to get rid of it.

I suspect temps are the reason why you have so many sick uros. Up your temps and keep them comfortable until you can get them, or at least one of them, to the vet. Uro's are very suseptable to resp. infections and pneumonia when the temps aren't warm enough.

I've got two sick Saharan's right now and Baytril isn't working. I've upped the temps and am going to take them back to the vet for another check up.

Good luck.

Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

I disagree if the dirt was to moist it would not matter if the cage had the correct tempature, It would dry out. Example Lindsay pike lives in Florida and he does great with his. Mike do you ceep the baby with the parents I thought I heard you say, If you have to many animals or Males and size difference that could cause stress and then sickness. In the wild there burrows are humid. Thanks

I just came back from a 4 hour visit at the vet. I brought all 6 of them. The vet charges 45 dollars just to look at each one. So the vet was sypmathetic and looked at all of them, but only charged me for the two sick ones. Only one guy has respitory infection, and he got his shot of batryl "sp". Since he barely is showing any signs he only needs 1 shot, maybe two at the most. I'm Going back there in 3 days for his check-up. The other lizard that is sick, she "the doctor" thinks it has a growth or tumor in his stomach which might have already spread. She said surgery is an option, but her chances for survival are very low. She said that this type of growth doesn't happen over night. I bougth her two months ago, and she hasn't eaten since then because when i bought her from mark walsh he told me she was in brumation, so i finished her brumation which took six weeks. She was suppose to start eating two weeks ago, but she hasn't eaten anything. I actually counted every veggy and she didn't even touch or kick any dirt on her veggies. So what should i do? He sold her to me with a growth or tumor, but it has been two months, and she hasn't eaten for the two months because of acclimation and brumation. She is a moroccan so she isn't cheap. Should i try to get my money back from mark. I know it isn't his fault or my fault, but she is worth a lot of money and i dont want to throw that kind of money down the drain. If i do the surgery it will coast 250-400 dollars, but even with the surgery she will most likely die. Should i ship her back and try to get my money back.

Also, i have all my temps right, and it isn't from the humidity in the tank. I think it is because i went to a reptile show to try to sell the last 2 babies about on the third sunday of janurary. So i probably chilled them in the car, and that is why my hatchling and adult were effected by it. And it isn't as bad as i thought it would be, only 1 of the 6 have it. I just feel so bad for the one with the tumor. I think i will euthinize it at the vet when i bring the other guy in for his check-up. Do you think the other guys can still get it, if they haven't shown any signs for about 3 weeks. Over all, it costed me $143.54 and in vet bills, so i will probably spend 200 dollars in vet bills by wensday, that is if the other guys dont catch something.
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Mike
1.1.1 maliensis (Spike, Marshmellow, Hummer)
1.1 acanthinurus-werneri (Mongas, LS)
0.1 ornata (Chubs)
0.1 Pit Bull/German Shephard/Lab/ect. mix (Kodak) - looks like an over grown toco bell dog.

Uromastyx Pics

mike- hang in there! seems things are not going too well for you, as said in another post we are all here to support you. the main thing right now is to get these guys healthy-after that maybe we can all help to figure out why this happened! wishing you the best of all luck! laura

AT least only one of them has an RI, thats good news compared to thinking they all had it.

As far as the one with the tumor and putting her to sleep, thats something only you can decide.

Good luck with all of them hopefully they'll all be doing good real soon for you.

Jack
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0.1 Hypo-Tang Leopard Gecko
0.1 Tremper Albino Hypo Tang Leopard Gecko
1.0 Hypo Tang Leopard Gecko
1.0 Crested Geckos
0.0.1 CB Baby Saharan Uromastyx