Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this is no help for those who have already satisfied their temptation; but if you are thinking about purchasing a reptile, ANY reptile, find out how to care for it prior to purchasing it. Take advantage of the expertise that people on these forums provide. Ask lots of questions... you might save yourself unfortunate losses... and some money!

With all respect,

Fabian

Very true. I read a little, and thought I could handle it. It was going well up until 2 days ago. He was nice and fat, but hadn't deficated since I had him. Then he went a good 10-15 times in the one day, and lost a lot of weight. So I gave him some ants, but he wouldn't take them. Still not sure what I did wrong though.

Since I figured he would be dead by tomorrow, I decided I might as well try to force feed him. I gace him 15 ants (would have gave him mire, but was afraid I would gag him), and sprayed some water in his mouth. After that he opened his eyes and started to move around a little. Now he's back to how he was when I posted. Weak, limp, not moving, and still won't take the ants on his own.

The person I got it from doesn't live too far away. So tomorrow I'm going to bring it over and see if she knows what can be done to help it.

That is the info that needed to come out to consider the real problem. With the proper heat and environment a healthy horned lizard will deficate once or twice daily depending on food consumption. It is sounding like he was impacted the whole time. This could be due to improper diet, the wrong kind of sand, nematodes or possibly other reasons. There are others here much more qualified to speak on this. It may well be too late to do much now. You probably should consider a vet with rep experience if your HL is still alive.
If you have any idea what may have caused it, I am sure many here could benefit from your bad experience.
Good luck to you.
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2 Kings 6:15-17

Thanks for the advise. I would have taken him to a vet, but I did not have access to a vet.

I woke up this morning and thought he was dead. He was by the corner, turned on his back. It looks like he tried to climb out of his cage and flipped over. I thought he was dead for about 20 minutes, but I decided to spray him with some water (not sure why I did?), and he started to drink some of it. I don't think it will make it long enough to go anyplace though. Being on his back all night obviously took a toll on him.