Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sometimes I wonder who gets stressed more, us or the lizards!

My little guy has me worried. His tankmate is doing great. She's putting on weight and very active.

He, on the other hand, was seemingly fine until yesterday. In fact, the day before yesterday, he outraced her to two crickets.

Yesterday morning, when he woke up, he climbed to the top of the basking rocks and started coughing. He jumped to the ground and coughed a few more times. It looked like he was trying to throw something up. He then went to the water dish like he was going to drink, and instead ended up coughing so hard he threw himself back onto the sand. He climbed back on the rocks and coughed a little a few more times, then stayed lethargic for most of the day.

He did get active when I tried to pick him up. He went nuts and ran all around inside the cage and hid. I never did catch him. Most of the time, though, he seemed to have trouble walking and would flatten out completely when laying down. Finally, later that night, he started to sit up a little more. He never did eat anything, but looked better.

Unfortunately, they both are still asleep when I leave for work, even if I turn the lights on early. I'm hoping he'll be back to normal when I get home tonight, and that he was just having a bad day.

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1.0.0 Common Snapping Turtle
1.0.0 Brown Anole
1.0.1 Green Anoles
0.0.2 Eastern Collared Lizards
0.0.4 Bloodfin Tetras
0.0.3 Green Fire Tetras
0.0.4 Pristella Tetras
0.0.6 Zebra Danios
0.1.0 Spoiled Mutt

hmm....i have never seen my lizards cough, nor have i ever seen them doing something that resembled that. how big is the little lizard? like skinny adult or skinny juvenile? maybe you should take him to the vet because if he really is coughing, the vet will need to give him something and wouldn't you rather take him in and have the vet tell you that you are paranoid then not take him in and have something bad happen. based off your description, that is what i would do but perhaps someone else can shed more light on the subject
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

I kept a close eye on him yesterday, and I never saw him cough again after the initial episode. And, like I said, he seemed to get more active as the day progressed. Maybe it was just taking him a while to warm up.

I'll keep checking, and if this continues, he'll be going for a car ride!

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1.0.0 Common Snapping Turtle
1.0.0 Brown Anole
1.0.1 Green Anoles
0.0.2 Eastern Collared Lizards
0.0.4 Bloodfin Tetras
0.0.3 Green Fire Tetras
0.0.4 Pristella Tetras
0.0.6 Zebra Danios
0.1.0 Spoiled Mutt

Hey there,

I have had a Spiny Lizard do a similar motion to what you described. Little did I know that Spinys are cannibalistic.....
to make this long, and rather sordid story short, he had to regurg his Side-Blotched Lizard tankmate. Perhaps your lizard ate too many crix, swallowed them wrong, or something to that effect. Hope its nothing more serious than that. Oh, BTW, the Spiny appreciated water after his little incident. My two cents.

Talk to you soon,
Phil

He's ok! When I got home from work, the little guy snapped to attention and ran to the edge of his rock. He watched me closely as I popped in a cricket, and promptly leapt into action and chomped it. He didn't want a second one, but seemed quite happy as he climbed back up and sunned himself.

In related news, I had an artist friend of mine over last night and he is going to be building me an insert for a background to the tank. We went to the store and bought styrofoam, resin, and granite tint/texture. I'll post pics when it is done.

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1.0.0 Common Snapping Turtle
1.0.0 Brown Anole
1.0.1 Green Anoles
0.0.2 Eastern Collared Lizards
0.0.4 Bloodfin Tetras
0.0.3 Green Fire Tetras
0.0.4 Pristella Tetras
0.0.6 Zebra Danios
0.1.0 Spoiled Mutt