Reptile & Amphibian Forums

and I don't think that's going to change right away. Everytime she goes to the bathroom she seems to shrink down a bit, and it sort of gives me hope that if she kept that up every day, she'd be skinny (lol), but then she wakes up in the morning and runs back and forth until I give her a good helping of greens (she runs pretty quick when she sees food coming), and I know when I don't give her enough, because she just keeps running back and forth until I give in. On school days I'm not there during her naturally active time (which sucks), so she can't beg for food, but on the weekends she makes up for it.

She seems happy though, so I guess it's okay if at times she looks like a uro pancake when basking, or if at times her little tummy nearly drags across the ground when she walks. I guess I'll just keep doing my part to keep her healthy.

well do you know how much she weighs? and what type of uro is she? perhaps we can compare on the forum and see if she is really over weight. if she runs back and forth in her cage, she has to be ok because normally overweight animals tend to do nothing. do you have a picture of her? i am just really curious as to how fat she really is, lol
-----
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 ***

well, I'll try to find a picture of her and get it up so you can see. Then you guys can also see her horrible burn marks (poor thing). I just feel sick to my stomach whenever I think about the pain she must have gone through when the light fell on her.

I don't have a gram scale right now...though last time she went to the vet she was about the same size she is now, and nearly 400 grams I think.

oh poor baby. that must have been terrible for her. well i guess the next question is how long is she? helga is a mali and with her tail she is probably like 12 inches and she is in the lower 300's. she was 190 when i rescued her, dropped to 170 with a bout of worms and now she is fat and extremely sassy.
-----
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'd say she's easily 12". She's definately a full grown adult uro. On another note, signs point to her actually being a male...but it's hard to break the habit of referring to her/him as a girl. As far as lizard personalities go, she just seems much more like a female to me. She might be a male mimic...it's hard to tell.

From what I can tell...her weight fluctuates a lot as she eats/goes to the bathroom. A lot of it seems to be water weight from the greens, and when she "goes", there's usually a bit of liquid expelled, and afterwards, she'll usually feel noticable lighter, and less "full".

I'm butting in the conversation because my mali Buddy who is 416 grams looks good except for his skinny tail. I think your uro is not fat at all. It also depends on how long it is too.
debs

-----
The addiction can be dangerous. 1 Uro named Buddy aka Big Boy & 1 Ig named Tiny

Milo is a fat little guy too. He is only 10 inches long a little less than a year old now. I don't know how much he wieghs though. He loves his greens.

This will give you a basic idea of her width. I'll keep looking for a better picture. I've since changed the setup around a little, and soon she'll have a nice big new cage to run around in.

WOW THATS A WIDE URO! You said Sam is active right? If Sam can move fine I don't think it is a problem. He does look like a pancake though.

Lance

Yeah, she's actually more active usually then my bearded dragon. She loves to come out and run around the room, and she's always trying to climb everything (like books and stuff like that). That's why I've had mixed feelings about her weight. She's very active when out of her cage, and in her cage she's usually up and about from the time her light goes on (6:30 or so) until around noon, and then she'll retire to her hide...unless I come around later, with a peace offering for waking her up (usually a piece of greens does the trick, lol). But then I go to reptile shops, and she doesn't look like the uros they have there. She's cute though, and she makes an exceptionally good pet as far as reptiles go (fun to watch and interact with).

My male beardie lenny can look "well rounded" like that too but he also very active. Sometimes when he walks I swear it looks like he has a beer belly. If Sam is happy & healthy I don't see a problem with it.

This is her when I first got her. She tends to stay around that size...sometimes getting fatter for a day or two, and then skinnier when she...umm...you know.

I just realized looking at this picture how much better her scars are doing. The one visible is where we assume the actual bulb of a heat lamp had fallen on her. There's a thin rounded line on her other side where with think the rim of the lamp hit.

well in this picture she does not look so bad and it even looks like she still has the elephant wrinkles on her sides. the other picture though, holy canoli. she really does look like pancake, a really cute pancake, lol. that is a bizarre sight. maybe you should get her a hamster wheel
-----
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 ***

yeah, she seems to really spread out when she lies down, lol.

WOW! she is very round. How thick is she? Either way she is one very cute uro.
debs
-----
The addiction can be dangerous. 1 Uro named Buddy aka Big Boy & 1 Ig named Tiny

This was the exact setup Sam was in before I got to her. Apparently there was a heat lamp hanging over it at one time, and it wasn't secured, so it fell on her and gave her those burns (well...that's the theory anyways). 125 watt spot bulb really does damage to a uro...especially when she doesn't really have anywhere to go.

Looking at this picture, and remembering what sam was like when I first got her, I feel both extremely upset, and enraged. Who could do that and live with themselves? I just can't stand it. She's in a better home now atleast.

It was very clean, but a horrible setup for uros or any reptile for that matter. Luckily I was able to get some supplies very soon after, and then a slightly bigger tank (secondhand). Right after this pic was taken I gave her a little hide I made from a shoebox, but she refused to use it, so I had to go get some stuff to make a proper hide for her.

that wasn't the water bowl from the dirty cage...I had had a similar one I put in in case she was thirsty.

It looks simple, but it was hard to dial it in just right. The hide/basking spot to the right somehow managed to end up just right though, so there's a good gradient basking gradient on top, and a good temp/humidity gradient inside. When the new cages get done I'm going to do something similar, but I'm also going to throw in a lot of corkbark and grapevine to give her more options for climbing and hiding. I know it's not perfect, but it gets the job done right now. It's definately too small for how active she is, so I have to make sure to take her out for some activity time often.

and yes, that is a vintage simpsons poster you see hanging behind it

this was soon after a large...movement...of sorts. Anyways, this was actually taken about the same time as the "pancake" picture...so that sort of shows how much she spreads out.

i also feel like helga loses several grams after going to the bathroom. i can always tell when she has to go by picking her up and she also releases alot of water.
oh i was just wondering, is sam's burn healed all the way? the only reason i ask is because substrate could irritate the cut or infect it. i was told by a vet that helga's toes were healed enough to put her on substrate and not even two months later i had to take her back and she was put on TWO antibiotics
-----
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 ***

The scars are completely healed up and dry, they're just still really noticable because the skin was melted and the skin cells there don't have any pigment. They are really horrible scars, and they were healed up by the time I found her...it's amazing she didn't get an infection and die or something, because of the conditions she was in and the lack of treatment. I mean, just look at the picture of the cage she was in and tell me it wasn't a miracle that she didn't get and infection and possibly die.

It's terrible, but she's much better now.

yes, that is a miracle. she is a little trooper!
-----
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 ***