Reptile & Amphibian Forums

and how much do you actually feed it/them? I'm still trying to unlock the mystery behind Sam's fatness. I think it's either she's eating too much, she's not pooping enough, or she's not getting enough exercise in her cage when I'm not around....or probably a combination of all of them.

So basically how much does your uro eat in a day? Sam would probably try to eat as much as I could give her, so lately I have been giving her 1/4 to 1/3 of her 6" diameter bowl full and she's eating all of it, and still quite fat. I wouldn't be worried about it as much, but she hasn't pooped since probably the beginning of the week, and she's just huge right now. She's full to the brim, but she's not going. She's acting otherwise normal, but she's so fat right now she can practically step on herself with her hind feet.

I'm just a little worried about her. I know I must being doing something wrong for her to keep hitting these times when she just gets really huge. Should I start only feeding her like every other day or something until she shrinks down? I don't know what to do right now.

I was thinking about Sam and her conditions (very fat, also was badly burned by her previous owner when an extremely hot heat lamp fell on her). I was thinking, is it possible that the burn might have something to do with it? It's basically right where her intestines are, and if the lamp was hot enough to melt her skin and leave such a horrible scar, it probably did some horrible things to her on the inside too, and these might be contributing factors to why she's so fat at times, which I believe to be caused by a seemingly slow digestive system. I've adjusted the temperatures up, down, etc., and nothing. I've tried different foods and nothing. She still just eats a lot, poops about 4 days in a row, then goes another 4 without going (which is when she gets fat...if she kept up going everyday she'd be regular size).

Well, I'm just thinking a lot of things over trying to figure this out, because right now she hasn't pooped since the beginning of the week, so she's getting huge, and I don't like seeing her basically dragging her stomach when she walks. It really makes me feel like I must be doing something very wrong, but I can't figure it out. I don't really offer a lot of variety. Greens (usually dandelion, sometimes collared), and occasionally some frozen/thawed veggies. What else can I add that might help her "go" more often?

Here's a picture of her when I first adopted her. She's always been reasonably fat as long as I've had her. Right now she's fatter than this by a bit. I'd say she's probably over 500 grams right now, and when she goes on her pooping streak she usually gets down to around 350 I would say (these are rough estimates based on times when she had been weighed).

By the way, I'm not sure if she is really a she, but I'm too used to calling her a female anyways...it doesn't matter much either way.

I do want to take her to my vet and get his opinion on it (he hasn't seen her yet...only the old vet did, and I didn't like how he did things). Besides being fat and tending to have some potty problems sometimes, she seems like a healthy, happy lizard. She does tend to hide a lot during the day, only coming out in the morning to eat, and eventually retreating around noon (from what I've seen). From what I've read this is actually supposed to be fairly normal for uros, and close to what they do in their natural habitat.

I guess I'll have to get her to the vet eventually, but I'm worried that right now that would cause more harm than good....it's december in upstate new york, so it's already below freezing outside.

I don't know anything about your scarring question interfering with her bowels, but quite honestly, she doesn't look fat to me. I know that pictures can be hard to tell, so is it possible for you to get a measurement of her snout to tail length? And remind us of her weight - 300 grams, if I remember right. That way we can tell if it sounds like a reasonable weight.

I suppose only a vet can tell you about the slow bathroom process. Good luck getting her to one safely!
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and new neighbor Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
1.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Bruce and Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)
And several miscellaneous community fish

i am not sure about the burn and her intestines either and i can't even think to tell you where to look up info about that. helga poops every several days but she is not a huge eater. in fact she never finishes what i give her, except the peas which are only a couple times a week. i have no idea how much i give them. usually i just rip a handful of leaves off the bunch.
has she always pooped like this? is there anyway she could be impacted? also helga has problems with her feet and i soak her a couple times a week in a warm betadine and water mix and sitting in the warm water is like a laxative for her. in fact i have to put her in the warm water, let her poop and then start over, mixing in the betadine. it is not much water just enough to cover her feet.
i know movement will make a dog go, not sure about a lizard but you could try making her run around.
also get a styrofoam cooler and stick her in it for the vet. you can also stick something warm in there with her. i have also sat with the lizards under my shirt before in cold weather
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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 ***

Well, today she went, and she's back to about what she was like in the picture. Still really fat, but not bloated. I gave her a soak yesterday which I think may have helped, so I'll try to keep her on a fairly regular schedule of that. (like twice a week or something), and see if that helps.

As far as eating, something tells me that the two years of getting horrible care with her past owner left her thinking "I better eat as much as I can now, because who knows when the next meal is coming". She literally would eat probably as much as I could fit in that bowl of hers, so I think I might have to try putting her on a diet of sorts (like, only a certain amount of certain greens and stuff). I'll have to experiment with it.

As far as getting her to the vet. Last year I had rescued her the day before christmas eve, and I knew I needed to get her looked at by a vet. The only vet in town at the time was a vet I don't care for much, but in this case, I just needed someone to look her over and get a fecal done and whatnot. I was able to get her out there the saturday after christmas and I wasn't sure what to use, so I took the container I usually use to transport them, lined the sides with towels, put towels inside it with some hand warmers, and put a towel on top of the lid. It worked out pretty well, so I think if I can get a chance, I'm going to try to take her to the vet for a checkup soon. I really think that this fatness is just something that has to do with stuff that I can fix, I just haven't stumbled upon the element that's causing it yet. If it isn't something to do with what I said above (eating too much, not pooping a lot etc.), I'll take her to the vet and see what's going on.

Thanks.

just be careful with soaking her, like making sure she does not aspirate water or anything. and always dry her tail so it does not get tail rot. i am making soaks sound terrible but i just want you to be careful with them and only use them when necessary, but if she does have a poop problem they can be beneficial. i think you get what i am saying
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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 ***

yeah, I get what you're saying. I dry her a little, but she doesn't like me touching her tail, so I just put her on her basking spot and she stays there until thoroughly dry and toasty.

lol, yes, with helga tail touching is synonymous with "taking off running full speed" hugo does not seem to mind.
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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 ***