Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all! It has been forever since I have been in here. It has been a huge year for me though with alot of changes. We bought a house and I am being the full time mommy, work part time and am now in school full time. Which is why I can't come here much anymore.
Now about Drake, we have had him almost two years now and I am very concerned. My husband was moving his favorite log he likes to hide under to get under there to clean and noticed that he had lost alot of weight in his tail. He has been eating and he seems fat it the stomach but looking at him a bit closer you see his back spine is starting to show and his tail has lost alot of fat instead of it being nice and round it is all sunken in. I took him out of the cage and found what I thought was an impaction. I soaked him and removed most of what was debris, poop and just plain yucky goop from his underside. He is now all dry and back in his cage. Here is my problem he keeps raising up like he needs to poop but nothing has happened as of yet. I watched him bob up and down at least 6 times in 15 minutes. I plan to run him to the vet in the morning. My vet is a reptile vet but has yet to deal with Uros and we are to far out now to get Drake to his old vet who actually owns two Uros. Any ideas or suggestion would be most helpful. Thanks in advance.
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1 Mali Uromastyx named Drake Owner named Kirsten

just earlier today i gave some advice on impaction, must be a constipated uro day . i have never had an impacted uro but another lizard was and did the whole straining thing. do you have any idea what it could be causing it? how are the temps? what have you been feeding? what kind of substrate do you have? below is an article on impaction. i hope everything is ok!

http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections index-req-viewarticle-artid-87-page-1.html
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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 ***

Thanks for the sight I will look at it in a moment. Well Drake pooped last night but laid in it right after instead of rasing his tail and walking away from it. And there is a awful smell from his poop. So maybe there is some kind of imbalance in his system. Bagged it for vet check. Temps are good, sub strait is play sand and nothing in his enclosure has changed since last April when we bought the house. As for feeding I feed all the regular stuff collard greens, carrots, swiss chard, Napa cabbage when I can find nothing else because he hates it. Dried bean mix (yes I soak it and remove the red beans ) He gets a dandilion twice a week from my yard. I have and area I grow food an weeds just for him! lol I think the only thing I give my Uro that many don't is cactus leaf. He gets it maybe once a month. And I remove all the spines by hand and then run a lighter over the whole thing just to be sure I got them all. Called my vet here in town and wouldn't ya know it the Reptile vet it out with the flu. So I am going to the vet Drake used to go to and drive an hour to have him looked at. But I will keep you posted as to what happens. Thank again for the help.
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1 Mali Uromastyx named Drake Owner named Kirsten

The weight loss while still eating and the foul smelling poo make me think parasites - let us know what your vet says! I hope Drake gets to feeling better soon!

As a side note, you might want to cut back on (depending how much you feed it) or avoid the swiss chard. It's high in oxalates which binds calcium. The cactus is very good for them - mine don't like it, though.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx geyri (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Uromastyx dispar maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.0 Uromastyx ornata (Scuttlebutt)
1.2 Anolis carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
0.1 African dwarf frog (Sheila)
1.0 Betta splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

The stinky poop is most likely worms! My uro Buddy poop smelled so bad that it almost knocked me over. He had some kind of parasite and once it was gone his poop was not that bad anymore. As for the cactus pad well Buddy just loves them. I feed it to both my uro and iguana. I haven't found any in awhile but when I do find it I buy it and they are in heaven with it. Good luck and let us know whats up.
debs

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

my guess would also be parasites. good luck and let us know how he is doing. buddys lookin great debs! - brandy
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brandy

Ok so I took Drake to the vet and I knew he was thin but OMG he has gone from 503g to 253g. He has a respitory infection. So the vet gave me shots I have to give him every other day. And she gave me a feed supplement that I have to use a tube and feed him every other day. Now the shot think NO problemo! The tube feeding is going to be rough! These little guys are tough about having the mouth open. If I can't do it then they are going to take him and insert a feed tube. Because we think he was wild caught, not captive breed the vet and I have never been sure of the age of Drake. So this may just be his age showing. I won't know till a month from now when all the antibiotics and the tube feeding are done . Time will tell. Thanks to all of you for the quick responses. And thumbs up to all of you who have posted photos I can never get enough!
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1 Mali Uromastyx named Drake Owner named Kirsten

holy canoli, that is a huge weight loss! poor guy, that is the only thing that sucks about reptiles is that you cannot tell they are sick until they are really sick. i am not going to lie, i hated giving helga injections but i had just rescued her and she did not trust me anyway and then i was sticking needles in her. as for opening their mouths, well i never have gotten helgas open. i always waited for her to open her mouth with her meds. usually once she tasted them she would take them but waiting for her stubborn self could take a while. i would just put a little drop on her lips and sit with her. i hope drake gets better soon. keep us updated.
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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 ***

Thanks Brandy
My husband always say Buddy is SO fat now.
debs
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The addiction can be dangerous. 1 Uro named Buddy aka Big Boy & 1 Ig named Tiny

Probably a small point at the time, but it was my understanding that swiss chard was a for uros...? I could be wrong, but just something that caught my eye. The best wishes to yours and yourself.

-Jim
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2.1 - Rocky, Runako, and RoxyIII (my care sheets)

JIM,
Thanks for the info on the swiss chard, yes I know it is one that is not on the "best list" I only give drake the swiss chard out of desperation when I can't seem to find anything else. Maybe twice a year it happens.
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1 Mali Uromastyx named Drake
1 cat named Smokey
1 Red Tailed Boa named Reba Owner named Kirsten