Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a mali in transport from a pet shop that will be at my home in about 3 hours. It is severely dehydrated and hasn't been eating. It was being fed romaine, crix, and birdseed and wasn't watered b/c the previous owner said it could gets its nourishment from the greens.

I have been through this before with a drug overdose on a beardie (by a vet); so I bought some pedialyte, strained baby food {peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, corn} among other things. Is there anything else I might need right away. I didn't buy birdseed b/c I didn't think it could digest it at this point in time.

It had a heat rock. It is about 4.5" (very approx.)I know at one point it was housed with a red niger about a 1/2" bigger and one only about 3".
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0.0.1 blue tail monitor
0.1 peach throat monitor
3.1 bearded dragons
2.1 furry 4-legged
barking kids
0.1 of the 2-legged
scaleless/furless variety

I'll say an extra prayer tonight for your precious one. Poor little guy. I sure hope you can save him. Rescues are wonderful when they work out but heartbreaking when they don't. I recently rescued a Chameleon who was suffering from a massive infection. In spite of my best efforts and vet care, she passed away a short time after I got her. Necropsy showed she had been egg bound for a very long time and the eggs had rotted which had caused the infection. Was nothing I could have done to save her. I still cried for days and will never forget her. Hopefully your story will have a much happier ending. I don't have a Uro yet so cannot offer any advise for you on how to care for him. Sorry.
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Lyns Lair
WNY Herpetological Society

0.1 Cat (Mia)
4.2 Ferrets (Wolf, Shadow, Verdell, Sullivan, Boo, Peach)
8.0 Rats (Inky, Oy, Ben, Pinky, Templeton, Cotton, Bilbo, Carlo)
1.0 Carpet Python (Bear)
1.0 Malagasy Blonde Hognose (Wilbur)
1.0 Yellow/Everglades Rat Snake (Pumpkin)
1.0 Russian Sand Boa (Fang)
0.1 California King Snake (Boo)
0.1 Normal Corn Snake (Mysty)
1.0 Anery Corn Snake (Suezo)
1.1 Normal Corn Snakes het Pewter and Snow (Romeo & Juliet)
2.1.1 Eastern Milk Snakes (Uno, Dos, Tres, Snoopy)
1.0 Ball Python (Slytherin)
2.0 Smooth Green Snakes (Fred & George)
1.0 Banded Water Snake (Bubbles)
0.1 Golden Greek Tortoise (Sunshine)
0.2 Mississippi Mud Turtles (Squirt & Shyanne)
1.0 Green Iguana (Norbert)
1.1 Bearded Dragons (Moose & Tipsy)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Dragon (Tiramisu)
1.0 Ornate Uromastyx coming mid April
0.0.1 American Toad (Bump)
0.0.1 Fowlers Toad (no name yet)
0.0.3 Mystery Toads (no names yet)
1.0 AFT Gecko (Cocoa)
5.4 Leopard Geckos (Trouble, Scooter, Simba, Firenze, Teddy, Mystique, Freckles, Zipper, Twister)

you can also try giving it a soak in warm/hot water. just make sure to get the temps up to 120 if it only had a heat rock that is certainly not enought heat. usually uros can get enough water from their greens but only if they are actually eating the greens. if he has been eating alot of crickets, i would lay off giving them to him for a while since it is so much protein and phos. good luck and i hope you can get him turned around. my rescue wasn't that bad and now she is a chubby prima donna
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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 have a mali in transport from a pet shop that will be at my home in about 3 hours. It is severely dehydrated and hasn't been eating. It was being fed romaine, crix, and birdseed and wasn't watered b/c the previous owner said it could gets its nourishment from the greens.

Visit a vet ASAP. My vet has me injecting an electrolyte solution called Normosol for severely dehydrated/declined animals. The animal may be parasitized and, if so, may not be receiving much benefit from actual food. As it's very dehydrated, the digestive system may not be totally functional (particularly if it's parasitized). Oral hydration may not work in these cases and injections are the only way to make it happen (Visit a vet ASAP). Other drugs may also be required to activate the digestive system as recovery progresses.
Injections are easy, my vet explained and taught me in under five minutes during an office visit with a prior rescue (who died that night). You may end up doing that and 2-3 different things orally. If you can get a fecal in at the same time, definitely do so.

Romaine is passable if mixed in with other staple vegies (mine prefer red leaf with all their other nutritous greens), birdseed is fine, not watering them is normal. Crickets are debatable, even as a snack and all my Uros are living without them now (the house is much quieter).
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2.4.0 uromastyx geyri (Saharan/Nigerian)
0.0.4 uromastyx hardwickii (Indian)
2.3.0 uromastyx macfadyeni (Somalian)
1.3.0 uromastyx ocellata (Sudanese)
"Yes, it's a problem. No, I don't want to talk about it."

I agree with the above post that a vet visit may be necessary. It is impossible to gauge dehydration without examining the animal, and to be honest, is best left to a proffessional. Oral fluids are not enough if more than 1-2% dehydrated.

With that said, I have no idea what condition this animal is in. The best you can do until you can get into a vet is provide the best husbandry you can (search this forum or care pages )and try to entice it to eat, that baby food seems fine for the time being. Best case scenerio is that this works, you take to the vet and it turns out to be just an exam. Worst case scenerio is you try things out and he/she dies before you get to a vet. Again, without seeing it, I just don't know the severity.

Good luck, I applaud your effort

I keep checking back to see how you made out with the Uro that you were going to rescue? How is he/she doing?
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Lyns Lair
WNY Herpetological Society

0.1 Cat (Mia)
4.2 Ferrets (Wolf, Shadow, Verdell, Sullivan, Boo, Peach)
8.0 Rats (Inky, Oy, Ben, Pinky, Templeton, Cotton, Bilbo, Carlo)
1.0 Carpet Python (Bear)
1.0 Malagasy Blonde Hognose (Wilbur)
1.0 Yellow/Everglades Rat Snake (Pumpkin)
1.0 Russian Sand Boa (Fang)
0.1 California King Snake (Boo)
0.1 Normal Corn Snake (Mysty)
1.0 Anery Corn Snake (Suezo)
1.1 Normal Corn Snakes het Pewter and Snow (Romeo & Juliet)
2.1.1 Eastern Milk Snakes (Uno, Dos, Tres, Snoopy)
1.0 Ball Python (Slytherin)
2.0 Smooth Green Snakes (Fred & George)
1.0 Banded Water Snake (Bubbles)
0.1 Golden Greek Tortoise (Sunshine)
0.2 Mississippi Mud Turtles (Squirt & Shyanne)
1.0 Green Iguana (Norbert)
1.1 Bearded Dragons (Moose & Tipsy)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Dragon (Tiramisu)
1.0 Ornate Uromastyx coming mid April
0.0.1 American Toad (Bump)
0.0.1 Fowlers Toad (no name yet)
0.0.3 Mystery Toads (no names yet)
1.0 AFT Gecko (Cocoa)
5.4 Leopard Geckos (Trouble, Scooter, Simba, Firenze, Teddy, Mystique, Freckles, Zipper, Twister)