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we have had a yearling mali uro for about three months now and have been noticing some odd behavoir recently. he has not made a b.m. in about ten days. five days ago, we moved his tank to a new apartment. since then, he has spending most of his time in his burrow, acting generally sluggish, and only nibbling at his food. he still has not made a b.m and has lost a little weight. he had been eating regularly before the move and making regular b.m.'s before his shedding. we have not changed his environment at all. he is in a 40 gallon breeder with hot and warm sides with a basking rock that reaches around 120 degrees. we feed him appropriate greens and a mixture of tortoise pellet and peas/carrots/corn.

we are not sure if the move might have spooked him or if possibly his might have an impaction in his bowel. he has not had a bowel movement since he ate most of his shedded back and belly skin ten days ago. we also were about to de-worm him with panacure as suggested by doug dix, and are concerned that worms might have also impacted his bowel. can anyone give some advice from their experience with uros?

thanks in advance!
steve and caroline

batista (pre issues)

I think any of the reasons you suggested could be the culprit. However, if he is not eating, there is nothing for him to excrete. You could try giving him a warm soak- mine always, always poop in the bath. My experience with parasites has also been that they tend to cause runny poops rather than no poops, but I'd be interested in hearing other people's experience with that.

He's stressed, something that uros are very prone to becoming when they or something in their cage is moved around. I recently added a moist hide in my uros 90 gal long setup and she stayed in under her hide for about a day or two, not as long as yours maybe because she's getting a little used ot it by now. I wouldn't worry about it.
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Multiple Morph Herps: Site Under Construction

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sig file edited 2/15/05

Aww, he is adorable!

My reactions to your post:

1) Have you checked the temps since you moved? Sometimes due to drafts or different ambient room temps the exact same setup can become to cool in a new environment (I had this experience myself)

2) Uros do stress easily when to comes to changes and moving. My 7 year old adult mali will get really grumpy and antisocial for a full month or so after a move. Yuu may want to cover up the sides of the cage with paper for a few days to give him some time to re-acclimate.

3) The bowl movement is definitely something to be aware of, though as the previous post stated without a lot of food there is not likely to be a lot of BMs. If you palpate the juvies sides and stomachs do you feel any unusual lumps or hardness? If you do, then I would say a visit to a knowledgable vet is probably in order, though a series of good soaks and light massage can sometimes help. If you don't, I would try a series of soaks anyway. Dehydration can lead to lack of appetite and the babies can dehydrate much more quickly than the adults. Also, maybe try putting in some particularly tempting treats in his food dish. Between the soaks and the treats he may perk back up.

He really looks fabulously healthy and beautiful. I have a 9 month old Egyptian and it always amazes me how much the two different types look when they are babies. Keep us posted!

Elizabeth

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