Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just had two lizards dropped off by some people..teh tegu is in great shape but the water dragon is skin and bones!! HE is not very active and will not eat. they had been feeding him pinky rats and when i tried to give him one he killed it but would not even try to eat it.
please can anyone help me save this little one??

please email to macdairmid@hotmail.com

How big is he? the smaller he is the more dire the situation. Your first concern should hydration. Get some water and electolytes into him. Second, make sure he has adquate heat and humidity. He should have a thermal gradient of 75 to 95, humdity 60-80 percent. He should have climbing space and a source of water large enough for him to get into completely. If you just got him you should give him some time to adjust before trying to get him to eat, maybe a day or two. Get a syringe to administer water electrolytes, and when he is ready for food, start with natural yogurt(active cultures, this will reestablish his microflora, and then baby food, beef, chicken. Once he is taking that from a syringe without much fuss move on to Zoophobas(superworms) and crickets and then to pinkies. Stress is actually a more serious threat to an adult then starvation. You can reduce stress by providing a proper setup as mentioned above and providing greenery for him to feel well cameoflaged, Limiting handling and force feeding as much as possible.

Try giving him some earthworms, the big juicy kind you can buy at GI Joes or any sporting goods store where they are sold as bait. My vet recommended them to me and my two water dragons ate them up like candy. Plus they are a little more nutrious than crickets and mealworms. Just be sure to wash the worms off first. Hope this helps! I recently have been having problems with my aggressive little juvenile he ate the first day and then refused to eat after that. He went for about four days with no food until I just decided to try anything, I just needed him to eat something. Luckily the earthworms were a big hit. The water dragon I had before the juvi I got when he was an adult and he had the same symptoms that you are describing. He was lethargic, refusing to eat, no energy, and defecating where and whenever he pleased cause he couldn't control himself due to the effects of all the parasites he was infested with. If it is as bad as my old guy than you have a rough time ahead. It took me and a friend of mine a good 5 months to get him on his feet again. Lots of injections of Baytril to kill the parasites, oral flagele, trips to the vet for hydration, hand feeding with a syringe, and finally LOTS of TLC. Sorry this is so long my old guy had quite a history. He just recently passed away at the age of 10. But don't get discouraged my guy pulled through even to the vet's surprise and had a happy rest of his life enjoying his earthworms. If you have any other questions please feel free to email me, or keep me posted on how he is doing. My email is beckkers81@comcast.net. Good luck!