Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HELP! My sinai agama is sick. There are no exotic vets open until Monday. He is real lethargic, has not eaten in 6 days, and will not open his eyes. Nothing is wrong with him that I can physically see. I have changed the UV light, increased the temperature in the tank, and checked to make sure the temp is staying stable. I did take him to an after hours clinic who does not special in lizards but thought maybe they could find something to treat. No such luck. He is about 6 inches long (6 of which is his tail), 1.4 ounces and 1 1/2 old. I cannot find anything on the internet. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Unfortunately if you're after hours clinic can't help you, your out of luck until tomorrow. Everything you mentioned is about all that you can do. Any history of vomiting? If not, and this critter is able to swallow (from your description this sounds unlikely) you may try 1ml of sugar water or gatorade every few hours by mouth. If you are unsure how to syringe feed your lizard, don't, as aspiration into the lungs will make things worse.

Many clinic's are open on Saturdays. Some of these won't be specialists but will be familiar enough with lizards to help this guy through until Monday. Call around for referals.

This guy needs in approximate order of importance:
1) Heat; the warm side of the prefered range
2) Vet examination
3) Fluid Replacement. Orally will not cut it but my suggestion above might buy some time ONLY IF NO VOMITING OR REGURGITATION occurs.
4) Diagnostics. Bloodwork would be of first priority in my book, but your vet may also decide on Xrays, ultrasound, fecal analysis and/or culture and sensitivity after an examination.
5) Theraputic medications. Your vet will treat the symptoms first, and then direct treatment upon diagnoses.

Good luck!

Ian

He has not been vomiting nor regurgitating. His breathing seems to be normal & there are nothing physically wrong that I can see. He is holding his head up some but no more than he always has. He started moving around more last night but is still not wanting to open his eyes. He did drink about 5ml of water & ate a few bites of dried food that I had soaked in water. I live in a small town that does not have many vets who handle things besides cats/dogs/farm animals. The folks I did take him to tried their best but said he needed a specialist (who is off until Monday and the person taking call does not do lizards). That clinic also said because of his size they didn't really know how to draw blood on him. So I am pretty much stuck until Monday. His eyes do not appear to be draining but they do appear sunken. He had been drinking without problems until yesterday. His color is not as defined but he was more active last night than he has been. I have bumped the temperature up during the day and at night. I also raised the temperature of the house just in case he was getting drafts from somewhere that I couldn't tell. He has always been in that one same spot in the living room & has not been stressed at all before this incident. I'm going to try your gatorade suggestion....hopefully it will help. You know I am a nurse but never thought I'd be nursing my lizard!

Eyes that are "sunken-in", usually means dehydration. You should continue to re-hydrate your agama per Joeygreen's instructions. In addition, you can soak your agama in luke-warm water. Make sure the water doesn't go above the agama's front shoulders and is able to keep its head out of the water. Monitor the soaking for 15-20 minutes.

Get the agama to the herp-oriented vet ASAP.

Goodluck

Thanks for everyone's help. I have gotten about 10ml of water/gatorade in him the past two days and about 1.5ml of food. How much fluids do they need? His activity level seems to have increased a little but not much. We will be at the vets office first thing Monday morning....just have to make it until then. I'll try the soaking in water to see if it helps. I would assume the water would need to be in the upper 80's temperature wise?

You seem to be on the right track

You are correct in that the water temperature should be similar to the preferred air temperatures. Generally luke warm water is good for short bathes, but it is important to remember that water transfers heat much better than air. It will be easier to cook your lizard with too high temps, and it doesn't take long for the water to cool, thus cooling your lizard.

Ian

We go to see the vet in about 30 minutes. Everyone wish me luck! He does not look good but I am hoping they can do something for him. Thanks for everyone's support....

Well we have returned from the vets office. It doesn't look to good. They think that he is in congestive heart failure. Both his heart and his liver are enlarged and he is carrying extra fluid in his abdomen. The vet said he has probably had this all along but is just now showing symptoms of it. Anyway, the plan is to give him some antibiotics & Lasix and see how he does. For future reference, a 1 ounce lizard needs approximately 3-5ml of fluid per day. Learned something new today. They can't draw blood on him because of his size...it would take most of his blood to get enough to run lab work. So its a wait and see game now. If there is no improvement by the end of the week they said I should think about putting him to sleep. If anyone else has any ideas or suggestions I am all for it. The vet said not to get to concerned about his eating to just force fluids for now. Thanks for everyone's support.

It's always disheartening to get news like that. We see this in dogs all the time. The drugs that you're giving often control the symptoms to allow for a good quality of life for a while, but sooner than later they succumb to this disease.

Good luck with your little lizard

Ian

Believe it or not he seems to be a little better. His eyes are open, he is eating baby food chicken, and drinking pedialyte out of a syringe. His energy level is still low. But his intake has increased and he is starting to get aggravated with all the attention. I know it is not a cure...but hopefully he will be more comfortable. I just can't stand to see him suffer! Thanks for everyone's help in getting me through that long holiday weeked. I appreciate it.