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Help! My sinai agama is sick. There is nothing physically wrong with him that I can see. He was acting okay unitl yesterday evening. He has not eaten in 6 days, very lethargic, and won't open his eyes. There are no exotic vets open until Monday. I did take him to an after hours vet clinic who does not specialize in lizards just to see if they could find something specific. No such luck. I have chnaged the UV light, increased the temp in the tank, and made sure the temp is staying stable. He's about 12 inches long (6 of which is his tail), 1.4 ounces, and 1 1/2 old. He normally eats for a couple days then does not eat for 2-3 days. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have no idea what to do!

Sorry your guy is sick, could be so many things, hard to be able to know from what your saying, and over the computer.

Lethargic and not opening eyes, not eating, could be parasites, could be bacterial infection, could be he's slowing down for the winter.

Tell us more, any other symptoms? You say eyes are closed, is there any discharge or sandy look to his eyes, like stuck shut?

Is his breathing okay, do you hear any popping sounds?
Does he hold his head pointing up?

You can see where I'm going with this, (Just NEED more info)

Let us know soon as ya can
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PHEve / Eve

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His breathing seems to be okay...not any different than usual. His eyes seem sunken in and he is rubbing his head on the sand. They don't appear to be draining or stuck shut. He started moving around a little bit more last evening than he has been. He is holding his head up at points in time but I don't think it is any more than usual. His skin appears to be drier than usual...but I really don't see any areas of scales coming off. His color is not as defined as it usually is. I did get him to eat some dried food I had moistened and water by using a syringe. I think I got about 5cc of fluid down him before he wouldn't cooperate anymore. The clinic I took him to gave him a shot of antibiotics just in case to try and get him through the weekend. It is really sad that no exotic vets are open until Monday. His normal diet is crickets that are gut loaded then sprinkled about twice a week. He has always been pretty active and picky about his food. Does anyone know what to feed if they won't eat on their own? I am using bearded dragon food that I have soaked in water....my understanding is that the sinai agamas just normally eat fresh bugs. But when I offer him the crickets he won't open his eyes enough to see them or even move to try and catch them.

Hi, it's still hard to say, there seems to be a few things that are going on that could be tied to several different problems, he would have to be seen and checked by a good vet.

*As far as eating, I have several types of agama, black agama and sheild tail agama, and both not only eat bugs (love superworms, are salad lovers...

I give them a salad each day or every other. Alot of agamas love greens,collards, kale, turnip greens, mustard greens, shredded carrot, squash, shreded sweet potato, radish, dandiline greend and flowers, try any veggies, shredded apple, small chunk banana.

If you must force fed with dropper, than get chicken and vegtable baby food in jar, at your super market, baby isle, and maybe a jar of squash they like that also, and when you give him some mix in some of your calcium power.
Also you can pick up in same baby isle( pedyilite) keeps his energy up, like gatoraide.

Sucken eyes and drier than normal skin, sound like he may be a bit dehydrated and need to get more water into him. Let some drip on his nose from a dropper and see if he will lick it.

Rubbing his head along the sand, could be his eyes bothering him, since they are closed, maybe they are kinda such shut, and it is annoying him (as if something were in there) Maybe taking a cotton ball soaked with warm water and gently dabbing over his eys to see if they will open after.

If it were me and I did not know exactly what wrong, I would keep him well hydrated, make sure ya get him to eat, and maybe kick up his heat a few degrees, until he can be seen on monday!

I wish you all the best with him, and please keep us updated, I will certainly be here,

Would love to know how ya make out with him,
Take care,

Is it possible he is going to shed? (dry skin)

I still say parasites can not be ruled out either.
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PHEve / Eve

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I have tried feeding him other items such as vegtables before but he would not touch them. If his food is not moving he does not seem interested.

I kicked up the heat in the tank to about 86 degrees. I have gotten about 10ml of water/gatorade down him in the last two days and about 1.5 ml of food down him. He became real stressed after the last feeding and was running around his tank until he finally hid himself under some rocks. Not sure if his energy level is a good sign or not. He has packed sand into right eye and I have cleaned it several times but he goes right back and rubs his head into the sand until he packs it back in there.
Do you happen to know how much fluid they need in a day? I am worried about dehydration...but after he drinks 1 or 2 ml he is through and won't open his mouth for more. I've been averaging giving him fluids about 3-4 times a day....I am afraid of stressing him. He has been in his water dish but I don't know if he is drinking. I am going to try the baby food today and see how it goes. Thanks for all your help!

Hi, I had told ya to kick up the temps since he is sick, and you answered you already kicked them up to 86 degrees.

I do not know what you did have them at, but they are wayyyyyy to low.

Most agamas clowns, black agamas sheild tails, and I'm sure your guy also need temps about 100 - 110 for basking spot and about 80 -90 for the cooler end of tank.

May be why he has not been very active, or sick now! Tey getting your temps up to what I have told you. I do not know if you have a temp gun, or a relible thermometer but it's important to know.

Low temps cause respiratory infections, lack of appetite, lethargy, all sorts of NASTIES !

Let us know how ya do!
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PHEve / Eve

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Guess I should have clarified.......the cool end of the tank is at 86....the hot end sits at 92. I was told by a vet after I had gotten him to keep the tank in the low 90's on one side and the 80's on the other. Of course, if it was supposed to be higher than that it could explain why he is sick! I have an appointment with an exotic vet in about 30 minutes. What is a good night time temp? I was told about 75 or so. Is this too low?

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.

Sorry, no ideas from here , but please keep us informed on his progress, or lack of same.

Quig

Hi, well I know the lasix is to rid him of the fluids, my Mom used to take that many years ago after having heart surgery.

The problem with that is you are going to have to keep him so well hydrated , because that will take alot of fluids out of him. I would try and keep his energy up with the pedialyte (however it is spelled) especially since he is not eating, atleast that will give him some substance.

I can understand them wanting to get extra fluids out of his stomach, but how are they going to help his inlarged heart and liver? And why or what caused that, did he say?

How does that get corrected, or don't it? Sorry fo rthe questions, but they are all the questions I would have asked if I was there Just curious!

Dang I sure hope the lil guy makes it
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PHEve / Eve

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Don't feel sorry for asking questions! If a little good comes out of all of this were everyone learns something then that will make me feel a little bit better.

The vet said (his best guess) was that it is a congenital problem that didnt show up until now. He said because their metabolism is so slow it probably is just now catching up with him. They drew some of the fluid off his abdomen with a syringe to see if it would help. Because he is so small (fits in the palm of my hand)x-rays are difficult to get.

Congestive heart failure can cause an enlarged liver. It is similar to humans in that the decreased pumping action of the heart causes blood to back up in the vascular system, mainly liver, causing it to enlarge. He said the liver might decrease in size if we get some of the fluid off of him. The enlarged heart there is nothing they really can do. Because his heart is in between the shoulders, it is hard ot see on xray. So he cannot look at it and tell exactly what is wrong with the heart but can see that it is enlarged.

By the way to figure up the amount of fluids a lizard needs in a day is 16ml/kg/day. Of course when you have a lizard that weighs an ounce it is not much!

Sure hope he can beat this thing. Congestive heart failure is just that, filling up with fluids, the lungs fill with fluids I believe it's like drowning in your own fluids.

After my moms heart surgery they always watched for that.

If this is a thing he was born with then would he always need to be given the med to relief the fluids?

Let us know how he is today!
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PHEve / Eve

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The vet said that if the Lasix worked then he have to take it the rest of his life everyday. Of course the dose for him is 0.05ml...kind of interesting to try to draw up

He just took his first dose of Lasix this evening....I had to push fluids in him all day in order to get him hydrated enough to give him the Lasix. I hope it doesn't throw his electrolytes further out of whack.

I can't tell if he feels a little bit better or not. He's trying to bite and run away when I try to pick him up. Now whether or not he has more energy or is just tired of being messed with, I don't know. He's still fighting though! I did get him to soak in some water for a little bit this afternoon...his skin is so dry. I am going to try the baby food suggestion tomorrow. I have focused so much on fluids but I know he needs to eat. I mixed calcium powder in with his fluids sunday so at least I have been getting in down. Anyway, that's all for today. Maybe things will be better tomorrow. Thanks for all your support!

We all have to stick together, us lizard buddies. Some people who do not have lizards , just don't understand and kinda are not interested in what we do (to much anyway)

But we all understand when ya have one thats sick , we have been there, it stinks, and is a shame. But yet happens, and with this hobby unfortunity things go wrong sometimes.

I breed collared lizards, and a few other types of lizards, and sometimes its joyous, babys hatch and are so cute, other times some die in the egg.
It's got it's ups and downs and all arounds But is so interesting and rewarding too !

Hey keep us updated, will be waiting to hear how he is
Some of my scalys

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PHEve / Eve

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Well beleive it or not he is a little better. He has his eyes open (hooray!) and has eaten approximately 3mls of baby food chicken. I am averaging about 5ml of Pedialyte in him a day. He acts a little better....still a long way from his normal behavior. I am still giving him Lasix every evening and his antibiotic every 48 hours. He is starting to fight the syringe so if he is still alert this evening I going to see if he'll eat a cricket. I figure that I'll have to continue to give him fluids by a syringe for awhile. Right now I have backed down to giving him food/fluids three times a day. If he continues to increase his intake at these feedings I am going to try and go to twice a day. The vet recommended I strip his tank and redo the hot/cold sides. I haven't done it yet because I didn't think he was strong enough to withstand the stress. Right now the cool side isnt real cool since he seems to have trouble maintaining his temp (gets cold real easily). Any ideas on how to make that less stressful? I used to just take him out and my roommate would play with him while I cleaned. But to do this is going to be time consuming since I have to pull up the heater. Any ideas?

mean, are you just looking for some way of containing him while your working on his tank? Have any rubbermaid plastic tubs/ containers? Even a large carboard box would work , clamp your Dome , basking light onto something and let it shine down on him, make sure it can not fall on him and burn him.

And in a pinch when ya need a place to contain them, you can always cover the drain hole in the tub and let them sit in a (DRY bathtub) just put in a small hiding box for him to go into,until your done the tank, hopefully you can do this in a couple hours, no heat for that amount of time would not harm him.

As far as the Vet saying to re-do his hot/ cool side, what do you mean by that? Sounds like you may be using an underground heater? Are you having a hard time getting the proper temps?

I would just use overhead heat, and UVB light too.
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PHEve / Eve

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