Reptile & Amphibian Forums

8 years ago i bought 2 uros in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.They never gave me any worries.Tame, sweet, healthy.I named them Muffin and Brioche.Sunday i played with Brioche and he was fine.I put him in a warm bath and he pooped a lot.Very well digested poop.Then i noticed he was not pooping on his basking spot as usual but as he pooped inside my bathtub i thought it was fine.Yesterday i gave him his salad and he ate everything.Today before i left to work i turned on his basking light and i noticed he was walking funny.Like he had belly cramps. But he went to his basking spot and started eating as soon as he arrived there.
When i returned home at night i found him dead on his basking spot and there was very well digested poop everywhere.He didnt look dead at all, he was fat and his skin was looking healthy but he had blood inside his mouth and his tongue was dark red.
Do you have any idea of what happened to my uro?
Thanks Flavia

Flavia

I have no idea what might have happened, but I wanted to say I'm sorry to hear you lost Brioche. I hope you figure it out.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.2 Saharan Uros (Joe, Arthur, and Hitch)
3.0 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, and Tank)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
1.3 Collared Lizards (Ripcord, Thiamine, Riboflavin, and Niacin)
1.0 Green Anoles (Sprocket)
2.1 Housecats (Roscolux, Stretch, and Jenny)

Perhaps he had an heart issue??.

I bought Brioche 8 years ago (July 2003).He was already an adult Mali uro when i bought him so i have no idea how old was him.

I asked my daughter (she has more time to observe my babies than me) and she told me Brioche didnt hibernate this year. He didnt stop basking and eating.Never missed a basking day or a meal. She told me also Brioche was acting tired lately.He even started to sleep on his basking spot, probably too lazy to go to his hidind box to sleep after we turned his light off.But every day as soon as i turned his light on he was there to enjoy the sunlight.He ate a lot and pooped a lot.He was having difficulties to walk too.He was walking like and old man.And my daughter told me she doesnt remember the last time she saw Brioche running.

Any idea?

Thanks Flavia

Sorry for the loss. "playing' and the baths were probably not the best idea to begin with.. it is possible if the Uro was out of its enclosure enough that it picked up some kind of parasite causing internal issues..not really sure just a guess. Has the other Uro shown any signs of problems? If they were housed together I would keep an eye on the other, also look at environmental factors. temps, humidity, food, uvb, etc

No, they were not caged together.My other uro-Muffin- is really old.I bought both Muffin and Brioche on 2003, 8 years ago. Brioche at that time was an young adult Mali uro but Muffin was already a senior citizen when i bought him 8 years ago.He is still doing fine but his skin became sort of flacid around his body.

Well Brioche had a huge cage for an uro, 1 meter by 1 meter, with 2 wooden hiding boxes and his own UVB light, a plate of seeds and a bowl of water. I keep the cages always dry and clean. Under the UVB was 110 and the overall cage temp was around 80 F during the day and 70 F during the night.Inside the wooden hiding box i supposse the night temp was higher.

As i wrote in my last message i didnt have time to play with them and i almost never take him out of his cage.Once in a while i took him to my room to keep me company while i was reading but never outdoors because he was afraid of the wild birds. He looked very content in his cage eating his seeds and greens and basking. The day i gave him a warm bath because his skin looked very dry he was allowed to sleep on my couch!.But that happened 2 or 3 weeks ago and he didnt look sick ater that.

The temperature in Brasilia is very dry right now, hot during the day 90 and cold (around 60F)during the night. The weather is so dry i saw him a few times drinking water from his water bowl.

I keep my babies inside my garage (it became My Lizard´s ROOM) where i keep the temp higher during the night, around 70F.
I dont know why he died.After he died I examined his body and it was perfect.No sign of injury, his feet and hands were perfect no mold or abcess, nothing.The skin colour was fine too.I think that if he had caught some bacteria he would look sick and lethargic before he died and that was not the case.I saw him coming to his prefered basking spot the day he died.He was walking awkwards but he was not lethargic or distant.

Then i think maybe spending the night at 70F was too cold for him.Thats why maybe he was walking clumsy the next morning.Because he was cold.Then i think if he was cold why he was eating so much and why the poop he pooped before he died was so well digested? And why he died only at 21:00 after spending more than 12 hours under his basking light? And why so many times he slept on his basking spot even when his light was off if his wooden hiding box was much warmer?

And why he didnt hibernate this year?That is the first year since we left Malaysia in 2004 that Brioche didnt hibernate.I dont know.But if i have to change something id keep his cage warmer during the night.

The photo shows Muffin and Brioche in Malaysia in 2003.At that time their cages were much smaller because we lived in a small apartment.When we arrived in Brasilia in 2008 we built our own huge house and all my lizards (including the uros) got new huge cages.My iguana´s cage is 3 by 3 meters (not feet!!).

One of the members of Urozone forum wrote to me saying he believes Brioche died due to a spider´s bite.

Brasilia has very nasty spiders.The most venimous spiders apparently lives here. My house was full of them including the spider called in Brazil "Armadeira" . People gave this spider such a name because it raises its arms before attacking you.I killed several adult spiders who insisted on living inside my lizards room but only the adult ones.I thought baby spiders were harmless but apparently i was mistaken.Brioche probably ate a baby spider mixed with his lentils and it bit his tongue.Brioche´s tongue was wine red with a little bit of blood when i found his dead body the night he died. And inside his wooden boxes were full of tiny baby spiders and spiders eggs.I didnt see them when i cleaned his cage.

That could be the cause.. also, you do know that Uros should not have water in their enclosure? In the pic the enclosure looks like its just chicken wire.. Uros should have a solid walled enclosure to allow for a gradient of heat, not just a spot of hot under the basking bulb and cool everywhere else. 70F at night is good. 65-75 is where it should be at night.

Thanks for your message

That photo was taken in Malaysia where the temperature day and night was almost never below 90F .When we lived there i didnt need UVB lights for any of my babies.I could raise my uros and ig and beardies outdoors.

I think he should be blocked, because winter intestinal fed too much food, lead to digest and bad in the intestine, causing intestinal congestion，and I have a Mali is because of this reason of death