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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:23 am Post subject: PLEASE HELP!
i've had willis for a month and a half now. everything has been great. this morning when i woke up he was barely able to walk around and was moving his head like he has parkinson's or something. he won't eat or drink. i can't take him to the vet because it's easter, and the emergency vet in my area doesn't handle exotics. please... does anyone have any ideas what to do until my vet opens on tuesday?!?
Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 877 Location: Eddington, Maine
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:33 am Post subject:
has he been under uvb? have u been giving him calcium? it sounds like how my tegu was when i rescued her .. she had mbd. only thing i could tell u to do is give her some baby food chicken/turkey and gravy warm it up put some water in it and some calcium and force feed him. thats what i did. and then i put her under a the uvb and in 2 days she was fine. and running around for a while. hope that works for you. _________________ 0.1.0 Colombian Tegu
1.0.0 Arg. Tegu
0.1.4 Bearded Dragon
0.1.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Kingsnake
0.0.1 Painted Turtle
0.1.1 Spotted Pythons
1.2.0 Tokay Geckos
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
Hi willis can you leave a message with the vet just in case of emergency ?
twitching comes from two things from calcium deficiency or being too hot.
do you have the UVA as well UVB ? and you can buy liquid calcium drops to put directly in his mouth.
i have him under a 5.0 repti glo and give him supplements everyday. i've read a few posts while waiting for some replies and i think that my light might be too far for him to be getting a quality amount. thanks for the ideas. i'll try to find a place that's actually ofpen today to get him some baby food. however, i'm wondering how you force feed a tegu
Joined: Oct 16, 2007 Posts: 2514 Location: San Antonio,TX
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 3:26 pm Post subject:
If you have a walmart that would be great because they are open today.Go to the pharmacy and buy one of those plastic syringes ( with out a needle ).Follow the steps that meanah ( Daniel ) gave you and put the food in the syringe.Take a towel and rap it around your Tegu and just leave the head out.Put the syringe on the side of his mouth ( more at the end part of the mouth where the cheek is ) and push it in really carefully.You also have to use your other hand to open the mouth a little bit.I had to do this to my Tegu before,too.Hope that helps.Good luck.
Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 877 Location: Eddington, Maine
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:54 pm Post subject:
yeah just as txreptigrl said. she is the one that told me what to do with my tegu. when i got her. if it wasnt for her she could have died. but now she is loving life and her new cage. with her "man": haha _________________ 0.1.0 Colombian Tegu
1.0.0 Arg. Tegu
0.1.4 Bearded Dragon
0.1.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Kingsnake
0.0.1 Painted Turtle
0.1.1 Spotted Pythons
1.2.0 Tokay Geckos
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
thank you everyone for all your help. i already see an improvement over night. i had an extra uv light in a fish tank hood from when he was smaller, and i put that in his enclosure. i also gave him the baby food mixture. he only ate a small amount, but he ate. this morning he ate a pinky though! i was so happy. he still won't drink, so i'm going to keep giving him the baby food with the water. thank you again txrepgirl, meanah, and angelrose, this little guy has really grown on me and it broke my heart to see him like that.
Joined: Oct 16, 2007 Posts: 2514 Location: San Antonio,TX
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:44 pm Post subject:
Your welcome. I'm sooooo happy to hear that he is doing better now.Please make sure that it is a UVB light not just UV.You are doing a great job with him,keep it up.Did you see him drink out of his water bowl before he got sick ?
Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 877 Location: Eddington, Maine
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:28 am Post subject:
nice work willis. i just hope this all works. it sounds as if its going to. _________________ 0.1.0 Colombian Tegu
1.0.0 Arg. Tegu
0.1.4 Bearded Dragon
0.1.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Kingsnake
0.0.1 Painted Turtle
0.1.1 Spotted Pythons
1.2.0 Tokay Geckos
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
Your welcome. I'm sooooo happy to hear that he is doing better now.Please make sure that it is a UVB light not just UV.You are doing a great job with him,keep it up.Did you see him drink out of his water bowl before he got sick ?
no, he normally doesn't drink out of his water dish. he tends to lick moisture off of the leaves and sides of his enclosure. when he was sick the only way he would drink is out of the dish. he's started some of his old habits again, i'm assuming because he's getting most of his hydration through his food mixture that i'm giving him. do you think i should use a reptile water conditioner for the water that i put in his dish?
Joined: Nov 01, 2007 Posts: 224 Location: Harrison, ME
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject:
Willis,
I read that the 5.0 UVB bulbs are for reptiles that are basking within 8 inches of the bulb. If they are farther away than that you need a 10.0 bulb.
Our Tegster started to get a saggy jaw. I thought the UVB bulb was no good but it turned out it was just too far away. Within 5 days of putting it closer Tegsters jaw returned to normal.
Also, when Tegster was a hatchling he licked the condensation off the side of his tank and we drizzled water on to his food plate. He would lick that up. Now that he has matured a bit he drinks out of his water dish all the time.
Good luck with everything! _________________ Renee
I read that the 5.0 UVB bulbs are for reptiles that are basking within 8 inches of the bulb. If they are farther away than that you need a 10.0 bulb.
Our Tegster started to get a saggy jaw. I thought the UVB bulb was no good but it turned out it was just too far away. Within 5 days of putting it closer Tegsters jaw returned to normal.
Also, when Tegster was a hatchling he licked the condensation off the side of his tank and we drizzled water on to his food plate. He would lick that up. Now that he has matured a bit he drinks out of his water dish all the time.
I came across the same information when i was researching the uv needs. when i went to the local pet store they talked me out of getting a 10.0. they told me that the condensed bulbs at that rating are actually harmful, i'd read that somewhere so i went with it, come to find out that the one i was going to purchase was a newer version and completely safe. i'm going to lower the current one i have in his enclosure within the effective range. so far he doesn't have a saggy jaw, very good in my book
willis is still pretty young, about seven months old, he's starting to get his feistiness back, not always a good thing but it makes me smile. he did drink out of his bowl this afternoon, but it was a little concerning...like he hadn't had water in days. other than that he's improved 100%
I'm so happy about it.
Here's some pics of him finally. He's in the middle of a shed.
Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 877 Location: Eddington, Maine
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:11 pm Post subject:
beautiful tegu and nice caging i like the "cave" it is going into _________________ 0.1.0 Colombian Tegu
1.0.0 Arg. Tegu
0.1.4 Bearded Dragon
0.1.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Kingsnake
0.0.1 Painted Turtle
0.1.1 Spotted Pythons
1.2.0 Tokay Geckos
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
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thank you Daniel for the compliment.I'm so glad that I could help and that Isis can enjoy being with her man now 
.Take care.
I'm sooooo happy to hear that he is doing better now.Please make sure that it is a UVB light not just UV.You are doing a great job with him,keep it up.Did you see him drink out of his water bowl before he got sick ?
but it makes me smile. he did drink out of his bowl this afternoon, but it was a little concerning...like he hadn't had water in days. other than that he's improved 100%
