Tegu feels lumpy. Please help.

ReptilesLovePunk · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:06 pm Post subject: Tegu feels lumpy. Please help.

My baby Dag's stomach feels hard and i just don't know why! I have read so much about tegus that i m worried that i have never heard of this before!! i know that he isn't constipated because he just made a large poop this morning

gross! anyways he's been like this since after christmas and it's starting to worry me! when i feel his sides it feels hard almost like eggs but the closest has ever came to hibernation was when he escaped from his tank into a 43 degree corner. i thought he was dead it was so scary he had no pulse and wasn't breathing at all i was fixin to make a very odd shaped 27" casket

but my dad heard me balling and he's had tegus before so he knew that he wasn't dead and we warmed him up and he was back to normal in about 45 mins. i noticed his hard stomach then for the first time when i was massaging him after his cold shock. he has been actiong a little slower than normal (not much though) I HAVE NO VERIFICATION THAT HE IS A MALE SO IT COULD BE EGGS. i have no vternarians in the area that know shit about lizards and when my friend took hers to the vet they spelled tegu wrong on her realese form. i called another vet who claimed to be able to operate on reptiles and exotics but she did't know crap about them when i talked to her. he still has his appitite and he ate today. he's very docile even though he's columbian and he has been known to sleep with me. nothing has changed in his habitat and he's my little baby and i could check offf the "bereavment" square on the school absece excuse. if anyone has any suggestions PLEASE post back!! i am getting very very leery of his state. the little thing means the world to me and it took me about six months to save up the cash for him. (all of which were used for reasearch on tegus.) also pertanent is that i recently started giving more vitimins to him and i lost the meesuring spoon that came with them so i have only been estimating the amount. i thought that if it was a calcium build up he'd be constipated. i checked the other posts and his cloaca is not red or swollen. he is drinking water also and i have started to up his temperature and give him a daily warm bath. this got really long on me sorry! any input is appreciated. (the pet stores around here are morons and know nothing about reptiles so to talk to someone who isn't a dumbass i have to wait until mid february for the rep expo.

Justine_______________________________________________

Rick · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:22 pm Post subject:

Sadly, there is no way we can help you much over the forums with this issue.

Waiting could cost you your tegu. Any vet can do an basic exam and/or X-ray. Seek a second opinion before any sort of surgery.

Rick
_________________
Sisco Reptiles - Proud Breeder of the Tamest & Most Social Tegus. See www.SiscoReptiles.com

DeadIrishD · Honored Member Joined: Jun 07, 2005 Posts: 265

Where are you from? perhaps if there are any memebers close to u they can point u in the right direction to where a vet is located.

tupinambis · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:06 am Post subject:

By all means, get your tegu to a vet. Whereas your local ones may not be the best for reptile medicine, they can at least xray your pet.

My experience with these guys is that what you're describing sounds like gastro-intestinal impaction. It may be eggs, but to me eggs are usually soft whereas impactions are hard. What you can do about it will depend on the nature of the impaction, if that's what is indeed the problem. A little oral lubrication in the form of some olive oil will possibly help loosen things up a bit. You can try giving the animal warm baths. Baths really don't do anything to help the intestines, but they do tend to promote defecation in most reptiles. If the animal appears to be struggling while defecating, it would be helpful to lube up the cloaca with some vaseline. Increasing the vegetative component of the food might also help. What have you been feeding the tegu? How much?

drfish · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 9:25 am Post subject:

Is vaseline safe to use in this situation, as it is a petroleum based product, and I would of thought there is a possibility of it being an irritant in such a sensitive area. I don't know either way, so obviously correct me if thats the case

ReptilesLovePunk · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:25 am Post subject:

until i can get a breeding pair of mice i have been feeding him raw eggs. he loves the things but he's a columbian and he wont even so much as take an exploritive bit of any fruit.

i tried to mix bananas with his eggs and he wouldn't eat them. he'll eat almost any kind of meat and when he eats eggs he'll only eat the yolk. he still makes VERY LARGE presents every day so i don't think he's constipated. how much do x-rays cost?? hes acting fine so i was gonna wait it out until the expo. if he takes a turn for the worse, i ll take him to the emergency vet about 45 mins from here. i live around pittsburgh pa. thanks for your suggestions guys!!!

drfish · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:22 pm Post subject:

Out of interest are the eggs fertilised, or shop bought hen's eggs ?

Unfertilised eggs create/contain (can't remember which) Biotin, which is not good for the animals if fed on a regular basis. They are also not advisable as a staple food, only as a supplementary food. Also, Columbians tend not to show an interest in fruit and veg, and don't particularly benefit from them either, so I wouldn't bother pushing that too much.

ReptilesLovePunk · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:46 pm Post subject:

yeah i know it's bad i m having my mom pick up some fat free turkey and some olive oil so i can try to fix his problem. i have heard about how eggs(hen eggs) r bad and it makes his poop stink terribly!!! he just seems so happy to eat them!

any ways thanks for the suggestions!

Teiidae · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:56 pm Post subject:

tupinambis · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:06 pm Post subject:

It'll never cease to amaze me how in this day and era where people have the most powerful tool available to mankind that they still don't bother to use it and instead spread misinformation and myths.

drfish, unfertilized eggs do NOT contain biotin, that is the problem with them. Biotin is a GOOD thing, not bad, and is a rather essential compound. Biotin is one of the Vitamin B compounds. Biotin is only found in fertilized eggs. However, for some reason in our ancient genetic heritage, us animals decided we no longer needed to make it, so we gave up the means to do so. Nowadays, only bacteria, yeasts, molds, algae and some plants are capable of producing biotin from raw materials. This has two rather large implications, first being that without these other organisms us animals are dead meat, and second that a lot more comes across on papa's little sperm boat than just genetic material.

As for vasaline, you don't eat the stuff, just coat the cloaca with it. True, there are potentially better products, but at the same time, until the invention of KY jelly, proponents of sodomy have been using it for decades without any adverse effects. If you feel comfortable going for the other personal lubricants, by all means do so.

On to diet. Where to start here. Whereas eggs and mice are a PART of their natural diet, they should NOT make up the whole. Even worse, of the studies done on natural diets of Tupinambis teguixin, eggs and rodents have been shown to be minor components. Imagine where you would be if the only thing you were ever given was the pickle out of a burger (not the whole burger). I don't think healthy would be a term to describe you in that situation. One of the reasons that people can't get their tegus to eat anything else is they don't enforce it on their animal, the other is that they overfeed their animals. Reptiles do not need to be fed everyday, nor every other day. In nature, I'm pretty sure that hunger is one of the driving aspects behind their rather varied diet. And if given a choice between eggs and brocolli, the most energy compact food (egg) is most likely going to win.

Lastly, waiting until the next reptile expo is a terrible idea. If your tegu has a health condition, it needs to be addressed now and by people appropriately trained. You've already had one reptile keeper here give you information that was false, do you think your chances are going to be that much better at an expo? And whereas a lot of those people are admittedly proficient at animal husbandry, I would highly doubt if many of them have any kind of training when it comes to medicine. The sooner you act, the less likely it is that drastic, invasive measures will have to be taken. It may be that nothing is wrong with your tegu, or it maybe that all that's really needed is a little laxative to move things through. Waiting until the expo could mean that all you'll have on your hands is a corpse to show someone. Is this really what you want to risk?

drfish · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:14 pm Post subject:

tupinambis · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:26 pm Post subject:

A lot of people think likewise, and I can understand their hesitation. The idea of petroleum based anything sounds terrible. However, it has been designed for uses similar to this. Try checking around the grocery store and I think you'll be surprised how many "foods" contain petroleum based products. Also, a lot of glamour models use vasaline on their teeth to make them have that extra special shine. I don't think it's hurting them.

On the flip side, just what do you think is coming out their cloaca? I would have no problem labelling it as an irritant.

It was just a suggestion, but if Justin feels comfortable going to the drug store to get some KY then by all means go for it.

ReptilesLovePunk · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:29 pm Post subject:

well what kind of laxitive would you recomend. like i said many times he is NOT having trouble going to the bathroom at all. and the expo is in three weeks. if i had a job or was even cabable of getting a job which i am NOT, he would have went to the vet after his shock for a checkup and again now. But simce i am only fourteen if my mom does not think there's any thing wrong and she is on a budget as well, he isn't going. if he stops wanting to eat or starts acting weird, i will take him. until then, i will just have to see how it goes considering i dont have an extra 150$ just laying around because i m 14. if u want to foot the bill i d take him to the vet. this sounds a little sarcastic because all anyone ever says is to take him to the vet and i just cant NOW. SRRY i just wanted another solution. i am really frustrated and i called one place and they said that they'll take x-rays but they cant do anything if something is wrong. thanks for all of everyone's suggestions!

ReptilesLovePunk · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:31 pm Post subject:

yah ill stick to vaseline!!!

drfish · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:06 am Post subject: