I'm desperate for any information someone can give me. I have a uromastyx who is 4 months old, that I got from a breeders' expo in Bayou City. When I got him, he was very energetic, he ate voraciously, etc. But starting a month ago, he slowed down his eating habits and I was worried, so I took him to the vet, and the vet determined that he was chock full of parasitic worms he couldn't identify. So the vet gave him a dose of Panacur and a shot of Ivermectin (about 5 weeks ago) and recommended 2 subsequent doses of both a week apart from each other. Well, we finished the last dose 2 weeks ago and I noticed during the time he was receiving this medicine, he became extremely lethargic and stayed in the cool side of his cage, in his burrow (which is a cardboard box with an entrance hole cut into it.) He usually tries to whack me with his tail or something when I wake him up, but he didn't do it. He doesn't do -anything-. He hasn't eaten, but he's at a steady 56 grams. Perhaps it's that I haven't witnessed him eating, but I have since taken to counting every food item I offer and seeing if any of it is gone or diminished in some way. It looks to me like he's not eating. Today he is almost unresponsive. I lift him and his body sags, he's like a rag doll. Occasionally when I stroke him, he makes a faint burrowing motion with his arms as if he's trying to dig somewhere. He's breathing, but his eyes don't open. He's refused his favorite hibiscus for 3 weeks, doesn't touch dandelion flowers or greens, not even peas. (all his favorites). The vet is stumped. He gave him a shot of calcium. Every day this week I have put my uromastyx outside in the sun for a full blast of UV. The vet also suggested upping humidity because kidney failure due to dehydration is common in uromastyx. I have begun to give my uromastyx a warm bath twice a week for hydration. Do you think something psychological is affecting him because he can't dig around in sand? (I am too afraid he'll ingest it and get impacted) What else can I do to stimulate him? Or to see what is wrong? Do I just let him slowly die? Here are the specifications of my setup: 20 gallon long (I know it's too small, but I've taken great pains to ensure there's a cool place for him to get to until I can get a bigger tank) 100 watt basking bulb Reptisun 8.0 18" flourescent tube No substrate. I use this foamy rubberish shelf liner cut to size to line the tank. Cardboard hide box with flexible pvc pipe serving as an "entrance" to the burrow. Please, any advice is appreciated, I am heartbroken Sue EDIT: Forgot to mention my temps. Basking is 121.4, cool side of the cage is 87.6 (read with digital thermometer
Hi, im new to the forum. I was actually browsing for some info on live plants in uros cages. I had a similiar experience as you did. My uro went to the vet to get dewormed, got an injection of ivermectin and by the next day he wasnt moving at all. Just sat there, unresponsive, no limb movement and no tail whacking if picked up or disturbed. the vet said there was nothing they could do. I then did a bit of google.com and found out about ivermectin poisoning. some animals react like this to ivermectin. i saw a different vet and my uro was given sub cutaneous injections of warm fluids. we did this three times. Meanwhile to maintain nutrition and weight, i hand fed the uro critical care every day, twice a day. i mixed the critical care with dandelions i had mixed in the blender. it took about a month for my uro to come back to life. i also occasionaly soaked the uro in warm water as well. thinking about im not sure if it was critical care, i think it was but ill ask my sister if she remembers. my uro did pull through and hopefully yours can too. while i cant guarantee its the same thing, it sounds like the same thing. so i would recommend maybe going back to the same vet and getting fluids or a diff vet, even just mixing up some greens that you normally feed in the blender, get a oral feeding syringe, prob in the baby aisle of a store, and feed the uro once or twice a day. i had to force open my uros jaws, from what i could tell he was actively clenching them. i hope your uro will be ok. since im pretty new if you want to pm, i can give you my email, that would be easier if you have any more questions. Andrea
Hello Andrea, I found your post here and was hoping you still actively use this forum. I've got a similar situation to the other posts here except my baby Uro has not been dewormed yet. He had not eaten for the first 6 days I had him and the vet did not want to deworm him for fear of destroying what little gut fauna he had left. I just wanted to know what kinds of things you did to pull your Uro through. I have critcal care and my Uro has one more sub cutaneous injection to go out of 5. Is there anything else I can do? Your post that yours pulled through after a month gives me hope. I have never had a reptile this sick pull through but this is also my first Uromastyx and I am not familiar with what would be considered common.
