Diegar
08-30-2005, 01:00 PM
Hello all,
Spicoli, my 35 day old Argentine B&W Tegu is not doing well. Last thursday, I noticed that all of a sudden, he lost the bilateral use of his front legs. He drags them behind himself and pushes with his rear legs. I took him to the vet on Friday and we tested his blood for calcium. His Ionic Calcium levels were 1.95, which is high-normal for this breed, according to the vet. Since, though, that this is not an accurate view of his average levels, but merely a snapshot view, the vet was leaning toward Hypocalcemia, instead of a spinal injury.
We discovered that his UVB fluorescent tube light was too far away from him in his cage, at 24", so I have since mounted it inside his cage, at 13" from his mulch surface. We aren't sure if this or anything like this could have caused Spicoli to get sick in such a short time, but fixing it for the future seemed like a good idea. The vet gave me some kind of liquid calcium to shoot into his throat, with a needleless syringe, which i am to give him every 12 hours at a dose of 0.075cc each time.
Saturday, i counted the crix in his cage and he had not eaten any, though he was already sleeping for the night, so i let him be. The next morning, after giving him his calcium, I dipped a cricket in some Reptivit and reptical and held it by tweezers to Spicoli's nose and he took it, though it took several tries. He is not very fast anymore. After the cricket was gone, i tried with another, but he would have no part of it.
Monday, i received an email from Bert at Agama International and he suggested that I get another needleless syringe and fill it with yogurt and sourcream. With this mixture, i am to drip it on his snout, without getting it in his nostrils, and he will lick it off. He did and that went really well. He took 1cc of the cream, before giving up on that. According to Bert, this mixture is full of natural calcium and stimulates the appetite.
Bert also brought up something in the email that contradicts most of what i have heard concerning temperature. His basking spot should be no higher than 90f and his ambient cage temp should stay somewhere around 80f. I had always heard of much higher numbers with regard to heat and am working on lowering the temps in his cage, as i keep Spicoli around 90f in the ambient and about 105 on the basking spot.
Another interesting thing Bert brought up is supplements. He doesn't use them and most of the time, wouldn't recommend them either. He states that too much vit A, and/or D could cause an overdoes and lead to symptoms like the one my tegu is showing. He wasn't stating that for sure though, considering he is 1000 miles away.
So for now, i will just keep doing what i am doing and hope for the best, but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I could use any piece of good advice at this point.
Thanks,
J
Spicoli, my 35 day old Argentine B&W Tegu is not doing well. Last thursday, I noticed that all of a sudden, he lost the bilateral use of his front legs. He drags them behind himself and pushes with his rear legs. I took him to the vet on Friday and we tested his blood for calcium. His Ionic Calcium levels were 1.95, which is high-normal for this breed, according to the vet. Since, though, that this is not an accurate view of his average levels, but merely a snapshot view, the vet was leaning toward Hypocalcemia, instead of a spinal injury.
We discovered that his UVB fluorescent tube light was too far away from him in his cage, at 24", so I have since mounted it inside his cage, at 13" from his mulch surface. We aren't sure if this or anything like this could have caused Spicoli to get sick in such a short time, but fixing it for the future seemed like a good idea. The vet gave me some kind of liquid calcium to shoot into his throat, with a needleless syringe, which i am to give him every 12 hours at a dose of 0.075cc each time.
Saturday, i counted the crix in his cage and he had not eaten any, though he was already sleeping for the night, so i let him be. The next morning, after giving him his calcium, I dipped a cricket in some Reptivit and reptical and held it by tweezers to Spicoli's nose and he took it, though it took several tries. He is not very fast anymore. After the cricket was gone, i tried with another, but he would have no part of it.
Monday, i received an email from Bert at Agama International and he suggested that I get another needleless syringe and fill it with yogurt and sourcream. With this mixture, i am to drip it on his snout, without getting it in his nostrils, and he will lick it off. He did and that went really well. He took 1cc of the cream, before giving up on that. According to Bert, this mixture is full of natural calcium and stimulates the appetite.
Bert also brought up something in the email that contradicts most of what i have heard concerning temperature. His basking spot should be no higher than 90f and his ambient cage temp should stay somewhere around 80f. I had always heard of much higher numbers with regard to heat and am working on lowering the temps in his cage, as i keep Spicoli around 90f in the ambient and about 105 on the basking spot.
Another interesting thing Bert brought up is supplements. He doesn't use them and most of the time, wouldn't recommend them either. He states that too much vit A, and/or D could cause an overdoes and lead to symptoms like the one my tegu is showing. He wasn't stating that for sure though, considering he is 1000 miles away.
So for now, i will just keep doing what i am doing and hope for the best, but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I could use any piece of good advice at this point.
Thanks,
J