Hello everyone! Tegu problems...

[Joseph]

Haven't really posted in a long while. My little tegu has grown a ton. But, now my tegu has issues in two areas. Shedding and impaction.

Shedding.
My tegu started shedding way too much. As soon as he came out, he'd go right back in. I'm bathing him everyday because bits and pieces of skin just fall off and it seems when he's all better he goes into shed again! He's almost if not over 4 feet and he should be 11 months according to the man I bought him from.

Impaction. I got him to defacate. First a hard urate which I assume is from dehydration and some poop. I was very relieved. The next day I was massaging his belly in the tub and I found a rather large, 'bump.' It feels like there's a pretty big urate stone from what I'm guessing (It's pretty hard.) No more poop from him. Belly is rather large. Though impacted, he's very alert. Flicking of the tongue constantly and curious as normal. Just breaks my heart when I see him trying to poop. The worst part is I'm not sure how this happened. Clean water everyday and humidity levels are as should be. I plan to schedule an appointment on Monday seeing as the vet is closed on Sunday... This is very worrying to me. I love the little guy even when he's a pain in my butt.

Ok, wrapping this up, as for shedding. It's pretty bad. Flakes here and there and I can't get them to stop. Fruits are in his diet even though I have him off food until Monday. Is he supposed to be shedding so much? Don't worry, his tail and toes are good. Mainly his body and neck have flakes and cracks. I bathe him almost everyday and I've even put lotion on him. And for the impaction, it feels pretty big. I'm optioning surgery. Money is not a problem for me and Loki comes first before I spend my money elsewhere.

Also as a little side note, are there tegus that react to water just like cats in cartoons? My tegu absolutely hates the water. He goes crazy when I lower him into the tub. He scratches me up like crazy trying to climb out. He freaks out when I spray his enclosure as well.

Let me know what you guys think and leave some tips and advice. Love to hear it. -Joe

[txrepgirl]

Hi Joe. I'm sorry to hear about Loki. It's normal for them to shed a lot when they are properly taking care of. Do you pull on the shed by any chance ? It's OK to pull on it if it's very loose and it's easy to come off. But if it feels like it's stuck on there please do not pull on it. It can damage the skin underneath it and it will lead to some future shedding problems. What kind of lotion are you using ? Some lotions can do more harm than good. I'm glad you are taking him to the Vet. Do you feed him inside the enclosure ? Does he try to get into anything while free roaming your home ? I don't feed our Tegus inside their enclosures. But one of my females got impacted with a rubber cap from the metal spring door stopper. So Tegus can get impacted from anything. The Vet might have to take some X-rays. Even if he is drinking and the humidity is good you can try to give him some Pedialyte or Gatorade. It's better than just plain water. Where is the bump located ? If your Vet tells you that you can't give Loki any solid food you can ask him if you can give him some stage one baby food, like chicken, fruits and veggies.

About the bath. What you can do is put Loki inside the tub firs without any water in it. Then turn on the water ( not full blast so he doesn't get scared ). Put your wrist under the water ( it's a very sensitive spot. This is how mom's check the baby bottles ). Make sure it's warm. If it feels to hot or to cold for your wrist adjust it. The water maybe just was to hot, to cold or to deep for him. Or you can turn on the shower head and rinse him off. Most of them like it and it calms them down. Then turn on the fauset. Have the water come up to his chest and then turn it off. Unless he seems scared again then turn it off sooner. Please keep us posted and good luck at the Vet. Oh, I almost forgot. You also can add some cod liver ( just a few drops ) to the baby food. This will lubricate the intestines and help what ever is causing the impaction to move better.

Here are some information for you to check out if you like.

http://www.anapsid.org/shedding.html

http://www.anapsid.org/laxative.html

[Joseph]

I usually don't pull, I rub gently in circles and the flakes just fall off. I only pull if I see it's really loose. I was just using some off brand scentless hand lotion with vitamins in it. I believe it's A and D or A and something else... I did not know it could harm him. It actually helped him become moisturized a ton though. I do not feed him in the enclosure, I feed him in this big blue plastic bin thing. The bump is more of what feels like a rock down towards his vent. I was massaging it some more and I think that's what's blocking him since he pushed and I could feel it move down towards the vent. Now for the bath. It's empty when I put him in. He goes nuts. After the first minute of splashing around and getting me wet, he calms down and just relaxes like all those cute tegus do in the videos on YouTube. The temperature of the water is find though. Not too hot, not too cold. Nice and warm. I didn't know you could give tegus Gatorade. Ha this will be a funny sight for me. Thanks for your info, txrepgirl. Much appreciated.

[Quolibet]

I had the shedding problem with a rescue red tegu. He shedded 8 times in 2 months. Then I gave him vitamine b for humans in water and after a week he his skin heald and he stoped shedding. You can not overdose vitamine b that easy so you can use it every 2 days for one or 2 weeks.

[txrepgirl]

Your welcome. Looks like you are doing a great job with your Tegu . Yes, you can use Gatorade or Pedialyte diluted with some water. When you are going to use some lotion please make sure that it doesn't have anything toxic in it ( in case he licks it ). How is he doing now ?

[Joseph]

Hello everyone. Just an update. I finally got an appointment with him tomorrow. Very big schedule since I start another semester of school tomorrow. I have taken your advice and just today, after a week of doing suggested things, Loki has defecated more fecal matter than anyone should have to see. I put him in the tub and he went even more. Great news, unless you're eating! Now, he's still going tomorrow anyways, but his stomach still looks a little bloated. Can't tell if he's just overweight or I just need to give it time to slim down? His skin is looking a lot better as well. I'll wait and see. Spending all day with him while he's awake today. Thanks for the tips!

[txrepgirl]

Woohoo. This is so awesome. I'm happy to hear that he pooped this much . I think he will be fine now. Thank you for the update. Good luck at the vet tomorrow and with your new semester . Oh, before I forget. Your welcome. I'm glad I could help.

[Joseph]

Hello everyone. I'm back again with some bad and good news, I suppose. The shedding issue has resolved itself pretty much. His tail shed is all that is left and more of it comes off every time I put him in the tub. The impaction. It resolved itself yes, but Loki has been impacted for a week and a day as of yesterday and I know it can't be because of temperature or diet. I just got back from a different vet. He had a HUGE solidified urate stuck in him. It must have moved and allowed him to poop last August and returned back to its position again. The vet managed to break it down into 6-7 pieces two of which came out in the office. I'm letting him rest right now and then when he warms up a bit, gotta put him in lukewarm water. Is there a thread to put recommended vet names and offices on this forum? The doctor was really gentle with Loki and really knew what he was doing. I only paid 77 dollars total for an examination and for him to try to fix Loki's impaction.

[txrepgirl]

Hi Joseph. Welcome back. I'm glad everything worked out well and that you found a great vet. Here is the information you asked for. Is Loki drinking enough water and how is the humidity ? If he is dehydrated the urates can become very hard like this. Thank you for keeping us posted.

http://www.thetegu.com/showthread.ph...s-Informations

http://www.thetegu.com/showthread.ph...s-in-your-area

[Joseph]

Thanks for the links. His humidity is at normal level. I have him in an enclosure so it's easy to control his environment. What I suspect is it happened when I switched his bowl. Loki, being the water-hating lizard he is, didn't like that I put a massive plastic tub in his enclosure for him to soak in while I was at school. I'm giving a good guess that during the week I tried to get him used to soaking in his enclosure he must have refused to drink water. In result he must have developed that giant hardened urate. Sigh. At least all the pieces should be out hopefully this week. I'm just glad he's ok now. Also, I wanted to buy some ground whole prey from hare-today.com. Which whole prey do you think is best for tegus? Also, which fruits are best for skin? Loki seems to love grapes and cantaloupe but everything else he just drops.