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Thread: Tegu Impaction or?

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  1. #1

    Default Tegu Impaction or?

    Yesterday was the first time Ive seen loki actually poop. Usually I have seen white/yellow and liquid (urates?) His cage is quite big and he has many places to hide, so its possible I may never see any droppings until I clean his cage. Ive had him about 2 weeks and he is roughly 2 months old. Anyways, his poop was rather soft and mushy. He eats ground turkey with some greens and mango/grapes blended in with repashy vitamins and zoo med calcium without d3. I have noticed his belly seems to be taking on a rather balloon like appearance. From the day I got him, you could feel a movable mass beneath the skin on either side of his body right beneath the rips. I assumed it was either his stomach being full or another organ. It doesn't protrude oddly from his body, but is palpable if I palpate his sides lightly. Any thoughts on this? Should I move him to a temporary cage for monitoring or should I just get a vet visit to be safe? Ive not seen him straining either. What does a vet do for impaction? Simple enema or are there meds?
    Thanks Guys

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Abbotsford, BC
    Posts
    234

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    You could take him to the vet, that's probably the best idea, check on that moveable mass. If it's an intestinal blockage, which it could be from the ground meat diet, lactulose works pretty well and is safe - 0.5 ml / kg of body weight is the normal dosage for lizards. Go to your supermarket and get some whole herring if you can find small enough ones, if he eats in just in pieces that's ok too. Herring are fatty so it acts as a lubricant and is a safer and more nutritious alternative to mineral oil, although that works quite well too, just it's not a natural product. Make sure he gets lots of running time, outside the enclosure if need be, that helps move things along as well. Warms baths are good as well.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    San Antonio,TX
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    9,505

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    Hi tyterh. I don't know if you feed him inside of his enclosure or not. If you do I don't recommend it. The food can get onto the mulch and he might eat the mulch, too. This can get him impacted. Another thing that can lead to impaction is the temps are not high enough for the food to digest. I recommend giving him some luke warm/warm baths. This will relax the muscles and help him poop. If he doesn't try to poop like my female did in the video below I wouldn't worry about him to much being impacted. Tegu can look huge when they eat a lot. To get the poop more firm I would feed him some feeder rodents (frozen/thawed). It's normal for the poop to be more soft/runny when they eat fruits. The vet would either tell you to give him some baths, give him some stage one baby food ( like in the second video ) with some cod liver oil ( for lubrication ) or/and do a X-ray. Please keep us posted. Thank you.



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  4. #4

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    I came back home the day after and he had returned to normal. I think its just his full tummy I am feeling. I fed him again and sure enough he got that bloated look again. He's certainly growing fast. Thanks Guys. I guess he just eats a lot.

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