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Thread: tupinambis PLEASE HELP

  1. #11
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    Oct 2007
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    San Antonio,TX
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    Wow meanah.I didn't know that Isis was shaking like that.But knowing that gives me allot of hope now because your Isis turned out well.

    Laurarfl.I have to check the weather channel to see how warm it will get.It's usually cold her lately.Right now I have a PowerSun Uv.Self ballasted mercury vapor UVB Lamp.It says on the box that it provides essential UVA,UVB,Light and heat all in one.But I was going to get a nother floresant buld since the enclosure is bigger than the one they were in before.The one they are in right now is a 150 gallon.What happend to the Beardies that you saw them having that problem that Spatzi has.Did some of them at least live ?


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCEnLQmUiI

  2. #12

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    Hey txrepgirl, A while back my tegu had the same thing, but not as severe. I was told the problem was an inbalance between calcium and phosphorus, (not enough calcium). I started taking her out in natural sunlight for atleast an hour a day and fed her more mice for the calcium in their bones. It cleared up in a few days.
    With my tegu it was only happening in the back legs:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9EYsSjCs_k
    and not all the time, only some times.
    Heres a link to my post, you can read all the things people posted to help me.
    http://www.thetegu.com/postlite6812-.html

  3. #13
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    Dec 2004
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    I posted this once before to someone, and as I remember many at first thought it funny but the person did try it (I think) and got fairly positive results. See if you can book some time at a tanning studio for your tegu. Those tanning beds usually have some fairly strong output in the 290-305nm wavelength range which is just great for them.

    As for your liquid calcium being expired...really, it won't matter, it's not like certain drugs, give it to her anyhow until you can find new stuff.

    Having seen the video of your enclosure, I'd say you should really get more UV on them. I'm a firm believer that a basking spot alone is not enough exposure, the whole tank should be lit with UVB producing fluorescents.

    The one last thing I have to add is only a suggestion and I have no real hard evidence to back it up. By far the most common source of calcium in reptile supplements is from crushed oyster shell. I have no actual research to back it up, but I have heard rumour that the calcium matrix of oyster shell may not be as readily absorbable as other forms. After all, an oyster shell is designed to NOT dissolve in an environment known to rapidly leech calcium from sources. A far better source, and one that I'm sure tegus can easily absorb, is bone meal. I no longer remember the names of the products, but I do remember having found two reptile supplements from which the calcium source was bone meal (interestingly enough, they weren't the usual highly regarded products either). Or you could just try finding bone meal yourself.

    As for why one tegu seems really bad and another fine, that's one of the difficulties of being a biological entity. One tegus' health may be better than the other's because it has more efficient kidneys, or better bloodflow through the liver...there are so many variables.

    Whereas some people have told you to be cautious with the D3 supplementation, and correctly so, from what I know of vitamin D3 toxicity, this isn't it.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central FL
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    All of the beardies I saw and knew of survived. Take this with a grain of salt, because I'm not a vet...but I thought tremors were an early symptom of calcium deficiency and easily reversed.

    They were given calcium in various forms with good UV, and symptoms resolved within a few days.
    Laura R (FL)
    1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
    1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
    1.2.0 Red Tegu
    1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
    1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
    7 other lizards
    1 little gator
    3 FL box turtle
    1 Sulcata tortoise
    16 snakes
    5 fuzzy pets
    4 little frogs
    a bunch of creepy bugs
    and a partridge in a pear tree

  5. #15
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Connecticut
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    Quote Originally Posted by tupinambis
    The one last thing I have to add is only a suggestion and I have no real hard evidence to back it up. By far the most common source of calcium in reptile supplements is from crushed oyster shell. I have no actual research to back it up, but I have heard rumour that the calcium matrix of oyster shell may not be as readily absorbable as other forms. After all, an oyster shell is designed to NOT dissolve in an environment known to rapidly leech calcium from sources. A far better source, and one that I'm sure tegus can easily absorb, is bone meal. I no longer remember the names of the products, but I do remember having found two reptile supplements from which the calcium source was bone meal (interestingly enough, they weren't the usual highly regarded products either).
    OMG!! You agreed with Bobby!! :wink: We use ZooMed calcium, made from calcium carbonate, not crushed shells.

    Quote Originally Posted by tupinambis
    As for why one tegu seems really bad and another fine, that's one of the difficulties of being a biological entity. One tegus' health may be better than the other's because it has more efficient kidneys, or better bloodflow through the liver...there are so many variables.
    Definitely a consideration. Our male Blue Tegu is prone to impaction, due to his stupidity of eating his substrate and not basking or drinking enough. We provide the heat & water but you can't force him to use it.

    I hope the little guy pulls through. Liquid calcium and some good UVB should make a noticeable improvement in a couple of days.
    1.1 Blue Tegus, 1.1 Cuban Rock Iguanas
    1.1 Bearded Dragons, 0.1 Veiled Chameleon
    0.1 Columbian Boa, 1.0 Ball Python, 0.0.1 Corn

  6. #16
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    Uh, crushed oyster shell is calcium carbonate. ZooMed supposedly uses a different source of calcium carbonate than oyster shell. I find it intriguing that they won't state what, though.

    And I don't disagree with everything Mr.Hill says. He has gotten information from a few sources correct.

  7. #17
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    So how do crushed oyster shell & other sources vary in the way they are absorbed???
    1.1 Blue Tegus, 1.1 Cuban Rock Iguanas
    1.1 Bearded Dragons, 0.1 Veiled Chameleon
    0.1 Columbian Boa, 1.0 Ball Python, 0.0.1 Corn

  8. #18
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    Aug 2008
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    txrepgirl.........I am sorry about this, but I may have a partial answer for you. You said that you use the Zoo Med Power Sun bulb, correct?? When I first got Smokey, that was the bulb I used. Within 3 months, he had muscle tremors and could not use his back legs...Exactly like your tegu.

    I could not understand this because he was eating a good diet and supplemented. I went to a local tegu shop that keeps large tegus and described my set up and problem. He said that it might have something to do with that bulb..the power sun bulb. He said that the bulb was "garbage" and he does not use it anymore. He said, seemingly, it was originally designed for birds. hence the bird on the box. He said that I should switch to exo terra lighting.

    Basically, you are going through exactly what I went through and your tegu is exhibiting exactly the same reaction. Try switching to exoterra lighting for this tegu. Tehre bulbs are also a lot cheeper and have all the uvb the tegu will need.

    To make you feel better, Smokey made a full recovery within 2 weeks of changing everything. Not only the lighting change, but I also gave him liquid uvb a couple of times. The guy at the reptile shop also recommended that.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Monrovia, Ca
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    Quote Originally Posted by tupinambis
    Uh, crushed oyster shell is calcium carbonate. ZooMed supposedly uses a different source of calcium carbonate than oyster shell. I find it intriguing that they won't state what, though.
    "calcium carbonate is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, and eggshells."

    "The vast majority of calcium carbonate used in industry is extracted by mining or quarrying. Pure calcium carbonate (e.g. for food or pharmaceutical use), can be produced from a pure quarried source (usually marble)."

  10. #20
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    Davedragon, this should help you understand the concept, pay particular attention to the heading Specificity:

    http://www.answers.com/topic/enzyme

    October, you're probably quite right, but the bit about being told whether it was designed for a bird is, well, for lack of a better descriptor....nonsense. It doesn't matter one bit whether it's a bird, a tegu, a fish or even you and I, we all get our vit.D3 either directly or indirectly via UVB radiation in the 290-305nm wavelength. It's not 305 for birds, 290 for reptiles, it's a chemical reaction identical in all organisms that is optimised at 295nm. However, a number of the compact fluorescents have been implicated (and evidently there's growing evidence) in producing a number of other wavelengths that have proved harmful. However, this doesn't appear to be what's happening here, it looks like these guys just aren't getting UVB period. Unfortunately a lot of manufacturers have really gotten into this concept of light being beneficial for reptiles and have pushed a number of bulbs as "simulating natural sunlight", but they fail to mention the bulbs don't actually produce UVB (or at least not very boldly) and my guess is that txrepgirl has unfortunately either gotten one of these bulbs mistakenly thinking it produced UVB, or that her bulb has decayed enough that it's UVB output is negligible.

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