ADVICE? Rescued columbian hatchling today

[megasaurus]

[attachment=5368]Hi Everyone!

I am not new to argentine tegus but I AM new to columbians, I have never had one before although I have read up a little.

Today I took in a hatchling columbian tegu from a woman who said she had him for 3 months and he starved himself the whole time and refused food. She was really worried about him and he had lost some weight, so she put him up for ASAP emergancy adoption to someone with the time to rehabilitate and work with him.

I got him this morning. He is about 11" long and about 1" girth. He is surprisingly easy to handle, but I think its much because the poor thing is weak.

I offered it a spoonful of probiotic greek yogurt and chicken baby food which it lapped up immediately and wanted more afterwards. I also put a few drops of liquid calcium from the vet in it.

I could tell by the way it was lapping, that it needed and wanted the food but was also moving much slower and weaker then a healthy tegu would.
Anyways, all in all I just wanted any hepful suggestions or advice from anyone. I don't have any specific questions, I just am all ears for any tips from anyone.

My plan of action so far is to offer him some baby roaches (i breed them) and the normal foods just to guage his response. I will continue the baby food and figure out some concoctions accordingly. I am going to buy a new UV lamp for him tomorrow and keep his tank temperature to the HIGHEST spectrum of the reccomended temps for these guys. as well as daily misting to keep the humidity up. I want to handle him as much as possible but also keep him as unstressed as possible.

Thanks so much everyone!!!

 

[Deac77]

I wouldn't handle him much right now let him get settled and get some body mass personally and I may be hung for this I would offer a high end canned cat food ONLY UNTIL HE GETS SOME MASS the stuff is really fatty and can put some weight on them roaches baby food liver and ground turkey (blended together in a blender) that'd be my course of action

 

[megasaurus]

Thanks for the reply. Are there any signs of regression I should watch for? He does not have any tremoring or any swollen limbs or weakness that seems metobolic bone disease related... (that I have noticed today) Just wrinkly and undernourished.

Also, a side question, for tegu diets is there a huge difference between "Cod Liver Oil" and the "Fish Oil" capsules. Is it bad to use fish oil for my big tegu boy or is it basically the same thing?

 

[Deac77]

On the oil idk but and I can't think of any real signs other than tremors and weakness maybe give a warm soak or some pedialyte to get some electrolytes into him

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Congrats on the new pick up. From the pics it doesn't look that bad or too under weight to me nothing normal feeding and proper husbandry can't fix as long as there's nothing going on health wise.
The main differences between cod liver and fish oil is the source. Cod liver oil comes from the liver of Cod fish and contains natural vitamin D and A.

 

[Deac77]

I can't see the pic lol so I went off the description if he doesn't look that thin forgo the catfood

 

[megasaurus]

Thanks everyone.

So last night I left him alone as to not stress him out. I checked on his this morning and realized that his front right arm is broken in 2 places and the hand bone is not even attached to his wrist/arm. It is not poking through the skin, but it is just hanging there. The poor thing walks on his left arm and just drags the right one underneath him. I called my reptile vet that I take my other guys to, and they informed me that he just retired and they no longer serve exotics. WHAT!!!???? So now I have to find a whole new vet, its saturday which means that no one is open tomorrow except emergancy services which is quadriple the fee that has already been quoted at $1000 to amputate......... aaaaahhh!!!

 

[dragonmetalhead]

Wow, that's awful. Do you know how he injured himself?

 

[megasaurus]

I have no idea. It was like that when the lady dropped him off, I just didn't realize it at the time. I noticed his hand looked a little funny immediately, but I thought it was just the way he was sitting. I didn't want to stress him out to much immediately, so I left it alone until the next morning (yesterday.) I am feeling pretty bad for him right about now.... I gave him a very good once over, and other then being wrinkly and dehydrated and his arm, he looks okay. I am going to take a guess that the arm has been broken for a while.

He pooped for the first time this morning which made me very happy!!!
Since I have had him (Friday afternoon) I have been hand feeding him chicken baby food with a drop of probiotic yogurt twice a day, with miner-all and liquid calcium from a syringe 1x daily. He is very good with the hand feeding, He will lap it up from a spoon or dish or etc. and plunge his face in it like he is drinking... I have to pull him out and wipe his little face and make sure he breathes or else he will get little bubbles and sneeze from over doing it. But if I put anything solid in front of him, even wiggly bugs, he won't even look at it. I also have not seen him drink any water either.

He is getting to be quite snuggly with me... He will sit in my hand, sit on my leg or crawl into my hoody pocket. When I handle him I try to hold completely still and just let him be, as to not stress him out any more then nessesary. If anything else scares him he will freak and huff and run TOWARDS me and hide in my shirt. Its pretty adorable.

The enclosure he came with was filled with childrens sandbox sand and some kind of bark/mulch. There were mealworm skeleton shells all over in it and a GIANT beetle and a spider. Today I put a little drop of mineral oil in his food and soaked him for a while, and when he finally pooped his poop basically looked like wet sand. I dumped it all out, and replaced his bedding with an article of soft clothing to lay on top of or burrow into. No substrate for him until he is eating and pooping and everything regularly and healthily. Also I bought him a SolarGlo too!

 

[megasaurus]

I just got done with my little dude's morning feeding and I was very very pleased to see that for the first time since I have had him, he had a normal body girth. A nice plump well rounded little belly with no look of impaction or being underweight. He is coming along nicely and is now pooping regularly as he pooped again this morning! YAY!

 

[larissalurid]

That's crazy, there should be something they can do besides amputate for just a broken bone! Try to find another expereinced herp vet around. If you can tell people your location perhaps some of them can give you names of some experienced drs near your area.

 

[megasaurus]

Yesterday he accepted his first solid food! YAY

 

[DavidRosi]

Bless him.
You're doing an amazing job; keep it up.

 

[TeguBlake]

I'm glad he found such a good home..

 

[dragonmetalhead]

I'm so happy to hear you're having success with your rescue. You're a saint for taking in that poor tegu. May you two have many happy years together.