Help*** I think my female b/w Col. Is dying!!!!!!

[malevolence714]

Okay for the past couple of days my female black and white col tegu has been twitching like shes having muscle spasms. Its all over her body and Im freaking out. If anyone knows why shed doing this or know what to do to fix it please help I do not want to lose her.

 

[malevolence714]

No Change

This morning I checked on her and everything was fine. Then tonight it started again but worse. I have her under a uv light bar. She gets Calcium and multivitamin w/ D3 twice a week. Im going to buy calcium drop tommorow and leave her in the sun all day tommorow. If anyone has any tips please send them. Im despreate.

 

[Kazzy]

Mmm...what's her temps at? You may be giving too much D3. Sounds like either a calcium crash (but you are giving calcium? Also depends on the UV source as well) or an impaction (what kind of bedding is she on?).

I treated a baby nile for it once...he actually had a bad case of MBD and impaction. High temps, high UV, lots of warm baths, and a good calcium source cleared it up quick. When he came into my care he had seizures, and didn't use his back legs. Within three weeks he was walking fine and no more seizures.

 

[RehabRalphy]

Was she purchased like this or has it just been getting worse? Fill is in with details please.


-mike

 

[laurarfl]

Including:
temps
type of UV (brand and strength)
age of UV bulb
where exactly is it placed (over the screen top, inside the cage)
diet

Just as quick internet diagnosis by people who are not vets , it sounds like a calcium deficiency. It can be reversed if you discover what is going on and correct the issue.

I don't know where you live, but direct sunlight or a mercury vapor bulb through no less than a 1/4" mesh screen would be an excellent start. Less insects and ground turkey and more whole prey items such as rodents with formed bones (hoppers), little fish, etc. I don't know how big your little Colombian is and what size items it can eat.

 

[malevolence714]

My Black & White Col. Tegu Info

Okay my girl is about 2 years old. 2 and a half feet. She lives in a 4x18" Glass terrarium. 4 foot uv light bar, as well as a heat spot lamp.
Hot side sits between 95-100 and cool side round80-85 (outside hide). The substrate shes on is coco bark, mixed with about 1/4 dried spagnum. The uv bulb is by zoo med, its a reptitemp 10.0 and its only about 3 months old. The top her enclosure is mesh. and the bulb/fixture sits on the mesh. Also, not sure if this has anything to do with whats going on with her but in late October, she dropped a clutch of 7 eggs. Her diet consists of ground turkey, hard boiled eggs, the occasional rodent, (knocked out first) as well as different ground fruits. Her, as well as my male typically eat 4 times a week, 2 of which I give them Repti Calcium from zoo med w/ D3, and a few sprays of flukers liquid vitamins. If you need more information from me people please ask. Im very worried for my girl.

 

[Kazzy]

Do you feed her in the enclosure?
Is your male housed with her?

 

[malevolence714]

My Female Col

No, I feed both outside of the enclosure on my carpet. Yes, my male and female are housed together. Quick update: I mixed water and some of the calcium together and gave it to her with a baby syringe last night. This morning she woke up and she wasnt twitching or anything at all. I gave her about 3 hours of direct sun outside as well. I brought her back in and since then I have noticed that its back in her hands and feet. But no where near the way it was last night.

 

[laurarfl]

Keep doing the outside sunlight bit as much as you can. Don't overdo the calcium supplement. Feed her some whole rodents (I would feed them more than occasionally, myself) that will provide a natural source of minerals.

The bulb is great, but the mesh filters out so much of it. If she laid eggs, too, she just may be slowly losing calcium. Not so much calcium, but the ability to metabolize it properly. If possible, I would replace the mesh top with a screen with a larger opening.

Here's a link that may say it better:

D3 is formed naturally in the body through exposure to UVB wavelengths (290-320 namometer, or nm). These wavelengths are produced by the sun, but are filtered out by regular glass and plastic; even fine-mesh screen can filter out significant amounts. (The windows in our house block out the UV wavelengths - otherwise all fabrics within range of the window would fade out within just a few years. Glass used in constructing commercial aquariums/terrariums is also made from plain window glass.) Thus an animal needs to be exposed to direct sunlight. It doesn't take much for an organism to get the amount of UV needed to metabolize adequate amounts of D3 when (again, this bears repeating), the environment and diet are right. Human needs are satisfied by 45 minutes exposure to the sun a week. Reptile veterinarian and researcher Dr. Alison Alberts states that 30 minutes exposure to the sun a day is sufficient for green iguanas.

Carnivorous and omnivorous animals get D3 not only by their body manufacturing it through exposure to sunlight (even nocturnal snakes come out at dusk to bask a bit), but through eating healthy prey. Prey that is not healthy, prey that is fed a marginal diet or one lacking in proper nutrition, or is composed of old or sick animals, will result in malnutrition, including adversely impacting the predator's ability to properly metabolize and process the nutrients its digestive system extracted from the prey.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.anapsid.org/uvd3.html">http://www.anapsid.org/uvd3.html</a><!-- m -->

Here's another:

UV wavelengths are filtered by glass and plastic, so it is important that you have the UV bulb within the enclosure, not shining through the top or side. 95% of UV-B light is filtered out by a sheet of glass. Aluminium fly screen filters out 30% of UV-B light, so it's also important to have wide mesh screens over the tubes if you need to protect the animal from burns. In a lizard enclosure, you might get away with not covering the bulb, especially if the lizards you're keeping aren't good climbers. If you're housing a snake, a wide mesh screen such as 'mouse wire' is best, which should allow at least 95% of the light through.

UV light levels also decrease as you move away from the bulb's surface, so it's important that you position the bulb and your cage's furnishings so that your animals can get as close as possible to the bulb - a basking spot 300mm (12") from the bulb is ideal.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.reptilesdownunder.com/reptile/reptilesAsPets/enclosure/uv/">http://www.reptilesdownunder.com/reptil ... losure/uv/</a><!-- m -->

 

[malevolence714]

My Female Col.

Okay, so new stuff done so far. Changed the light bar out with another internal fixture with a reptisun 10 compact bulb. There is nothing between my tegus and the bulb now. Went and bought a handful of hoppers but my female wont eat. Anything. Today when spot cleaning I noticed some ground tukey and mice bones that she threw up. Those were from the day before all of this started. I was reading kazzs' response and she said my girl might be impacted. I think maybe thats one of the contributing factors because before the other day my female has never thrown up. How or What do I look for to know for sure and what do I do to help her pass it?

 

[laurarfl]

Well, calcium deficiency can lead to reduced gut motility. The intestinal tract is a series of muscles that rely on calcium for proper contraction. Metabolic bone disease can lead to constipation and resultant regurge. I would be wary about giving mineral oil to a vomiting animal since aspiration of lipid creates a much nastier pneumonia than just water.

Keep correcting the UV issues and don't overdo the supplements. Don't offer her any food for a couple of days for the stomach acids to replenish and the esophagus to heal. You just gave her calcium last night. You don't feed her on any substrate. Just soak her in a warm (lukewarm) tub for 15-20 min twice a day if you are concerned that she has some poo in there. Is she dehydrated? How is the humidity? Soaking will help.

It took some time for this to develop, and will just take a little time for it to heal.

 

[Kazzy]

Also, I'd separate the tegus, so you can keep a better eye on her and watch to see if she defecates.

Keep up the soaks, check her feces for any bedding, or blood. Keep that heat up, and make sure she's basking.

 

[malevolence714]

My Female Col.

Okay so day three. Haven't seen her poo yet put she is looking much better than before. She has been drinking more water than usual and also. The tremors are very minute now and shes more mobile than she has been. Im going to attempt to feed her in a couple days and see if she will eat. Now, if I try to give her a couple hoppers, should i dust them a bit with some supps? Or is that over doing it. Also to answer those questions, The humidity hovers between 75-80 percent, and no I don't think she is dehydrated because I always see her drinking water. Shes basking as usual and I have been leaving the lights on for her longer than I usually do these past couple nights. I wanna thank all of you for your help because in all honesty I was losing my mind. This happened so fast and I couldn't understand what it was. So big THANKS to all of you who schooled me up. I have a few questions about the clutch I have been Incubating but I post those in the proper forum. Thanks again and Ill keep you updated.

 

[VARNYARD]

Go easy on the supplements, too much can be just as bad as not enough. If there is D3 added you could even cause your tegu more problems by feeding too much. A rodent has eveything needed inside, no need to dust them. However, the compact UV bulb is still a problem, I do not like these bulbs and I do not feel they are proper UV. They can blind your tegu and I do not think they are very good at emitting the proper UV. A good choice would be a Repti-sun 7.5 or 10.0 strip, or a ZooMed 100watt 0r 160watt powersun. Just watch your temps and make sure it does not get to warm if you choose to use a powersun.

 

[malevolence714]

She is doing a lot better

She seems to be getting better. Her tremors and everthing stopped completely and she is more active than she has been the past couple of days. Still not herself but not all messed up like she was. Seeing her like that was horrible. Ill keep everyone updated on how she is doing.

 

[VARNYARD]

Is this the same female that laid the clutch?

 

[malevolence714]

Yes, this is my female Harmony. She laid the clutch.

 

[malevolence714]

Okay so heres the scoop. It's day 5 I think since my girl got sick. She woke up today and walked right up to me, so I took her out of her enclosure and took her outside for some sun. After about 2 hours I brought her back in and just watched her for a few mins. There were no tremors at all in her, she is also walking around and jumping up on her hide box and messing with my male. Pretty active compared to a few days ago. I offered her two dead mice and she only took one. So far all of the things you guys have told me to do seems to be working, maybe too fast? Do you think this is like a calm before the storm? LOL sounds dramatic. Sorry I just stress really hard when it comes to my tegus.