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#1790381
Celexia
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Sick Behaviour? 
My allie has been acting kind of odd lately. He’s not protesting as much whenever I pick him up to clean his cage, he’s not eating as much as he usually does (normally 3-4 half inch long crickets, lately it’s been 0-2), and not with his usual gusto (I normally drop them in the cage in front of his face and they don’t even hit the substrate). Also, he’s been hiding in either his plants or under his rock 90% of the time, rarely coming out to bask, and his droppings have changed colour and consistency. The uric acid part has taken on a yellowish tinge, instead of being white, and the fecal part is a very light brown and is rather watery. We’ve had an outbreak of west nile virus in our area, could he have caught it before we captured him and be just now showing symptoms? Or is this a sign of him getting ready to shed (he’s grown close to 2 inches since we got him, and his colours have gotten darker), or is this a sign of something more serious?
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07/10/08 08:22pm
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#1790686
Aliceinwl
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Message To: Celexia In reference to Message Id: 1790381
Sick Behavior?
The darker color could be due to an impending shed.
Metabolic bone disease (MBD) is one of the most common ailments affecting captive alligator lizards. Watch him eating closely: does there seem to be any jaw weakness (prey slipping out, difficulty catching crickets, difficulty crushing crickets). Also look for any swelling or bowing of the limbs. If he’s maintaining his weight, and isn’t showing any of the above symptoms and you are using a calcium powder including vitamin D3 at every feeding, I’d see if things clear up after a shed. If you suspect MBD, make sure you’re supplementing at every feeding and have a UVB light less than 6 months old.
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07/10/08 11:34pm
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#1790713
Celexia
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Message To: Aliceinwl In reference to Message Id: 1790686
Sick Behavior?
I have been using a calcium powder with vitamin D (not sure how much he’s getting since I mix it with a multi vitamin powder), the UVB lamp I’ve got for him is fairly new, only a couple of months old. As far as eating goes, he’s had a couple of "escapees" from his mouth, the crickets pushed themselves out of his mouth with their feet against the corner of his mouth, but that’s only happened a couple of times, and he continued to go after the other crickets with gusto up until a couple of days ago. I haven’t noticed any swellings of his limbs, and his jaws still line up (he does have what appears to be a scab on his nose, but I think that’s related to his attempted escape and subsequent 3 foot fall which knocked a scale on his nose loose). About the only oddity I’ve noticed about his limbs so far is some of his toes which are really long (the middle toes on both hind feet) are kind of crooked, but I can’t be sure if that happened before I got him or after.
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07/11/08 12:04am
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#1790901
PrinceSushi
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Message To: Celexia In reference to Message Id: 1790713
Sick Behavior?
Sounds like he may be to hot. My lizard started to get this way once the temperatures got higher, so now I’ve cut back on the hours his heat bulb is on and I’ve increased the humidity. Once I changed those things he came out of his burrows and would go about his normal activities.
However, you mentioned he fell and hurt himself. Thats not good. Its possible he could have caused internal damage to the organs, head, or spine. I would suggest taking him to the vet to be examined and possibly x-rayed.
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07/11/08 06:57am
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#1791936
Aliceinwl
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Message To: PrinceSushi In reference to Message Id: 1790901
Sick Behavior?
If you don’t have one already, get a digital thermometer with a probe to check temperatures (those stick on dial type are worthless). It could be a temperature issue like Sushi suggested. Unless you’re seeing signs of injury, I think x-rays would be premature.
It’s hard to judge if a lizard has jaw weakness from a description, but the escapes trigger a warning bell for me. Unless they’re tackling a really large cricket, there generally is no chance of escape once the jaws clamp shut. Make sure your calcium supplement does not contain phosphorus, calcium phosphate etc. If you’re gutloading (letting the crickets gorge on good food for a day before feeding them out: fish flakes, orange slices, carrots etc.) you shouldn’t need a multivitamin at every meal. I’d dust heavily with calcium at every feeding and only give the multivitamin every one to two weeks. I’m not sure what brand of calcium supplement you’re using, but I’ve had great success with rep-cal with vitamin d3.
It’s also important to make sure your UVB bulb is within 10 inches (or the manufacturers recommended distance) or not enough UVB may be reaching your lizard. If your al is shy, adding some vines, fake or live, to provide a bit more cover by the basking site may encourage him to spend more time out under the lights.
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07/11/08 10:57pm
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#1794523
Celexia
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Message To: Aliceinwl In reference to Message Id: 1791936
Sick Behavior?
Well, I think I figured out what was wrong with Oscar. I went to feed him this morning since he didn’t eat yesterday and I found 2 Oscars twisted around in his plants. Apparently he went off his food because he was getting ready to shed! From all appearances it was a complete shed, the only missing parts of skin are where his tail is starting to regrow, but I’m going to be keeping an eye on him for the next couple of days just to make sure that all the skin did in fact come off. Some of the skin did tear as he was shedding, so what was missing from the large piece may have been what was wrapped up in the plants a little bit lower in the "jungle". I put 3 or 4 medium sized crickets in his cage after removing the shed skin and he went after them with his usual gusto. I’m so glad that he’s back to normal.
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07/14/08 06:49am
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#1795368
PrinceSushi
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Message To: Celexia In reference to Message Id: 1794523
Sick Behavior?
Ha, for a second I was worried why you said 2 Oscars!
Allies generally shed all at once by wrapping and rubbing around things. Be sure to check the toes and tail, as old skin can get stuck there and pose a problem later on.
Let all hope thats the only thing that was keeping him from eating.
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07/14/08 07:36pm
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#1798730
Celexia
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Message To: PrinceSushi In reference to Message Id: 1795368
Sick Behavior?
Well, today I did a thorough inspection of Oscar’s limbs (he’s still cursing me for it too). From all appearances the shed was complete, there are no remnats of the old skin hanging around on his toes or his tail. Which came as a relief since I had a bowl of warm water standing by and I really didn’t want to stress him out even more by holding any part of his body in the water while waiting for the skin to loosen up enough to finish the shed.
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07/16/08 10:41pm
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