Hi everyone,
I rescued a 3 year old dragon 3 weeks ago and he has already had his vet visit, with blood work, xrays and fecal, which was negative. He weighs 324 grams. He was having loose stools the 1st 2 weeks and we started him on BeneBac and his stools are getting firmer. He eats his veggies good and gets collards, turnip greens and water cress with a mix of different squashes, but he loves his butternut squash the most. His feeder insects are crickets dusted with calcium, black soldier fly larvae, waxworms and superworms. He was getting mostly crickets and discoid roaches at his previous home with a mix of salads. His temps in his 4x2x2 enclosure are good and in range. The vet would like to see him gain a little more weight, and suggested feeding him insects daily.
150 watt basking with a Reptisun T5 10.0, placed inside his Zen Habitat. His temps are measured with an infrared temp gun. His basking area is about 101, his ambient temp is about 83 and his cool side is about 75.
I am wondering if someone can explain his lab results to me? His vet said everything looks good, other than his uric acid is elevated, but she said that could be due to the new move and environment and his loose stools. I just want to make sure I stay ahead of any issues that might be happening, because even though we have only had him such a short time, we love him so much.
I will attach his lab results and if someone could help me, it would be so greatly appreciated.
Hi everyone,
I rescued a 3 year old dragon 3 weeks ago and he has already had his vet visit, with blood work, xrays and fecal, which was negative. He weighs 324 grams. He was having loose stools the 1st 2 weeks and we started him on BeneBac and his stools are getting firmer. He eats his veggies good and gets collards, turnip greens and water cress with a mix of different squashes, but he loves his butternut squash the most. His feeder insects are crickets dusted with calcium, black soldier fly larvae, waxworms and superworms. He was getting mostly crickets and discoid roaches at his previous home with a mix of salads. His temps in his 4x2x2 enclosure are good and in range. The vet would like to see him gain a little more weight, and suggested feeding him insects daily.
150 watt basking with a Reptisun T5 10.0. His temps are measured with an infrared temp gun. His basking area is about 101, his ambient temp is about 83 and his cool side is about 75.
I am wondering if someone can explain his lab results to me? His vet said everything looks good, other than his uric acid is elevated, but she said that could be due to the new move and environment and his loose stools. I just want to make sure I stay ahead of any issues that might be happening, because even though we have only had him such a short time, we love him so much.
I will attach his lab results and if someone could help me, it would be so greatly appreciated.
I downloaded your dragon's bloodtests & will review them in the morning for you. Is your dragon having any major health
issues right now?
Your tank setup sounds very nice for him. It is rough rescuing one since you don't always know the previous care of them
before you brought them home.
I downloaded your dragon's bloodtests & will review them in the morning for you. Is your dragon having any major health
issues right now?
Your tank setup sounds very nice for him. It is rough rescuing one since you don't always know the previous care of them
before you brought them home.
Hi there, There isn't anything super concerning since the BeneBac seems to have helped his loose stools. His uric acid is elevated some, so I just wondered if that is more concerning than what the vet said?
Merry Christmas, hope you had a great day.
The uric acid is a little higher than what I like to see, but, not terrible. Does he seem to have any swelling?
The calcium to phosphorus ratio is good so I doubt he has any calcium issues right now or any trouble absorbing any
calcium.
Could he be dehydrated at all? The uric acid levels can be elevated for a number of reasons from dehydration, too much
protein taxing the kidneys, genetics, poor calcium absorption due to inadequate UVB.
You could be proactive & start giving black or tart cherry juice extract to help out with the kidneys in case he might be having
some trouble.
I'm glad to hear that the benebac has been helping him out right now!
Merry Christmas, hope you had a great day.
The uric acid is a little higher than what I like to see, but, not terrible. Does he seem to have any swelling?
The calcium to phosphorus ratio is good so I doubt he has any calcium issues right now or any trouble absorbing any
calcium.
Could he be dehydrated at all? The uric acid levels can be elevated for a number of reasons from dehydration, too much
protein taxing the kidneys, genetics, poor calcium absorption due to inadequate UVB.
You could be proactive & start giving black or tart cherry juice extract to help out with the kidneys in case he might be having
some trouble.
I'm glad to hear that the benebac has been helping him out right now!
Thank you so much and I hope you had a nice holiday too! Before the Benebac, his stool was loose and he would have 2 sometimes 3 poos a day. Once we started the Benebac they did firm up, but again this morning it was looser again, so I am not sure. I may just have his stool rechecked sometime this week, if not for anything but my piece of mind. Maybe having so many loose stools is causing some dehydration, and that is what the vet thought too. I do spray his salads with water because I do not see him drinking water much at all. I even bought some plain Pedialyte but have not tried that yet.
He is starting a big shed, maybe that's it too....man, worrying about him is like I worried when I brought my newborn daughter home for the first few weeks lol