Sick Eastern Collared Lizard

[miragach]

Back in February I was asked to adopt a very frail very skinny Eastern Collared Lizard by a manager of a major pet store chain.
When we brought him home he had been living in a 10 gallon tank for over 10 months at the pet store. He was no longer eating and their vet said failure to thrive... they could find no parasite, no mbd, no real reason behind it other then too long at the store.

We used the sick dragon (cuz we got 2 beardies) diet of organic chicken babyfood for about a month when Rousseau finally decided food was a good thing and would chase crickets and nom up some wax worms. But this ended suddenly, we have been back on baby food for at least 2 months (and given my work schedule it's only once a day because he refuses and will bite at 5:30 in the morning)

He was able to be handled when we brought him home but now if we reach into the tank even with food he hisses and lunges at us to bite and has succeeded twice.

He is just as skinny as the day we brought him home and I'm so worried he will die soon,
He has a 20 gal tank (he is only 11 inches long)
Water bowl in his tank (due to inability to be picked up any more)
Organic Chicken baby food mixed with calcium powder every evening
ReptiSun 10 (3 months old)
Basking Temp is 102
And despite the lack of nutrients going into his body... normal poo.... (????? this baffles us!)
Plenty of Urates and loves to splash in his bath water

The last time we went to a vet (local good Herp who takes care of my dragons) said he could find nothing wrong at that time and we haven't had the money to go back for all that again (or the ability to even pick him up!)

Some advice would be great to save this lil guy... I just feel so badly for him and want him to have a good life not just an existence...

I am currently waiting for the Pacific Northwest Herpetological Society to get back to me as to if they can take him in for adoption but I have no clue what else to do in the mean time!

Thanks for reading and any advice...

~Meara, Cazic, Peanut, and Rousseau

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Oh collards are so beautiful. Do you have any pictures of him? How old is he?
Have you heard from the Herpetological society yet?
Their tank setup is pretty similar to bearded dragons' care & your setup sounds pretty good. The Reptisun 10 is a tube bulb, right?
So, he no longer eats crickets then & he has just been eating baby food, correct?
Most likely he was a wild caught one, unless you know specifically that he was a captive bred. There are not many captive bred programs for collard lizards here. He probably has parasites, that would be my first guess if he was captive bred. The stress from relocating, etc may have caught up with him, increasing his parasite/worm levels. You mentioned that they tested him for parasites, etc? I wonder if they missed something perhaps?
That is no fun, biting, etc. How long has he been trying to bite you? I assume you are not going in over his head to pick him up, correct?
Unfortunately with most of the wild caught animals of different species, they do fail to thrive because they can never fully adjust to becoming captive after being taken out of their homes & a lot of them don't make it. Sometimes they will pull through, but it takes a lot of work to get them to adjust properly.

Tracie

 

[miragach]

Well I heard back from the PNHS and sounds like we are meeting up tomorrow and he will be going into their care.
Breaks my heart that we are having to resort to giving him to someone else as it's been since February in our home but at this point it's that or watch him suffer and be so skinny. I'm sure hoping that since they have more knowledge and ability for vets to do more that they can nurse him back into a healthy leezard.

Yes the Reptisun is a tube light (I learned well from you guys when I first got Cazic ... my first leezard... as a rescue) Now he is thriving and huge and even has a little brother Peanut. At this rate of growth Peanut will outgrown his brother lol!

When he first came home he ate nothing but baby food for about a month, then would eat a few crickets and a wax worm or two ... then he would only eat the wax worms and I figured it was better then no food in him. Besides a little fat would help him out. But for the last 4 weeks at least it's been only baby food again... won't even look at live food (not even Phoenix worms!) I have to fight with him to get him to eat the little bit that he does. It's almost like he has given up or something..... At least his human hasn't given up on him yet!

He has been trying to bite for the last 3 months or so. At first I figured it might be that he just didn't have the strength when we first got him. I do not go over his head but rather make sure my hand is even with the floor on the far side of his tank before approaching him. To our knowledge he was lived only at the pet store (for about 10 months in a tiny 10 gal tank) and then in our home.
Being in Seattle, I have never seen any others for sale or in the wild. I wouldn't have sought out to purchase him as I don't know much about these guys but was told it was very similar to a beardies care, so I figured I would try save him from a certain death if I didn't try.

It's very hard to admit that I can't make him better, and to give him to more trained and vet capable people

Here is a pic of Rousseau

 

[miragach]

hmm the image didn't post....
Since I can't get the image to post I'll give you a link

http://s587.photobucket.com/albums/ss318/miragach/?action=view&current=R3.jpg

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Oh he is georgeous, isn't he?
Well, I do not think that it is anything you are doing. It is most likely going to be a parasite possibly that was missed. They did a fecal on him & said he didn't have any parasites or worms? That is very odd.
I am sorry that he has not done very well. You know, sometimes not even the professionals can get sick reptiles better. If he is a wild caught one, initially, then it is possible that he has just never fully adjusted to captive life. Sometimes, they adjust fine, while others for some reason, just don't.
Let me know how things go with meeting the Herpetological society. I hope that they are able to take him in for you.

Tracie