Appropriate Diet?

[JeffT]

Well ive had my Mali Uromastyx for about 2 and a half months now. They have both always been big eaters and really fat but now all of the sudden in the last short while the female has lost a lot of weight and isnt looking too good however the male is still enormous and eating lots. Their diet consists of Bok Choy, Lettuce (for water), Alfalfa, Corn, Broccoli, chopped up carrots, meal worms and crickets. I know what your all thinking, get a fecal, and I will but fist I need to find out if anyone knows a a vet in Calgary that deals with reptiles. It would help me out a bunch.

Thanks Jeff

[Wuntu Menny]

Jeff, we took our blue tongue to Calgary North just up 4th St about a year ago. There was a new vet there with actual herp knowledge that treated us and the skink quite well.

WM

[LISA127]

Hi. First of all, I hope you are not feeding regular iceberg lettuce. Reptiles think that stuff is candy, and it has no nutritional value. Second, please do not feed too many insects. They don't need to have them at all, but if you want to feed them, I wouldn't feed them more than a couple times a month. Also, I think the broccoli needs to be limited. Anyway, yes, if she has lost a lot of weight, I would get a fecal done. Were they cb, or wc?

[Bartman]

I agree with lisa on this one. First off mali's dont need insects at all, almost. I give mine a meal worm or two every 2 or 3 weeks. You can give them romaine lettus but dont give them iceburg lettuce, it is not good for them and as lisa said no nutritional value AT ALL. They cang et the water from the other vegetables as long as you wash them, the water will stay on the leaves or inside the leaves or whatever plant you feed em. I read somewhere that your not supposed to feed them broccoli, somthing about to much of something, dont quite know exactly why but i know its bad for em. I give my uro's a diet consisting of collard greens, mustard greens, bok choy, escarole (somtimes) and carrots (chopped). Look at this caresheet for a more detailed diet.

this is a good caresheet i found a while back and it is very trust worthy in my opinion..looks like they know there stuff. They breed lots of diff species of uro's every year.
http://www.deerfernfarms.com/ and click on caresheet. Scroll down a bit and you will see husbandry

[JeffT]

Lisa & Bartman, dont worry I know all about how lettuce has zero nutrition. It carries a lot of water and that is why I feed it. Ive tried leaving water droplets on the leaves but in the 90F end of the cage it doesnt last mor ethen 10 minutes.

[Cas]

There should be plenty of moisture in the other foods your feeding without resorting to iceberg lettuce. Iceberg lettuce takes up room in an animals stomach that could be filled with something that was more than just fibre and water.

Broccoli should be limited because it binds calcium. Bok Choy apparently tends to bind some calcium as well, so it shouldn't be a main diet component either.

Collard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, and mustard greens should be the staple greens in a diet......... that said, I personally can't find mustard, turnip, or collards to save my life. I base my uro's diet on dandelions, escarole, and endive, with frequent additions of frozen mixed veggies, radicchio, yam, sprouts, squash, and whatever else I buy that week.

Depending on the age of your uro, and what proportion of insects you've fed and for how long, you may be looking at impaired kidney function - something else to ask a vet to check for.

Also, do your uros live in the same cage? Diet or parasites may not be your problem - the female may just be getting stressed out.

Dawn

[Bartman]

Yea i had to seperate my uro's beacuse one was gettting more food then the other and now they are both doing fine but im still not gonna put them back together just until i want to breed them. Good luck and hope nothing is wrong with ur uro's.

[JeffT]

Well right now i have mine seperated and will probably be making a $70+ trip to the vet soon if she continues to refuse food.

[Linds]

Originally posted by JeffT
Lisa & Bartman, dont worry I know all about how lettuce has zero nutrition.

Not all lettuces have zero nutrition, some (such as grean leaf) make a nice addition to their diet, but iceberg happens to be one that does lack nutrient content. Iceberg and other head lettuces don't really have much place in vegetarian diets due to the fact that they have no nutrition and are highly addictive. Also, as everyone mentioned above, there are a zillion other types of greens that are just as high in water content as lettuces are and have loads of nutrients. Some other good greens to offer that have already been mentioned include watercress and kholrabi.

Originally posted by Cas
I personally can't find mustard, turnip, or collards to save my life.

I can't seem to find mustard or turnip greens either, so I'm resorting to growing my own in the summers...lol

[ectotherm]

Animal still defecating? What do it's stools look like? Solid? Runny?
Hopefully your female will cooperate and give you a fresh poop for your vet visit.

[JeffT]

Actually its a little late for this, On Friday I took her to the vet and it turns out she ahd a bacterial infection and her immune system was shot and that she had a 1 in 10 chance of survival. They gave me a couple options, The first was to give her 5 needles over 5 days at the cost of $33 EACH, plus get a blood test that was $72, and even then after the shots she had a less then 50% chance of survival, and including my actual check up bill ($54) thats about $300. So I thought about it and its just not worth it, and since euthinasia was also another $67 I decided to do it myself. so with the instructions and help of Lowell Shaw( Wuntu Menny) I wrapped her up in some warm cloth, put her in a bag and into the freezer. It sure isnt easy doing it but I know its a lot better then watching her die slowly for several days.
Thanks to those who helped answer my questions.

Jeff