Hello everyone, my name is Chris and I have been browsing these forums for well over 6 months, and have finally decided to sign up and post.
I would like to introduce you all to my little buddy... Boris.
There he is showing us all who is boss in his viv.
And thats him 'posing' for the camera.
Anyway. We have had him since he was tiny and he has grown to become a really great little pet. He has a tendancy to be grumpy, but loves attention, coming out of his viv to explore the living room, getting up to mischeif, and just chilling out with us while we watch TV.
This was him when he was younger...
Anyway, when we 1st got him, it was the 1st time we had ever kept a lizzard. We made a few of the schoolboy errors of keeping him on calci sand, etc, but luckily he is still going strong. He has just made the 'transition' from eating just livefood and turning his nose up to greens, to loving a good salad instead of a juicy fat mealworm.
However, just recently, I have noticed that he is not passing food as regularly as he should. I thought he was compacted so we took him straight to a vet that was reccomended by a close friend and reptile keeper/breeder. The vet 'assisted' Boris to do a poo, which was normal urea, folowed by a hard white/grey deposit, followed by normal poo. The vet was unsure as to what the white deposit was, and said it was probably calcium or some substrate. He said that Boris was a perfectly healthy lizzard, with no weakness, signs of calcium defficiency, and he rarely see's a beardy in as good condition as Boris. The vet prescribed him with some liquid parafin to help his movements which helped for probably a week.
But now he is back to not passing much food at all. He is still going to the toilet but when he does there is still these white/grey deposits which are really quite hard and he struggles to pass them.
Now, after reading on the forums, and examining his poo myself, I am starting to wonder if these deposits could be the Calcium powder which recently he has not been absorbing for some reason and are building up. The reason I am thinking this, is because it wasnt untill we ugraded Boris's viv a few months ago, to a 4ft one to accomodate a growing lizzard that I noticed the change. This was when we fitted a Reptiglo 10.0 UVB florescent tube. I have read on here tonight that these florescent tubes are not ideal for beardys and could be doing him more harm than good. could this tube be the reason he is not absorbing the calcium, and has anyone else had any similar problems? Im going to the shop first thing in the morning to buy the reccomended 8.0 UVB florescent tube. The 10.0 for now is disconnected.
As for his setup, its a 4ft Viv with a 60w reflector lamp providing his basking rock with about 100f possibly a little hotter but not much, 75-80f cold side, he has cover and a nice big log so he can get up out of the way, towards the 10.0uvb tube. Temps are measured using analoge thermometors with a stat and heat probe on his rock. He eats rocket lettuice, loves water cress, and loves mealworms for his meat. He gets regularly sprayed, bathed, and the food is always dusted with calcium powder.
Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated. Im gonna give him a couple of weeks with the 8.0 tube before he goes back to the vets.
Cheers
I would like to introduce you all to my little buddy... Boris.
There he is showing us all who is boss in his viv.
And thats him 'posing' for the camera.
Anyway. We have had him since he was tiny and he has grown to become a really great little pet. He has a tendancy to be grumpy, but loves attention, coming out of his viv to explore the living room, getting up to mischeif, and just chilling out with us while we watch TV.
This was him when he was younger...
Anyway, when we 1st got him, it was the 1st time we had ever kept a lizzard. We made a few of the schoolboy errors of keeping him on calci sand, etc, but luckily he is still going strong. He has just made the 'transition' from eating just livefood and turning his nose up to greens, to loving a good salad instead of a juicy fat mealworm.
However, just recently, I have noticed that he is not passing food as regularly as he should. I thought he was compacted so we took him straight to a vet that was reccomended by a close friend and reptile keeper/breeder. The vet 'assisted' Boris to do a poo, which was normal urea, folowed by a hard white/grey deposit, followed by normal poo. The vet was unsure as to what the white deposit was, and said it was probably calcium or some substrate. He said that Boris was a perfectly healthy lizzard, with no weakness, signs of calcium defficiency, and he rarely see's a beardy in as good condition as Boris. The vet prescribed him with some liquid parafin to help his movements which helped for probably a week.
But now he is back to not passing much food at all. He is still going to the toilet but when he does there is still these white/grey deposits which are really quite hard and he struggles to pass them.
Now, after reading on the forums, and examining his poo myself, I am starting to wonder if these deposits could be the Calcium powder which recently he has not been absorbing for some reason and are building up. The reason I am thinking this, is because it wasnt untill we ugraded Boris's viv a few months ago, to a 4ft one to accomodate a growing lizzard that I noticed the change. This was when we fitted a Reptiglo 10.0 UVB florescent tube. I have read on here tonight that these florescent tubes are not ideal for beardys and could be doing him more harm than good. could this tube be the reason he is not absorbing the calcium, and has anyone else had any similar problems? Im going to the shop first thing in the morning to buy the reccomended 8.0 UVB florescent tube. The 10.0 for now is disconnected.
As for his setup, its a 4ft Viv with a 60w reflector lamp providing his basking rock with about 100f possibly a little hotter but not much, 75-80f cold side, he has cover and a nice big log so he can get up out of the way, towards the 10.0uvb tube. Temps are measured using analoge thermometors with a stat and heat probe on his rock. He eats rocket lettuice, loves water cress, and loves mealworms for his meat. He gets regularly sprayed, bathed, and the food is always dusted with calcium powder.
Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated. Im gonna give him a couple of weeks with the 8.0 tube before he goes back to the vets.
Cheers