Here he is, eating some of his greens:
He got a little mad at me on Saturday. He sometimes needs help with his sheds, especially around his feet. When we first got him, we took him straight to the vet. She helped him with his shed, and in the process two of his toes fell off. She said this was because the dead skin had constricted the blood flow and we needed to keep an eye on his toes so that this didn't happen again.I had him out to get the skin off, and he was very antsy. He's wildcaught and handling stresses him out, so we very rarely do. After I'd removed the skin and put him back in his tank, he immediately went into his hide for about 10 minutes. Once he got the pouting out of his system, he came back out.
5 comments:
Wow, I had no idea that lizards need help shedding! Do their mates help them in the wild?
Elizabeth,
I am still learning everything I can about these guys, and there isn't a lot of information out there.
However, from what I can gather, they are pretty much solitary animals, even in the wild (we keep our two caged separately).
I think that in the wild they're exposed to so many different surfaces over which they walk that helps with the shedding. Plus, they're eating their optimal diet, have the right heat/humidity conditions, etc.
I try to replicate as much as possible what I can, but not only is there controversy over the best way to keep uromastyx lizards, it's almost impossible to replicate their wild surroundings.
Andreas hardly has trouble molting anymore since his diet is improved, so I'm not too worried about him losing any more toes. He just had a little extra skin that I wanted to get off.
When we got him (when he lost his toes at the vet) he'd been kept in deplorable conditions and since his body was weakened, that's probably why he didn't shed properly.
As I've mentioned before, these guys give me so much grief because I worry I'm not caring for them properly. With the parrots, I know they're about as happy as they can be in captivity. The lizards remain enigmas!
Oh, of course that makes sense. Like how birds don't need their nails clipped in the wild because the different branches wear down the nails. That should have occurred to me.
Oh, no, I thought it was a perfectly valid question!
Birds also don't need help getting their head pin feathers in the wild because other birds help them out, so you never know!
Seriously, you're such a good mom to your pets. They're really lucky to be in such a good home.
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