Chuckawalla health issue

My chuckawalla has gotten very skinny and I dont know if it could be of internal parasites or lack of nutrition because I usually only feed baby greens so is that bad or do I need different foods please help
Here it is and I dont know if its male or female.

I suggest taking your chuckwalla to a reptile vet. I would take a stool sample along as well. They will likely evaluate husbandry and may wish to check a cbc (white blood cell count) and chemistry (to check for organ failure or electrolyte imbalance such as hypocalcemia). He looks to be in pretty rough shape.
Michael

ya im taking him to the vet so I dont have any worries

He is dangerously thin.

Is he still eating?

Do you have a UV light less than 6 months old? (if not you may want to get one ASAP)

Have you been giving him any kind of supplement: calcium / multivitamin ?

Is he wild caught or captive bred?

Has he ever eaten well for you / how long has he been declining?

Does he have any cagemates?

Most of the baby green mixes I've seen are lettuce heavy (romain etc.). They also often have a lot of spinach which interferes with calcium absorption. They don't pack a lot of nutrients and if fed as a staple over the long term your chuck may have developed nutritional deficiencies.

Try the mixed veggies and see if he'll eat those. I give mine the mixed veggies a couple of times a week. They really like the carrot chunks. Stop using the baby greens as a staple and avoid veggies like spinach and broccoli, cabbage etc. as these can interfere with calcium absorption. Try instead veggies like escarole (sp?), cilantro (mine really like), collard greens, carrot greens and mint. Depending on where you live you can try to get some nasturtiums growing (a huge favorite: leaves and flowers). Flowers work well for tempting chucks: pastel colored pansies, dandelions (huge favorite), perrenial marigolds, sweet alyssum, hybiscus etc. are all eaten by mine. You can also try grated squash, carrots, yams or sweet potatoe. Mine really like chopped up cooked yams as a treat. Make sure you chop all the veggies into bite sized pieces, if he is suffering from a nutritional deficiency he may have a weakened jaw which would make eating larger chunks difficult.

In terms of supplements I've had the most luck with iguana dust, but try to get him eating again before you start pushing the supplements.

You might also want to put in a small bowl of water, sometimes chucks in his condition will drink. Wash all the veggies before chopping them and putting them in his bowl. This way the moisture content will be higher.

Since the temps sound good and the staple diet is not balanced, I think you're likely dealing with a nutritional issue. Vary the diet as much as possible and give him fresh food daily.

Usually parasites aren't much of a problem with chucks and any attempts to medicate him in his current condition may do more harm than good. If you can get him eating a better diet, he should start to turn around. Chucks usually have an intestinal fauna comprised of various bacteria, protozoans and nematodes many of which aid in the digestion of the plants they eat. Young chucks will eat adult feces for their first meals to get this flora so if you do end up medicating, you'll destroy all the good microbes too.

If you haven't already done so, you should cover three sides of the tank with opaque material to reduce stress and if it's in a high traffic area you may also want to consider covering at least the bottom half of the front as well. If possible, position the food bowl near a hide, this way he won't feel exposed / insecure while eating.

Few more things:

It looks like you're using the crushed walnut shells as bedding. These tend to have sharp edges and can lead to intestinal lacerations if ingested. I keep mine on washed play sand and make sure that their bowl is on a large rock to keep the sand from getting on the food.

Get rid of the silk plants. Sometimes plant eaters will try to munch on them when they're not getting what they need out of their diet. Their ingestion could lead to an intestinal blockage.

Chucks are rock dwellers in the wild and rocks help them feel more secure. They like to sleep in the gaps between rocks. I recently purchased a bunch of flat pieces of rock from one of the local landscaping shops. I got some liquid nails and glued smaller chuncks of rocks to the bottoms of larger ones and stacked them to create gaps of ~ 1 inch between layers and by using the glue I insured that they couldn't shift and crush the chucks. If you're not already, try to incorporate lots of rocks into the tank and for hides create gaps between them. To feel secure chucks like to feel the rock pressing on them from all sides, just make sure that there is not way that the rocks could shift.

If the chuck feels comfortable and secure, he's more likely to eat.

Good luck!
Alice

yes he eats
I have a 3 month old uv
no cage mates
he is ltc by 9 months and started declining maybe 2 months ago
yes it is crushed walnut shells and I didn't now that its only been a week hes been on it so I'll take it out

It's good that he's still eating.

Chopped ripe bannana is another thing you can try adding to the mix to get some calories into him.

I'd also buy a digital postage scale (you can get good cheap ones from Office Depot, Staples etc.) and get a weight on him. Make the changes to diet and caging as soon as possible. Re-weigh him a week after the changes have been made (don't handle him at all in the interim as this will only further stress him). If he's lost weight when you re-weigh him I'd think about taking him to a vet.

Make sure you make the changes to the cage in addition to the diet. My hot basking site gets a surface temp of around 120 (110 should be sufficient) and the light shines on one of the layered rock formations I described. The rocks retain the heat and it's my chucks' favorite sleeping crack. Since your guy is in poor health having a hiding spot that retains heat after the lights go out may be especially important.

With the lights, you want to make sure that they are on for at least 12 hours so that your chuck doesn't try to slow down for the winter. If you haven't already, you might consider getting an appliance timer to keep the photoperiod regular.

How do his poos look? Have they changed at all since he started to go down hill?

Wild caughts can take a long time to acclimate and the initial stages of decline can be hard to spot. Your guy may have never been eating enough to maintain his wieght and kind of crashed two months ago when his fat supplies were finally exhausted; now he's metabolizing his muscle. Your guy was probably 5+ years old when you got him. Males his age can take up to two years to fully acclimate to captivity under ideal conditions. Definatly don't handle him unless absolutely necessary and make sure that he has several tight rock hides he can squeeze into on both the warm and cool ends. You may also want to cover the front 3/4ths of the tank rather than just the bottom (you can gradually remove the covering when his weight's back up).

When my wc female was acclimating, dandelion flowers probably comprised about 80+% of her diet (her choice not mine), nasturtium leaves were the other big favorite. Keep offering a variety, but if you find something that he really seems to like, try to offer it as regularly as possible and give him as much as he can eat. Once he's back up to a healthier weight you can start offering it less frequently to force him to branch out. Try to offer lots of high calorie foods like grated squashes, yams, and flowers. Some people have also had lots of success witht he frozen veggie mixes. You can also try mealworms and waxworms. Some chucks will take these and it they do, they are a great way to deliver a bunch of calories in a hurry (my male loves them, but my female won't touch them).

Keep trying new things until you hit on something good for him that he likes. This chart hs some good info even though its geared towards bearded dragons http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtrem...Nutrition.html

-Alice

alright i will do all this and whatever other advise you have thank you so much

Any updates on your chuck? Is he doing any better for you?

-Alice

yes hes gotten much better tails plumpin up and hes happy thanks everyone and heres a pic of the new setup

That's great news! I'm so glad he's getting better and the new set-up looks great. Keep us posted on his progress.

-Alice