dyxie64
New member
I recently bought an argentine b&w tegu from a MORON vendor at a reptile show, mostly because I felt bad for her. She seemed underweight and possibly stunted as her legs look HUGE compared to the rest of her body. She had scratches all over her, skin that hadn't shed and her bottom lip was swollen and red along with part of the tip of her nose. I had seen her at the previous months show and he claimed she was a male. When approached this time, he said she's female and he's done breeding her so she's for sale. I'm not sure about the breeding part as I'm not a breeder but she doesn't seem big enough to breed now let alone be finished. She's about half the size that my one year old red tegu was. I walked away at first saying "you can't save them all" but when I saw him getting ready to pack her up I just bit the bullet and bought her. She was VERY VERY cheap for an argentine, so clearly there were some problems but I felt I'd rather deal with them than have him pack her up and let them get worse.
ANYHOW - I've been treating her at home with diluted betadine once nightly for about a week. Her bottom lip is still somewhat swollen, but looking MUCH better. It's gone from an irritated dark pink to a more skin toned pink. It seems to be scabbing up, but there's almost like a mucous/gel on the one side. My question is this... if I took her to the vet, and spent the $80 just for the visit would they have me do anything different with her? She doesn't thrash around or try to escape, she just sits and closes her eyes while I soak it with a cotton ball so I'm thinking it's not hurting her THAT bad. She will eat, but nothing live. She won't take superworms or mice but will go to town on the canned tegu/monitor diet and thawed ground turkey. I just don't want to pay a ton of money if the vet is going to give me what I already have but also don't want her to suffer. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
ANYHOW - I've been treating her at home with diluted betadine once nightly for about a week. Her bottom lip is still somewhat swollen, but looking MUCH better. It's gone from an irritated dark pink to a more skin toned pink. It seems to be scabbing up, but there's almost like a mucous/gel on the one side. My question is this... if I took her to the vet, and spent the $80 just for the visit would they have me do anything different with her? She doesn't thrash around or try to escape, she just sits and closes her eyes while I soak it with a cotton ball so I'm thinking it's not hurting her THAT bad. She will eat, but nothing live. She won't take superworms or mice but will go to town on the canned tegu/monitor diet and thawed ground turkey. I just don't want to pay a ton of money if the vet is going to give me what I already have but also don't want her to suffer. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
