Lurking for more than a year.

[Orion]

Hello all,

I have been lurking for a year. Last November I got my B&W Tegu I always wanted. I have had snakes for over 30 years and some lizard experience. I thought I knew enough to get started. I found this board and knew I was wrong. I did happen to read lots of info here that helped him to grow like a monster. He grew quite rapidly in the spring and i took him to the vet and everything checked out great and the vet said he was in awesome shape and was very healthy. I did everything right cage lighting,temp, humidity, food, etc. Then I went on vacation for a month this summer and left him with a friend who has had reptiles for over 20 years also. About 4 days he called me to tell me that my baby was prolapsed. My friend took him to the vet and after taking X-rays the vet said that it was really bad and that his stomach had ruptured. I had him put down, it sounds awful of me but I felt it was the humane thing to do. My real question is what causes prolapse? My friend told me he was feeding him mice regularly, could over feeding cause prolapse?

 

[GOT_TEGUS]

Hello all,

I have been lurking for a year. Last November I got my B&W Tegu I always wanted. I have had snakes for over 30 years and some lizard experience. I thought I knew enough to get started. I found this board and knew I was wrong. I did happen to read lots of info here that helped him to grow like a monster. He grew quite rapidly in the spring and i took him to the vet and everything checked out great and the vet said he was in awesome shape and was very healthy. I did everything right cage lighting,temp, humidity, food, etc. Then I went on vacation for a month this summer and left him with a friend who has had reptiles for over 20 years also. About 4 days he called me to tell me that my baby was prolapsed. My friend took him to the vet and after taking X-rays the vet said that it was really bad and that his stomach had ruptured. I had him put down, it sounds awful of me but I felt it was the humane thing to do. My real question is what causes prolapse? My friend told me he was feeding him mice regularly, could over feeding cause prolapse?

Welcome to tegu talk :-D a diet of just rodents is not good for GUs and little of every thing is better heres the food list
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I dont know what caused the prolapse.

 

[whoru]

sorry to hear that an welcome

 

[MIKE-ZILLA]

a diet of just rodents is not good for GUs

I agree.a tegus stomach has problems digesting large amounts of fur. but im not sure if thats what would cause a prolapsed stomach.

 

[Orion]

Thanks for welcoming and for the feedback.
My Tegu was eating a varied diet before I left mostly raw meat, egg, crickets, and lots of meal worms. I did not feed him mice at all since he was growing very nicely and I have a very good supply of ultra lean meat. I would feed him strawberries and other fruits every day but he would rarely eat them. My friend was very fond of feeding him mice. I was just wondering what would cause a prolapse and if over feeding him mice would be a main contributing factor?

 

[Anthony]

i dont think that caused a prolapse but i could be wrong.... i think ingesting something like cypress and not being able to pass it would cause your tegu to strain and then that would occur... id call the vet and talk more with your friend , that really sucks sorry to here that

 

[Orion]

I was using coconut mulch bedding, and my friend was feeding him in the cage.

 

[bubbategu2]

I'd still ask your vet what he thinks caused the prolapse. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Meg90]

To me, it sounds like something your friend did.

If you had him in your care for months without mishap, and then your friend has him for 4 days, and he get the injury that kills him?

When you say he was "fond" of feeding mice, do you mean LIVE mice? Because I can see no difference between a Tegu eating ground turkey, and a tegu eating pre killed, or f/t rodents.

Again, if you don't want to ask your vet why he thinks it happened, hit up your friend. It sounds like he did something else, and just didn't tell you about it.

Like feeding too large of a prey item (maybe a small rat, instead of a mouse, just to see if he could eat it?), or something that shouldn't have been a food item offered to him at all (people food, like french fries, hot pockets etc)

To have a prolapsed rectum, the animal would have to have been straining unbelievably hard to eliminate. I don't think it was caused by his normal diet.

A prolapse, when caught early, is also fixable. You just need to keep the exposed tissue moist, with Vaseline and sterile until your vet can operate. I've seen successful surgeries on teeny crested geckos, and on various species of tortoise.

I am very sorry for your loss though. It must have been horrible to go through.