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#2266461
Fence lizard man
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Sick Fence lizard 
The last time I visited this forum in 11/11 my daughter had found a small juvenile eastern fence swift on a family camping. Up until a few days ago all was well. He has grown from barely 2’’ to 5’’. When fed he would aggressively attack the gut filled crickets that we feed him. Trying to teach my daughter the responsibility of taking care of a pet I have tryed to let her handle cleaning of the encloser, providing a clean water in a small dish, misting the cage two or three times a day. Lately he has become very lethargic. Instead of laying lengthwise on the limb he will sometimes lay kind of droop over it. His neck is drawn in or seems to be. He still won’t let you pick him up. When on the limb lengthwise instead of gripping the limb his legs are kind of limp. He ate normally up until last week. Because of the leaves bark and rocks we have in his encloser it,s hard to tell if he’s eating every cricket.. There are two things that have occurred leading up this.1st we went from a small doam 10 UVH lamp to a 24’’ UVH. He seemed to slow down a little but seemed to adjust. 2nd My daughter began to just pour water through the top of the encloser and neglected to clean water and rocks. When I had her clean the bowl and rocks about 2 weeks ago there a dead cricket under the rocks. I had seen him 2 to 3 day prior at the water bowl. Please help Willie get better.
Thanks, Fence Lizard Man
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05/15/12 09:06am
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#2266463
Spring Bloom
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Message To: Fence lizard man In reference to Message Id: 2266461
Sick Fence lizard
I’m not a vet and cannot say for sure what might be wrong, but lizards need a UVB light. I don’t know a lot about UVH lighting, other than they are used by artist to achieve a more natural light which is beneficial for discerning subtle differences in colors. If it does not emit both UVB and UVA then your lizard might be suffering from metabolic bone disorder.
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05/15/12 09:46am
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#2266473
ThesaurusRex
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Message To: Fence lizard man In reference to Message Id: 2266461
Sick Fence lizard
UVH? What?
No no no, it’s supposed to be UVB. I don’t even think UVH is a real thing.
What is the terrarium like? Temperatures, size, decor, etc.? I hope by "small dish" you don’t mean "bottle cap".
Some pictures could help. Is there any noticeable change in his limbs? There’s a small chance of MBD but I’m not sure. I’m just going to assume ’UVH’ is a typo.
I’ve seen them tend to get ’bored’ of crickets and only prefer something else every now and then. How often is he being fed?
The dead cricket is probably fine -- it most likely starved.
Not cleaning water and rocks? That doesn’t sound good at all. You gotta make her realize that in the wild, once they do their business it’s out of sight and mind; it doesn’t get in their way. But in a terrarium, it does get in their way because it never goes away. Imagine leaving a puppy in a poopy cage.
I’m not sure if I can really say anything unless we get details. Pictures could also help. Worst-case scenario you need to see a herp vet. Best-case scenario, he’s just full and the ’limping’ is a new thing he acquired out of laziness.
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05/15/12 11:13am
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#2266509
Fence lizard man
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Message To: ThesaurusRex In reference to Message Id: 2266473
Sick Fence lizard
My mistake it is a UVB. I was trying to recall from memory the terminology. The way we feed him is put 5 or 6 small crickets in at a time every other day or so. If he is hungry he’ll eat a couple and climb back on his limb. Like I said there lots of places for the crickets to hide and they will come out from time to time and he will eat them. He seemed to thrive when I had the small UVB lamp on one side and a heat lamp with heat pad on the other. I put the #10 24’’ UVB and noticed a change immediately. I am going to try and find the old 24’’ bulb and put it back in. Don’t ask what the exact type of bulb it is, standard aquarium bulb I guess. I think the change from the the small lamp to the 24’’ might have too drastic. If someone could give a quick lesson on how to post I would be glad to provide pics. Temp on the cool side of cage 85 deg. Temp on warm side of cage is 90+. Because summers here in NC are hot I think I will leave the heat lamp off until fall. Thanks for all the quick responses.
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05/15/12 04:21pm
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#2266629
ThesaurusRex
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Message To: Fence lizard man In reference to Message Id: 2266509
Sick Fence lizard
1. Find the image on your computer.
2. Find an image hosting site (Like Photobucket, or imgur)
3. Find where it says ’Direct Link’ and copy that. Or just rightclick the image and click on ’Copy Image URL’
4. Paste it here, and surround it with the Image tags ( {Image}picture.jpg{/Image}, but with [] instead of {} )
I’m not sure if the change from a small UVB lamp to a 24" lamp would be anything significant. Just remember: Most UVB lights lose their ultraviolet light in about 6 months.
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05/16/12 09:07pm
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