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URGENT! I NEED YOUR HELP! Lizard trauma
6/30/14
Hi!
It's me again and I need your help!
<Fire away.>
My neighbor just rescued a green iguana-looking lizard
from a dog while on her way home. Knowing that I own a turtle, she
thought that I'm the most okay person to take care of it.
<Indeed.>
It has external injuries from the dog. It doesn't look serious, just
some
wounds. And I'm panicking about the poor thing. I don't know how to
clean
reptile wounds much less how to take care of it.
<Short term, standard skin medications as we'd use for cuts will work
just
fine, e.g., Iodine, antiseptic wipes/creams, etc.>
I can take a picture for you so you can identify it for me.
<Yes, please do.>
It's not really limping or weak-looking...the poor thing just looks a
bit
terrified at the moment.
<I bet.>
I assumed he' (the lizard has long nails so I assumed it's a male) is a
terrestrial so I got some coco peat to make a moist terrarium for him.
NOW
I'M REALLY PANICKING! I don't know what to feed him or how to make a
terrarium for him!
<You really don't want to be housing this lizard for too long. For one
thing, adult Iguanas can be very aggressive and dangerous. Your first
thought must be to contact someone who can help -- local animal welfare
charity for example, or a local zoo. Also, wild animals don't always
adapt well to captivity, and their high stress levels will impair
healing. Much better to get the chap cleaned up, make sure his wounds
have stopped bleeding and the skin is otherwise intact, then release the
lizard somewhere safe and appropriate (which is where your local animal
welfare can be really useful).>
HELP! PLEASE! Help me help the poor beautiful lizard.
-Heidi
PS. He's not green anymore!!! He's turned into a brownish brown with
black
patterns
<Stress colouration. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: URGENT! I NEED YOUR HELP! Ig
7/1/14
Hi again,
sorry for the late reply...
I've been trying to send pictures from my phone to the PC and my
Bluetooth wasn't cooperating...so yeah.
Anyway...I've calmed down a bit.
I tried Google-ing a bit and I think it's a Green Crested Lizards. But
I'm not really 100% sure because some characteristics are not exactly
the same (like the black circle around the eye)
<Indeed. Do bear in mind Green Crested Lizards are native to Asia, so if
this chap turned up in, say, the US or Europe, then he might well be an
escapee. Or for that matter, some entirely different species of lizard.>
Here's a picture of him I took while sorting out his temporary habitat.
A few minutes after I calmed down, he turned green again (so I wasn't
hallucinating, thank goodness) and he hasn't turned brown ever since.
He's a bit more active now, walking around his cage and well...being
green.
<A good sign.>
I'm not sure if there are any animal wildlife charity or zoo nearby.
I'll try looking at the next cities or towns but it might take a while
(because real life. and I don't have a car. It might be too stressful
for him to transport him via public transport so I want to make sure
first.)
<Understood.>
So in the mean time, I thought it might be best to keep him here until I
properly contact a wildlife charity to take him away and take care of
Fred for me.
<Quite so.>
I've started calling him Fred, because he's very nimble...you know, like
Fred Astaire.
I don't know what to feed him. I'll look for meal worms at local pet
shops tomorrow. But if I don't see some meal worms, does he eat beef or
chicken?
<Unlikely. Lizards are usually "sight oriented" predators that respond
to movement. Earthworms might work, or failing that, flies or crickets
you have about your home or garden.>
I know other lizards eat meat...do they
<Some do, yes. A few are herbivores though.>
(whatever his specie actually is). I put some moist peat moss and coco
peat on the makeshift plastic tank as the terrarium substrate.
<Sounds good. He will likely need warmth too, quite probably a source of
UV-B light for proper bone growth, and some degree of humidity. Lizards,
tropical lizards anyway, are somewhat demanding pets.>
Anyway, thanks for helping me out.
-Heidi
<Welcome. Neale.>
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worm/snake... terr., ID
12/1/11
I live on a fresh water lake. While clearing grass and muck from the
lake edge I came across a strange creature. I never heard of it and
can't find it in Google.
It is about 4-8 inches long and about an inch in diameter. The head is
blunt with no mouth that I could see. The tail is tapered and pointed.
It's dark gray to black in color.
I discovered it digging into the lake edge. It moves very quickly,
trying to burrow back into the ground. It's so fast; I haven't
been able to take a picture.
Any ideas what it is??
Thanks
Randy
<Hello Randy. Without a photo, this is impossible to answer. Yes, it
could be some sort of unusually large earthworm, but in different parts
of the world there are certainly snakes, legless lizards, caecilians,
even fish (particularly eels) that could match this sort of
description. Flowerpot Snakes for example are easily mistaken for
worms, but they're largely tropical in distribution. Likewise,
caecilians are strikingly wormy, but their distribution is very patchy,
and so far as I know they're absent from the cooler parts of the
world like North America and Europe. So where about are you? That would
help. Did the "worm" have openings around its neck that
resembled gills? Did it have any sign of fins or legs? Any eyes? Was
its
skin uniform in appearance, or segmented, or scaly? Was the animal
sleek or slimy? Cheers, Neale.>
Re: worm/snake 12/1/11
Thanks for your response! I will try to be ready for a photo next time,
but will have to be FAST. I live in Orlando Florida.
As far as I could see from my quick view, there were no gills, legs,
fins, segments, etc. Just a smooth sleek uniform surface. I don't
remember any eyes even. It was short, "fat", and very
muscular, diving back into the ground very quickly.
The back half tapered to a point.
Thanks
Randy
<Glad to help. Do look up Ramphotyphlops braminus, a snake species
reasonably common in Florida though often overlooked. Cheers,
Neale.>
Lizards. Gecko comp., not env., nor
temperament - 4/1/10
hello,
I bought a golden gecko and a crocodile gecko and I was wondering what
other lizards could go in the same tank with them without killing each
other
sincerely
Kyle
<Hello Kyle. You can't actually keep the Golden Gecko (Gekko
ulikovskii) and the Crocodile Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) together,
so you've already got problems. Reptiles are divided into two basic
types, those from dry habitats and those from humid (wet) habitats. The
Golden Gecko comes from humid rainforests of Vietnam and needs high
humidity to do well (60-80%). The Golden Gecko comes from North Africa,
and lives in semi-arid
environments where the air is quite dry (50% humidity). What suits one
species will be stressful to the other. These two Gecko species cannot
be reliably mixed and will need quite different homes. The Golden Gecko
needs
a tank with rocks, sand and a few burrows, while the Crocodile Gecko
needs fake or real plants, bogwood branches to climb, moss or coir to
root about in, and lots of moisture. As for mixing species, this is
very difficult to
do with Geckos. They are often territorial. Males will fight to the
death except in the largest vivaria. Mixing species causes problems
because bigger or more aggressive species will bully small and weaker
species, hogging all the food. In short, do what virtually all reptile
keepers recommend: keep one species per vivarium, and optimise that
vivarium for the species in question. Cheers, Neale.>
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