blue

[kathleen]

Hi , I have just joined this site. I was hoping someone might be able to help me with a problem. My blue is having trouble using her legs properly. They are not strong and sometimes lay horizontal to her body. Sometimes they are fine when she is climbing. Is this a vitamin defiency? What am I doing wrong. I am very worried.
Kathleen

 

[smacdonald]

HI Kathleen,

Blue tongues often fold up their rear legs and just pull themselves along with their front legs. If you give us some more information on what exactly your lizard is doing, we may be able to help.


Stewart

 

[kathleen]

Hi Stewart, my blue was not using the right front leg properly. She was just dragging it and then one day last week she wasn't using either front leg just her back ones. I panicked. Now for the last 3 days she is using them quite normally again!
Kathleen

 

[symbol]

Blueys can actually survive without any legs at all, and will just slither around like a snake. Often have I seen blueys with missing limbs. The other thing that is common, if a bluey has an incomplete shed around the legs, the limb will eventually drop off. Obviously it would be very painful, but they do survive it.

 

[kathleen]

Thanks for that. She is about 6 months old and I got her when she was 3 days old. So I had a lot to learn very quickly. She has just finished her 4th shed and all seems fine with her. ( I only call her "she" for convenience, have no idea what sex "she" is)
I want to put plants in her enclosure. Are there plants that I should NOT use or just ordinary garden plants OK?

 

[falconboy]

Yes, always carefully check to see if there are any 'rings' of skin left around the digits or arms/legs. However you will find its often related to temps/humidity etc and if you have a ideal enclosure environment you may be lucky and not have any problems. I've been lucky in that way that I regularly check mine when they are shedding and have never had to assist a limb skin shed.

 

[kathleen]

It takes about 2 days for her to completely shed, is that normal?

 

[falconboy]

Yeah, thats fine. Different blueys differ, some of mine seem to be quick, some can take a couple of days. Its normal to come off in small bits or larger bits. I'll never forget the first time I saw a 'tail' in my enclosure and was relieved to see it was just a half a tail shed in one go. Phew!

 

[kathleen]

I have been leaving the light (heat) on all the time I have just read that, that is not right! Also I take her out at night after work and she loves just crawling up my jumper sleeve. She seems to be a fussy eater as well.

 

[falconboy]

What sort of bluey and where are you? But you shouldn't leave the heat light on 24/7. If you are in a really cold place you can always give some night heat but it would have to be way of something that doesn't give out light (ceramic heat lamp or similar).

 

[kathleen]

Its an eastern and I live in Sydney and she is inside.

 

[falconboy]

No need for night heat. Consider this, the same sort of bluey is likely to live in your garden or under your house - think of the temps they have. I know my place where the blueys are gets no cooler than 15 deg of a night, which is fine for a an eastern bluey overnight.

 

[kathleen]

thank you for your advice I appreciate it. I didn't plan to be the owner of a bluey but now I have her I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing. She is so gorgeous and she gives me so much pleasure after a hard day at work. I have had every pet know to man over the years but I must say that Jessie is my 2nd fav pet of all time. Many years ago I had a cat for 14 years and he was wonderful and a very placid calm animal and a great companion.
I just remembered. My blue seems to sneeze! Is that normal

 

[falconboy]

Yep, blueys are very underrated as pets. Quiet, easy to feed, placid (mostly), no fuss, not to mention cute.

And yes, the 'sneezing' is pretty normal. I'm not sure if its a digestion thing but mine tend to do it moreso after eating.

Oh, and I don't know if you've seen it, but they yawn as well. Now thats cute.

 

[kathleen]

No I haven't seen the yawn yet, something to look foreward too. My blue has never ever even attempted to bite. She is pretty pampered so she has no need i suppose! She is placid and friendly and CUTE.
She is climbing up my sleeve as I speak. I have an amazing story to tell u. About 4 months ago Jessie got out of her enclosure. My hubby and I looked everywhere for her. Her enclosure is near an outside door so we looked under the deck and everywhere. I was in tears. My life was different without her and I was worried that she couldn't cope outside as she was captive bred. I can't believe how upset I was and how I was sooo attached to her. So I fretted and worried for weeks. My hubby and I went away for a week and 2 days after we got home my hubby was reading in bed and heard a scuffling sound. He listened for quite awhile and thought it might be a mouse. The next thing I knew was he was coming out of the bedroom with Jessie in his hand !!!!! I again shed tears. I could not believe she survived for so long. 5 weeks! I gave her water and food immediately but she was most interested in drinking. I was meant to have her.

 

[gpoleweski]

Haha! Lucky find. Glad that she came back safely, she/he sounds like a fun little one.

 

[kathleen]

Thanks everyone, my blue has had no problems with her legs for at least a month now.Whatever the prob was is now fixed. She seems to be thriving and i take her out of her enclosure every night and let her get excercise. She is now about 7 months.