Uromastyx Health Issues and Signs of Sickness

While uromastyx are hardy animals, they might also suffer from various conditions. Health issues are often caused by long-term poor husbandry practices, shipment and stress. In this post, you will find various health issues that uromastyx might suffer from, sickness symptoms and other tips.

This post is for guidance only, please take your uromastyx to the vet as soon as possible if you suspect a sickness. Do not waste time, as uromastyx take a long time to show symptoms, and it might not make it or develop complications if you take too long.

Common health issues in uromastyx

Parasites
Infections
Burns
Injury
Weight loss
Bites
Impaction
Dehydration
Internal organ issues
Metabolic bone disease or Nutritional Secondary Hyperparathyroidism (NSHP)
Egg binding (dystocia)

Signs that uromastyx is sick

Uromastyx Health Issues - List of Common Issues and Tips — This uromastyx is skinny – you must always deal with issues quickly to prevent complications and even death.

Weight loss – please weigh your uromastyx once in 2 weeks – parasites, body wasting, MBD, impaction
Lethargy (unless it’s brumating or generally not being active)
Sunken eyes – dehydration, body wasting
Limping – injury/impaction
Runny poop/diarrhea/blood in the poop – parasites/impaction/injury
Skin bumps, patches, discoloration, localized spots (could be due to a burn) – infection, burns, bites, rot
Dots on the skin – potentially mites, blister disease, ulcers from toxins
Black digits or tail tip – rotting/gangrene, due to an infection/stuck shed
Hanging/soft jaw, swollen limbs, shaking, tail kinking – MBD
Bloated belly – constipation/impaction/liver/kidney issues/egg binding

Parasites in uromastyx

While normal parasite load is normal in uromastyx, a high parasitic load causes health issues and complications. Uromastyx might develop a higher parasitic load due to poor living conditions, stress. It can also happen from living with other infected uromastyx.

Captive bred uromastyx living in good conditions suffer from parasitic infections less often that wild caught and stressed animals. Whenever you get a new uromastyx, please make sure to quarantine for at least 2-3 months. During this time, take its fresh poop to the vet for a fecal examination.

If a breeder is trustworthy and assures that a uromastyx is healthy, you might skip the testing unless you notice any alarming symptoms. With wild caught uromastyx, please always check the poop for parasites.

Signs that your uromastyx has a parasitic infection is weight loss (or being already skinny when you get it), runny or smelly poop, blood in the poop, poop with lots of undigested food.

If a vet confirms the infection, worming will be necessary, but that will disturb its healthy gut flora. Due to this, reptile probiotics or adding healthy uromastyx poop after treatment to restore healthy gut flora might also be beneficial.

Dehydration in uromastyx

If your uromastyx is dehydrated, it won’t be able to eat and digest food properly. Uromastyx might become dehydrated due to stress, being shipped for long periods of time, high temperatures in the tank and lack of moisture in the diet.

A dehydrated uromastyx will look sluggish, will be inactive, have sunken eyes and wrinkly skin. Urates (white part) in the poop will be very small or even missing.

If you believe that your uromastyx is dehydrated, please review living conditions first. Make sure that temperatures are not too low or high, and that there is a gradient for cooling down. Secondly, you will need to hydrate your uromastyx as soon as possible.

To start the process, leave the shallow dish with water for your uromastyx until it gets resolved. Offer only greens and vegetables, and no high protein foods such as legumes (never offer bugs). A dehydrated uromastyx cannot properly digest protein, and it will cause a serious impact on kidneys.

Spray vegetables and greens with lots of water. You can offer some high water greens such as romaine lettuce, but only in small quantities. That’s important because you don’t want to cause diarrhea – that will result in loss of more water.

You can also lightly spray some leaves with water, so your uromastyx can lick droplets off. Then, until it gets better, soak your uromastyx once in 1-3 days for 5-8 minutes in warm water to let it soak in water and drink.

Dry your uromastyx before returning it to the tank – and make sure it can bask for at least few hours before lights turn off. Otherwise, it can cause tail rot – uromastyx should not be normally soaked at all.

Uromastyx white nose

If you notice white powder on the nose, do not worry. White powder is known as snalt – and is a way for your uromastyx to get rid of excess salts from the body.

This adaption (nasal glands) helps uromastyx remove salts from the body without straining the kidneys. You can just wipe off any snalt that you notice. If you notice too much snalting, reduce the amount of food that causes it.

Metabolic bone disease in uromastyx

Metabolic bone disease is a broad range of issues, mainly caused by calcium deficiency and/or lack of vitamin D3 in the diet. A diet high in phosphorus, feeding too many oxalic foods can also lead to MBD, or complicate existing deficiencies.

To prevent MBD, you must always have a high output 10-14% UVB source in the tank. This way your uromastyx will be able to produce vitamin D3 in the skin. Bulbs must be replaced every 5-6 months, and tubes – 10-12 months (can vary). Ca:P ratio in the diet must be at least 2:1 and occasional supplementation is necessary.

On top of that, you must always offer high calcium staple foods, and only occasionally add other lower calcium foods. High phosphorus foods – such as lentils, must be given only once a week or so. Very high phosphorus foods, such as corn, must be excluded from the diet.

Signs of MBD include swollen limbs, deformed back or limbs, inability to move legs, soft or hanging jaw (severe MBD). First signs are lethargy and no interest in moving around, as well as shaking. Many skinny uromastyx can also be suffering from MBD. When there is no enough calcium in blood, body starts drawing it from the bones.

If you get a uromastyx that seems to be suffering from MBD, make sure to take it to the vet immediately. Blood tests and other examinations will tell you whether your uromastyx is suffering from MBD. If a situation is severe, injections might be necessary to save an animal.

Make sure your uromastyx is hydrated first, and then start feeding lots of high calcium foods – such as dandelion greens, mustard leaves etc. Supplement food with calcium and make sure there is a UVB source. Temperatures must be ideal to aid digestion.

Nutritional Secondary Hyperparathyroidism (NSHP)

Nutritional Secondary Hyperparathyroidism (NSHP) is also related to MBD, and is caused by too much phosphorus in the diet, or lack of calcium/vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is needed to absorb calcium.

Too much phosphorus will bind calcium and remove it from the body. Always make sure to offer foods that are higher in calcium (minimum ratio of 2:1), and don’t forget about supplementation.

You can find a list of best foods for uromastyx and supplementation tips in this post.

Tail rot in uromastyx and blister disease

Uromastyx come from very hot and arid areas of the world, and they need low humidity levels. High humidity levels or too much water on their skin can cause tail rot and other skin infections, as well as a respiratory infection.

Humidity levels of 20-30% are ideal for uromastyx. It can spike to 40% at night, but should not normally for long periods of time.

To prevent tail rot, do not soak or spray your uromastyx unless it’s dehydrated. If you want to provide moisture, spray the salad with water or leaves in the morning. You can leave a shallow water dish for your uromastyx to drink once a week, too.

Tail rot is when the tail becomes black and patchy. Make sure it’s not stuck skin from shedding, that can also cause the tail tip to rot.

Tail rot is often caused when uromastyx is kept in a tank with high humidity. If you soak or spray your uromastyx, you must always dry it properly before returning to the tank.

Make sure to always keep your uromastyx in dry conditions and have ideal temperatures in the tank. Very humid conditions, misting and having a substrate that holds too much moisture (such as moss etc.) can also cause a blister disease.

Blisters will appear on the body, burst and become infected. Blister disease requires an immediate treatment and reviewing of husbandry practices, or the animal will die rather quickly.

Injuries and burns in uromastyx

Uromastyx love both digging and climbing. They are also very curious. Uromastyx will climb up very high and not be scared to fall down. So, you must take care that your uromastyx can’t fall down from a high structure.

If you take your uromastyx out, don’t leave in on high structures – it can even be better to put a leash on your uromastyx if you take it outside. That’s because uromastyx can sit still on your hands/lap, and then run away in a second. Falling from high structures can cause serious injuries.

What is more, make sure that your uromastyx can’t touch light bulbs. As uromastyx need high heat lamps, they can burn it easily. For that, cover the bulb with a light guard like this, if you have a bulb inside a terrarium.

If the basking spot gets hotter than 140 F (60 C), reduce the wattage of the bulb. You can also use two bulbs to divide the wattage, and to create a larger basking area. 131-140 F (55-60C) are ideal basking temperatures.

If your uromastyx gets burned, you need to apply burn ointment on the wound. There is no need to cover the wound, but make sure to keep the tank clean until it has healed. You might also need to apply an antibiotic ointment (without pain relief) to prevent an infection.

Impaction in uromastyx

Impaction in uromastyx can be caused by loose substrate, small particles, swelling substrate and hard to digest foods.

Most of the time, adult uromastyx do well on loose substrate, but dehydration can cause issues with passing any ingested substrate.

While washed playsand mixed with clay (such as this excavator clay) and topsoil is considered one the best to allow digging, impaction risk is still there.

You must not house very young uromastyx under age of 4-5 months old on loose substrate, as they are more likely to ingest substrate. Never use corn cob or porridge oats as substrate, as they have an ability to swell when in contact with water.

Also, never feed any bugs to your uromastyx. Bugs are not necessary in their diet, and can only cause serious health issues. Some bugs have a hard exoskeleton (shell), which can be hard to digest and can cause obstruction. Not mentioning that it will overtax the liver and kidneys.

Signs of impaction are lethargy, bloated belly. Uromastyx won’t be able to poop (might strain without success), or pass thin poop or poop with blood due to injury/scratches to intestines.

Not pooping for more than 5-7 days can indicate constipation or impaction, unless your uromastyx is brumating and not eating much.

Review the temperatures and general husbandry. Offer few drops of vegetable/mineral oil and some pumpkin/dandelion leaves for a laxative effect. Make sure to hydrate your uromastyx as well. Take your uromastyx to the vet if it doesn’t poop soon after, as it can be deadly.