An Eastern blue tongue lizard with a hunchback, bad jaw and mobility issues has been receiving care from Dr Michael Woodham at Sugarland Animal Hospital.
Bluey the blue tongue had recently been rehomed when his new owners noticed he wasn't looking his best.
After handing him over to Sugarland Animal Hospital, Dr Mike posted a video of Bluey's condition and his plans to get him feeling as good as new.
“What Bluey has developed is a condition called Metabolic Bone Disease,” Dr Mike said.
“If you look very closely you can see that his spine pretty much goes up and then up- so he basically has a hunchback.”
Dr Mike said Bluey's lower jaw was also longer than his top jaw and the lizard struggled with movement.
“He is very weak and twitchy. He can't move his legs very well and he can't crawl very well,” Dr Mike said.
“He has no energy in his muscles and is not able to function very well.”
Dr Mike said he planned to get Bluey the help he needed by firstly putting him on a good diet.
“These guys do have very specialised needs, you can't just buy one from the store and expect to feed them whatever you like,” he said.
“They have a varied diet including fruit, meat, vegetables and insects.
“They also have a higher calcium and vitamin D requirement so they actually need some UV radiation.”
Dr Mike said blue tongue lizards could get all of the light they needed from artificial sources or by a good sun bake.
“You can put them outside on the lawn and get some nice sunshine on them for an hour or two a day,” he said.
Bluey will undergo a treatment plan at Sugarland Animal Hospital.
“We hope we will be able to give him a good recovery and look forward to seeing him feel a lot better,” Dr Mike said.
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