U. Henkeli Necropsy (Graphic)

[Puritania]

One of the many reasons that big chunky substrate scares the crap out of me. I got this from the Repashy forums, posted by Andrew Gilpin. I will never, ever use any bark chips, nor have I ever. To each their own, but I've seen too many of these types of outcomes....

http://www.forums.repashy.com/uropla...sy-photos.html

[guitarlixx]

Woah. A perfect example of why I don't use substrate that the animal can eat and have THAT caused. When I first got my Savannah Monitor, he was so impacted with sand, we were sure he was gonna die. After some work, he managed to poop it out and it was literally the size of him.
That was a really nice gecko, too. Poor guy

[darkhelmet]

messed up stuff.

the only critters i have on substrate that they could possibly eat are the savannahs. they are on topsoil, and they do end up ingesting some of it during feeding, since they like to push things into the dirt and shake it around. it's not chunks of wood though, just dirt, so i'm not overly concerned, considering they do this in their natural habitat any time they eat anyway.

[Apryl]

That was a very well done and thoroughly explained necropsy. Thanks for posting it, it makes me wonder just how many reptiles are out there on bark chips (what pet stores recommend, at least when I worked there). I am curious though, if it's an arboreal gecko and he's feeding from a dish, why would the gecko want to eat the bark? Why would they even try to eat the substrate? For beardies and leos I can see them getting over excited with crickets and getting a mouthful. I don't know as much about the uroplatus species as I should (at least what they eat!) I assume that they would eat a pre-made diet or fruit mix. It's too bad the gecko can't speak, because then she'd be able to tell us why she thought dirt and bits of tree bark looked yummy.

[Melanie]

Apryl, I know crested geckos will taste the substrate that they're going to lay in to determin the quality of the soil. Maybe the the same this with the U. Henkeli? I'm not sure however it was a very education necropsy.

[FrogO_Oeyes]

From all the comments, it sounds as if the problem isn't really the bark, but some flaw in husbandry which caused the gecko to repeatedly ingest it. No single type of substrate by itself is suitable for every species, and the comment that bark is not a natural substrate ANYwhere is more or less correct. In the form of slabs, it's a nearly exclusive habitat for many species, and fragments will be part of the soil below. I wouldn't really expect it in lowland Malagasy forests, but in highlands, it might well be common to find piles of bark. Regardless it will only be in limited spots, and won't be ingested with every meal, as it might in a cage. Something finer overall will be better under those circumstances, and a method of feeding which avoids repeated ground-strikes would be a good idea.

[Puritania]

So why say the the problem is the husbandry... not the bark, when you're just going to turn around and say that it shouldn't have been used. For once, shut your damn brain off, and just look and observe. These problems with this U. Henkeli CAN happen from using the wrong substrate, as it can happen with a vast number speices, if not all using the wrong substrate.

If you want to argue what did or did not cause it, go sign up on the Repashy forums and take it up with Andrew Gilpin... and good luck. I posted this for people to observe that this is possible.... that's all.