Lewis :(

I would like to explain first of all that Lewis isn't mine and Garys but a friends who didn't know how to care for him properly which has resulted in what you'll see in the pics.
Right Lewis is 5yrs old, about 13inches long and barely weighs 150/200gram. He has severe MBD, struggles to move properly, has some retained shed and has what apears to be a old abcess on the right side of his bottom jaw. Im trying to get the lad to give him to me so i can give him the proper care but so far he's got us going up there everyother day to give him liquid calcium (zolcal d) by syringe and he has bought him a new uvb stripe light & installed it, also a heat bulb and new fitting as he only had a household bulb but this was only after we took him to a reptile shop and hopefully he'll let me take him to the vets on thursday when Kinky has a check-up.
Right now here's the 2pics i took of him sat on my leg just to show you all the damage of inproper care ~

Sorry pics aren't very clear but they were taken on my phone.

Poor Lewis, it's so sad to see people not caring for their animals properly. I see it with lizards a lot, as a lot of the people buy them not realizing how big they can get. And once they do get large, they don't seem to care for them anymore, as in they aren't that "cute lil green lizard" anymore.

The lad who owns him thought he could leave him in the viv and didn't need to do anything other than feed & change his water but now he doesn't get that Lewis will never grow big like Freddie(RIP) the male we had so he now want to buy another baby but im trying to put him off and get him to finish sorting out poor deformed/skinny Lewis.

awww poor Lewis

You are so caring Sam I want to take in rescue reptiles one day You've inspired me haha

I hope he recovers well good luck!

Poor thing is skin and bones... if anyone can pull him thru sam its you and gary your "friend" should never own another lizard. Isn't freddy the basalisk you just got from him or is that a different freddy?

Aw, poor Lewis! I hope he manages to pull through. It is so heartbreaking to see animals sick like that.

Thanks Sarah i couldn't believe the state of him when i first saw him.

Thanks Kel im going to give it my best shot at recovery even if i have to keep going to his house everyother day The basilisk is called Frank an from the same the same lad, our Freddie was the first ever entry to the lost pets memorial.

It is such a shame to see a lovely lizard in such a bad way Kathryn but hopefully we can harden his bones and get some weight on him

I'll keep you all updated on how poor Lewis gets on and fingers crossed i can take him to the vets on thursday to see if he is beyond repair or what will need doing.

Just thought i'd add a pic of our Freddie to show you all how big Lewis should be, Freddie was 5yrs old, 28inches long and 650grams when he died compared to Lewis at 5yrs old, 13inches long and 150/200grams.

Aw sam, he's just lovely. We always remember our first the stronges and they always motivate us to try just a little harder. Keep up the good fight hon ( I know yas will).

Thanks Kel

Well Lewis will be going to the vets on thursday at 5pm so will let you all know what the vet says about him and treatment for him.

Well we've been to the vets and poor Lewis is in a very bad way, apart from having to see a xray of his lack of bone density (will post xray pic when i post Franks) the vet told me he could sucessfully prosecute the lad for the state/lack of care that had been provided for Lewis plus the fact he has a healed broken right back leg, all his bones are like rubber, his top jaw is that rotted he only has 2teeth, his bottom jaw is rotting and only has a few teeth left on each side but none at front or at back of jaw.

But with daily treatment for the next 3months and everyother day after that for 8/9months he is savable and may grow slightly unfortunately his owner is still refusing to let the lizard stay with us while the daily treatment is being done so we have to drive to him each day an treat Lewis. Will keep you all upto date on his progress

I know he's a friend and everything, but I would cut a deal with him that either he releases the little guy into your care or the vet reports him and he gets prosecuted for animal cruelty. Most people will, instead of fighting the charges, comply and be "less burdened" by the animal and it's care needs. It's kind of costing you guys even more having to drive back and forth like that.

I agree with kodie... Thats bs. He should be prosecuted esp. Now with what's happened to poor frankie... Same dude, same stupidity.

I do agree with you both, im more inclined to get him to hand Lewis over to us but thats only cos the vet advised us as we've been helping that if the lad says but sam & gary have been coming an caring for him that we could loss all our animal. He does pay us for going up there everyday but would be way easier if he was here.

we've not told the lad yet that we had to have Frank put to sleep this morning but when we went up to sort lewis out he didn't ask about Frank.

Poor thing, at least you're not digging a hole by helping. I hope poor Lewis is on the mend.

thanks kodie, he has a check-up in 3weeks on march the 9th with the vet so will let you all know how he is getting on.

Just a quick update from the vets check up on the 9th march ~ lewis was alot more active and he had better colour body and in mouth, he also gave the vet a bite to the finger lol. It was decided to change the liquid calcium from being done every day to everyother day and have a check up in a months time on the 12th april.

Unfortunately on the 20th march i got a text from lewis's owner saying he was dead in his viv and could we come collect/remove his body and also trying to tell me that it was us who killed lewis with liquid calium and pinkie mice, i called my vet on his mobile straight away and he got a vet nurse to collect lewis body on her way to work the following morning for a post mortem to be done to determin cause of death, i'll find the results out tonight and let you all know.

RIP Lewis shame you had to suffer for so long from your owners crap care.

What an A$$. Trying to blame YOU for lewis passing... not like his lousy care contributed to it at all or like he could be bothered to take him to a vet... Man people like that just desirve to get what's coming to them. So sorry Sam. Y'all did your best.

Thanks Kel.

The post mortem results showed he had lots of abcesses in and on his liver possibly caused by the dental disease as his jaw was in a very bad way but without paying for a lab to do test a sample of his liver we will never know exactly what killed him other than it wasn't anything we were advised to give/do to him.