Uroplatus X-ray

[pakinjak]

Here's something you don't get to see every day, so I thought I would share it with the class.

[Salzy]

That's cool man. I think it's the first one I've seen of a Uroplatus. Which animal is this? Does it have a tail issue, or was is just slightly curled up for the X-ray?

[pakinjak]

It's my female sikorae. Funny thing about the tail- I think it was Luis that told me when they're in really good shape the tail will have a waviness to it. This animal is one of two that have that wave, both are female and both are CB. I didn't expect the bones to be wavy though... So yeah, I dunno.

But lordy, what chalk sacs though, huh? That's Repashy Cal. Plus right there!

[Salzy]

I should try to get to the clinic and get X-rays of my beefy female sameiti to compare.

I wonder why the waviness to the tail would be considered good....I know Luis but he's never mentioned that to me before. I find that when they get the wavy tail, they are getting to be a bit too large, and almost obese, so I have always thought it was excess fat in the tail causing the waves. Obese Uroplatus are said to not be nearly as productive either...which I've always attributed to my sameiti never producing anything for me.

What was the reason for the X-rays anyway?

[pakinjak]

I don't know either way, I just remember him saying something along those lines. I'm sure there's a point where it's not good, and I certainly don't know where that line is, and if it's good or bad to have wavy tails . You're certainly right about the obesity and egg production. I'll ask him about it next time we talk and let ya know what he says.

[sarasin]

Thanks for posting the pic, I found the wavy tail interesting too

[pakinjak]

Alright, now I'm home from work and can give some real attention to this. As I've advanced in my keeping, I've been yearning more and more for more detailed discussions so I'm excited about this one. For your viewing pleasure, I took some pics of the tails in question to give us some kind of starting point.

First off, these two are of the female sikorae in the x-ray. I think most will agree that the tail certainly doesn't look like the vertebrae would be bent.

Here is what I mean when I say "wavy".




And here's a Fimbriatus female. her tail has always been like this, since I got her and she was 5.5" long.




Kyle, are we talking about the same thing to the same degree?

[Salzy]

Yeah, when we are referring to sikorae and sameiti at least. Fimbriatus tails are structured slightly different and you can see that the waviness of that one is more like crumpled paper. I'd say that the waviness of the sikorae is caused more by fatty tissue. At least that is what I've seen in ours. The one that we had with a very wavy tail has passed away on us, but I'll see if I can dig up a photo that shows it well.

[Salzy]

Okay, here is one from Artemis that is not the greatest, but you can see the fatty rolls to her tail. I never took any better photos of it apparently.

[pakinjak]

Kyle, do you have any of a non-wavy tailed sikorae?

Here's an earlier picture of the same animal (from somewhere around Jan. of last year.) You can see she doesn't have the rolls, but does seem to have waves in the making... just not as pronounced. Just for clarity, this is the same animal in the x-ray and in the first two tail pics I've posted.