Uroplatus Fimbriatus Not Eating & Sleeping Odd Places

[Fumbles]

I've been treating a uroplatus fimbriatus for a mouth wound for about a week now. The issue was a mouth wound that was getting worse. Now his wound is healing rather nicely but he's not eating and he's sleeping in odd spots. I've always known a uroplatus to sleep vertically, feet straight up and down and tail covering. Lately he's taken to sleeping on top of one of the dracena tree with the leaves, sort of sprawled across them but with a good grip on the leaves.

I have an idea of why he stopped eating and sleeps in the same odd place. I have never handled him this much in his life - I'm usually at about once every two weeks to 1 month just to inspect him, but for the past eight days I'd taken him out of his enclosure every single morning for 10 minutes to clean and dress his wound, then place him on a vertical stick where he usually stays straight up and down..

I'm not sure what's going on here. He seems otherwise healthy and strong, but I'm noticing in the morning I'm taking the same amount of crickets out as I put in the night before.

I'm going to try something Jadrig mentioned which was calcium powder mixed with baby food to get him eating - just for SOME nutrition. I don't need him crashing. I also have a pair of rather large adult dubia roaches that I tried to feed him a while back, I might give that a shot in a clear deli tray so he can hear and see them scuttle around. He seems to have lost interest in the crickets I've been feeding him for the past 4 years.

Anyone have input on my theory about the hunger strike and my solution?

 

[orbela]

Maybe he is stressed because he is not use to being handled. Just leave him be for a bit and allowing him to adjust to being handled.

 

[Fumbles]

In my experience when a uroplatus isn't on the glass or vertical on the tree/branches it means it's upset and uncomfortable, or worse, weak. I see he has plenty of calcium store, and I think he ate a couple crickets last night as I put four dusted ones in last night and I see two this morning.

His wound on his mouth (in this related thread: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...platus/72593-fimbriatus-raw-bloody-snout.html ) is scabbing over nicely and I've put cardboard on the outside of the glass on three sides temporarily so he'll quit bouncing off of it thinking he can jump through it.

The problem is I'm not sure the two are related and to find out is a catch 22: Stop treating the healing wound to keep his stress level down, or keep treating it now that it's healing/scabbing even though it stresses him out.

Thoughts? This is how I found him this morning. Notice his extreme color on his underside - he should be grey, not black. Clear stress. Also his position is obviously not normal. He's been sleeping funny places like this all week. Last time I saw him "tangled" in the vines, other day it was on top of the dracaena leaves...

 

[Fumbles]

Looks like he's headed in the right direction.

The idea is he was stressed because of daily handling in the morning. I needed to keep him from hitting himself on the glass, further damaging his wound because it is totally scabbed over and receding now. I put up cardboard temporarily half way up the outside of the glass as you can see in the picture, then from the top I lined it with some exo terra jungle vines. He was very responsive to this. I saw him much more active. So I'm not sure if it's because of the enclosed space or the lack of handling but he' s sleeping vertically again. I also saw his poop this morning, so he's eating. He is still darker than I like to see while he's vertical but it looks like he's on his way to normal.

 

[Tamara]

That's great news.

 

[Fumbles]

Another good sign - he had a full successful shed yesterday. I had to help him a tiny bit around the mouth because it clung to the old scab, but otherwise all good. I've noticed they do fast for a few days before shedding, maybe to make room for all that skin they're about to eat. Anyway - more good signs. He is still a bit dark while sleeping but he is sleeping vertically which is good for a fimbriatus. I might increase temps a few notches and see if that helps his daytime color.

 

[Tamara]

Sounds great...

 

[jadrig]

yeah...when they shed, they have a hard time sticking to smooth surfaces because the shed the bottoms of their feet as well.

 

[pakinjak]

Sleeping position (other than on flat on the ground) doesn't have anything to do with anything in my experience. Sometimes females will rest head up when close to laying, and I assume that's because they may be uncomfortable from the pressure on their organs when resting head down. I've seen every Uroplatus species I keep resting in positions similar to the one the OP pictured, both males and females, WC and CBB, young and old. I'd also say the same thing about his color. While there is definitely such a thing as stress colors, you can move a Fimb to one tank with different furnishings and it might look very different from the way it looked in the former tank. I have a henkeli that looked one way for almost a year, then when I moved him into a different enclosure with different lighting he looked completely different and has for almost a year. The color of a healthy fimb group Uroplatus can change from day to day for apparently no reason and isn't much of a marker for anything, in my experience.

To the mouth wound... they take about forever to heal but it should eventually if you can keep him from rubbing it any more. There will probably always be a noticeable spot there no matter what.