Sorry this is so long but there's a lot going on.
My adult female Leo (Juniper -- June for short) has a lot of issues. My room mate and I got her and another Leo (also female, named Stevie) about six months ago. Long story short, her pervious owners told us she needed to be hand fed and that they thought she had some neurological issues -- and she sure does. She walks really wobbly and rolls over on flat surfaces. She also whips her head really hard back and forth and walks in tight circles some of the time -- we think she may have suffered a really bad drop or harsh temperature fluctuation with her last owner because they said it happened "all of a sudden". We realized a while ago that when we put a mealworm in front of her she would look like she was going to get it but would strike in the opposite direction. So we just stuck to hand feeding her. Which took some time but has worked up until a few weeks ago.
June has always been fine with worms. She has had two previous owners and they raised her (and Stevie) on them. But a week or two ago she started to choke on one. She gagged and we saw the worm was just there in the back of her throat. She wasn't acting distressed or anything but we were certainly scared for her. We managed to help her get it down after maybe twenty minutes. So, we decided, the worms were too big and since she already had issues it makes sense she would struggle with eating. So the other day we cut up the worms into small chunks and made sure they were dead so they couldn't hurt her throat. But as soon as we started feeding her we saw that the small worm chunks were just sitting at the back of her throat. So, it's not the worms, it's her we think. That she is having major issues swallowing or knowing how to swallow. She is an adorable, sweet Leo and we have no idea how to feed her because crickets would just pose the same issue if she can't even swallow 1/4 of a mealworm. We're college students and don't have the money for expensive vet care plus I think she's beyond the realm of help because she just has so many things going on. It's not something that can be fixed easily.
Does any one have any clue how we could feed her? If there are any alternative or liquid diets we could try for her?
I attached some pictures of my babes also. Sorry if one is the wrong direction, I'm not sure how to fix it.
My adult female Leo (Juniper -- June for short) has a lot of issues. My room mate and I got her and another Leo (also female, named Stevie) about six months ago. Long story short, her pervious owners told us she needed to be hand fed and that they thought she had some neurological issues -- and she sure does. She walks really wobbly and rolls over on flat surfaces. She also whips her head really hard back and forth and walks in tight circles some of the time -- we think she may have suffered a really bad drop or harsh temperature fluctuation with her last owner because they said it happened "all of a sudden". We realized a while ago that when we put a mealworm in front of her she would look like she was going to get it but would strike in the opposite direction. So we just stuck to hand feeding her. Which took some time but has worked up until a few weeks ago.
June has always been fine with worms. She has had two previous owners and they raised her (and Stevie) on them. But a week or two ago she started to choke on one. She gagged and we saw the worm was just there in the back of her throat. She wasn't acting distressed or anything but we were certainly scared for her. We managed to help her get it down after maybe twenty minutes. So, we decided, the worms were too big and since she already had issues it makes sense she would struggle with eating. So the other day we cut up the worms into small chunks and made sure they were dead so they couldn't hurt her throat. But as soon as we started feeding her we saw that the small worm chunks were just sitting at the back of her throat. So, it's not the worms, it's her we think. That she is having major issues swallowing or knowing how to swallow. She is an adorable, sweet Leo and we have no idea how to feed her because crickets would just pose the same issue if she can't even swallow 1/4 of a mealworm. We're college students and don't have the money for expensive vet care plus I think she's beyond the realm of help because she just has so many things going on. It's not something that can be fixed easily.
Does any one have any clue how we could feed her? If there are any alternative or liquid diets we could try for her?
I attached some pictures of my babes also. Sorry if one is the wrong direction, I'm not sure how to fix it.
