Meet my little one!

[JessJohnson87]

I would wait for a little while after feeding before giving her a bath. Try a small dab of olive oil on her snout to see if that will help move things along.

 

[MissFrances]

Is there a specific breeding season? She's not eaten since her single locust and mealworm on Friday and someone suggested it might be ovulation? Last night I opened her humid hide and found her mid-shed so I understood then but I thought she'd be hungry after that.

 

[JessJohnson87]

They can get full on skin so she might not eat tonight but you can try. Breeding season is actually starting for most people so if she does begin to ovulate, she will go off of food until she either lays the eggs or absorb them.

 

[MissFrances]

Good to know that, is it a case of just keeping an eye on weights? Tried offering her food tonight and she flat out refused it, stubborn mare!

 

[Zux]

Good to know that, is it a case of just keeping an eye on weights? Tried offering her food tonight and she flat out refused it, stubborn mare!

One of my female's suddenly began refusing any kind of food coming up to three weeks ago now, no drop in weight and she is more active if anything.

Very normal for this time of year, as-long as weight isn't dropping alarmingly quickly its nothing to be concerned with.

 

[CWilson13]

My juvenile female has lowered her food consumption quite a bit too. She used to chow down on upwards of 10 superworms or dubias each night. Now she might eat 1-5 every few days. No real weight change, and she is still pretty active. She loves to come out and climb all over me. She also likes to climb all over, and spill, her water dish :coverlaugh: glad I switched to tile.

 

[MissFrances]

I got some silkworms today! She seemed very curious, ate a single one, then tottered off again! I am a little concerned about her but I think it's more because I'm used to mammals who don't go through this kinda stuff!

 

[MissFrances]

So I took her to the vets today just to be safe, lucky I did! She has a gut infection ):

I gotta be honest, I feel a little pants. I know things like this happen but the negative part of my brain wonders why I just can't seem to do things right?

 

[JessJohnson87]

Poor thing! Infections and stuff happen! Don't beat yourself up about it.

 

[amsdadtodd]

Infections happen, as Jess said. That's why we have vets. You brought your pet to vet, who found the trouble. I don't see why you feel like you did anything other than what was the best thing to do for your pet.

 

[MissFrances]

I just had a bit of a moment, I think :') I worried that there was something I've done wrong but I know it's not in my hands, really! I'm just glad we caught it. Gotta syringe feed her while she's not eating, that'll be fun!

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

You did what a caring mom would do. That's a good thing.

May I ask the diagnosis? Does she need medicine?

 

[MissFrances]

He said she had a gut infection and has become a little bit anorexic because of it. Apparently her liver was a little pale which means she was starting to get fatty liver, I think he said? Have to syringe feed her veg based baby food until she starts eating again and she got an antibiotics shot into close to her back leg. Going back on Tuesday for another!

 

[JessJohnson87]

Hopefully the shots clear this up! She probably got it when her immune system was down because of the pinworms.

 

[MissFrances]

That makes sense, actually! He's also said to give her a warm bath to keep her hydrated but she spends all her time in her moist hide so it seems a bit overkill? Still, if it'll help her get better!

 

[JessJohnson87]

Try an unflavored pedialyte soak(or whatever the UK equivalent to that is) once a week and see if that helps. Also, mix the multivitamin that you use in the food that you are syringe feeding, same with the calcium, keeping vitamins and electrolytes in her system will help build her immunity back up so hopefully she won't rebound.

 

[MissFrances]

She's hating me at the moment BUT her feeding responses are starting to come back. I put a silkworm down for her and she looked interested but think she was still stressed from bath/feeding and that ultimately won out. Might try her with a worm before syringe feeding tomorrow.

In this time, many of my mealworms have turned to lil pink beetles. What do you guys do with these? Do you feed them these?

 

[JessJohnson87]

I say put them into a container and let them breed, that's what I'm doing with mine and I already have itty bitty babies. Sometimes they won't eat the beetles but if you did feed them, it would have to be when they have just changed from pupae to beetle but even then their shell is still kind of hard.

 

[MissFrances]

Still on the syringe feeding, does anyone know if rapeseed oil is safe for them? Can only get baby food with that in it.

 

[amsdadtodd]

that's interesting. Rapeseed oil is from plants in the same family as cabbage, broccoli, rabe, and other brassica plants. It is high in erucic acid, which is damaging to the cardiac muscle of some animals, but I can't find a specific reference to reptiles.
That alone would be enough to keep me away from it, barring any specific knowledge to the contrary.

Todd