Any advice welcomed...

[cotley]

Male Yemen, around 3 or 4 years old.

Setup is all fine, never had a problem (good range of temp from 20s to nearly 40), daily misting, non-toxic plants, good range of branches and hiding areas

Has been feeding well, usually around 3-4 fairly large locusts daily (although I never see it really!)

Colour currently fine and bright, eyes bright and alert and non sunken, grip seems strong too

Continues to be his usually fairly aggressive self, not become super placid and passive so still got energy

Seen him eat in last couple of days (wax moth larvae/worm)

-------

Found him sat on the ground, lying on his side - thought he'd possibly just ended up in wrong area of tank overnight and tried to sleep there and got overly cold - warmed him up and he got back onto a low branch, I left him when I went out to work slowly climbing - that evening on his side again.

I've got an appointment with a well known reptile vet (Stephen Divers) later today. He's currently in a smaller carrier box at bottom of viv grabbing onto a towel (and his own legs!), hot water bottle providing additional heat.


At a bit of a loss - dehydration or MBD would surely have come on more gradually, and as environment hasn't changed why would it occur? Seems physically still fairly strong, has been eating same things? Any ideas? Anything I need to be able to know to tell the vet later?

All suggestions much appreciated.

 

[MWheelock]

I'd certainly have to see your husbandry practice and supplementation and lighting.

Vitamin A deficiency is on my list of differencials.
Are you gut loading your insects? What kind of supplements are you using?

 

[leoman]

Same thing here

Yeah i think so but are you giving him calcium vitamin D3 but what you are ding its fine good luck

 

[cotley]

update

Took him to a knowledgable vet.

Turns out he's acquired a rather nasty infection in his epiglottis - could be septaecimia... prognosis not good.

They're keeping him in for a few days to give him liquids and wait for the antibiotics to kick in (they take 3 days)

At least good to know it's not necessarily a problem with my husbandry which he seemed happy with - not dehydration or MBD or any other deficiency.

I asked where he could have picked it up and he said it's even possible it came in on an ill locust.

£140 down but i've done the right thing, hope he pulls through it...

 

[cotley]

good news

Seems like he's actually recovering well from the septicaemia - the vet rang to say he's feeding again and antibiotics have now been given - I'm picking him up tomorrow but will have to medicate him myself... I'm guessing it'll be syringing something into his open mouth? Sounds stressful (for both!)

Still, an improvement on a very bleak prognosis 3 days ago.

 

[kinyonga]

Good to hear that he is recovering! I didn't think it sounded good when you posted at first.

Some medications are given orally and others are injected. Don't worry....its not hard to do the injections! Its usually just into the muscle of the arm. Hopefully if its injected, the needles will come pre-loaded for you.

 

[cotley]

so...

Just picked Achilles up from the vets.

Looks a bit perkier, good strength on front legs, bit wobbly at the back - I'm guessing I should lower all his lights so he climbs less high in case of a fall? I'll put a towel around base of plant too I think.

SHOCKING vet bill - all-in total was £259 (which is easily $500)

Considering he's basically been fed critical care formula, given fluid daily and baytril injections, seems damn steep to me.

Still - fingers crossed he'll recover - I'm continuing to feed him on the critical care formula, and 0.05mls of the baytril orally or next few days...

 

[cotley]

critical care formula

Arg - I'm confused by the critical care formula instructions, my head hurts from the huge drive to vets and general worry, can anyone help?!

In addition to the daily 0.05ml Baytril I'm giving him, his only food will be from Critical Care Formula.

Label says "use one scoop per 1KG of animal per day" or "1 scoop per 200ml"

How do I work this out for the stipulated 2 feeds a day for my yemen?!

 

[Jam]

your critical care formula sounds like what I used wtih my ill chameleon ... and he LOVED the stuff. I would mix it with water so that it was a paste, use a syringe and suck some up and then squirt it in his mouth, or put it on his lips/nose until he finally got annoyed enough to open his mouth and get it off. Once he realized what it was he'd either open his mouth slightly (a little like a baby bird) or keep licking if off of his lips as I reapplied it. When he was done he'd just turn his head away and walk off. I basically just fed him until he didn't want anymore, rather than an exact science.

 

[cotley]

Ccf

OK - he's solely feeding on the critical care formula, I'm still figuring out amounts, wondered if anyone could help me here - I have heard that if he is given too much then of course that's dangerous too:

If label says 1 scoop (5ml) of CCF needs 4 scoops water (per 1KG of animal)
or 1 scoop per 200ml drinking water


I'm syringing it straight into his mouth

He weighs 123g


Round this to 125g, call it 1/8 of a kg, and thus:

1/8 scoop of CCF with 4/8 scoop of water is the correct daily dose?


If a scoop is 5ml, then he's looking at 2.5-3ml of fluid which presumably I can split into two doses?



Or have I got this all wrong?!

 

[cotley]

Thanks for all your help everyone - sadly Achilles didn't make it after suddenly declining.

I'm pretty gutted, never lost a reptile from illness in over 12 years keeping them. Still, I think I did all I could - I'd feel a hell of a lot worse if I hadn't take him to a specialist vet etc.

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry for your loss. If you've only lost one reptile in that long to an illness, you've done well. Sometimes things just happen that are beyond our control.