How can I help him eat or gain his appetite back?

[MantisFTW]

Hello all, you may remember my threads a while back about Specs, my approx 4 month old male ambilobe, being in bad shape and in need of a vet. Well, good news. I finally was able to get him to a vet and they gave me this sort of liquid oral calcium medicine that he takes twice a day. The reason he needed a vet was because his hind legs and tail were weak and he wasn't using them properly, and there were minor signs of MBD. This also came with an appetite loss and I later on had to start force feeding him because he wouldn't eat by himself. This was even a little before the vet though.

Now that he's seen the vet though, I don't know how to get him to eat by himself again. He has been getting a little better since his trip last Wednesday though, a little more active. But still no sign of being interested in his crickets. I offer him crickets out of a cup and he'll either stay motionless or just keep moving on and pretend they're not there. I have to use tweezers and carefully hold and force feed him so that he'll stay healthy. He doesn't always take it either, sometimes he'll just spit it out, and it's causing his droppings to be a lot less frequent. Maybe one every few days, so I know he's not getting his full intake. I've tried just leaving the cup in there for an entire day, and I check only to see them untouched.

So, does anyone have any tips? Or is time my only answer and should I just wait to see him get better?

 

[Kibu]

I would keep force feeding, also make a cricket smoothie full of vitamins to force feed.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

can you take him outside? Natural sun does great things to stimulate appetite, and a host of other beneficial things.
Being outside(in a mesh cage) he will move around more, and maybe stimulate his hunting instincts.
Are your temps and lights correct? not getting proper heat also is an issue.
Can you order silkworms/hornworms? great for getting them to eat, easier to hunt, soft body, easy to digest while healing, good hydration as well.

Just trying to think of things to help
anne

 

[MantisFTW]

Hmm, silk/hornworms sound like a good idea. I've never dealt with them before though and he's never tried them. Do those require gutloading/dusting or any special care? Wheres a good place to order?

I've taken him outside for a while before the vet. I haven't yet since then though because I've been focusing on getting him to eat again. If anything, I've noticed that his appetite began to decrease when I started taking him outside. I thought it may have been because everything was so distracting or something. I'd put the cup in, come back later, and nothing was eaten. I started putting him outside and noticing his appetite loss about a month and a half or so ago.

His basking spot is in the upper 80s/90s and I try to keep the humidity in the 60s at least. Also, hes had to stay in a smaller cage for now with limited space due to his condition.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

worms would be great for him. Mulberry farms, Great Lakes (both sponsors here) can ship them to you fast.
They only require minimum maintenence, they come with food in their cups. Follow the directions they come with, very easy.
Silks make a good staple, easy to LIGHTLY dust, horns have alot of moisture and butters have alot of calcium and low in fat.

stick them on a vine in the enclosure, or put one in the palm of your hand, they are hard to resist

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

is he strong enough to just let him chill in your hand while you take him outside?
You should have great humidity, just watch the temps. But 30 to an hour outside is so beneficial.

If its sunny at my house they are outside 2-5 hours everyday

 

[MantisFTW]

Oh, so they don't even need to be really gutloaded? And do you recommend getting silks and start using that as a staple feeder as opposed to crickets?

He is strong enough for that yes. His back legs are only weakened, causing him to fall and stumble a little. The falling has seemed to decrease a bit though.
I used to take him outside for long periods of time. Sometimes a full day, sometimes overnight, maybe up to a day or two. I would take him in when the weather was bad of course, but I live in Louisiana so the climate here is almost perfect for chams. Should I start doing that again?

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

I sent you a pm
but they come with mulberry leaf chow, but if you don't feed them all off in a week or 2, you will need to add more chow. both companies sell it.

 

[MantisFTW]

Woah... he hasn't pooped in a week, and then suddenly today he does, and its HUGE!! Is that normal??

 

[carol5208]

poop is a good thing!!! It is large cause he hasn't gone in a while probably. Nothing to worry about!!!

 

[MantisFTW]

Okay, thats good. I got a little nervous. He must have been pretty clogged up or something, it was a lot and there were two parts and a fairly large urate. Not the best thing to describe I know, but its good to know he's okay.