my spike wont eat!

[quikdrummer]

hey i was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to get him to eat. I have 2 young male veileds. I have one very large cage with a divider between the 2 guys so they cant see or get to each other, and the younger of the 2 (Spike) will not eat. They were housed together for a long time at the pet store I got them at, but I separateed them for fear they would have issues with each other as they got older. He seems healthy, his color is good, he moves surely and has a strong grip for his size, he drinks regularly and his droppings look normal. He does get stressed pretty easily when I get into his cage so I have been avoiding getting into it other than to give him fresh food and water. I have a small cup in each side of the cage that I put the crickets into, and the other guy, Littlefoot, will run over and start chowing down as soon as I put crickets in. Hes been eating between 10-15 crickets a day and is noticably larger than he was when I first got him a little over a week ago. Spike however will not eat. I let some crickets roam free, but he ignores them. I set him right on the edge of the cup, and he ignores the crickets chirping and jumping around inside. He also keeps his eyes closed much more than Littlefoot does, and sleeps a lot during the day. He also does this strange thing from time to time where he will close one eye tight and flatten it into his head for a second. Its very strange and I am kinda worried. I put them into this cage thursday and added live plants friday, and at first I figured he was just getting accustomed to his new surroundings. But since then, I have not actually seen him eat once, though I think he has eaten one or 2 crickets yesterday as I would leave a handful in the cup and when I came back a few hours later, one was gone. If I dont see him eat today I think I may call my vet and see if she has any ideas, but I figured I would ask all you knowledgeable people here too

Any help as to how to get him to eat would be greatly appreciated!

 

[PardalisGirl]

Spike..........

It would be helpful for us to know some specifics about the type of lighting you are using, the temperature ranges of your cage and a picture of it. The best thing to do would be to take him to the vet. You don't want to ignore eye problems. Take a fecal in too. If you can't get one from him, get one from the other one. They were housed together so if one has something, the other one probably has it too. How long have you had these males?

 

[quikdrummer]

It would be helpful for us to know some specifics about the type of lighting you are using, the temperature ranges of your cage and a picture of it. The best thing to do would be to take him to the vet. You don't want to ignore eye problems. Take a fecal in too. If you can't get one from him, get one from the other one. They were housed together so if one has something, the other one probably has it too. How long have you had these males?

I have 2 R-Zilla combo light fixtures with timers, they each have a red heat/night lamp, and a day lamp and Reptisun 5.0 on a 12 hour cycle. It stays right around 75-80 degrees in the cage and gets closer to 90 right under the heat. I keep it at 50-60% humidity by use of a basic drip system and 3 mistings a day. I took some pics but left my camera at my office so wont have them up til tomorrow. I got them both last weekend. Hope this helps

 

[PardalisGirl]

Thanks for info......

Thanks for the info. It sounds like the light and the heat are set up properly. Is it really that humid all the time? That is pretty humid for a screen cage. Normally it will drop between mistings. The cage and the plants do need to dry off between mistings. If they don't go done to two mistings and reduce the time. I only mist my Veileds one time per day. They are in a room that has many other cages and the room humidity is a little higher because of that. You do not want to promote mold though so make sure things dry off. I would take Spike to the vet and take a fecal as mentioned before. He may have some sort of low grade infection. The eye problem is one you don't want to ignore. Hoping your Spike gets well soon

 

[quikdrummer]

Thanks for the info. It sounds like the light and the heat are set up properly. Is it really that humid all the time? That is pretty humid for a screen cage. Normally it will drop between mistings. The cage and the plants do need to dry off between mistings. If they don't go done to two mistings and reduce the time. I only mist my Veileds one time per day. They are in a room that has many other cages and the room humidity is a little higher because of that. You do not want to promote mold though so make sure things dry off. I would take Spike to the vet and take a fecal as mentioned before. He may have some sort of low grade infection. The eye problem is one you don't want to ignore. Hoping your Spike gets well soon

It drops below 50% between mistings but never below 40% in the cage. I have a schefflera and a bamboo in each side along with a few branches and some fake vines. I just called and my normal vet is on vacation until friday... So Im trying to find another one.

 

[kinyonga]

Were the plants well-washed (both sides of the leaves)?

(Is the UVB light a compact or tube/linear? This won't have made a difference if you've only had them a short time....but could in the future.)

You said you use a "red heat/night lamp"...unless the cage drops into the low 60's there is no need for heat at night.

I would suggest that you take him to the vets if the solution is not apparent...he may have an eye infection.