Gross photo

[salebrosus]

Hello All,

I am sure i will get roasted by people for this but i wanted to share a photo of a sick shingleback with everyone. There were alot of contributing factors that went into this happening, to long to type but i want people to see what can happen when a respiratory infection isn't picked up sooner in a shingleback. After a months worth of antibiotics his nose fell off in my hand. He was rushed back to the vet he saw ten mins earlier who has prescribed some cream to assist with this. He will be fine just minus his nose. The infection was localised and there was no sign of there being any infection there until i had hold of his nose. I was horrified and i totally freaked out when this happened. The vet reassured me i had done nothing wrong but it was really awful. I'll warn people now this is not a nice photo. The weird thing is that "ARNIE" appears brighter without his nose and actually had a big feed the moment the nose was gone. He is now running around his enclosure and the vet said he will make a full recovery dispite his face.

Simone

[Fuscus]

Its just the scales ?

[alby]

[southy]

i noticed your in sydney, it wasn't kept outside was it? ive been told anything on the coastal side of the GDR will be more prone to getting RI

[salebrosus]

Well yeah he was. He was put outside in the outdoor pit by family members. I always left him indoors out of fear that something would happen to him. I had been away at my partners place and came home to find him outdoors and it had rained for 2 days during the time he was outside. I brought him in straight away and put him straight on to heat. By then the damage was done. I got him the first avilable appointment 4 days later and he has been on the antibiotics since. I thought i was doing really well and thought i might have been ****y enough to escape without damage. I'm pretty cut about it especially when i look at Arnie and he is completely oblivious to how he looks, he just walks around and carries on and sits there while i put his creme on. The vet reckons he will be feeling better but i've never had an animal get sick like this before. I really put this photo on here to show peple what will happen to shinglebacks that had been kept outdoors in conditions like Sydney. i figure if openly admitting my stuff up and showing people the results can stop another animal from going through this then at least some good as come out of something so horrible. Brought tears to my eyes when Arnie walked up my shoulder this evening and rested his head on my neck as he usually does.


Simone.

[salebrosus]

Yes Fuscus it was mostly scales lost. Slight amount of bone and the nostrils have come off but the vet said he will be fine. He has some holes instead of his nose, but i can't believe how there were really no symptoms that there was anything wrong with his nose at all. There was no swelling absolutely nothing to indicate to me there was anything wrong with that region, until the nose came off. The vet believed it was brought on by the respiratory infection.

Simone

[southy]

no i think it is a good thing for you to show people the damage RI can do, shinglebacks especially are prone to it more than blue-tongues and people should be aware that its fatal, at least the vet thinks it will make a full recovery which is good, hope things to take a turn for the better

[Rennie]

I hope poor Arnie is alright, thanks for sharing.

[pugsly]

Poor bugger, hope he makes a full recovery for ya simone..

[Nome]

When I lived in QLD, I had a colony of 14, obviously I kept them inside due to humidity and it was a constant job. I had two huge enclosures for them, which were running 2 exhaust fans each to keep the humidity under 30%. A few got RI's still, mostly due to the plane flight over. Scale rot was also a constant worry, I cleaned them for 2 hours a day with a big clean once a week for 4 hours, and housed them on a rice hull substrate- constant work to keep the humidity down.

Often people get them and not realize how prone they are to illness....they aren't that easy unless you are living in a very dry environment.

I'm glad you posted this up Simone, it is a harsh but true reality with shinglebacks how easily and quickly they can get sick and the effects of this.

I hope he makes a good recovery...he's obviously breathing easier now and hopefully this is the turning point for him.

[Reptile City]

Poor Arnie, I hope he gets better soon.
Looks like Arnie & Michael Jackson shop at the same place. lol