kingofnobbys
Well-Known Member
I stopped giving her softened pellets (mix of repcal juvenile beardie pellets and vetafarm lizard pellets) and backed off on the higher quality insect protein (medium crickets) recently after she passed a "stone",and upped the more fatty insect protein, offered her small silkworms = no interest (too big (20mm , now have some even smaller silkworms arrived today (5 - 15mm long and will try offering a 10mm silkworm to her tomorrow) first lizard I heard of refusing silkworms !!
She has gained a tiny bit of weight since her diet was changed , not enough to see though. No more big "stones" but some smaller ones (that she passed OK with only a little help if I saw she wanted to go, no more straining though to do a deposit.
This week she started refusing food , even her favs of mealworms lavae and pupae for the last 3- 4 days (I am in the habit of handfeeding her insects to her once per day) , I think she may be sick , but she also quite old , older than 5 years I think , and might be slowing down with age .
She hasn't shed for a long while .... but usually she's OK with her eating in the lead up to a shed.
Sometimes in the last few days she has worried me because she has been breathing hard with an open mouth and even sneezing occasionally (usually while worm goo on her snout/nose (I try not to cover her nostrils but she is a wriggler, other (mostly) times she seems to breath normally (if it was an RI she'd be having trouble all the time ????).
I've bumped up her heatpad temp to 36oC in the hope it will help her, and replaced all her bedding with fresh clean scot-towels and F10ed her big 20L tub and all her stuff JIC. I've also replaced her UVB150 globe with a new one , old one was 12 months old but her UV schedule has been 1 hr per day for long time (based on my observations of wild water skinks in my garden who only bask for short periods).
I've also this week started adding a small amount of CalciVet solution to her drinking water since the worms are so low in calcium (as per their dosing guide).
Have some HerpaBoost and some CrittaCare . both seem very thick , I just can't get the 5ml syringe with a blunt 18G medical drawing up needle to suck it up.
I have a medical grade disposable syringe with a 18G 1.5TW (1.2 x38mm) w/out bevel drawing up needle and I simply can't get the above to draw up into the syringe. I don't know the bore of these metal needles.
What do you guys use with you small skinks, geckos , etc who are only about 30g to give these by mouth to them .... ? what size /bore tube / needle ?
I've ordered a 14G , 16G and 18G cropping needled (for oral feeding of small birds) , are these suitable for the job of giving HerpaBoost and CrittaCare by syringe , has anyone a recommended cropping/feeding needle size for use with HerpaBoost and CrittaCare based on experience using these ? (I can always return the wrong sized needle to the supplier.)
How do get these little reptiles to open their mouths without hurting them to get the tube or feeding needle in ?
Should I just put the dose on her nose one drop at a time and hope she licks it off rather than rubbing her nose on my hand or shirtfront ?
She has gained a tiny bit of weight since her diet was changed , not enough to see though. No more big "stones" but some smaller ones (that she passed OK with only a little help if I saw she wanted to go, no more straining though to do a deposit.
This week she started refusing food , even her favs of mealworms lavae and pupae for the last 3- 4 days (I am in the habit of handfeeding her insects to her once per day) , I think she may be sick , but she also quite old , older than 5 years I think , and might be slowing down with age .
She hasn't shed for a long while .... but usually she's OK with her eating in the lead up to a shed.
Sometimes in the last few days she has worried me because she has been breathing hard with an open mouth and even sneezing occasionally (usually while worm goo on her snout/nose (I try not to cover her nostrils but she is a wriggler, other (mostly) times she seems to breath normally (if it was an RI she'd be having trouble all the time ????).
I've bumped up her heatpad temp to 36oC in the hope it will help her, and replaced all her bedding with fresh clean scot-towels and F10ed her big 20L tub and all her stuff JIC. I've also replaced her UVB150 globe with a new one , old one was 12 months old but her UV schedule has been 1 hr per day for long time (based on my observations of wild water skinks in my garden who only bask for short periods).
I've also this week started adding a small amount of CalciVet solution to her drinking water since the worms are so low in calcium (as per their dosing guide).
Have some HerpaBoost and some CrittaCare . both seem very thick , I just can't get the 5ml syringe with a blunt 18G medical drawing up needle to suck it up.
I have a medical grade disposable syringe with a 18G 1.5TW (1.2 x38mm) w/out bevel drawing up needle and I simply can't get the above to draw up into the syringe. I don't know the bore of these metal needles.
What do you guys use with you small skinks, geckos , etc who are only about 30g to give these by mouth to them .... ? what size /bore tube / needle ?
I've ordered a 14G , 16G and 18G cropping needled (for oral feeding of small birds) , are these suitable for the job of giving HerpaBoost and CrittaCare by syringe , has anyone a recommended cropping/feeding needle size for use with HerpaBoost and CrittaCare based on experience using these ? (I can always return the wrong sized needle to the supplier.)
How do get these little reptiles to open their mouths without hurting them to get the tube or feeding needle in ?
Should I just put the dose on her nose one drop at a time and hope she licks it off rather than rubbing her nose on my hand or shirtfront ?
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