All of a sudden Digger-again 12/5

Got a message from the hubby, DIgger was all perky this morning; he is having a real hard time with a shed on his face, he was rubbing it then he went to the bathroom in his tank, so he took him out and let him run around, he was running around, then ahe stopped, sat on the floor, closed his eyes and opened his mouth and he can hear him exhale and he's snapping his head. He put him back in the tank and he is stilling on his log, eyes closed, mouth wide open, beard is black and his body is white. Can anyone give me a clue? Could it be the shed? DIgger is 7 and 1/2 years old now and nothing has really changed in all these years (still a picky eater), he did eat 11 butterworms yesterday and some turkey baby food, anyone have an idea????

Sorry, I dont know, but I figured that I would at least bump this up in case anyone else knows.
How is Digger doing now?

I ran home, Digger has a very black beard and black halfway down his right side, I picked him up from the tank and held him for a liitle, he just opened his eyes and closed them. I just put him on the couch with his head on a rolled up towel and covered him with another towel. He is still breathing, but otherwise still white, his belly is white still. I am just worried this never happened before

This pic was this PM when I got home at 1:30

I am sorry that DIgger is still not doing any better. Wanted to bump this up again.
Have you tried a bath?

No I haven't, I did cuddle with him for a while, then I put him in his cat carrier and turned his heating pad on low ....he is sleeping, when I get home form work tonight I will take a peak at him and see if there is any improvement.

Thank you for the bump Jiffy

Hello Mary,

Hm, that doesn't look good.
I don't know if it is the way his head was angled while he was vertically on his rock, but the fat pads on the top/back of his head appear sunken in. It could just be from the upcoming shed, or he could be very dehydrated. His eyes don't look to be sunken in at all.
Has he been brumating yet?
Could he be slighly impacted perhaps?
Has anything in his tank changed? How old are his UVB lights?
Is it possible that he ingested a poisonous bug or spider?

If his beard color does not lighten, I would get him to the vet unless we can figure out what could be going on.

Tracie

Thank you for answering Tracie, his fat pads are a little sunken in, he is going thru a shed on his head and he kept rubbing his face, its around his eyes, in and around his nose and it really is bothering him.

He is not much of a bather, he will drink from his water bowl once in a while and we do give him baths, but I do have to confess I am not home from 5AM-11PM M-F so he gets his bath on the weekend for a good 20-30 minute soak, I have to figure something out on that asap.

His UVB is a Reptisun and it is due to be changed I have to order one asap

The hubby told me he did poop today so he is not nmpacted, he goes maybe once a week, twice a week, once every week and a half.

Nothing else changed in his tank, we did move to a new house on 9/20, but it's been over a month now, could relocation stress be delayed? Also he kinda brumates, maybe he will sleep in one day then the next day he is active, or he can just lay around, he's not a out and out dead to the world brumater.

He is not much for chasing live prey either, never ever ate crickets since I've had him the past 6 and a half years (we got him when he was a year old)he sometimes will turn his nose up at butterworms, though yesterday he did eat them from my hand and had 11 of them. I am afraid to feed him superworms, the last time he had them, I think it was last winter, he started his gerd-type behavior (trying to keep his head way up and at a tilt, opening his mouth..he does this when he gulps a lot of water too and it lasts 2 to 3 days, I think he got a bad worm and I have'[t fed them since) The only bug crawling around still are stink bugs, and the ones that are black with the red stripe down their back (elderbugs???)its getting warm again so they are out, but I haven't seen him eat any of them.

Another thing too, the last time we were at the vet the vet told me he has an enlarged liver too.

I think that's it, I am writing a novel here,sigh, thank you for your help again!

Sorry to hear that Digger isn't feeling well. I think it would be a good idea to get as many fluids into him as you can to help flush out his system. Something is definitely going on. When he ate the butterworms yesterday, did he have at least 1 1/2 hours basking time? If not, he may have a bellyache. Do you have any probiotics on hand or any soy yogurt that you could get into him? How is his breathing?

Mary, I am so sorry Digger is not doing well. Everyone has given you great advice. I just wanted to let you know I was thinking of you and Digger. I hope it is nothing more than a belly ache from a bad worm. Please keep us informed on how he is doing.

Hi Diane,

To my knowledge, he didn't have an hour and a half, he has a bad habit of wanting to run and then once he finds a place to plop he'll wiggle and go to sleep, he's been doing this for years, so yesterday he ran around and crawled under the tv and fell asleep...that's a thought.

I will put him under the light tomorrow before I go to work, he sleeps in his cat carrier at night.

Before I went to work tonight he was breathing ok, I never heard his exhale hard, and I didn;t hear any rattles or anything.

Even if he's already asleep, I think it would be a good idea to use a heated rice sock under his belly to help with the digestion process. Would you possibly have time tomorrow morning to give him a bath and some probiotics to see if that helps him out? I have to agree with Tracie, that the fluids in the top of his head look depleted so that is concerning. It is good that his eyes aren't sunken though. But, he needs to be kept very well hydrated. I had gone through something similar with our one year old a few months ago and I almost lost her. I really pushed the fluids and gave frequent baths as well as electrolytes. The top of her head was sunken as well as her eyes, it happened very quickly and I never found out what caused it. I'm not trying to scare you, but he needs to be monitored very closely.

Has he been eating any greens?

I will see what I can do in the AM, I get up at 4am, so if I can get up at 3:30 and see if I can bathe him then, I can try, as for probiotics I don't have anything at home right now that I am aware of.

We don;t have a rice sock, he has his heating pad on underneath his carrier

As for greens, he hasn't eaten them in ages, he eats baby food, butterworms, raspberries, or a sneak of a green once in a blue moon if we catch him with his mouth open. He likes the turkey, chicken, squash & green bean baby foods.

I will be leaving work in a few minutes to go home, I will take a peek at him when I get home.

Hello Mary,

Do you happen to have a blood test copy on him that I could take a look at?
How did they determine he had an enlarged liver, by palpation, x-ray or blood test? I was just wondering.
Now that I know that he has an enlarged liver then since he seems to be losing hydration, I would get him to the vet. They can crash quickly if their liver starts to go. Remember, livers can regenerate cells & depending on why the liver is enlarged, it can be treated.
A blood test if it hasn't been done yet, would be invaluable.
As Diane suggested, oral fluids would be very important right now. Do you have anything like critical care you could give to him?

Please keep us posted on him.
Tracie

Hi Tracie,

About 3 years ago the vet did it by palpitation, he said that it was slightly enlarged and each visit since he has said the same thing, great fat pads, liver slightly enlarged, good bone structure, etc. He's never had labs done.

We don;t have critical care either, I will need to get that too then. This morning I checked him out in his carrier, he is sleeping and the black is gone from the sides and his beard is not as black as yesterday, and he was nive and warm too, so I didn't take him out, the hubby will check on him later when he gets up again.

I will keep you updated, thank you so much!