I think the lights are fine now, and it was more my set up back in January that may have had issues. Still thinking it was the SolarGlow. Maybe as she was growing in size and I started taking decorations out of the tank to accommodate her new size, possibly the distance between the SolarGlo and her basking spot became too far, and I didn't realize because I thought she was just brumating. That's the only thing I can think of.
From everything I've read about brumation, everyone just says to "let them do their thing", keep their lights on like normal, and they will go through the brumation phase. To this day, I still don't know if she ever even brumated, or if she was just sleeping for long periods of time because she didn't have the energy due to a lighting issue - but I think this is when the problems started.
Unfortunately, Cairo seems to be going downhill fast now. She pooped two days ago and her legs were shaking quite a bit while it was happening, and there was a lot of liquid - given she is only consuming Oxbow mixed with water.
Last night, I got home from work and took her outside for about 10-minutes of direct sunlight, and gave her a little more Oxbow (since the vet emphasized nutrition was the main concern right now). This time, instead of swallowing it, she lowered her head and closed her eyes (almost looks like she was passing out), then she woke back up and spit it all out. Then it started getting worse.
I definitely thought she was dying last night. She looked dehydrated (sticky saliva, loss of color in her mouth). This is very confusing, since all her food intake is mixed with a bunch of water (Oxbow). She also had a couple baths in the past week. I was able to get a little water in her mouth, but it was hard to tell how much she consumed and how much just ran out her mouth.
Her beard and tail darkened, her limbs didn't move, and she laid pretty flat. Her torso looked inflated. Her eyes kept closing and her head would lower, sometimes with her gray tongue sticking out a little. She would lay completely still for a few minutes, then her eyes would open again, her head would elevate, and she would puff her beard and smack her mouth a little (looked like she was gaping, but again very sticky). Her tongue looked like a little white ball. Then her head would lower, eyes would close, repeat. There was a time I thought she had passed, because she laid motionless with her tongue out for 10-minutes. Then, she would perk up, start smacking her mouth again, then would put her head back down.
I thought she had died. I spent all night crying next to her and apologizing while trying to comfort her in her final moments.
I spent all my money during my last vet trip, and didn't have many options left. I was pretty sure she was going to be dead by morning, so I just moved her to her dark corner in hopes I could at least get her to fall asleep before passing.
I woke up this morning and her eyes were more open and alert, the blackness was gone, and her body didn't look inflated. I'm going to run home at lunch today to check on her, and see if I can get her into the reptile specialist my vet suggested asap. I don't know if I can afford to do anything in the next week, but I will at least call them when they open for advice. I feel like she's not going to make it much longer, and not fully understanding the cause in incredibly frustrating. If she passes, don't worry, I won't get another one. There's obviously something I'm still missing after years of research.
Thanks for all your help everybody. I'm sorry.
I asked one of the office ladies at work if I could possibly get a portion of next week's check in advance, and she's looking to see what she can do. Otherwise, I can't even afford to put gas in my car next week or food in my stomach. I may have to finish the rest of that Oxbow myself (kidding of course).
