Hello all,
First, here is my information on husbandry and diet, also included will be photos with explanation on what I have noticed about Bubs and her behavior. Any professional help or advice providing some possible explanation for these odd behaviors would be greatly appreciated.
Husbandry: 40G breeder. 150w basking bulb, digital thermometer probe sitting where she basks. Temps: 96-106F, substrate: felt with paper towels on top (just replaced, kept clean), plastic tree for basking and driftwood, hammock under the UVB. UVB: 24in Reptisun 10.0 secured inside tank (replaced less than a month ago). Lights are most often kept on 12 hours a day at relatively the same time, though I probably could do a bit better with that occasionally.
These are a few pictures of her with different angles to show her coloring along with her overall appearance.
Diet: slurry of collards, escarole, mustards, papaya, yellow squash & butternut squash with water and Reptivite calcium w/ D3 and Herptivite multivitamins mixed in. This can make her cough sometimes not sure if it's because of the small piece of collard that might get caught in her throat? She only coughs a couple times and she's good, though she seems to be breathing quite noticeably with her sides afterwards like she is catching her breathe she tries to run away when I feed this as well. Repashy veggie burger mixed with Repashy grub pie (occasionally) with her calcium and vitamins mixed. She seems to cough with this as well in the same manner and I do have to slide it into her mouth and she tries to run away. A couple waxworms as a treat, lately everyday to make sure she is even getting enough to eat. She eats a couple crickets dusted with calcium so far everyday but only a few.
As for her odd behavior, I am concerned she might be gravid or something. Her eating has slowed every since she turned about 1 1/2, I figured she might just be fussy but I'm not sure because she really used to love her greens. She has no problem eating waxworms and any other squirming treat like hornworms, but will not touch anything else. I have tried fasting her from the worms for some time to see if she was addicted to them but no luck. She is a little over 2 years old now, I have tried everything from placing worms in her salad to keep it moving, to adding fruits still no luck. She poops everyday and it looks normal usually, sometimes a tiny bit loose but nothing abnormal. I palpitated her abdomen and all around to feel if there were and lumps and I do not feel anything out of the ordinary and she does not black beard or do anything abnormal when I palpate her. I have tried adjusting the basking light as she seems to have stress marks often in her enclosure. I have lowered it and heightened it and have tried changing the positioning and nothing seems to change. Despite her slowed eating and complete disinterest in food she is very active when she is not resting in her tank, I let her run around the house and she goes nuts. Very alert and glass surfs often to try an get out. She does seem like she may be looking for something like a place to hide but I could be totally wrong. I have noticed slight muscle twitches in her leg and upper tail where the skin seems to tense up. These are infrequent and I just replaced the UVB less than a month ago. Her coloring is also concerning me... She is still bright orange sometimes but her tail seems darker orange in the area where she just shed but the rest of her body just seems duller? She shed a couple weeks ago and the rest of the tail is showing little to no signs of shedding despite the odd coloring. She has not puffed up, black bearded or shown any aggression. Also her body is weird to me, I did get her to lose weight like to said in my previous post about her because she looked a but chunky, however her belly is still saggy but her pelvic area is looking thin but there is some extra skin due to her losing some weight. Her fat fads are still very good on her head as well. She is running normally, no odd movements. I do notice when she tries to catch a crickets before opening her mouth to grab it her chin upper quivers a bit also her chin when she just ate is like huge like a water-balloon but when she's resting its just a flap of loose skin not soft & palpable. her abdomen is soft and palpable but does seem kind of plump for the way the rest of her looks. Is it possible for her to be gravid and me not be able to feel the egg? I'm hoping I can get her in tomorrow and get her looked at and an XRAY w/ possible bloodwork done. The exotic vets here are few and far also very expensive ($250 labwork, $100 exam, $60-100 xray) once I receive those I will post a picture for anyone to see if they find anything.
I just don't know what is going on and I may be freaking out for no reason but she just seems to be acting odd. I am not doing great financially so it's hard to get to a vet without a great deal of stress at the moment, so I was hoping someone could take a look and see what you think. Any further questions just ask and I can post a reply with my answer. Thankyou all in advance for whatever help you offer me.
-Mykenzie
First, here is my information on husbandry and diet, also included will be photos with explanation on what I have noticed about Bubs and her behavior. Any professional help or advice providing some possible explanation for these odd behaviors would be greatly appreciated.
These are a few pictures of her with different angles to show her coloring along with her overall appearance.
As for her odd behavior, I am concerned she might be gravid or something. Her eating has slowed every since she turned about 1 1/2, I figured she might just be fussy but I'm not sure because she really used to love her greens. She has no problem eating waxworms and any other squirming treat like hornworms, but will not touch anything else. I have tried fasting her from the worms for some time to see if she was addicted to them but no luck. She is a little over 2 years old now, I have tried everything from placing worms in her salad to keep it moving, to adding fruits still no luck. She poops everyday and it looks normal usually, sometimes a tiny bit loose but nothing abnormal. I palpitated her abdomen and all around to feel if there were and lumps and I do not feel anything out of the ordinary and she does not black beard or do anything abnormal when I palpate her. I have tried adjusting the basking light as she seems to have stress marks often in her enclosure. I have lowered it and heightened it and have tried changing the positioning and nothing seems to change. Despite her slowed eating and complete disinterest in food she is very active when she is not resting in her tank, I let her run around the house and she goes nuts. Very alert and glass surfs often to try an get out. She does seem like she may be looking for something like a place to hide but I could be totally wrong. I have noticed slight muscle twitches in her leg and upper tail where the skin seems to tense up. These are infrequent and I just replaced the UVB less than a month ago. Her coloring is also concerning me... She is still bright orange sometimes but her tail seems darker orange in the area where she just shed but the rest of her body just seems duller? She shed a couple weeks ago and the rest of the tail is showing little to no signs of shedding despite the odd coloring. She has not puffed up, black bearded or shown any aggression. Also her body is weird to me, I did get her to lose weight like to said in my previous post about her because she looked a but chunky, however her belly is still saggy but her pelvic area is looking thin but there is some extra skin due to her losing some weight. Her fat fads are still very good on her head as well. She is running normally, no odd movements. I do notice when she tries to catch a crickets before opening her mouth to grab it her chin upper quivers a bit also her chin when she just ate is like huge like a water-balloon but when she's resting its just a flap of loose skin not soft & palpable. her abdomen is soft and palpable but does seem kind of plump for the way the rest of her looks. Is it possible for her to be gravid and me not be able to feel the egg? I'm hoping I can get her in tomorrow and get her looked at and an XRAY w/ possible bloodwork done. The exotic vets here are few and far also very expensive ($250 labwork, $100 exam, $60-100 xray) once I receive those I will post a picture for anyone to see if they find anything.
I just don't know what is going on and I may be freaking out for no reason but she just seems to be acting odd. I am not doing great financially so it's hard to get to a vet without a great deal of stress at the moment, so I was hoping someone could take a look and see what you think. Any further questions just ask and I can post a reply with my answer. Thankyou all in advance for whatever help you offer me.
-Mykenzie