Another rescue.

[kingofnobbys]

My wife found a very lethargic and scrappy looking adult water skink near the back of our house this afternoon , she thought it was dead as it didn't retreat or move when got very close to it check it, only bursting into life when I sent her back down an empty old cricket tub lined with paper towel to rescue it and bring inside for me to examine it.

I believe it's one of the gang of skinks who has been living under my house and hanging out under the rim of the back sum.

Been very cool this week , 15 degC overnight and not getting past 20 degC during the day. (Nearly summer here and it's like winter during the days this week while last week were cracked 100 in the old scale for few days).

I've recommissioned Lucky's and Wriggles' old 10L tub to rehabilitate this new rescued water skink in.


The water skink tub is now on the lounge directly under the aircon and where I can see it easily and I've slipped Lucky' / Wriggles' old 5W heatslab under one end of the tub and set the temperature to 35 degC.

While the heatslab was warming up I tried to get the rescue to eat , but noted it's eye lids appear glued shut so it is at the moment (temporarily ?? blind) and placing a mealworm resulted in not interest, same with small silkworm (about mealworm size) , same with a disabled smaller medium cricket - can't see the insect.
Tried squeezing out some mealworm guts onto it's snout, no response.

Likely too cold and lethargic , and very stressed - but worth a try.

Local reptile had already closed for the day so a vet visit will have to wait til tomorrow at the earliest.

I also tried dripping water on it's snout, no response ... body temp too low ==> lethargy.
So broke out the my lizard first aid kit and a 1ml syringe + a 18G catheter tube and slipped the end of the skinny flexi tube into the corner of it's mouth , gave the tube a good biting ( that was encouraging ) and I managed to get about 0.5 ml of water into it's mouth very small squirts (don't want to overload it or make it accidently aspirate some water while it's such a weak state.

Then I deposited the skink in the tub directly over the heatslab , and after about 15min it was crawling about and sniffing about and tasting the air ==> very good sign , but the eyes remained shut.

Legs and arms all seem to work OK ==> very good sign

Initially I was not sure it would last much long or see the night out.
I've constructed a little hide for it from an old cricket tub , cloth tap over the outside to make kit nice and dark inside - will help the skink feel secure and safe and deposited the now blind but active skink it's new little house and deposited the house in the warm end of the 10L tub.

No movement seen til my wife started a stirfry in the wok , that got the skink's interest , and can see it crawling about in the little hide and it just poked it's nose out and had a really good sniff of the air - the same way Lucky & Wriggles used.

IF the skink survives the night. I'll try some 1/5th strength Manuka honey in sterile saline ( I have this in my First Aid Kit) on it's eyes and give a drink made with 1/3 - 1/4 strength Manuka honey in water and either some HerpaBoost or Critta Care by feeding syringe IF it's not able to feed (still can't see).
I'll give the vet a call and ask if I get hold of some antibiotics (either injectable or oral) to administer , I don't think the vet can do much more than get the skink onto a cause of antibiotics.


Summary

Sick adult eastern water skink found on our old concrete slab near the back of the house by my wife on 14nov2017 at 4pm .

Issues
• Shedding / recent but closed up injuries on it’s body (back and sides and legs and arms and head)
• No evidence of penetrating injuried on chest and belly
• Conjunctivitis in both eyes , eyelids glued shut by dry puss (?)  blind at present
• Recently dropped tail
• Cold

Used a catheter tube to give it about 0.4ml of water by syringe.
No luck getting it to eat the inards from a mealworm.
Warmed up in Wriggles’ old 10L tub on her old 5W heatpad set to 34degC. Took 1hr and it was crawling all over the place and quite active.
Arms and legs seem to be working OK.

Both eyes appear infected and so crusty pussy they are glued **** , I tried gently wiping the eyes with soggy piece of surgical swab, still closed and the skink didn't enjoy this.

Initally suspected the poor condition of the skink was due to a lot of injuries that has formed scabs , but I noted scales were coming off , so I'm thinking it's in shed .
Yes - it's had a run in with something that scared it enough for it to drop it's tail relatively recently.

 

[AHBD]

Poor little thing., I wonder if it's very old and was on it's way to a natural expiration ? At any rate at least he has a chance now with your care, it would be great to hear that his eyes open after the treatment. Maybe warm the honey/saline ever so slightly to be soothing on the eyes [ or maybe you already are ]

Hoping to hear a good update.

 

[CooperDragon]

Some encouraging bits of news there. I hope it will start to take some water on it's own. That's usually a good metric with a rescue. Thanks for working so hard to try to help it out. I suppose one of the skinks from that clan is part of the family at this point too =).

 

[kingofnobbys]

Sleeping , I had lifted the bit of paper towel that she'd crawled under off her after lifting her room of her "bed"/"hide".

Was expecting to find she's expired since she disappeared in the hide at about 6pm but was encouraged to find she was still breathing normally.

While she was asleep I opted to apply a couple of droplets of 1/4 strength manuka honey to each eye and to the stump rather than stressing her unnecessarily while she's awake.

Will order in some Terrmaycic Opthalmic Ointment as the little tube I have from when I was treating Puff is now past it's UBD. I'm hoping I can get this "over the counter" ,even if I have get it flown to me from the USA.
In the mean time I'll keep her warm and quiet and do a few eye soaks with 1/4 strength manuka honey.

I made up the manuka honey eye soak / ointment using a 1 ml syringe and a 14G drawing up needle.
Procedure:
1) draw up 0.1 ml of manuka honey from the tube into the syringe using a 14G drawing up needle.
2) draw up 0.4 ml of saline using the same drawing up needle into the same syringe.
3) mix by drawing the needle plunger all the way out and reversing , but only a little way several times.
4) using the same drawing up needle and syringe deposit a couple of small drops on each eye and let the spread / soak in for 15mins, repeat = a couple of small drops on each eye.
5) draw the needle plunger all the way out , place drawing up needle cover over it - to seal it and keep it clean.

If she is still alive tomorrow when I get up , will also try her with a luke warm dilute Betadiene soak tomorrow - but I'll have to be very careful she doesn't drink the solution.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Update :

I had the lights and laptop turned off and shined my bright LED head torch in her direction, and just discovered she is not entirely blind , as she lifted her head up and pointed her nose straight at me - she responds to bright light.

Which is better ?
Clorsig eye ointment or Terrmaycin eye ointment ?

 

[CooperDragon]

That's encouraging too. Maybe they're just a bit gunked up and crusted. I don't have any info to offer on the ointments. Both broad spectrum antibiotics as far as I can tell. I don't know the pros vs cons of using one or the other though. My gut is usually to go easy on antibiotics but who knows if that's the right course of action or not. :study:

 

[AHBD]

I'd stick with the honey mixture. How is he doing ? Any sign of improvement ?

 

[SHBailey]

It sounds like that poor skink may have had a bad encounter with a predator. At least she'll be safe and as comfortable as you can make her now, and maybe she'll even recover with all your good care. I hope for the best for her.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Very good news.

She was up and sitting in her water dish (more a pond for her) and "looking" around this morning when my wife got up for brekky , and she really responds to my wife's voice .... she's the one who has been feeding my resident wild skinks while I've been housebound - too dangerous for me try to get down the steps while I'm rehabilitating and using a walker still.

I've been studying the photos of the outside water skinks who live under back of my house , she's one of the gang who hang out together under my back steps and porch and back tap's sump.
She's also a skink who's been resident , but never came inside , since 2014 - so I think she's about 4 years old and I'm very sure she is a daughter of the old matriarch who lived for nearly 10 years in my shed who I also befriended ( I have been checking the dots on the side of her neck and comparing .)

I've made a more private hide for her with a smaller entry hole in the side - see seems to really like it.
The other hide has been up turned and is now ontop the new one and she seems to like the private rooftop retreat and explored and spent a while in it immediately

https://s8.postimg.org/4fu9d0tfp/rescued_ews_15nov2017_-_1pm_exploring.png
Cheaky bugger hey !

She is very aware of what's going on and of her surroundings and if I wasn't sure her eyesight is very restricted at the moment I'd think she's studying me (right now as she's been staring at me for 30mins).

She's been drinking of her own accord , and bathing too , and is definitely in shed. So will get a better sight of any scabs and wounds once she's finished shedding (fortunately with water skinks sheds are quick affair , over a few days normally).
And she did nice poo which looked OK to me.

Weighed her at 23g.

I can already see some improvement in her left eye - it's open just a crack , the diluted manuka honey seems to be doing the trick.
Will order in some antibiotic eye drops/ointment , if the honey does the trick I'll simply set the drops/ointment aside in the lizards' shelf in the fridge.

She's had another couple of small drops of the honey solution on each eye and her tail stump at 1pm , she was very good , hardly squirmed and immediately started licking her lips when placed a drop on them - loves the taste of the honey solution (as they all do).

Not fed her yet , there is a 2in plastic petri-dish with some mealworms in it and the lid on in her tub - I want to see if she shows any interest in the worms in the petri-dish and tries to get at them -if she does , I''ll drop a worm in the tub for her to see if she can catch it and eat it.

Ordered in a tub of BSF lavae , as I don't have any silkworms that are small enough for her and I'd rather give her these instead of crickets (except one's I kill for her) or mealworms.

Will make up a sloppy mix of Veta-Farm lizard pellets and RepCal juvenile beardie pellets with a little CalciVet and Herpa-Vite mixed in later today to see if she'll remember the smell and part-take.
I have HerpaBoost and CrittaCare on standby , but would rather not stress her unnecessarily by syringe and feeding needle feeding.

Spoke to the local vet over the phone - told him I've another rescued skink , his advise is make a booking for next week and do as I'm doing. If anything happens I can bring her in anytime if it's an emergency , all her treatment in the practice is at not cost (since she's wild).

 

[kingofnobbys]

No attempt made to get at the mealworms.

Trying a few killed medium-small crickets , deposited not far from her hide's entrance --- maybe the smell will get her interested.

She LOVES her cozy warm little hide, keeps poking he nose out every so often and sniffing the air (diner time - food cooking - very interesting smells for a skink).

Not touched those dead crickets yet.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Never touched those dead crickets, so I gave her 0.5ml - VERY SLOWLY - of VetaFarm Critta-Care - took about an hour because I didn't to stress her by forcing the feeding needle down her throat into her stomache , so I opted to dabbing a tiny droplet of manuka honey on her lips to get her licking and then I'd deposit a drop of Critta-Care on end side of her mouth and end of nose and wait for her to lick most of it off and eat it before repeating.
Overall , she did much better than I expected with the assist feeding by syringe.

The dose of Critta-Care is 5ml per 100g BW once per day , for her 23x5/100 = 1.1ml , so 0.5ml on
our first effort is good IMO.
The 18Gauge crop needle drew up the mixture OK , but slowly.


Patience and having a lot of time are virtue , I'd forgotten how time consuming feeding a small sick lizard can be.
I had to do similar things for Lucky my first rescue who was only a little juvenile and only 5g at the start , and I was really struggling with his intensive care doing a lot of firsts .... was very time consuming as well as very fiddlely and messy with him as I had not intensive care care like I do now - add it's hard to get a grip on her as she's in shed and the old skin is loose. I'm covered with tiny bits of shed , and some of it is super sticky to the shirt and hands.

She essentially was so tired that she flopped where I deposited her when I returned her to her tub.

 

[AHBD]

Good to hear that she seems to have a bit of life in her + that her eye opened just a bit ! Progress that would never have been made had she been left outside ....she prob. would have been dead by now.

I think that you might want to keep the feeding sessiom shorter, you don't want her to expend any extra energy or cause even the slightest bit of extra stress in her weak condition. She's not too thin so maybe a 10 minute feeding session at the most. The honey + vetafarm supplement are high calorie, so a very small amount will sustain an animal that is not active.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Good to hear that she seems to have a bit of life in her + that her eye opened just a bit ! Progress that would never have been made had she been left outside ....she prob. would have been dead by now.

<<< this was why she was rescued , my wife knows I love my little gang resident wild skinks and she's become very fond of them - becoming the feeder / treats giver while I've been unable to.
She was very cold and sick looking when she was brought inside and I never expected her to see the night out.


I think that you might want to keep the feeding sessiom shorter, you don't want her to expend any extra energy or cause even the slightest bit of extra stress in her weak condition. She's not too thin so maybe a 10 minute feeding session at the most. The honey + vetafarm supplement are high calorie, so a very small amount will sustain an animal that is not active.

She was certainly pretty active this morning (when she was up for a drink and dip), and again this afternoon applied some more diluted honey to her eyes and stump , and after I improved her furnishings, she was crawling about a lot.

Yep , I'm probably better off getting 0.1ml - 0.2 of the Critta- Care into her at a sitting , maybe 2 or 3 times a day.
She'll eat more when she's feeling stronger and settles in to her new situation and is less stressed.

I'm pretty sure she's pregnant BTW.

If she can open even one eye enough to see some slow moving insects / worms and starts eating without help I'll be very pleased.

I'll set her up for some UVA & UVB tomorrow - I'll essentially place her 10L tub with the lid off inside a 30L archive tube and mount dangle an old 26W UVB200 (which is about 8 months old and performs like a 26W UVB150) over her see how she goes with some UVA (and UVB),I'm hoping this will help booster activity ,appetite and immune system.

I think I'll try 3 lots of honey soak for each eye and the stump per 24h.

 

[SHBailey]

Glad to hear she seems to be improving, and it's nice that you have a vet that will treat her at no cost.

BSFL sounds like a very good idea for her -- they're small and soft, high in calcium, wiggly enough for her to notice once she gets the gunk cleared out of her eyes, but still easy for her to catch without too much effort.

It's amazing how quickly some animals can recover if they get some good care before they're too far gone. Thanks for sharing her story with the rest of us. Still hoping she'll continue to improve.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Eyes closed again this morning , another application of diluted manuka honey , made up a fresh 1/2 syringe full ( this time 1 part in 3 of water ).
She is definitely more active than she was when she brought inside.

She was already out of her toasty warm hide at 8am and my wife saw her drinking , and I found her her cooling her rear end by sitting in her water , never touched the crickets.

Compare with how my wife found her :

What a transformation we've seen in Fluffy.... I can't believe she's the same skink.