dragonkeeper3
Hatchling Member
Hi,
My Auraelia will not eat at all. I'm not sure if she's starting to brumate or not but she was hatched in May of '08. I had suspected that at first so I let her go and just kept a close eye on her. I noticed a while ago that she had what appeared to be a slight upper respiratory infection so I kept the temps high and kept her really hydrated. She seems now like she has made a complete recovery; her breathing is normal again and she's not hacking at all. The only thing now is she's still not eating. The last few days I've gotten chicken and veggie baby food in her and I can get her to lick a few drops off her nose but nothing substantial. I've done a bit of force feeding though I don't want to do it too much cause I don't want to stress her out or make her worse. My concern is she is extremely skinny and I fear that if she doesn't start eating I'm going to lose her. Every morning I offer them salad and crickets with vits and calcium. The temps are in the appropriate ranges and my apartment is I'd say at least 75 to 80 degrees at all times so night time temps are fine too. Normally I only have on a 100 watt heat and their uv but lately because she's been sick I've also been turning on the 150 watt heat on the other end of the tank and I see her go back and forth between being under the 100 to the 150. Aidan, her tank mate is eating as healthy as a horse and getting extremely fat. He's grown so much through her not eating that he is now as big as her and is dominating her. I've considered splitting them up but that would require putting one into a 10 gal. tank and I only have the one uv light though I do have two heat lamps. But what do you guys recommend that I do? Should I continue to force feed her just let her eat when she feels like it?
Thanks,
Heimr
My Auraelia will not eat at all. I'm not sure if she's starting to brumate or not but she was hatched in May of '08. I had suspected that at first so I let her go and just kept a close eye on her. I noticed a while ago that she had what appeared to be a slight upper respiratory infection so I kept the temps high and kept her really hydrated. She seems now like she has made a complete recovery; her breathing is normal again and she's not hacking at all. The only thing now is she's still not eating. The last few days I've gotten chicken and veggie baby food in her and I can get her to lick a few drops off her nose but nothing substantial. I've done a bit of force feeding though I don't want to do it too much cause I don't want to stress her out or make her worse. My concern is she is extremely skinny and I fear that if she doesn't start eating I'm going to lose her. Every morning I offer them salad and crickets with vits and calcium. The temps are in the appropriate ranges and my apartment is I'd say at least 75 to 80 degrees at all times so night time temps are fine too. Normally I only have on a 100 watt heat and their uv but lately because she's been sick I've also been turning on the 150 watt heat on the other end of the tank and I see her go back and forth between being under the 100 to the 150. Aidan, her tank mate is eating as healthy as a horse and getting extremely fat. He's grown so much through her not eating that he is now as big as her and is dominating her. I've considered splitting them up but that would require putting one into a 10 gal. tank and I only have the one uv light though I do have two heat lamps. But what do you guys recommend that I do? Should I continue to force feed her just let her eat when she feels like it?
Thanks,
Heimr