ChanellesReptar
Member
Hello everyone. Big warning to a long and in depth post ahead:
My Baby’s name is RepTaR. He’s roughly 6 years old. He has been very ill beginning (noticeably) at the start of this year. He’s in a 40ga tank and he has two heating pads, a heating rock, and a ceramic heat build for temp control. (His exact temps haven’t been measured) His whole life he had the walnut shell substrate, which never seemed to cause him any visible problems, though I am aware that it’s not the best choice. In addition he has the higher potency repri-sun bulb (the really long skinny one) that I just changed in January. Prior to that I dint think that his bulb had been changed in at least a year. His diet consisted of mainly bugs because he honestly shows very little interest in veggies. He used to love bokchoy and raspberries but over time has become particular to bugs. (Yes we tried varying it up with the fruits and veggies but after a bite or two he’d mind his own business). I made sure to dust his critters with calcium frequently, like every time I feed him, which average I fed him every other day and dusted his critters with the multi vitamin and calcium every other feeding.
Anyways, our concern for his health started when I woke up and found him laying on his back in his tank. He was alive, beard and chest and arms black with agitation, but responsive. immediately I corrected him, cleaned him up and he seemed fine. A couple days later I noticed the same thing had occurred, this time I was able to catch it sooner so he wasn’t as agitated. Thinking that he fell off his log I brushed it off, until it happened again within a couple days. This time I watched it happen. He was trying to maneuver between his two logs and had to slant himself to get between them. He got through, but instead of just going back onto his stomach (which angle wise would have been quite easier) he flopped onto his back again. Big red flag.
His appetite had decreased but not a concerning amount heading into winter, which I assumed was just seasonal giving that last year he had gone into a 2 month long brumation (of which after he emerged from he didn’t have interest in food for about 2 more months)
Upon his last flop over I began researching his symptoms. Of course MBD was the first assumption lining up with his symptoms. He is also twitchy, specifically in his abdomen. But in his movements in general, quite shakey. I scheduled him an appointment and was sent on my way with liquid calcium, put on a 7 day regimen 3times daily. After the fourth day I noticed that the liquid calcium was SEVERELY bloating him, and agitating him even more. With that he twitched more violently in his abdomen. In the mean time he’s had bowel movements EVERY DAY, if not twice a day, and he is still having them. They’re more urates now than actual fecal matter but he’s still going. So back to the vet he went
Now, After my first visit to the vet I made sure to change out his substrate and bought these desert gravel mats in its place. The result of changing that created more problems. We noticed then that he had serious difficulty getting around. Tripping on himself, stumbling and using his head to pick himself back up along with the shakiness and twitches that I discribed before. Originally with the substrate in his tank I assumed he was just slipping on it. But with the gravel mat it became very apparent that that’s not the case.
So at the second visit to the vet, our dr seemed pretty stumped that the liquid calcium was bloating him as much as it was, he was farting and everything and clearly bloated. As a result we xrayed him and did bloodwork. The xrays revealed that his bones are infact in incredible shape, which is baffling because aside from the bloating every symptom he has is MBD. His X-ray however did reveal some sort of gastrointestinal mass, that on X-ray is very dark in color, not light like an impaction would look. His bloodwork came back with a very high white blood cell count and serious anemia which according to my vet signifies infection. No sign of the specific Cells that would signify lymphoma or leukemia, at the time. (That was roughly 3 weeks ago) The weird thing is that his kidney and liver functions are completely normal and healthy. So we began him on antibiotics, piperacillin/tazobactum .2cc injected into his arm once a day for 14 days. In the mean time he still had shown zero interest in food since before I originally brought him to the vet. I raised concern about it about 11 days into treatment and we scheduled another recheck with the other herp vet about 3 days after his prescription ran out. Upon his recheck she also seems stumped. Right now ADV is on the table because of his clear neurological difficulties but we are questioning if ADV is the main cause of inflammation or secondary to another infection, or even worse, the C word. ?
As far as his mobility he’s still wonky when getting around, trips on himself, my husband and I thought he’s shown improvement Upon antibiotic treatment but his lack of interest in food is worrisome. I’ve been soaking him everyday, or twice a day, and he still drinks water, and still pooping everyday or more. Upon the latest visit to the vet we had him tube fed. Of which he threw it up the next morning
. And threw up a little bit more the following day (which was yesterday feb 19). He’s still pooping about 2times a day but it’s not much. As far as energy it’s been very low since about last Thursday (feb 13, which was about when his original prescription of antibiotics ran out. He seems particularly exhausted after a bowel movement And naps in my arms, and well definitely exhausted after vomiting. He’s been back on his antibiotics now for two days and the dr is having me drip one drop of vitamin a onto his head daily. He has not thrown up since yesterday I think he got out what we had tube fed him.
I guess by posting this I am trying to reach out to ANYONE who has experienced these symptoms before or anything similar, they’re a very wide variety and I’m very worried that I’m going to lose him. I got rid of the gravel mats and switched to just newspaper with towels so that he’s comfortable and can get around easier. In addition I’m continuing to soak him and cuddle him every day, every chance I get and after his vomiting I bought and installed a puppy surveillance system so that I can monitor him while I’m not at home. Really just asking for any other opinions. It’s clear he has a GI mass that’s blocking his ability to eat. He hasn’t lost much WEIGHT during this time but he certainly has lost muscle mass in his extremities.
With high hopes that someone is able to help, or shed light on his condition,
Repti-mom Chanelle
My Baby’s name is RepTaR. He’s roughly 6 years old. He has been very ill beginning (noticeably) at the start of this year. He’s in a 40ga tank and he has two heating pads, a heating rock, and a ceramic heat build for temp control. (His exact temps haven’t been measured) His whole life he had the walnut shell substrate, which never seemed to cause him any visible problems, though I am aware that it’s not the best choice. In addition he has the higher potency repri-sun bulb (the really long skinny one) that I just changed in January. Prior to that I dint think that his bulb had been changed in at least a year. His diet consisted of mainly bugs because he honestly shows very little interest in veggies. He used to love bokchoy and raspberries but over time has become particular to bugs. (Yes we tried varying it up with the fruits and veggies but after a bite or two he’d mind his own business). I made sure to dust his critters with calcium frequently, like every time I feed him, which average I fed him every other day and dusted his critters with the multi vitamin and calcium every other feeding.
Anyways, our concern for his health started when I woke up and found him laying on his back in his tank. He was alive, beard and chest and arms black with agitation, but responsive. immediately I corrected him, cleaned him up and he seemed fine. A couple days later I noticed the same thing had occurred, this time I was able to catch it sooner so he wasn’t as agitated. Thinking that he fell off his log I brushed it off, until it happened again within a couple days. This time I watched it happen. He was trying to maneuver between his two logs and had to slant himself to get between them. He got through, but instead of just going back onto his stomach (which angle wise would have been quite easier) he flopped onto his back again. Big red flag.
His appetite had decreased but not a concerning amount heading into winter, which I assumed was just seasonal giving that last year he had gone into a 2 month long brumation (of which after he emerged from he didn’t have interest in food for about 2 more months)
Upon his last flop over I began researching his symptoms. Of course MBD was the first assumption lining up with his symptoms. He is also twitchy, specifically in his abdomen. But in his movements in general, quite shakey. I scheduled him an appointment and was sent on my way with liquid calcium, put on a 7 day regimen 3times daily. After the fourth day I noticed that the liquid calcium was SEVERELY bloating him, and agitating him even more. With that he twitched more violently in his abdomen. In the mean time he’s had bowel movements EVERY DAY, if not twice a day, and he is still having them. They’re more urates now than actual fecal matter but he’s still going. So back to the vet he went
Now, After my first visit to the vet I made sure to change out his substrate and bought these desert gravel mats in its place. The result of changing that created more problems. We noticed then that he had serious difficulty getting around. Tripping on himself, stumbling and using his head to pick himself back up along with the shakiness and twitches that I discribed before. Originally with the substrate in his tank I assumed he was just slipping on it. But with the gravel mat it became very apparent that that’s not the case.
So at the second visit to the vet, our dr seemed pretty stumped that the liquid calcium was bloating him as much as it was, he was farting and everything and clearly bloated. As a result we xrayed him and did bloodwork. The xrays revealed that his bones are infact in incredible shape, which is baffling because aside from the bloating every symptom he has is MBD. His X-ray however did reveal some sort of gastrointestinal mass, that on X-ray is very dark in color, not light like an impaction would look. His bloodwork came back with a very high white blood cell count and serious anemia which according to my vet signifies infection. No sign of the specific Cells that would signify lymphoma or leukemia, at the time. (That was roughly 3 weeks ago) The weird thing is that his kidney and liver functions are completely normal and healthy. So we began him on antibiotics, piperacillin/tazobactum .2cc injected into his arm once a day for 14 days. In the mean time he still had shown zero interest in food since before I originally brought him to the vet. I raised concern about it about 11 days into treatment and we scheduled another recheck with the other herp vet about 3 days after his prescription ran out. Upon his recheck she also seems stumped. Right now ADV is on the table because of his clear neurological difficulties but we are questioning if ADV is the main cause of inflammation or secondary to another infection, or even worse, the C word. ?
As far as his mobility he’s still wonky when getting around, trips on himself, my husband and I thought he’s shown improvement Upon antibiotic treatment but his lack of interest in food is worrisome. I’ve been soaking him everyday, or twice a day, and he still drinks water, and still pooping everyday or more. Upon the latest visit to the vet we had him tube fed. Of which he threw it up the next morning
. And threw up a little bit more the following day (which was yesterday feb 19). He’s still pooping about 2times a day but it’s not much. As far as energy it’s been very low since about last Thursday (feb 13, which was about when his original prescription of antibiotics ran out. He seems particularly exhausted after a bowel movement And naps in my arms, and well definitely exhausted after vomiting. He’s been back on his antibiotics now for two days and the dr is having me drip one drop of vitamin a onto his head daily. He has not thrown up since yesterday I think he got out what we had tube fed him. I guess by posting this I am trying to reach out to ANYONE who has experienced these symptoms before or anything similar, they’re a very wide variety and I’m very worried that I’m going to lose him. I got rid of the gravel mats and switched to just newspaper with towels so that he’s comfortable and can get around easier. In addition I’m continuing to soak him and cuddle him every day, every chance I get and after his vomiting I bought and installed a puppy surveillance system so that I can monitor him while I’m not at home. Really just asking for any other opinions. It’s clear he has a GI mass that’s blocking his ability to eat. He hasn’t lost much WEIGHT during this time but he certainly has lost muscle mass in his extremities.
With high hopes that someone is able to help, or shed light on his condition,
Repti-mom Chanelle
