girllovingbeardies
Member
So, my new rescue that had the hump on his back is doing much better, but I'm still having to syringe feed him & force feed him Phoenix worms. He had his vet visit last Friday, & he said that his hump was probably due to some sort of trauma like being dropped or falling of a tank ornament & not having enough calcium. He also said that with the correct care it should heal itself & looked to already be healing compared to the pictures I had shown him of when I had rescued him. He is in a 20 gallon long tank with newspaper until I can get his carpet ordered tomorrow, he has a powersun for his basking side (which goes between 90-100) & a reptisun 10.0 for his cool side (which stays between 80-90), & he only has 3 log ramps to climb on so he doesn't fall. He also has regular bowel movements & is pretty active. My only issue now is that he won't eat without me syringe feeding or force feeding him his live prey. By force feeding I mean gently opening his mouth & putting the Phoenix worms in his mouth. Once they are in his mouth, he eats them right up. I honestly think he's scared of the live prey because I've tried small crickets, small phoenix worms, & mini mealworms. The first time I gave him crickets he ate 2 then freaked out & started running from them ever since then all he does is run from them & that was over a week ago. He seems curious about the worms & watches them, but he won't go anywhere near them & if I put him by the bowl, he runs away from it. I'm wondering if there is anything else I can do to entice him to eat the worms, as I don't think he'll eat the crickets because of how scared of them he is? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks so much.
