Hey guys ! So I went on a business trip for almost a month & I had left someone in charge of my beardies that I trusted because she had reptiles too , when I come back one of my beardies Zella died she was a orange leatherback the saddest part is I saw her take her last breaths, I don’t know what happened to her she kept opening her mouth for a second & then it would close back half way and it look like she had black puffy under eyes, I can’t figure out what happened & it was too late to take her to a vet. My care taker explained to me what she did while I was gone & it seemed to me like she did everything right but she did mention shaking out some crickets that managed to get inside a tree deco. & they were all alive & Zella ran after them before her getting sick , im so confused. Does anyone know what could have gone wrong?
I'm sorry to hear this. If the caretaker's routine sounded normal then it may have been something sudden like a stroke or heart attack perhaps. It's not necessarily something that was done or preventable. It's hard to say without a necropsy, but I'd guess it was just a natural problem/bad luck. =(
I am sorry this happened to your girl, Zella. Since she was a leatherback, they are from
somewhat inbred stock, which unfortunately does affect their long term health. It sounds like
everything was correct. I don't think the crickets are the cause though, but just bad rotten luck.