Is this the beginning of gout?

[Xjrosie]

Thor's left leg in the pic is swollen. He's not favoring it, but also not using it a whole lot. He was fine this morning.

Trying to get an appoint to the doc, but it was already after closing time when I noticed this.

Could this be anything else?

He eats about 10 small crickets three times a week, and I'm lucky if he eats salad 2-3 times a week. He refuses all veggies, he just eats greens. He did have two large hornworms dusted with calcium, that's how I get his calcium in him if he doesn't eat his greens.

I give him 1-2, 1mL dropperfulls of water every other day. Yesterday was the last time I gave him water. Once a week I supplement with critical care for omnivores because he's never been a big eater, even as a baby.

 

[Hazel_Basil10]

Thor's left leg in the pic is swollen. He's not favoring it, but also not using it a whole lot. He was fine this morning.

Trying to get an appoint to the doc, but it was already after closing time when I noticed this.

Could this be anything else?

He eats about 10 small crickets three times a week, and I'm lucky if he eats salad 2-3 times a week. He refuses all veggies, he just eats greens. He did have two large hornworms dusted with calcium, that's how I get his calcium in him if he doesn't eat his greens.

I give him 1-2, 1mL dropperfulls of water every other day. Yesterday was the last time I gave him water. Once a week I supplement with critical care for omnivores because he's never been a big eater, even as a baby.
View attachment 87520

Is there anything in his tank that can hurt him? Go over the setup. Is the UVB a tube or a coil? Coils are a no go. Are you using a syringe? If so, don't use it. They get their water from the veggies and fruit. What you can do is put a water bowl in there to see if he drinks out of it. If he doesn't you can give him a bath and see if he drinks it like that. But they get their water from the food they eat.

 

[KarrieRee]

Thor's left leg in the pic is swollen. He's not favoring it, but also not using it a whole lot. He was fine this morning.

Trying to get an appoint to the doc, but it was already after closing time when I noticed this.

Could this be anything else?

He eats about 10 small crickets three times a week, and I'm lucky if he eats salad 2-3 times a week. He refuses all veggies, he just eats greens. He did have two large hornworms dusted with calcium, that's how I get his calcium in him if he doesn't eat his greens.

I give him 1-2, 1mL dropperfulls of water every other day. Yesterday was the last time I gave him water. Once a week I supplement with critical care for omnivores because he's never been a big eater, even as a baby.
View attachment 87520

Blood work for uric acid level would need to be taken for gout - usually it's dubias that are the culprit for causing gout- I would start dusting your crickets w/ your supplements - do you have a hammock in the tank?

 

[Xjrosie]

Is there anything in his tank that can hurt him? Go over the setup. Is the UVB a tube or a coil? Coils are a no go. Are you using a syringe? If so, don't use it. They get their water from the veggies and fruit. What you can do is put a water bowl in there to see if he drinks out of it. If he doesn't you can give him a bath and see if he drinks it like that. But they get their water from the food they eat.

He doesn't like his water dish, other than to walk through it. He's 3, almost 4, I've had him since he was 5" long. I leave the dish in there with water because it keeps the humidity at the proper levels.

My setup is the recommended setup, with the tube and stuff. He just got upgraded to a 4x2x2 zen habitat. Uvb is directly above his basking spot inside. Probe thermometers, basking spot is around 102°, cool side is around 76°, at night the temp is 68° because that's what I keep my apartment at. His house is directly by the heat source and his house is on top of my hamsters house, so the temp is solid.

 

[Xjrosie]

Blood work for uric acid level would need to be taken for gout - usually it's dubias that are the culprit for causing gout- I would start dusting your crickets w/ your supplements - do you have a hammock in the tank?

He doesn't really like dubias, so he's only had maybe 10 in his life.

I do dust the crickets as well, since he's not a fan of greens. But since he's supposed to eat greens every day, I assume dusted crickets wouldn't be enough calcium. Crickets are also gut loaded.

My calcium has d3 in it though.

And he had a hammock until today. Literally just bought him a new hide/basking spot because I read they could get their legs stuck and get injured. I'm wondering if that happened.

The vet requires a $50 nonrefundable deposit, so I will monitor for the next couple days. I hope it's just a sprain. He just got a clean bill of health last month.

 

[Hazel_Basil10]

He doesn't really like dubias, so he's only had maybe 10 in his life.

I do dust the crickets as well, since he's not a fan of greens. But since he's supposed to eat greens every day, I assume dusted crickets wouldn't be enough calcium. Crickets are also gut loaded.

My calcium has d3 in it though.

And he had a hammock until today. Literally just bought him a new hide/basking spot because I read they could get their legs stuck and get injured. I'm wondering if that happened.

The vet requires a $50 nonrefundable deposit, so I will monitor for the next couple days. I hope it's just a sprain. He just got a clean bill of health last month.

It depends on the hammock. If it has big enough holes, then they can get their feet and hands stuck.

 

[Xjrosie]

This is his setup. And this is the hammock I took out.

 

[KarrieRee]

This is his setup. And this is the hammock I took out.
View attachment 87521 View attachment 87522

Yep.those are good for causing sprains- see if his leg heals up- I am thinking that's what happened

 

[Xjrosie]

Well, he decided MY bed is his bed tonight, so he's laying next to me. I went to manipulate his leg a little just to see, and it's still pretty strong. So I think he can use his leg but doesn't want to, which points toward small injury to me.

 

[Hazel_Basil10]

This is his setup. And this is the hammock I took out.
View attachment 87521 View attachment 87522

Yep that'll definitely cause that. Maybe that's what caused his leg to be swollen.

 

[CooperDragon]

That doesn't look like cases of gout I've seen, in which the swelling appears more concentrated around joints and fingers/toes. It's possibly a sprain as mentioned, but it could also be (best case) just that the leg is swelling up during the onset of a shed. Sometimes they'll have an arm or leg swell up like that to help a shed along and then it reduces back to normal size after the shed loosens.

 

[Xjrosie]

That doesn't look like cases of gout I've seen, in which the swelling appears more concentrated around joints and fingers/toes. It's possibly a sprain as mentioned, but it could also be (best case) just that the leg is swelling up during the onset of a shed. Sometimes they'll have an arm or leg swell up like that to help a shed along and then it reduces back to normal size after the shed loosens.

Well he needs to fricken not do that! I'm a "prepare for the worst, hope for the best" kind of person, so I was searching most of the night to eliminate all other causes.

I tried to offer him a hornworm today, and he just looked at me. But his lights had only been on for about 45 minutes, so he might not have been warm enough yet. And he doesn't want to sit on his basking spot, he keeps putting himself back down on the ground.

He did a really healthy poop this morning, so....

 

[Hazel_Basil10]

Well he needs to fricken not do that! I'm a "prepare for the worst, hope for the best" kind of person, so I was searching most of the night to eliminate all other causes.

I tried to offer him a hornworm today, and he just looked at me. But his lights had only been on for about 45 minutes, so he might not have been warm enough yet. And he doesn't want to sit on his basking spot, he keeps putting himself back down on the ground.

He did a really healthy poop this morning, so.... View attachment 87531

As mentioned before, it could've been a sprain from the hammock. His poop looks good.

That doesn't look like cases of gout I've seen, in which the swelling appears more concentrated around joints and fingers/toes. It's possibly a sprain as mentioned, but it could also be (best case) just that the leg is swelling up during the onset of a shed. Sometimes they'll have an arm or leg swell up like that to help a shed along and then it reduces back to normal size after the shed loosens.

I did not know they can do that! That's really cool!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am thinking, that he has most likely caught it in the hammock & strained his leg because it looks limp
similar to what an injury would be.
Let us know how he is doing, hopefully he can have a full recovery!

Tracie

 

[Xjrosie]

Just an update.

Thor's leg isn't worse, and his other legs still have no symptoms. His appetite is fine, he's actually eating greens every day, which I'm super happy about. I'm gonna see how he does when I give him crickets tomorrow. I'm gonna shake them in my Cricket duster with some calcium to stun them, maybe he won't have to chase too many.

He was kind of, not flinching, not pulling away, but just shifting his leg away from me when I touched it the other day, and today, he didn't care.

Still monitoring. When I see swelling go down, I'll stop worrying. Is there anything I can do to help him without the vet costs?