Juvie beardie won't eat, faint pink in yesterday's poop

[earlmcbrian]

Hiya, I've been a bit worried for my little Oliver (Ollie) for a few days now.
For the last about 4-5 days Ollie hasn't been eating so well, but I just figured maybe he's lost a bit of his appetite due to shedding. He usually eats 12-18 crickets per feeding, twice a day, but that has dropped to maybe 2-4 twice a day. Yesterday while trying to feed him some crickets, he jumped off and pooped; I noticed he had a bit of trouble pushing this one out, and there was a bit of pink (blood I assume) at the end of it with his uric acid. Previous poop was a bit runny, and then he didn't poop again until earlier today, which seems to be a nice solid (albeit smaller than usual) poop.

Today I've gotten him to eat maybe 3 crickets and a hornworm. He usually jumps at hornworms instantly but today I had to wiggle it in front of his face, then set it down in front of him before he would eat it. He's still active and feisty as usual, but just seems to have absolutely no interest in eating anymore.butWhat should I do? I'm planning on a vet trip since I haven't actually taken him to see one yet since I got him (just under 2 months ago), and the pink uric acid is pretty concerning.

Lighting: 100w zoo med heat bulb, 10.0 reptisun uvb, 105-115F varies depending on where he is on his basking area
Substrate: paper towels
Food: gut loaded crickets, hornworms 1-2x a week, calcium dusted, liquid multivitamins 5-6x a week. collard greens and dandelion greens. water dish since he's a smart little bugger and will ask for water if he's thirsty.
Baths: daily or every other day
Ollie's about 11 inches long, I guesstimate him to be about 4ish months (when I got him petsmart estimated 2-3months old)

Ollie chillin' on his basking branch right now

Small pink discharge with his uric acid

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

What brand of liquid vitamins are you using?
For vitamins, we recommend using them only 1 to 2 times per week, max. That could be causing the pinkish discharge possibly in his urates.
Have you fed anything pink or red in color such as a type of fruit or juice?
Your setup sounds good, you could actually lower the basking to a range of 95-110 from the 115. Do you use a temp gun or digital probe to measure the temperatures? You are using the Reptisun 10 tube bulb, correct? How far is he from it?

Ollie looks healthy & of good weight also. Are his stools really runny or overly smelly?

Tracie

 

[earlmcbrian]

Tracie,

I'm using Fluker's Liquid Vitamin. I'll definitely keep in mind about the 1-2x/wk thing, I thought I read somewhere that juvies usually needed their vitamins more often so thanks for the heads up!

I've not fed him any fruits or juices that are red/pink in color.

I'm using a digital probe to measure the temperatures. The uvb light is the 10.0 tube bulb, and he's can get as close as 5ish-7ish inches depending where he is on the basking area.

His poops have been pretty smelly from day 1, although I just kinda figured that a diet of crickets probably doesn't lead to nice smelling poop.

Thanks!

 

[earlmcbrian]

Update: Ollie's still as feisty and energetic as ever but has refused to eat or drink anything today. It's probably been 6 days of barely to no eating now. He only seems to be interested in hornworms and I'm not sure if I should give him another one (he had two yesterday, I don't want to make him have diarrhea or anything). Poops are looking fine again as well. What should I do to get something in him?

Vet's not open until tomorrow so I can't give them a call.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

What color are the vitamins you are giving him?
I would cut back on the frequency for a week or two just to see if that helps out for him.
You can get some baby food such as chicken or turkey, mixed with squash or sweet potato baby food to give to him. You can use a plastic dropper or syringe to drop food onto his nose to see if will lick that off.
Did you get the temps down to 110 or under to be sure he isn't getting too hot?
They can sometimes change their eating preferences throughout their lifetime for some reason.
The hornworms do tend to give a looser stool but should be fine if that is what he wants to eat right now. He wont eat any other insects?

Tracie

 

[earlmcbrian]

The vitamins are a yellow liquid that comes in a dropper bottle.
I've gotten the temps to about 103 in a large section of his basking spot, but he seems to prefer the hotter area.

His poop came with a spot of bright red today (not as clear in this picture since I just took it a couple hours later):

The one reptile vet in the area is away for the month and the animal hospital an hour away threw me to voicemail so I'm pretty much stuck on that front right now.

I'm about to go out and get him some more hornworms (he ate my last one earlier, calcium dusted), and I'm thinking maybe some very small superworms (I know they should only eat those when a bit bigger but I want to explore what he will eat right now). I ordered some BSFL but they won't be here until mid-next week so I'm hoping he'll keep up his worm-only appetite until then at least. He's completely ignoring crickets now and his veggies. I'll go pick up some baby food while I'm at it.


UPDATE: Got him some butterworms, hornworms, baby food and something called zilla jumpstart. He completely ignored the worms, but ate a bit of the jumpstart and and baby food. At first he was super excited to eat the jumpstart and baby food, lapped up a few drops of each, then lost interest again. I dabbed some on his face but after awhile he stopped licking it off. He then jumped onto his hammock and passed some very liquidy urates, but no poop. A very small amount of pink was with it (3 little hammock squares worth). He's still incredibly active and energetic.

UPDATE 2: Just got him to eat 4 calcium dusted butterworms!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

The image didn't show up here.
That's ok though. So the zilla worked out for him today with the baby food?
That is great he ate some dusted butterworms for you. The small superworms are fine if he digests them well.
Since he has had a little bit of trouble going to the bathroom, he could be dehydrated, or possibly low in calcium, or have worms/parasites, too. If there seems to be any blood possibly, he could have worms or parasites present. You could get a fecal done to be sure though, since his stools are a bit runny. Are his urates hard too?
Let us know how Ollie is doing.

Tracie

 

[earlmcbrian]

Ollie's completely refusing to eat anything today. Noticed he just pooped recently, but there's almost no poop, just some liquidy urates and some more pink along with it. He's lost a lot of weight in his limbs and a bit in his body as well now.

It's been over a week of barely/not eating and three days of blood/pink. I'll see if the animal hospital is open for emergency tomorrow and just take him there, since I've pretty much no other choice when it comes to a reptile vet now and I'm can't just sit around and wait anymore. :?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is Ollie doing today?
I do think he should have a fecal done. It is sounding like possible parasite issues.
Do you have a water dish in the tank with him or not?
How are his colors, does he have a black beard too?
Since he has lost weight, a fecal is a good idea. Do you have any probiotics such as non dairy yogurt or non dairy acidophiliz to use for him to help his tummy?

Let us know how the vet visit goes.

Tracie

 

[earlmcbrian]

If I bring a couple days old poop (he hasn't pooped today) to the emergency, can they still do a fecal on that?

He does have a water dish in his tank, his colors are normal with no black bearding. I don't have any probiotics at home sadly.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Maybe go ahead & take the water dish out in case he can reinfect himself through dirty water.
How often do you change the water?
I am glad he isn't black bearding then.
The older stool wouldn't be as effective, no for a fecal. If you can get him to eat anything, hopefully you will be able to get a sample from him.
If you can get some non dairy soy yogurt to help him out, at the grocery store.

Tracie

 

[earlmcbrian]

Ollie tested positive for a whooooole lot of coccidia. It was actually the vet's day off today so I'm incredibly glad they agreed to come take a look at him.

I got some medication for him, and the vet also sent me off with some critical care and carnivore care packets to mix and syringe feed him along with his medicine.

I'm thinking the crickets I bought from a local pet store may be the source of the parasites. I've dumped out all the insects and bleach cleaned everything they and Ollie have touched, and bought some crickets from petsmart again since they seemed to have been fine when I was using them for the last month and a half. Hopefully he'll be healthy and back to normal again within a few weeks

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor Ollie! Well at least you got him in for a fecal. The coccidia must have been a heavy load then.
What meds did he get, Albon or Toltrazuril/Ponazuril?
The crickets can carry parasites but usually more pinworms than anything. What foods do you feed the crickets?
Did you take the water dish out of his tank too?
The critical care & carnivore care both will help him out a lot. Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[earlmcbrian]

He got something called sulfatrim, and I'm supposed to be giving him 0.15mL of it over the next few weeks.

The crickets were on commercial cricket food and calcium water cubes, but I've since gotten rid of all the crickets and replaced them with new ones. My shipment of phoenix worms also came in today and he managed to eat one, so I'm pretty happy about that!

The little guy isn't happy that I have to pry his mouth open 3 times a day to feed him (accidentally got bit the first time!), but he's looking a lot better and his limbs are shedding right now

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is great he is doing some shedding right now. I am sure he doesn't care for getting his mouth open to get his meds.
The sulfatrim is a commonly prescribed drug. That is a pretty conservative amount so he should be fine. Are you giving any probiotics also?
So he liked the phoenix worms then, how many did he eat? I hope he is feeling a lot better now.

Tracie