Kermit is 5 1/2 years old...got him from PetsSmart. He's not a special breed at all.
He weighs about 800 grams and is 20.5 inches nose to tail.
He's been on repti-carpet and tiles most of his life. He's got a huge nice cage; two 160 Watt Mega Ray mercury vapor bulbs and two 10 T5 Zoo Med 24 watt lamps (inside the cage) with nice reflectors. Warm areas on either end of the cage run 102-103--cool side 87-90.
He's hand fed. Eats collard greens and dandelion greens; hornworms.
Here's the deal--he's been lethargic to the point that over the holidays I couldn't get him to walk more than a few steps. He's a bit bloated; he needs a poo; but he's not a great one to poo inside and it's too cold now to take him out (we live in Idaho). However, that didn't explain the extent of his lethargy. I gently massaged his belly anyway and he flinched. That really concerned me.
So, I called the vet this morning and my husband took him in. I told him I wanted the doc to x ray him because I really felt that something was going on.
What she finds is a large dark mass (indicating gas, she said). I'll try to upload the images in a few minutes. She also found a dark spot on a gum; so, she sent him home w some antibiotics (Baytril, I think--I'm still at work). He's had this med before--his left orbit was swollen last year and he wouldn't open the eye--so, to be on the safe side vet prescribed antibiotics and all was well.
Our vet has not seen this before and is going to send the x rays and Kermit's history to a couple of other vets with good dragon experience in the next two days and then call me. She has not seen this before and is concerned.
Fyi, our vet is not certified specialist. However, she has a great deal of experience with reptiles (and has a few). She did not take the certification exams because her practice sees very few reptiles.
Kermit did see a specialist about 2 years ago. I took him to our local vet because he seemed to be tender in the belly. She x rayed him and was concerned although the images didn't show anything. She took some fluid from his belly and it was yellow-ish. A sample was sent for cytology and no cancer was found. She recommended an ultrasound to see if that might show us what was going on. So, we took him to a vet about 3-4 hours away. The ultrasound did not reveal anything. Kermit stayed two days for observation. When we picked him up the (certified) vet said he found nothing wrong except he was overweight. He also said the fluid in his belly was like what he'd seem in aquatic animals that were overweight. My local vet told me that she disagreed: the fluid was yellow-ish and what the specialist saw in other animals was clear. She also did not think that he was overweight enough to cause the fluid she saw. And the vet was a total asshat. He was condescending and did not appear to me to have much experience with dragons.
Kermit has been screened for parasites recently and is clean.
Sooo, I'm beside myself. This little guy is my little love. I adore him. If anybody can advise me I'd really appreciate it.
Going to try to upload his x rays.
He weighs about 800 grams and is 20.5 inches nose to tail.
He's been on repti-carpet and tiles most of his life. He's got a huge nice cage; two 160 Watt Mega Ray mercury vapor bulbs and two 10 T5 Zoo Med 24 watt lamps (inside the cage) with nice reflectors. Warm areas on either end of the cage run 102-103--cool side 87-90.
He's hand fed. Eats collard greens and dandelion greens; hornworms.
Here's the deal--he's been lethargic to the point that over the holidays I couldn't get him to walk more than a few steps. He's a bit bloated; he needs a poo; but he's not a great one to poo inside and it's too cold now to take him out (we live in Idaho). However, that didn't explain the extent of his lethargy. I gently massaged his belly anyway and he flinched. That really concerned me.
So, I called the vet this morning and my husband took him in. I told him I wanted the doc to x ray him because I really felt that something was going on.
What she finds is a large dark mass (indicating gas, she said). I'll try to upload the images in a few minutes. She also found a dark spot on a gum; so, she sent him home w some antibiotics (Baytril, I think--I'm still at work). He's had this med before--his left orbit was swollen last year and he wouldn't open the eye--so, to be on the safe side vet prescribed antibiotics and all was well.
Our vet has not seen this before and is going to send the x rays and Kermit's history to a couple of other vets with good dragon experience in the next two days and then call me. She has not seen this before and is concerned.
Fyi, our vet is not certified specialist. However, she has a great deal of experience with reptiles (and has a few). She did not take the certification exams because her practice sees very few reptiles.
Kermit did see a specialist about 2 years ago. I took him to our local vet because he seemed to be tender in the belly. She x rayed him and was concerned although the images didn't show anything. She took some fluid from his belly and it was yellow-ish. A sample was sent for cytology and no cancer was found. She recommended an ultrasound to see if that might show us what was going on. So, we took him to a vet about 3-4 hours away. The ultrasound did not reveal anything. Kermit stayed two days for observation. When we picked him up the (certified) vet said he found nothing wrong except he was overweight. He also said the fluid in his belly was like what he'd seem in aquatic animals that were overweight. My local vet told me that she disagreed: the fluid was yellow-ish and what the specialist saw in other animals was clear. She also did not think that he was overweight enough to cause the fluid she saw. And the vet was a total asshat. He was condescending and did not appear to me to have much experience with dragons.
Kermit has been screened for parasites recently and is clean.
Sooo, I'm beside myself. This little guy is my little love. I adore him. If anybody can advise me I'd really appreciate it.
Going to try to upload his x rays.