BaskingBaby
Sub-Adult Member
Today was a horribly sad day for me. Cyrus, the only baby I kept from the Kora x Diablo breeding died this morning.
I was off work yesterday, home with the animals all day and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Everyone ate well, got baths, and cages were cleaned. Cyrus was completely normal, until I found multiple piles of vomitted superworms, crickets, and salad in his cage. He was obviously not feeling well. As the day progressed, he got worse. Completely limp, eyes closing and sunken in, and a COMPLETELY BLACK beard, neck, and entire stomach. I've never seen such a black dragon....his body color was his normal bright, beautiful self, but his underside was completely jet back. Not stress marks...BLACK. I kept him warm and did what I could until work opened in the morning. (Luckily I'm a vet tech so I took him in with me first thing in the morning.)
We started him on oxygen, gave him fluids under the skin, did a quick xray, and decided to give him some baytril too. We don't treat exotics at my vet, but we did the best we could and the vets I work with were very willing to do what they could. Xray was inconclusive except for a very strange difference in his right and left lung lobes. One side was very large, where the other was deflated and smaller. We weren't sure if he aspirated something after vomitting the day before, or some fluid was in his lungs. For all we know it could have been normal, but it did look strange. At this point he was still completely limp, not moving a muscle. He would show some response when the tail/legs were pressed, but not much.
We did all we could for him. It burned my heart to see him suffer but I couldn't put a once healthy, happy 5 month old dragon to sleep just yet. He made the decision on his own instead. At about 10 this morning he gave up his fight. I still have no idea what caused this, not even the slightest clue. Everything in his enclosure was perfect, he was happy and eating and running around like his normal self all day yesterday afternoon. I've wracked my brains trying to think what could have caused this. The only thing I can come up with is he over gorged himself on food and threw up....and aspirated some. I can only hope it wasn't contagious and baby Esme won't get ill as well or I really will be beside myself. She seems a little sluggish today as well...I'm hoping it's my imagination.
It burns me up that I raised 35 healthy, gorgeous babies from Kora and Diablo and here the ONLY one I kept who was perfect in every way....didn't make it. I'm so upset....I so wish I had kept another baby from her. He was so special, the sweetest baby from the minute he hatched, and so beautiful. These are my most recent and last pictures of him :'(
And here he was as a teeny hatchling:
Sigh.....RIP little man. You were taken from us much too young at 5 only 5 months old. You will be VERY...VERY missed by many people
I was off work yesterday, home with the animals all day and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Everyone ate well, got baths, and cages were cleaned. Cyrus was completely normal, until I found multiple piles of vomitted superworms, crickets, and salad in his cage. He was obviously not feeling well. As the day progressed, he got worse. Completely limp, eyes closing and sunken in, and a COMPLETELY BLACK beard, neck, and entire stomach. I've never seen such a black dragon....his body color was his normal bright, beautiful self, but his underside was completely jet back. Not stress marks...BLACK. I kept him warm and did what I could until work opened in the morning. (Luckily I'm a vet tech so I took him in with me first thing in the morning.)
We started him on oxygen, gave him fluids under the skin, did a quick xray, and decided to give him some baytril too. We don't treat exotics at my vet, but we did the best we could and the vets I work with were very willing to do what they could. Xray was inconclusive except for a very strange difference in his right and left lung lobes. One side was very large, where the other was deflated and smaller. We weren't sure if he aspirated something after vomitting the day before, or some fluid was in his lungs. For all we know it could have been normal, but it did look strange. At this point he was still completely limp, not moving a muscle. He would show some response when the tail/legs were pressed, but not much.
We did all we could for him. It burned my heart to see him suffer but I couldn't put a once healthy, happy 5 month old dragon to sleep just yet. He made the decision on his own instead. At about 10 this morning he gave up his fight. I still have no idea what caused this, not even the slightest clue. Everything in his enclosure was perfect, he was happy and eating and running around like his normal self all day yesterday afternoon. I've wracked my brains trying to think what could have caused this. The only thing I can come up with is he over gorged himself on food and threw up....and aspirated some. I can only hope it wasn't contagious and baby Esme won't get ill as well or I really will be beside myself. She seems a little sluggish today as well...I'm hoping it's my imagination.
It burns me up that I raised 35 healthy, gorgeous babies from Kora and Diablo and here the ONLY one I kept who was perfect in every way....didn't make it. I'm so upset....I so wish I had kept another baby from her. He was so special, the sweetest baby from the minute he hatched, and so beautiful. These are my most recent and last pictures of him :'(
And here he was as a teeny hatchling:
Sigh.....RIP little man. You were taken from us much too young at 5 only 5 months old. You will be VERY...VERY missed by many people
