I need some input...

[myjoyoverflows]

We have a female that I've already posted about in the breeding area...and I'm a bit concerned about her. We were told that she's gravid...but I can't totally tell...she has a VERY thin tail, isn't eating...she overall seems unhealthy. If she IS carrying eggs, they are still very small and not obvious (I've never seen a gravid female in person, so I don't totally know what to look for...I've seen images though and it doesn't look to me like she is? Though I'm not totally sure). I noticed that she's having some swelling in her anal area...(not totally sure the technical terms here, so bear with me please). I was trying to see if she had eggs inside of her when I noticed it. Well, I lightly touched it and a whole bunch of green/white/off white slime came out (I'm assuming very runny feces)...but had a lot of liquid in it that was clear. Now, she seems to have a slight bruise in that area and it's still swollen. She doesn't seem interested in food...has yet to poop other than that one occurance. We were told that she was housed on sand before we got her...I don't know if that's important to know or not with what I've already said. We've offered her super worms, mealworms, and crickets...she has no interest. Anyway...I need to know what I can do AT HOME to help her out with what's going on with her. I would appreciate any advice for helping her AT HOME to get the swelling down, help her with eating, and hopefully get her bowels moving the way that they should. Like I said, I'm not totally sure if she's gravid or not...and I don't know a lot about her history...we've had her for a week now...and she doesn't seem to be improving...

I don't want to start a debate here...I was just wondering if there was anything I could do from home to help her out. Thanks in advance!

 

[acpart]

Hi, it's been awhile.

Here are some things you can do at home:

give her warm water soaks

see if she will lick a few drops of mineral oil off her nose to grease the works and help her poop

Look at the sticky on the forums for Marcia's slurry and see if she'll eat some

be sure to quarantine her from everyone else and to disinfect (there are threads here about this) so if she's contagious no other animals or humans get it

keep her even warmer than usual

This one is on the borderline between at home and not home but I'll include it just in case: see if there's any place that will do a fecal analysis for just the cost of the fecal (i.e. $10-15, not a full visit fee) so you know if she's got parasites.

Good luck,

Aliza

 

[JordanAng420]

I was gonna say warm water soaks too, but everything above me applies well...

Just wanted to add, if you DO end up getting the fecal analysis make sure the sample is kept in the fridge and is fresh as possible... some parasites die within an hour of being shed...

You mention she's been kept on sand. Keep that in mind. Mineral oil and Marcia's slurry can help with that, as long as it's not to far advanced.

 

[cwazy]

thanks for the replys... i did give her a warm soak tonight wich she didnt seam to mind... is there a time limit we should do for a soak? i did it for about 5 mins tonight... shes pretty swollen down there, to the point of she has buldges like a boy, it seems kind of bruised as my wife has mentioned, she is mellow and not moving much unless you are trying to handle her, then she has some spunk... plenty of energy to flip around and such... but as mentioned it was claimed that she laid eggs already, and will likely have more, i dont see anything, but i only half know what im looking at... but that area on her is deffenitly or so it would seem infected and swollen... i know a vet visit would be ideal but right now is out of the question, wich is why AT HOME was stressed... we have only had her for a week or so... so im sure she may still be adjusting, but the concern is that spot... the other one we got with her is doing great eating, pooping and the like... she on the other hand could care less and hasnt had any sort of movements yet... we have hand fed her a few mealies and had her lick some calcium, but still no movements... we can supply a pic if it would help anyone?

thanks again for the replys!!!

 

[myjoyoverflows]

I almost wonder if she DID recently lay eggs like the person told us, if perhaps she tore when she laid them because she's so small? It almost looks as though the anal area is torn a little bit, across and in a little. I'm not sure because I haven't really viewed my other females closely in that area...but could that be the cause for the swelling, lack of bowel movement, and bruising? Just throwing that out there...hopefully the soaks will help. I hate to see her not yet improving...

 

[myjoyoverflows]

Alright...we've been doing warm water soaks a few times each of the past two days...today, after her soak, I turned her over and the area that's been the issue, was very swollen...I barely touched the area and a whole bunch of puss just kinda pushed out of that area. I was kinda shocked. I took a q-tip and gently cleaned her up. The pressure from the puss caused a bigger tear than was there before (at least I'm assuming...it could have been that bad before but we weren't able to tell)....so, the puss is out, but she does have a pretty obvious tear there. The puss was a little pink, which makes sense seeing as I saw some bruising...and the area is very red and looks to be painful (at least I would think so)...we bought some mineral oil and I gave her a couple of drops a few hours ago...we also got some Neosporin and put a little bit on her cut....I'm hoping that she'll come out of this. She still has yet to poop...hasn't eaten anything...will lick calcium off my finger and water...but shows no interest in her own dishes in her tank (which could be that she's just getting used to it all still). She's pretty much been laying very low to the warm side of her tank...poor thing! I think that the soaks are really helping...and I know getting the puss out of there helped...now we just need to get her cut healed up and hopefully she'll be eating and pooping soon. Thanks for all of the advice...I feel bad for her...but I'm hopeful!!!

 

[acpart]

I'm hoping she continues to get better. It may be that if you can keep draining the pus, keep the cut clean and keep her hydrated that she'll be fine. I guess the most important thing to watch for is that the signs of infection stay local to the cut area. My doctor once told me that if the swelling etc. stay on the same part of the body, It's just a local lesion, but if signs of infection appear elsewhere on the body, it's a systemic infection and needs to be treated differently. If that does happen, I suspect there is nothing that will cure her except antibiotics. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

ALiza

 

[myjoyoverflows]

Thanks Aliza....I'll definitely keep that in mind...so far it's only in the area where the cut is...I've checked her over completely and that seems to be the only place (as of right now) that there's an issue. I think she'll be alright...will just need a little extra TLC! Thanks again so much for the advice!!!