Hi all,
I recently came home from being away for school for 2 years and got my 5 year old dragon back from a friend who was watching her. I did come home for some holidays and the summer so had been checking in and things seemed fine, but near the end I noticed her fat pads were sinking in pictures I was sent. My first thought was dehydration so when I got her back I gave her plenty of soaks and offered her water daily (she drinks from running tap) and she was drinking fairly heavily so I figured that was it. My friend also let me know there was an incident when Artemis jumped out of the tank for a cricket and fell about 2ft, but her legs appear fine and she is running around.
She has been resettling back with me for just over a month, but her pads are still sunk and I have now noticed hip bones. She stopped eating about 2 weeks ago -- prior to that she only ate sparingly (2 large hornworms dusted with a multivitamin and about 8 crickets with calcium total, never saw her eat veggies but she is offered dandelion greens daily with squash, and occasional fruit for treats). I have been taking her out into the sun when I can (live in a cool climate, already 10 degrees outside). Her behavior seems normal and she is basking and moving around and regularly pooping, but no eating and pads are still sunk. I haven't noticed any blood or undigested bugs in her poop, but it has been watery. I am currently saving up to get her into the vet asap but feeling anxious about what to do until I can get there (to clarify, it is not that she is not a priority, I don't have the money and the vet said it is pay up front). There is only 1 vet in my area that sees reptiles, so finding if another vet will do a payment plan is unfortunately not an option, and vets around her charge hefty fees for reptiles (I was dinged $500 for blood work for a chameleon a few years back). I did a full deep clean of her cage when I picked her up and spot clean daily.
She has a history of being, frankly, a hefty girl. I weighed her when I picked her up from my friend and she had lost about 40g from when I originally dropped her off (from around 500 to 460). At first I thought it was actually good because she was tipping the overweight scale but now I know something is wrong
Viv details:
-125 gallon, 4 x 2 x 2ft
-Reptisun 10.0 T8 with no screen over it and replaced last month
-Basking sits around 37/39 degrees, hot side 32 and cool 24. Humidity normal hangs out around 30 but this year has been abnormally wet with buckets of rain
-Her cage is in its own room kept away from our dogs.
I recently came home from being away for school for 2 years and got my 5 year old dragon back from a friend who was watching her. I did come home for some holidays and the summer so had been checking in and things seemed fine, but near the end I noticed her fat pads were sinking in pictures I was sent. My first thought was dehydration so when I got her back I gave her plenty of soaks and offered her water daily (she drinks from running tap) and she was drinking fairly heavily so I figured that was it. My friend also let me know there was an incident when Artemis jumped out of the tank for a cricket and fell about 2ft, but her legs appear fine and she is running around.
She has been resettling back with me for just over a month, but her pads are still sunk and I have now noticed hip bones. She stopped eating about 2 weeks ago -- prior to that she only ate sparingly (2 large hornworms dusted with a multivitamin and about 8 crickets with calcium total, never saw her eat veggies but she is offered dandelion greens daily with squash, and occasional fruit for treats). I have been taking her out into the sun when I can (live in a cool climate, already 10 degrees outside). Her behavior seems normal and she is basking and moving around and regularly pooping, but no eating and pads are still sunk. I haven't noticed any blood or undigested bugs in her poop, but it has been watery. I am currently saving up to get her into the vet asap but feeling anxious about what to do until I can get there (to clarify, it is not that she is not a priority, I don't have the money and the vet said it is pay up front). There is only 1 vet in my area that sees reptiles, so finding if another vet will do a payment plan is unfortunately not an option, and vets around her charge hefty fees for reptiles (I was dinged $500 for blood work for a chameleon a few years back). I did a full deep clean of her cage when I picked her up and spot clean daily.
She has a history of being, frankly, a hefty girl. I weighed her when I picked her up from my friend and she had lost about 40g from when I originally dropped her off (from around 500 to 460). At first I thought it was actually good because she was tipping the overweight scale but now I know something is wrong
Viv details:
-125 gallon, 4 x 2 x 2ft
-Reptisun 10.0 T8 with no screen over it and replaced last month
-Basking sits around 37/39 degrees, hot side 32 and cool 24. Humidity normal hangs out around 30 but this year has been abnormally wet with buckets of rain
-Her cage is in its own room kept away from our dogs.
