helping a sick cham gain weight

Zuri has lost a lot of weight in the past month or two, and is now on Fortaz injections every 3 days for the next 4-6 weeks. She seems to be doing better (more or less) and has had 3 injections so far. She hasn't had the appetite she used to (even before the meds), and is sort of off eating crickets which is their staple.

Ever since I brought home my two new jacksons, I've been stocking small amounts of different worms since they seem to gobble them up. Zuri has since taken a liking to waxworms and will eat a few of those a day. I know they're high in fat and to offer them sparingly, but Zuri is so skinny and since she needs to gain some weight could I continue to offer her those to plump her up a bit? She also likes butterworms but they have to be very small. Shes tried to eat a few of them that were a bit big and them wiggling around in her mouth while she was trying to chew freaks her out and she ends up spitting them out. I'm trying to get my hands on some phoenix worms and silks but they're hard to come by around here. She will not touch hornworms.

Rain

Rainbow Mealworms has the Phoenix worms. They just sent me mine. I ordered 200 for about $11.50. Hope she is better, soon.

Leslie11 said:

Rainbow Mealworms has the Phoenix worms. They just sent me mine. I ordered 200 for about $11.50. Hope she is better, soon.

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Thanks! Is this an online company? Do they ship to Canada?

Did you get results back from the fecal exam? Xrays?

Waxworms will help with putting back the weight but offer very little nutrition.

Carl

If you go to the Phoenix worm web site they have a link - of who does ship to Canada -
http://www.phoenixworm.com/servlet/StoreFront
My Jackson likes them even though they are small -
Have you tried getting silk worm eggs in Canada ?- I'm pretty sure mulberry trees will grow in Ontario - I think it's colder here actually- I've been having great luck with them since the spring began - though they haven't lasted long enough to make more eggs-

CarlC said:

Did you get results back from the fecal exam? Xrays?

Waxworms will help with putting back the weight but offer very little nutrition.

Carl

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Carl, the fecal results showed she has the blastocystis parasite. The vet (who owns over 40 reptiles himself) advised against treating for it at this time because of the chance of neurotoxicity. He told me that we should continue on the Fortaz injections and see how that goes, and if i want to treat the parasite later that we could, although he did advise against it. He said hes seen many reptiles with this parasite and it hasn't affected them at all.

I'm going to do a bit of research on it.

Did you talk to the vet about transmission to humans?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blastocystis