Trioceros cristatus Update

These animals have been with me a little over a week now and I thought I should post an update.
The male is a rock star! He is eating and drinking and over all looks fantastic.
He seems to be enjoying having the enclosure all to himself and I have decided to keep it this way.
The female has been having some trouble.
Her right eye has been irritated and I have been treating it with Gentamicin since Saturday with some slightly positive results.
She is eating and drinking but just today I heard a wheezing sound from her. Her mouth is not open and I have not been able to determine if there is an excessive amount of saliva or mucous ... she is going to see the vet in the morning .... maybe ....
She is gravid and started digging today.
If she is successful laying these eggs and I feel she could handle the visit we will go.
It's a fine line with these WC animals and I don't want to add too much stress to her acclimation period.
She is a really nice animal and pretty dang resilient but we need to get her moving in a positive direction.
I would appreciate any thoughts or advice. Again, she is eating which is very reassuring.
I will update again after our appointment time tomorrow (whether we go or not)

edit: she is currently being housed in a well planted (small) sterilite enclosure with about 8" of substrate.
-Brad

Brad,why the sterilite enclosure? She may need more air circulation if she is not getting it. I would still take her to the vet. Keep her in her enclosure when you take her to keep her stress levels down. I know you recently got them,so she has moved around alot lately. Good luck with her. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks Chuck.
The enclosure has sections cut out of it with screen installed.
It was the fastest way to separate the pair and give her a situation where she could lay and be isolated for observation.

-Brad

Sounds like your doing a great job Brad, and you are that male is gorgeous, keep us updated on her condition and good luck with the eggs and future little guys!!

She did not continue with her digging today and did not lay her eggs.
We will see the vet in the morning.

-Brad

Good luck, I hope everything will be ok

hi ,
have you got some pictures of your gravid female?
my female was after 2 month as fat that i thought she ´ll lay every day.
but she laid after about 3,5 - 4 months.
Cristatus needs water water water and at least water. Try to give her water by a dripper . my pair were also WC and i ve kept them at first in a very small well plant viv. dont give them too much heating , speacially at night and dont use to much bright lights.

i hope my english is good enought that you understand anything ;-)

regards
Patrick

I hope all goes well with the little girl for you.

Any news yet Brad? I sure hope things turn out well with that little gal.

Good job keep it up

The vet thinks she looks pretty good.
Due to the fact that she is gravid she did not want to treat her with anything systemic.
There is really no mucous in her mouth, she does make the occasional wheezing sound but she is eating and drinking and her grip is strong.
She goes down to the bottom of her current enclosure from time to time and messes around with the substrate but no commitment to digging yet.
More and more she is opening her right eye.
The treatment for the next couple of days will be to continue to treat the eye with Gentamicin and to twice a day drop a small amount into her nostrils.
There was no foreign object in, or lesion on her eye.
She continues to improve, albeit slowly.

-Brad

That sounds like good news at least. Improvement of any kind is always welcomed. Good luck and I hope she lays for your sake soon. That will take away some undue stress.

trioceros said:

hi ,
have you got some pictures of your gravid female?
my female was after 2 month as fat that i thought she ´ll lay every day.
but she laid after about 3,5 - 4 months.
Cristatus needs water water water and at least water. Try to give her water by a dripper . my pair were also WC and i ve kept them at first in a very small well plant viv. dont give them too much heating , speacially at night and dont use to much bright lights.

i hope my english is good enought that you understand anything ;-)

regards
Patrick

Click to expand...

Patrick

Thank you.
How are you keeping yours now?
I am aware of the long gestation period ... no idea when she was impregnated though (obviously)

-Brad

Brad, I'm glad that things are getting better.
keep up the good work, I'm sure in time she'll be fine.

best of luck,
Harry

It's important to note in this thread that the situation I am currently dealing with is something you could expect with any WC animal.
This pair was requested by me and cherry picked (they were the best two available).
The female was thin but not showing any of these symptoms at the time they were shipped to me.
This (infection?) could very well have been underlying and the stresses of being imported and then shipped again, not to mention her current gravid condition may have allowed it to surface.
I am strongly suspect now that the eye issue was where this problem was able to get an initial foothold.
I am very happy with these animals and very optimistic that I will be able to acclimate this female successfully.

-Brad

Sounds good Brad, glad the vet visit went well, We all had our fingers crossed for you. It does sound like your doing everything right and I expect her to have no issues making a full recovery. Greatest of luck to you and your new family members.

-DAve

Hi,

at first i kept them seperate in a small viv. so i ve been sure that they eat and drink enough. for my happynes they both are drinking from hand since the first day.
my WC quadricornis were also kept in small vivs the first 3 weeks.

now i keep the crisitatus pair together in one viv , only during the gestation period i devited them. i ll post a picture of my viv. 3 weeks after my female layed her eggs i ve put them together again and the male is trying to pair again. i keep them with very low temperature at day with a few degrees drop at night. with high humidy

Patrick, wowwwwwww. Awesome cage for Cresties. How much of the height do they use? Have you thought about keeping quads or montiums in there also?






Brad, I'm really glad you got these guys. Looks like you're not a hot, lowland guy afterall, eh? I'm sure with some attention that girl will turn around in no time.

DANG! id love to build something like that to house quads in, how do you handle your drainage?

id love to see some kind of assembly/build guide to that enclosure.. or something..

also, GL with her brad, im sure she will bounce back

This is not an easy species to keep and I wish you every success, Brad!