Hi everyone,
My name is Debs and I would appreciate some advice. Not looking for actual medical advice but more a... what would you do in this situation?
I have inherited a 4-5 month old female who... she's not right. It seems like she actually can't see as she doesn't hunt and is often blindly looking for something to hold on to or just not at all looking at where she's going as she will just walk right into the side of her tank (she's currently in a wooden/glass viv with a mesh top - I have a full mesh cage on order to arrive tomorrow). Even if you hold food right in front of her, she won't take it, I'm having to gently open her mouth and then actually put the cricket in at which point, she will eat. With water, I have a syringe that I use to put a drop on her lips, and she then drinks as much as she wants to but she is still quite dehydrated. I'm misting the tank a lot but she just... she just doesn't seem to know how or have the want to actually feed and water herself. Just to give you as much info as possible, and this isn't going to be well worded so forgive me, but today I did notice that she had finally taken the biggest poop which clearly showed the level of dehydration. So thankfully, it looks like things are all working there.
On the flip side though, today, it seemed like at times, she was able to see. I approached her tank earlier and she opened her eye when I did and showed me some dark spots. She was mad at me about the previous feeding. I've had her for about a week and that was the first time she had actually gone dark, (she's usually just pale green with some whitey yellowy bits) and I feel like this can't be a coincidence. There are other times when I'm sure she is looking at me or her surroundings, her eyes are perfectly formed... there's no sign of physical damage to either of her eyes.
In herself usually, she's a chilled and happy little thing. She is really happy to be handled, doesn't hiss or try to bite, even when stressed, can actually move around quite well and is just thoroughly lovely. I'm actually surprised she's still surviving. I am going to get her to the vets as soon as I can to get their advice but I kind of wondered if anyone else had experienced anything like this and just get your opinions on the situation. I'm trying not to let my emotions get in the way of deciding what's best for her. Obviously I want her to survive and I am more than willing to put in the time and effort to help her do so... but knowing how they can be, is it actually right to put her in that position where I am going to have to handle her several times a day, maybe for the rest of her life, to make her eat when it's clearly an unpleasant activity for her and could potentially end up causing more damage? Drinking isn't so much of a drama but with a full time job, I'm only gonna be around in the evening to hydrate her and I'm worried that's not enough. I don't want to hurt her or make her sad, I really don't, but I am so reluctant to have her put to sleep when she's so active and happy most of the time. This post may seem callous but I just want the best for this little creature so if anyone has any thoughts, I would really appreciate hearing them.
Thank you for your time and sorry that my first post is about a fairly horrible subject!
My name is Debs and I would appreciate some advice. Not looking for actual medical advice but more a... what would you do in this situation?
I have inherited a 4-5 month old female who... she's not right. It seems like she actually can't see as she doesn't hunt and is often blindly looking for something to hold on to or just not at all looking at where she's going as she will just walk right into the side of her tank (she's currently in a wooden/glass viv with a mesh top - I have a full mesh cage on order to arrive tomorrow). Even if you hold food right in front of her, she won't take it, I'm having to gently open her mouth and then actually put the cricket in at which point, she will eat. With water, I have a syringe that I use to put a drop on her lips, and she then drinks as much as she wants to but she is still quite dehydrated. I'm misting the tank a lot but she just... she just doesn't seem to know how or have the want to actually feed and water herself. Just to give you as much info as possible, and this isn't going to be well worded so forgive me, but today I did notice that she had finally taken the biggest poop which clearly showed the level of dehydration. So thankfully, it looks like things are all working there.
On the flip side though, today, it seemed like at times, she was able to see. I approached her tank earlier and she opened her eye when I did and showed me some dark spots. She was mad at me about the previous feeding. I've had her for about a week and that was the first time she had actually gone dark, (she's usually just pale green with some whitey yellowy bits) and I feel like this can't be a coincidence. There are other times when I'm sure she is looking at me or her surroundings, her eyes are perfectly formed... there's no sign of physical damage to either of her eyes.
In herself usually, she's a chilled and happy little thing. She is really happy to be handled, doesn't hiss or try to bite, even when stressed, can actually move around quite well and is just thoroughly lovely. I'm actually surprised she's still surviving. I am going to get her to the vets as soon as I can to get their advice but I kind of wondered if anyone else had experienced anything like this and just get your opinions on the situation. I'm trying not to let my emotions get in the way of deciding what's best for her. Obviously I want her to survive and I am more than willing to put in the time and effort to help her do so... but knowing how they can be, is it actually right to put her in that position where I am going to have to handle her several times a day, maybe for the rest of her life, to make her eat when it's clearly an unpleasant activity for her and could potentially end up causing more damage? Drinking isn't so much of a drama but with a full time job, I'm only gonna be around in the evening to hydrate her and I'm worried that's not enough. I don't want to hurt her or make her sad, I really don't, but I am so reluctant to have her put to sleep when she's so active and happy most of the time. This post may seem callous but I just want the best for this little creature so if anyone has any thoughts, I would really appreciate hearing them.
Thank you for your time and sorry that my first post is about a fairly horrible subject!
