Health Check- Gout? Could someone take a look (6 big pics)

[Franquixote]

He has UVB- Arcadia 12%, 1 bulb apprx. 5 months old
gets D3 1X oer week
gets calcium on 1 feeding 5X per week (no D)
Eats orange heads, dubia, crickets, hornworms, waxworms as staples
All gut loaded with variety of stuff- Andee said my Mazuri chow I have been using as gut load (not only thing they get but maybe 25% of bug diet) is too high in protein.
Concerned now.
He moves fine, is very chubby, but I need to put a drip system in- he has automatic mister 4-5X per day for 30 seconds but who knows how much he drinks. I hand mist several times per day, some days he guzzles water other days could care less.

 

[nightanole]

He looks pleasantly plump, but i see no unusual swelling or lumps. If you got the cash, you can always have the vet draw blood and look for elevated uric acid levels.

Mazuri chow for roaches is for some reason 24%, which is pretty high (but not for crickets). Since its not the sole food source for the roaches, they shouldnt be storing excess protein as uric acid. You can always just use the Mazuri chow mixed in with other gut loads that do not have protein ,and get the levels down to cricket crack levels. Cricket crack has the highest protein content allowed before it starts to cause dubia die offs.

 

[Franquixote]

I have the cash, but it's 12 degrees out and the stress of that trip would probably outweigh the benefits unless there are clear signs of distress.
I think that a dripper and a decrease in feeding as well as lowering the Mazuri even more will be the best thing to do unless I get responses that suggest otherwise.
It's a bit of a letdown because the Mazuri has speeded up the growth of the dubia and orange heads a whole lot.
I read that sequestering feeders for a few days on veggie only is a possible way to get the best of both worlds, but I have to draw the line somewhere on the amount of time I put into all this- I keep fish and other stuff as well and they have been lacking a bit of attention for the last few months.
I guess once he is full grown I can cut back on feeding, right?

 

[Andee]

I feed around 18% all vegetation protein for my roaches, sometimes an increase to 19-20% for increase in breeding or growth rate. But the increase doesn't need to be much. You said the food had animal protein. Which is different then vegetal protein because it is a more bioavailable protein source and it causes protein absorption to be much more... increased. I'd say he's overweight. Are you feeding six times a week? and how much at once?

I would definitely install a dripper, extra water is the best way to avoid gout and secondary MBD/kidney failure. No need to back off the D3 in my opinion but are you giving him a multivitamin source as well?

 

[Franquixote]

Yes, he gets the repashy calicum with vits, and the reptovit with D3 once a week. The feeders are all very well gut loaded and about once a week I use the Repashy superload 24 hours before feeding them off.
What's your favorite vitamin supplement and schedule?

I feed every day, he is 6 months old.

 

[Andee]

I am surprised he was able to get this overweight at six months... How often do you feed wax worms?

My favorite supplements schedule is repashy calcium plus 3-4 times a week and the rest just plain calcium for that age. Adults 2-3 times repashy calcium plus, and one-two plain calcium day.

 

[Franquixote]

If you averaged it out I would say he gets probably 5 wax worms a week. Some days I will give him 3-4 and then not feed him any again for a few days. The view in the pics is after a day of him really pigging out since we have had holiday company over and everyone wanted to watch him eat. The funny thing is that by afternoon the next day even after a heavy feeding like this he looks lanky and slim. He does NOT look like this all the time at ALL! I'll take a pic this morning after he defecates and moves around a bit- he looks thin, emaciated almost, which is why I feel like he's not really being overfed.
It's bizarre how their appearance can so drastically change in a matter of hours and I'm not referring to their coloration.

 

[Andee]

Yes definitely take a pic of a day just eating normally. I think it's important to see the difference especially for me lol XD. Then we can just focus on whether it is actually any signs of like illness and you need to take him in whenever you can next or what. ^^