Male Yemen Digging

[turtleboy267]

Hello,

My neighbor has a 9 month old male veiled who has gone through a bad case of mbd in his youth. Although he was treated, his bowed bone structure is irreversible and his growth has since been stunted. He is only a little over 3 inches from snout to tailbone. Lately, my neighbor and I have observed him digging at the subtrate and chillin at the bottom for no apparant reason, just like a female would when she is gravid. I fear he wants to die soon. He has been his ugly juvenile brown color for a very long time now and unfortunantly because of his early mbd can never be a fully functional adult. Your thoughts? Any of your veilds ever do this before retiring?

 

[dave101]

What kind of substrate do you have?

 

[turtleboy267]

Pretty sure hes got orchid bark in there, only about 1 inch though. Chief (the vield) always hits the white pvc before getting deeper.

 

[WelshOneEmma]

Could be that he's too hot. Check temps.

 

[turtleboy267]

ambient room temps are 80 degrees. Its been hot down here the last week

 

[Syn]

Why is there orchid bark in there?

 

[Chase]

Are you sure it's male?

 

[dave101]

you should paper towel down

 

[turtleboy267]

Yes, its male. Were not that dumb lol. And nothing is wrong with orchid bark as far as i know.

 

[Julirs]

Substrate is typically frowned upon as it can cause impaction. Do you have a picture of said male?

 

[turtleboy267]

 

[Julirs]

Wow-that is a scary case of MBD with multiple leg fractures. Poor guy. What is his basking temp? Is he in a screen cage?

 

[summoner12]

Digging can be triggered from too much heat. is he eating the dirt? how is his food intake? how do you supplement him?

 

[WelshOneEmma]

Yes, its male. Were not that dumb lol. And nothing is wrong with orchid bark as far as i know.

We had a male veiled that was digging, turns out that despite the obvious spurs and male marking he was actually a "she", so don't be too hasty to dismiss the idea. It is a small chance, but still a chance.

 

[turtleboy267]

Phosphorus free repti cal supplement.

Our apartment complex has a crappy design where our rooms get beat on by the sun all day through large glass doors. Its been hot as hell so we just setup fans in the place to get temps down. I'll check him out today to see if hes still chillin at the bottom.

 

[WelshOneEmma]

The longer you leave it to check temps and rectify the situation, the quicker you will have a dead cham......

 

[Sancho]

Very sad

 

[turtleboy267]

Let me clarify, its my neighbors cham who is able to watch him 20 out of the 24 hours of the day lol. I was asking about the digging on his behalf. He is under constant care.

And yes, his mbd is bad; he had a huge growth spurt at around 1.5 months old without getting a good Ca/P ratio in his diet. He has since been chugging along and doing fine.

 

[WelshOneEmma]

He doesn't look fine. Those aren't good colours, his legs look awful and his eyes are sunken.

 

[jannb]

This little guys needs to get to the vet ASAP.