MangoTango
Established Member
Mango had her first vet visit last week after having her in my care for a little over a year. I know I know, I should’ve gotten a check up sooner. But here’s what happened, why I went, and what the vet told me.
First off, I noticed one night Mango was sleeping on a branch with her head tilted up. She didn’t put her head back on the branch when the Mistking started misting, either. Thoughts of a respiratory infection already came to my mind, but I didn‘t want to get panicky, so I looked on here for other owners who witnessed the same thing, and some other symptoms they observed. I told myself that I would take her to the vet if she showed another symptom. Not many days later, I was about to give her some yummy dubias, and I heard a sound come from her. I didnt think much of it until it happened another two times the same day. It obviously wasn’t a hiss, but some breathing sound, and that’s when it clicked that it was probably a wheeze and another sign of a respiratory infection. I booked a vet appointment immediately. Months ago I had picked out a good vet for her in my area, just so that if a situation like this were to come, I‘d know who I’d want her to see. He has great credentials, years and years of avian and exotic education, and even has two birds of his own at home. He was the best option in my area.
Her appointment was last Friday, February 3rd, a little less than a week after I heard the wheezing, but he was booked up so I took whatever I could get. They are also a 24/7 animal hospital, so I knew I had that option, god forbid something were to happen. I didn‘t hear any more wheezing and never saw her sleeping with her head up again, but I was also not always home, as I work night and morning shifts on and off. My family also didn‘t hear anything but they also don’t watch her 24/7. The drive was about a half hour, and I had her in a carrier. Unfortunately it was cold, so she flashed some dark colors when I took her outside, but the car was already warmed up so she returned to normal very quickly. I expected her to be upset on the ride, but she appeared fine, and I covered the top so she couldn‘t see out of it fully, trying to avoid as much stress as I could.
The wait wasn’t too long and when we got in the room, the assistant weighed her, (and she was very calm as my girl always is, she usually is extremely friendly and she was) and she is 101 grams, and not currently gravid or receptive. The vet came in, and I told him what I heard and saw. He inspected her, and opened her mouth to look, which she didn’t like too much lol but went back to her normal self right after. She even climbed on him willingly, and she almost seemed to have a good time !
He said her mouth looked good! We had a very long conversation about her care and husbandry, and he said he was very impressed and “couldn’t believe that at the age of 18 [ I ] am taking care of one of the hardest reptiles to keep”. He said she looked perfect, and even had his assistants (who are in college studying to be exotic vets), take a look at what a healthy cham should look like, and even asked them questions like, how do you know if they are male or female, etc. Regardless, he had to take my word for what I heard and saw because she wasn’t actively wheezing in front of him. He gave me options: x-ray, injection, or oral medication and talked me through each one, suggesting not to do the x-ray because it could cause a lot of unnecessary stress for something that we probably caught super early on, and suggested that the injection may not be necessary (besides the cosmetic factor of possibly discoloring her skin around the injection site) because she is so friendly, it would probably be incredibly easy for me to give her oral meds for a week. So we picked the oral med option, and he prescribed her (Bactrim) Trimethoprim Sulfa 48mg/ml Susp. per ML, 0.06 ml for a week. I gave her a bug a day just to get the meds in her, and it was super easy, obviously going back to every other day feedings now. He called me halfway through the week to check up on her, AND I had given them a stool sample, in which he told me she was negative for parasites! Tomorrow I need to call him and if I’ve seen any more symptoms, we will do another week of meds, but that won’t be necessary: her colors have improved since the meds, and she seems more like herself, moving around a lot and catching drips of water and such. Overall incredibly happy with this visit and will definitely go back for checkups.
One thing I did disagree with though…
When he heard my high temps were 80-81 Fahrenheit, he suggested to bump it up to 90 to give her a larger range of temps and more options. Considering that she’s laid 3 clutches in a year (and he knew that), I disagreed with him and said for that for a female I wouldn’t go that high, but we didn’t have a full discussion about it. My low temps are around 70 F, so he might have just been wanting her to have a larger range, but I still don’t feel that above 80 F is right.
So now I ask you, what are your thoughts? Without you all and this forum, Mango would not be as healthy as she is, and so I highly value all your advice and insight. I have not swapped her heat bulb to give her higher temps, I wanted to consult you all first. Although, it has been warmer here lately, so the basking branch is pushing 85 Farenheit this week, ironic lol. It seems to go against everything we know about egg production, and left me feeling very conflicted. I feel that I may know your answer already, because I feel the same, but I wanted to open the floor for discussion.
First off, I noticed one night Mango was sleeping on a branch with her head tilted up. She didn’t put her head back on the branch when the Mistking started misting, either. Thoughts of a respiratory infection already came to my mind, but I didn‘t want to get panicky, so I looked on here for other owners who witnessed the same thing, and some other symptoms they observed. I told myself that I would take her to the vet if she showed another symptom. Not many days later, I was about to give her some yummy dubias, and I heard a sound come from her. I didnt think much of it until it happened another two times the same day. It obviously wasn’t a hiss, but some breathing sound, and that’s when it clicked that it was probably a wheeze and another sign of a respiratory infection. I booked a vet appointment immediately. Months ago I had picked out a good vet for her in my area, just so that if a situation like this were to come, I‘d know who I’d want her to see. He has great credentials, years and years of avian and exotic education, and even has two birds of his own at home. He was the best option in my area.
Her appointment was last Friday, February 3rd, a little less than a week after I heard the wheezing, but he was booked up so I took whatever I could get. They are also a 24/7 animal hospital, so I knew I had that option, god forbid something were to happen. I didn‘t hear any more wheezing and never saw her sleeping with her head up again, but I was also not always home, as I work night and morning shifts on and off. My family also didn‘t hear anything but they also don’t watch her 24/7. The drive was about a half hour, and I had her in a carrier. Unfortunately it was cold, so she flashed some dark colors when I took her outside, but the car was already warmed up so she returned to normal very quickly. I expected her to be upset on the ride, but she appeared fine, and I covered the top so she couldn‘t see out of it fully, trying to avoid as much stress as I could.
The wait wasn’t too long and when we got in the room, the assistant weighed her, (and she was very calm as my girl always is, she usually is extremely friendly and she was) and she is 101 grams, and not currently gravid or receptive. The vet came in, and I told him what I heard and saw. He inspected her, and opened her mouth to look, which she didn’t like too much lol but went back to her normal self right after. She even climbed on him willingly, and she almost seemed to have a good time !
He said her mouth looked good! We had a very long conversation about her care and husbandry, and he said he was very impressed and “couldn’t believe that at the age of 18 [ I ] am taking care of one of the hardest reptiles to keep”. He said she looked perfect, and even had his assistants (who are in college studying to be exotic vets), take a look at what a healthy cham should look like, and even asked them questions like, how do you know if they are male or female, etc. Regardless, he had to take my word for what I heard and saw because she wasn’t actively wheezing in front of him. He gave me options: x-ray, injection, or oral medication and talked me through each one, suggesting not to do the x-ray because it could cause a lot of unnecessary stress for something that we probably caught super early on, and suggested that the injection may not be necessary (besides the cosmetic factor of possibly discoloring her skin around the injection site) because she is so friendly, it would probably be incredibly easy for me to give her oral meds for a week. So we picked the oral med option, and he prescribed her (Bactrim) Trimethoprim Sulfa 48mg/ml Susp. per ML, 0.06 ml for a week. I gave her a bug a day just to get the meds in her, and it was super easy, obviously going back to every other day feedings now. He called me halfway through the week to check up on her, AND I had given them a stool sample, in which he told me she was negative for parasites! Tomorrow I need to call him and if I’ve seen any more symptoms, we will do another week of meds, but that won’t be necessary: her colors have improved since the meds, and she seems more like herself, moving around a lot and catching drips of water and such. Overall incredibly happy with this visit and will definitely go back for checkups.One thing I did disagree with though…
When he heard my high temps were 80-81 Fahrenheit, he suggested to bump it up to 90 to give her a larger range of temps and more options. Considering that she’s laid 3 clutches in a year (and he knew that), I disagreed with him and said for that for a female I wouldn’t go that high, but we didn’t have a full discussion about it. My low temps are around 70 F, so he might have just been wanting her to have a larger range, but I still don’t feel that above 80 F is right.
So now I ask you, what are your thoughts? Without you all and this forum, Mango would not be as healthy as she is, and so I highly value all your advice and insight. I have not swapped her heat bulb to give her higher temps, I wanted to consult you all first. Although, it has been warmer here lately, so the basking branch is pushing 85 Farenheit this week, ironic lol. It seems to go against everything we know about egg production, and left me feeling very conflicted. I feel that I may know your answer already, because I feel the same, but I wanted to open the floor for discussion.
