Hi guys,
I had lurked around these forums in the past, but mostly took advice from our reptile vet and LPS on how to care for our Jackson...
Our Jackson, Kiwi, was a fairly large female... She was 12" from mouth to tip of her tail when extended. Unfortunately, we have no idea how old she was. We had her for approximately 18 months. Kept her in a screen cage with a constant water drip from a filtered reservoir. Kept meticulous care of her habitat with regard to cleanliness. We fed her calcium coated crickets. Used a basking lamp with a temp in the basking area around 95F, and coolest point around 75-80F. Lights out at night...
She's had a few complications over the time we've had her... About 9 months after we got her, she had a litter of little babies, that was unexpected!
A couple of months later it seemed as though her rear right leg had become paralyzed. That's when we took her to the vet for the first time... He also found a small abscess on her front left foot which I didn't even notice.
Since then she developed several more abscesses, all of which we had tended to by the vet. One on her side, and one on the bottom of her left rear foot. Both of which, when aspirated had a thick, green discharge...
The past month has been very difficult... She developed some swelling over her head, just between her eyes, and had swelling around her eyes as well. We took her back to the vet, of course, and he administered a shot of antibiotic. She could only breathe with her mouth open. She had stopped eating as well so he gave us all the materials necessary to tube feed her, and administer a daily dosage of antibiotic. After a couple of weeks the swelling on the head and around the eyes had gone down, she was able to freely breathe again. We took her back in for a check up this past Monday and everything was on the up and up... Most of the abscesses were gone, but she was losing weight.
She hadn't opened her eyes in a couple of days... So we got some more antibiotic (3 different types this time administered in different schedules to handle a broad spectrum of bacteria which was found after studying a sample of the discharge from the swelling on her head) and some more supplement to feed her.
This morning we got her out of her habitat to feed her, and she seemed alright... She's been very sluggish, and weak for the past few months so that was expected. We administered the tube feeding, and afterwards she stood up, opened her eyes as if to say goodbye one last time, took a deep breath and died right in my wifes hands...
We've been devastated... I consider myself as much a man as any other, but we've been crying all day... We laid her to rest and made a nice little headstone out of ceramic to memorialize her. Poor little girl...
We tried so hard to get her better... Spared no expense
It was her time to go... I know she had a good, long life, just not sure how long... I just don't know if her weakening immune system was due to simple old age, or if we did something to cause it...
I wanted to become a member of the forums now, because I wanted to share our story, even though it has an awful ending... Because I would like to try again, and do everything right this time... I want to make sure I pass everything through the knowledgeable patrons of this forum and see 1) where I may have gone wrong, 2) what I can do to improve my husbandry
So, I'd appreciate it if you guys that have been doing this a while ask me every question you can think of, and I'll honestly answer them all...
I'd love to get another Jackson, maybe a male this time, but I want him to live a long and quality life!
RIP - Kiwi
A couple of months after we got her. Miss you little girl!
I had lurked around these forums in the past, but mostly took advice from our reptile vet and LPS on how to care for our Jackson...
Our Jackson, Kiwi, was a fairly large female... She was 12" from mouth to tip of her tail when extended. Unfortunately, we have no idea how old she was. We had her for approximately 18 months. Kept her in a screen cage with a constant water drip from a filtered reservoir. Kept meticulous care of her habitat with regard to cleanliness. We fed her calcium coated crickets. Used a basking lamp with a temp in the basking area around 95F, and coolest point around 75-80F. Lights out at night...
She's had a few complications over the time we've had her... About 9 months after we got her, she had a litter of little babies, that was unexpected!
A couple of months later it seemed as though her rear right leg had become paralyzed. That's when we took her to the vet for the first time... He also found a small abscess on her front left foot which I didn't even notice.
Since then she developed several more abscesses, all of which we had tended to by the vet. One on her side, and one on the bottom of her left rear foot. Both of which, when aspirated had a thick, green discharge...
The past month has been very difficult... She developed some swelling over her head, just between her eyes, and had swelling around her eyes as well. We took her back to the vet, of course, and he administered a shot of antibiotic. She could only breathe with her mouth open. She had stopped eating as well so he gave us all the materials necessary to tube feed her, and administer a daily dosage of antibiotic. After a couple of weeks the swelling on the head and around the eyes had gone down, she was able to freely breathe again. We took her back in for a check up this past Monday and everything was on the up and up... Most of the abscesses were gone, but she was losing weight.
She hadn't opened her eyes in a couple of days... So we got some more antibiotic (3 different types this time administered in different schedules to handle a broad spectrum of bacteria which was found after studying a sample of the discharge from the swelling on her head) and some more supplement to feed her.
This morning we got her out of her habitat to feed her, and she seemed alright... She's been very sluggish, and weak for the past few months so that was expected. We administered the tube feeding, and afterwards she stood up, opened her eyes as if to say goodbye one last time, took a deep breath and died right in my wifes hands...
We've been devastated... I consider myself as much a man as any other, but we've been crying all day... We laid her to rest and made a nice little headstone out of ceramic to memorialize her. Poor little girl...
We tried so hard to get her better... Spared no expense
It was her time to go... I know she had a good, long life, just not sure how long... I just don't know if her weakening immune system was due to simple old age, or if we did something to cause it...
I wanted to become a member of the forums now, because I wanted to share our story, even though it has an awful ending... Because I would like to try again, and do everything right this time... I want to make sure I pass everything through the knowledgeable patrons of this forum and see 1) where I may have gone wrong, 2) what I can do to improve my husbandry
So, I'd appreciate it if you guys that have been doing this a while ask me every question you can think of, and I'll honestly answer them all...
I'd love to get another Jackson, maybe a male this time, but I want him to live a long and quality life!
RIP - Kiwi
A couple of months after we got her. Miss you little girl!
