lele
Avid Member
Hey - it's that same old eye thing. Although the eye does not really seem any worse in an obvious way, Cyrus seems a bit lethargic and not eating as much. He'll still come out on his gym and go back in to drink and bask. He is getting plenty of fluids between his dripper, showers and humidifier. I work at home and he is in my office so I flip on the humidifier when he goes to sit in that spot with his head angled down (Damn, I have always had really smart chams! Luna did the same thing) or if the dripper needs refilling.
The Tobramycin made no diff. either. As soon as those 5 days were up I went back to trying the Vit A. Dosing seems a nightmare. I had a lengthy conversation with my vet yesterday about dosing and he even said that in the latest research there is discrepancy. He did agree 100% with the fact that just beta carotene is not used by insectivore/carnivore reptiles whereas it is by the herbivores b/c it is something they naturally convert from plants. He also said that crickets (and other feeders) do not normally use it so it pretty much passes thru. Of course, this is a reason for gutloading a small group of feeders for 24 hours before feeding to herps but it still makes you wonder.
OK, back to the dosing, one of the ones he read was 8000iu 2 times a week apart. Another (going by his weight of 137g) was 13,700mg(?) every 3rd day. I am awaiting a call back from him to discuss it more. I currently have 8000iu of r. palmitate. I had been giving him a single drop by putting it directly on the moth or whatever he was about to eat. I ran out of silkmoths (they were the easiest b/c I knew he would eat them).
I squeezed out one entire capsule, pulled it into a syringe and get about .1ml (notice POINT one ml
) So now that I know how many ml - much easier to deal with - I am curious about dosing and would like other opinions.
This of course brings up the whole issue about using a dust that does not contain preformed Vit A. Herptivite is not one of them as it only has beta carotene. We can leave that for another discussion, right now I am concerned about Cyrus. This basically means he has never gotten proper Vit A (turned a year on Tuesday) b/c I use Herptivite for dusting and of course carrots, squash, etc. for gutload.
He is still showing some signs of throat edema. I have taken new pics that show the edema and will upload tonight.
I am not looking to get berated by anyone, I am looking for advice and experience with this terribly confusing, and concerning, issue.
Btw, I easily got the .1ml into him yesterday by getting him mad at me. It takes a lot (he's so mellow) and I hate to do it, but if it truly is only once a week then I'll do it.
Thanks in advance!!
lele
The Tobramycin made no diff. either. As soon as those 5 days were up I went back to trying the Vit A. Dosing seems a nightmare. I had a lengthy conversation with my vet yesterday about dosing and he even said that in the latest research there is discrepancy. He did agree 100% with the fact that just beta carotene is not used by insectivore/carnivore reptiles whereas it is by the herbivores b/c it is something they naturally convert from plants. He also said that crickets (and other feeders) do not normally use it so it pretty much passes thru. Of course, this is a reason for gutloading a small group of feeders for 24 hours before feeding to herps but it still makes you wonder.
OK, back to the dosing, one of the ones he read was 8000iu 2 times a week apart. Another (going by his weight of 137g) was 13,700mg(?) every 3rd day. I am awaiting a call back from him to discuss it more. I currently have 8000iu of r. palmitate. I had been giving him a single drop by putting it directly on the moth or whatever he was about to eat. I ran out of silkmoths (they were the easiest b/c I knew he would eat them).
I squeezed out one entire capsule, pulled it into a syringe and get about .1ml (notice POINT one ml
This of course brings up the whole issue about using a dust that does not contain preformed Vit A. Herptivite is not one of them as it only has beta carotene. We can leave that for another discussion, right now I am concerned about Cyrus. This basically means he has never gotten proper Vit A (turned a year on Tuesday) b/c I use Herptivite for dusting and of course carrots, squash, etc. for gutload.
He is still showing some signs of throat edema. I have taken new pics that show the edema and will upload tonight.
I am not looking to get berated by anyone, I am looking for advice and experience with this terribly confusing, and concerning, issue.
Btw, I easily got the .1ml into him yesterday by getting him mad at me. It takes a lot (he's so mellow) and I hate to do it, but if it truly is only once a week then I'll do it.
Thanks in advance!!
lele