Reasons for weak grip/falls?

lele

Avid Member
Hi Gang - Cyrus is doing great, his eye has healed well and he does some odd head movements to adjust. He eats every other day or so and is loving his new jungle gym. I found that the smallest diameter Exo-Terra jungle vine to be easiest for him to grab onto with his missing toenails.

That said, he has a weak grip (his calcium levels are fine, no MBD). Even as a youngster he never had the grip that Luna did (right to her dying day). I thought that his occasional falls/slips were due to the surface he was trying to grab onto, but even with the new vine he will often slip and hang (thank goodness his tail has a good grip!) and the other day he actually fell. I was right here, made him walk on ground to make sure he is OK. Today he was at the bottom of his cage when I came in to check and I realized (duh!) I had no way for him to get back up on his own. Took care of that right away!

He is really very healthy so wondering if there are other reasons to have a weak grip? Has anyone ever had one that just doesn't have a strong grip?

thanks,
lele
 
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A weak grip is another symptom of a vitamin A deficiency.-roo

I had that lingering in the back of my mind. When we were trying to determine his eye problem this winter I gave him 2 doses of 8000iu 2 weeks apart. It made no difference in his eye, but maybe I will try again to see if it makes a difference in his grip. He is a free range eater so of course dusts don't remain long and there is the question about Vit A vs beta carotene. I have not been feeding him crickets for a while b/c neither he nor Darwin would eat them so I stopped wasting my $$. Mainly supers, silkies, wax worms (sometimes) & moths right now. He is fine in every other way. In fact, he had some gular edema a while back (during the whole eye thing) but it is completely gone. I wish he'd eat his roaches, but he seems to have no interest and I offer him 4 varieties! I'll likely be selling some (roaches) off soon.

These finicky kids!:rolleyes:
 
Howdy Lele,

I've got Grandpa, a 6-7yr-old male Veiled that I adopted several years ago. A loooong story short, a year or so ago, he developed a weak grip and an unstable balance (falls a lot) after going out for stud services. My vet and I have been treating him for a lingering intestinal parasite problem. Also, he developed the classic vitamin A deficiency symptom of tail-tip rot. I've give him Vit A from time-to-time, first the doses similar to your large 2-week-spread doses and then a much-much smaller maintenance dose around every couple of weeks. There seemed to be an improvement in the tail rot but not the grip and balance. I'm worried about the possibility of an O.D. on Vit A to go with a larger of a dose or much more often either... There is a geriatric component to the equation but I'm not ready to let it go at that. He's back on a 4th or 5th round of Albon to try to finally nail those pesky coccidia parasites. I really think that the parasite issue has a real chance to be the major source of the problem but until it's gone I won't be sure.
 
interesting. His last fecal was clean (March?) and in fact has never had to be treated for parasites (thank goodness). I definitely agree, and know, about the Vit A toxicity that is why I did it spread it out and never gave it again. The dosing was per Gary Ferguson.

Sometimes when he shoots the force of his tongue will knock him off his branch(!) or he will at least lose some footing. I'll try the Vit A tomorrow and then again in two weeks. Cyrus is 15 months old so he doesn't have the age issue as yours does. Hope he does well - those little worms can be a bear to get rid of!

lele
 
Hi...
I have a sugestion for you...

So, my story is that i got a very sick Veiled cham for free...but she was as i said very very sick...
At that time she wasn't eating for few weeks, eyes were sunken, she was skinny and very weak...

In my country you can not reach vet so easy so i had to treat her on my own.
I gave her vitamins, cleaned her terrarium.
I was giving her 3 types of insects and as many vegetables and fruts as she wanted to eat...Apples, latice, orange,...
She was also dehydrated so sprayed her with water at least for times a day...

Now she is fully recovered! Healthy, normal weight, and the most important - strong.

So, my peace of advice to you is to gutload you cham's food and give her as much vegetables as they want to eat.
If they don't eat what you give them, then try to find what kind of vegetables or fruit they are willing to eat.

I hope i helped a little...
:)
Good luck!
 
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