Posted by:
antelope
at Wed Nov 4 09:33:56 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by antelope ]
here's my uneducated guess. The specks I see in the wild are generalists, they have upon capyure regurged rodents, lizard,(skink)and baby birds. I would guess that a heavy lizard diet could lead to a heavy parasite load, one they can't quite deal with in captive environs. While some attempt to treat with meds, it destroys all bacteria in the gut, leaving no good, fauna or flora inside. This probably weakens the condition and could help with the onset of lots of medical problems, actually increasing the ill effects. I know this is nothing new, I just wanted to say that I have found them above ground under cover thermoregulating in January and February, our coldest months. I have also found them overwintering in crayfish burrows in the coldest of times. It makes sense to me that they spend their time in a very bug filled world, but can utilize the temps they find to at least equalize the gut bugs. if spending a few weeks in a crayfish burrow doesn't get you bugs, I don't know what will.
Do they soak a lot in their bowls? Do they defecate exclusively in their bowls? That's, IMO, a sign of stress and a plague ridden source of microorganisms. It takes about 4 months of quarantine before I integrate anything into the collection. i try to get these animals as much of a gradient as possible and constantly change and disinfect the water bowls. i have the same probs with T-rats found in the same locale. The kings I have found don't show what you are describing, but the T-rats sometimes do.
I am not saying your keeping is at fault, but it very well could be. I haven't had any really bad encounters with plagues, but the first male speck I found in the area died in my care. We dosed it with Flagyl or Panacure, and I lost it several days later. I was really bummed, it had the most yellow of any I had seen and I had a walking staff commissioned after it. John, do you still have a pic of that male? I lost it in the conversion somewhere.
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Todd Hughes
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RE: Locality Holbrooki - antelope, Wed Nov 4 09:33:56 2009