Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have two mhd's (had for a 1.5 yrs) one female, one male. the female appears to be sick. she was normally very active and used to eat a lot. now she doesnt move and appears to be sleeping all the time. skin is starting to look loose. often i find her laying on the bottom perfectly still, she will barely open her eyes when bothered. it seems to me she is sick, but i dont know from what or what to do about it. there are no good reptile vets anywhere around me. (i knew more than the last vet i went to, which isnt very much)

i have tree bark bedding on the bottom, automatic misting system, and the temp is varied throughout, ranging from 65F to 80F. i have a 5% UVB and UVA tube. i have not changed anything, diet is the same, environment is the same.

any ideas? anything i can do on my own?

i did take them both to vet when i got them, no previous problems with parasites or anything. i dont think the female is carrying eggs.

I don't have any ideas of what you can do on your own. I feel that at a time like this you need a good vet. Check out these links to find one near you that specializes in herps www.herpvetconnection.com/ or
http://www.arav.org/USMembers.htm and have a fecal done.
I am guessing that you are dealing with either parasites or maybe a blockage from the bark bedding.

You don't mention what she has been eating but it is possible that if she eats crickets or nightcrawlers that the bark could be ingested with either feeder and would not be digested. It is also possible that she could be egg bound but if this were the case you would have noticed that she were fat and at one time or another lumpy looking.

If her skin looks loose and she is laying on the ground she is very ill. Reptiles don't usually show symptoms of illness until they are very near death. So, it is very important that you have the evaluation of a vet if you are to save her at this point. You can try to force feed her but there is some risk of food going into the lungs and causing respiratory infection if she doesn't eat it willingly. If the underlying illness isn't treated force-feeding will not do anything to cure her either.

I don't believe this is something that you can treat yourself. I have been working with my MHDs for several years now. I don't have a vet nearby. The vet in town is afraid of reptiles and the closest reptile vet is a 2 hour's drive away. I still mail a fecal sample to the reptile vet at least once a year for each of my groups to make sure they don't need to be treated for parasites. Since they eat live food there is always the chance they can become infected with parasites.

If they ever show signs of illness between their annual checks, I send in a sample and have them checked as a precaution. If I get a new animal, I send in a sample. I am very lucky to be able to do this through the mail instead of having to make the 4 hour round trip but if I couldn't mail it, I would make the drive. Before the vet and I had met a few times I did. That is what you do for a pet when you aren't qualified to diagnose it yourself.
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

thanks for the info, i appreciate the response. she is on the same diet for the last year and half which is live crickets. last night i did notice what appears to be a small growth about 1/4" below the vent. it has a white lump and a dark lump. i thought it was just a little waste stuck there, but it was definitly stuck to the skin.

Sounds like an absess. If I am right she probably has a systemic infection. Cause would be hard to determine. In order to save her it would have to be cleaned by the vet and she would have to be treated with antibiotics IF it isn't already too late.
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

well, she is dead. i took her to a local vet today, the one who doesnt know much but the only one around. he found some sort of lump in her stomach, thought it was something caught. when this lump was played with, she jumped right to life and squirmed all around. he says "she sure doesn't like it when i do this." he force fed her some cat laxative and told me to feed her some special cat food later on, and told me to do this everyday until she gets better. i took her back, gave her a nice luke-warm bath, and put her back in her home. she had a little movement at this time. i came back a few hours later with plans to isolate and rehab her, and this is when i found her dead. (i did notice a strange, but slight bulging of something coming from the vent.)

but, here is a great story: a little over a year ago, when i first added the male MHD to her home, she would run around and head-butt him and just generally bully him around. they eventually started to get along without any problems. earlier today, a friend opened the glass door to check on her because it was hard to see if she was still breathing. right away, the male jumped and ran across the cage and put his front foot on her body and stared up at my friend, as if he was guarding her. (he has never done this before) could it be that he knew something was wrong and was trying to protect her? i'd like to think so

It sounds like there may have been some obstruction. It is so hard to say after the fact. At any rate, I am sorry you have put so much into it to lose her. I know you did what you could for her.

It is curious how they behave. I wonder sometimes if we atribute too much humane emotion to these little ones but then who knows? When they are together for so long who knows? I can't say they are without compassion or feeling. I know that my first male was a teddy bear and I attribute it to my having nursed him back to health over such a long period of time.

She rests now, that is good.
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html