Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have had a rescued iggy ive been rehabbing for a while, you may remeber the pics, and shes just not doing as well as id hoped, im goting to try Melissa Kaplan's "Boosting Gut Bacteria" for emaciation. the one question i had, for our sake to make feeding easy i was thinking of making a batch of the slurry and freezing it in ice trays and that way have some to give as needed but the rest remains un-nasty, instead of making small batches each day. (i do this with bird pasta for my parrots) but im afraid the freezing would kill the bacteria im trying to get into her. i asked 3 of the vets i work with today and i got a yes, a no, and a i dont know...some help they are
any thoughts??
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hanging out under heat lights burns up my brain cells!!

Are you specifically adding bacteria to the food? If so, perhaps just adding each day once the cube is thawed. I do think that freezing will kill at least most of the bacteria.

Just a thought, but have you ever tried culturing a colonic swab to see if you're making progress, or if this is even an issue? My guess is that the cloaca would likely have bacteria even when the colon doesn't, so that obstacle would have to be circumvented.

Ian

well i did it without freezing just to be safe, we are doing 4 days in a row, today was day #3 and from what the husband said she had much more normal stool in her bath tonight (its always just been a little off, Ian, you were a tech, you know how much you can learn from poop!) she seems to love it, i blended yougurt with fruit, boy did she make a mess, one big pink goopy face, but its was worth a try.
as far as getting a culture, the way her spine is fused, ber hind end drags 24/7 so i dont know if it would be possible, and id have to send it out, we dont culture in house, so thats an expence i would like to avoid if its not nessasary. but it is a good idea ill keep in my melon in case i need it in the future!
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hanging out under heat lights burns up my brain cells!!