Reptile & Amphibian Forums

today was an adventure for my little guy, he started sneezing when i came home and some black goo came out his nose along with heavy breathing, so off to the emergency room we ran! turns out he's got a bit of a respiratory problem and it'll take 2 weeks of needle injected (shudder) medicine and paper towel shredding for substrate, my vet said he might be allergic to the old substrate but might not... just in case, what's a good safe substrate that's very dust-free and good for burrowing?

on a second note, he refuses to eat food that isn't alive, what's a good way to get him into eat fruits and veggies?

You could try 'tossing' small bits of fruit, kinda rolling it on the ground, that might get his attention.

dirt. plain dirt. doesnt get any better

I need to give him medicine by needle every day for two weeks..

how do i do this without him associating me with a pain in his arm? obviously i try to be as gentle as possible, but a needle is still a needle. i'm really worried that Scraps won't like me when it's done.. while this is going on, should i try to handle him even more then normal?

I definitely wouldn't handle him more than normal. He's already stressed out from being ill and then he's getting meds to boot. Handling him more could only stress him out more when you want him to bounce back quickly.

You could try doing something like giving him a treat after he gets his shot. Then he associates a treat, something yummy, with getting his meds.

I wouldn't worry too much about he perceives you. Two weeks is such a short period of time considering that they live to be many years old. It's just a little blip on the radar. When Blake had part of his tail amputated and had to be in a body cast, he was so furious with me that I was giving him antibiotics to boot. But he got over it and after everything was over with, it only took him about a week to get back to acting normal when I came to get him out of his cage.

Just remember, you're doing this for your tegus benefit and although he may not understand it, it's a good thing.

Lindsay

I would put a towel over him, so it covers his head, leaving just the injection site open and then put your hand over him, he'll probably try and back up, just keep a firm grip on him and get it over with. You could try holding him for about half an hour after as long as he's comfortable enough to be out.

Thanks for the advice about not holding him too much and about using the towel. i tried the towel and it seemed to work while he was calm but then started to thrash about before i could even use the needle, it's tough because i need to inject it into one of his upper arms and since they're so close to his head..

i also gave him some wax worms afterwards, he seemed very happy about that.. so hopefully this will all work out well