Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a nitelight today to keep her warmer at night. At least for while she's recovering... Jsut thought I'd let you all know
I'm SO excited. I'm trying to be careful, but I just can't help it! Orion is climbing around, and has normal colours. She looks great! I can't believe the difference in the last two days that i've seen in her...
She's eating like a pig!! She ate a TON last night, and today she's already eaten a lot. I looked for the reptaaide here in town. They didn't have it, so i'm going to leave for work early and get some in cambridge. I think i've seen it there before.. And i'm going to get some silkies to mush up for her.
What i need to know is, how much should i let her eat?? Should i let her take her fill, or keep her on a certain portion? I'm not even going to let her try for bugs until i've seen her poop regularily. Even then, i want to stick to the liquid diet for at least 6-8 weeks, to let her insides have a break and heal up. Last thing i need is for her to get constipated right now :/
I can't wait to make the appointment to get her stiches out. Then everything will be O.K. We are on the home stretch....

n/p
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Chris

1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos

I think she will make it from what you have described she has a fighting spirit! The Repta-Aid has directions in it by weight of the animal. If you have a scale you can weigh her but the directions have you mix it like a paste. I dont like to use it that way. I would mix it extra runny for now. The consistency I use is like thin runny oatmeal. Just put a bit like a teaspoon in a cup and put in drops of warm water and keep mixing till it is runny and draws up easily in the syringe. I feed my animals about 2 ml at a time. Once or twice a day. If she is weak try 1 ml at first. Reptiles have a slow metabolism which helps them to keep weight on during an illness so as long as she is getting some food in her she won't starve. Better not to overdo at first. I think the vitamins and calcium in it will help her as much as the caloric content at this point. Keep us updated!

so she can get sleep without the light bothering her.

Actually I would not do this unless the room gets down to the very low 60s at night. If you absolutely need some heat don't use a light of any color. Use a heat pad, a ceramic heat emitter, or raise the room temp a bit with a space heater. Chams do detect night heat lights of all colors I've tried. They may not stay completely awake, but will be very easy to disturb under them as they don't shut down metabolically as in darkness. If the cage is humid it will hold heat better, so you could also just drape a sheet over it to keep it slightly warmer than the room.

I sent an email through Kingsnake.

If something happens and you don't get it, let me know, and I can resend it.
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Kim

will orion be able to use her tongue again???? What a miracle story in the 1st place

I hope so! She uses it to lick all the food off of her nose.. and she looks like she WANTS to shoot something. I"m just not going to let her until her bowels are a little stronger.
We'll see how it goes!!

that would be a full recovery!!!!!!! a cheap full recovery, how was it such a low sum?

That's what I said! I just about started crying in the vets office.. i was so happy about orion and the bill and everything. They only charged $10 a day (x3 days) for keeping her there. Then the surgery itself was $80 plus i think 53for the anestesia etc. Then only 22 (half of normal) for the original visit fee.. then just $10 for the oxytocin shots, about $1.5 for the calcium shots, $45 for the xray, then the antibiotics she's on now ($7). they didn't charge me for the 3 rechecks (reg $18 each) or the two cans of food they sent home, or anything else. They are so nice!! I could have kissed my vet right there! It came to $250 before taxes. I was shocked!!