Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our rescue is a large (over 21 in.) German Giant cross. When we picked her up she was VERY stressed (nearly black all over). She is "skin and bones"...while some of her fat pads are still there--not totally sunken in--you can clearly see and easily count her ribs. She is slowly relaxing--she LOVES to be held and is very curious and alert. She is in a 75 gallon, on shelfliner, one large basking rock and a shoebox hide. Once we know she is clear of parasites/worms we will add a rock wall/hide for her. Temps are 70 on cool side and about 110 on basking rock.

I do not know much about her history. She is 3 years old and was bred last year--1 infertile clutch. She has not been with a male since. Her owners decided to get a puppy and felt bad that she had been neglected....(I feel sorry for the puppy!)

I have an appointment with the vet as soon as "Lizzabella" gives us a sample...if we cant get a sample (outside of her bath water) by Friday he will see her anyways.

My question is how many feedings a day should I provide to get some weight back on her quickly. She ate quite a bit of her salad this morning (she LOVES collards). This afternoon she happily chased and ate 20 medium crickets, 2 superworms and 5 wax worms. I have not seen her drink from her water bowl (I was told that she usually does) so she had a long soak.

How often should I offer her live prey? --our other adult (housed seperately) gets some (not as many as we gave her) every other day.

Any other suggestions I can use while I'm waiting for her 'sample' and results?

Thanks for any help
DM

I think that since babies get fed crix everday for their growth that maybe in this case your rescue could also be fed those everyday.

Also make sure she has salad available to her all day since she is underweight.

Oh, sidenote, wax worms help the animal gain weight (my leopard gecko Kalypso was underweight *I got her from a petstore and they don't treat them good* and giving her those she gained about 20 grams in one week).

Good Luck.
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2 Mali Uromastyx-Ares & Apollo
2 Bearded Dragons- Draco & Hades
1 Saharan Uromastyx-Iris
1 Leopard Gecko-Kalypso
1 Tokay Gecko-Sid Vicious
1 Tarantula-Peter Parker
1 Amazon Red Head Parrot-Pancho
1 African Gray Parrot-Keya
1 Dog-Cheeka
3 Fish-no names
1 Beta Fish-also no name
1 Zebra Finch-Beeps

I would feed her like that every day untill she has a more normal overall appearance and then cut back to a normal adult diet.... She looks so ill cared for... I'm glad you got her and are nurseing her back to health.... Good luck.

Robert
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Don't choose your friends by show,
feathers float but perils lay low!