Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click here to visit Classifieds
Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You
Click here for Dragon Serpents

swollen throat

waldo Feb 25, 2005 12:40 PM

My mom bought a teeny tiny leo yesturday,the man at the petstore broke his little tail off when he caught him so I am caring for him for awhile since my mom doesn't have any experiance with reptiles.He recently shed (had left over shed on his tail stump)pooped this morning (looks normal) but he won't eat and his throat looks a little swollen and when he opens his mouth his throat is red and irritated.I hand fed him some water and he can swallow fine.Should I worry? he is active and alert but very scared afer what happened to his tail.

Replies (11)

AlteredMind99 Feb 25, 2005 12:45 PM

Since you just got him so recently i wouldnt leap to any horrible conclusions just yet. He is probably very stressed right now and is still getting used to his environment, and he is probably doubly stressed out if he just lost his tail. I would give him a few days, leave him alone, dont handle him, just go in the cage to change his water and remove any fecal matter. If he hasn't started eating within about a week then you might want to start thinking about what might be wrong
-----
0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

primebizzel28 Feb 25, 2005 01:28 PM

im not an expert on careing for injured leo's but my leo when he sheds normaly wont eat for a day or 2 after because they eat the shed.

my 2 cents

Good luck with him keep us up to date
-----
1.0.1 Green Anole(tedo, bubbles)
0.0.1 Tremper Albino Leo gecko (Brut)
1.0.0 Small Dog( Cho lu la)

0.1.0 Beachy Girl Friend

marla Feb 25, 2005 08:31 PM

sounds like your mom made a really poor decision purchasing a leo from there. she should know how to take care of her own pets, and she shouldn't support a store that takes such lousy care of its animals (breaking off a leo's tail is a big deal). i'd suggest taking the gecko to a vet, feeding it ASAP, and making sure your mom knows what she did is wrong.
-----
marla
currently: 0.0.9 catfish, 0.1 ferrets, 2.8.3 leopard geckoes, 0.0.13 oriental fire-bellied toads, and 0.2.0 sugar gliders

waldo Feb 25, 2005 10:12 PM

My mom didn't do anything wrong and you need to keep your damn opinion to yourself!

peachstategeckos Feb 25, 2005 10:41 PM

Marla, your opinion was kinda accusing. You don't exactly know the whole story either. I went to petco to get my first leos and had no idea of all the bad stuff going on. Well if someone had come up to me and said what I was doing was wrong..how could I help it if I had no idea. Of course I know now though..lol. The point is, try to help him out and answer his questions not accuse him or his mom of something you might not totally understand. If I come off rude or mean I'm sorry just expressing my "2 cents".
-----
Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

geckogrl6 Feb 26, 2005 02:24 AM

a week without eating for a guy that size IMO is a little too long. I would offer crix in a few days. But don't stress him otherwise.
-----

1.0 Blizzard Bill
1.0 Hypo stripe, Het Rainwater from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino (Cloud)
0.2 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko (Beatrice, Pepper, Goldie-now w/SD)
0.1 Normal (Freckles)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko (Rainbow)
0.1 Tremper Albino (Leucy)
RIP Peaches, Ghost
3 eggs a-cookin'

waldo Feb 26, 2005 09:03 AM

His throat is still a little swollen this morning but he did eat 5 mealies last night.He has calmed down quite a bit too.When I check on him he will come out of his hide to look at me,its cute. Now for a really stupid question,when I got this guy home and went to put him in his cage he screamed at me,could that irratate his throat? he did it 2 or 3 tmies and his throat wasn't swollen at the petstore.I'm just trying to figure out what happened.And to clear things up about my mom,she knows how to care for a leo,I just felt better having her leave him with me for a few days because I have much more experence with reptiles.The petstore in question was actually not too bad,plenty of food,clean water,hidy spots and no dead or sick reptiles in the whole place which was a surprise.To bad I got to deal with a couple of stupid employees

AlteredMind99 Feb 26, 2005 09:31 AM

Is there any way you could take a pic of the throat to show us?

When leo's are stressed or angry, like when they are screaming, they sort of puff out their throats and they could appear swollen.

Its good that he is eating though!
-----
0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

Triad Feb 26, 2005 09:38 AM

>>His throat is still a little swollen this morning but he did eat 5 mealies last night.He has calmed down quite a bit too.When I check on him he will come out of his hide to look at me,its cute. Now for a really stupid question,when I got this guy home and went to put him in his cage he screamed at me,could that irratate his throat? he did it 2 or 3 tmies and his throat wasn't swollen at the petstore.I'm just trying to figure out what happened.And to clear things up about my mom,she knows how to care for a leo,I just felt better having her leave him with me for a few days because I have much more experence with reptiles.The petstore in question was actually not too bad,plenty of food,clean water,hidy spots and no dead or sick reptiles in the whole place which was a surprise.To bad I got to deal with a couple of stupid employees

I agree that lady got quite a bit to accusing with you.

The petstore I go to for my leo's is Petco. Now a lot of people might say that Petstores are horrible places and do not support them, well this petco is really good. They are very helpful when I'm choosing what I want. If they have a sick animal and don't know it I'm usually in there about once every week for crix for the rest of my herps, so I take a look around and make sure everything there is looking in tip top shape.

They're very open to suggestions about making their place a better one for customers and the herps they sell alike.

I think that the little guy is just a little bit stressed out. I saw some babies yesterday that were also stressed out.
-----
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

marla Feb 28, 2005 07:47 PM

i don't think i was being too harsh, but why would you expect people to keep your opinions to themselves in a public forum? i do think your response was pretty childish. i think it's wrong that your mother got a pet she doesn't know how to care for, not so much about the tail (that's more just bad, not 'wrong').
-----
marla
currently: 0.0.9 catfish, 0.1 ferrets, 2.8.3 leopard geckoes, 0.0.13 oriental fire-bellied toads, and 0.2.0 sugar gliders

marla Feb 28, 2005 07:53 PM

i disagree. i think the first rule of pet care is to know how to care for your own animals before purchasing them. waldo's mom did not, or at least that's what he said. as for the whole petco/petsmart thing, i wasn't referring to that, i don't know where the animal came from. i think the employee should not have charged for an animal it had just injured, and his mom should't have gone ahead to purchase such a stressed animal, etc. waldo's response was totally ridiculous. it is not okay to buy animals without preparing for their care. others should have backed me up on that, i'm pretty disgusted. you yourself made a point above about the guy not quarantining his new hybino from crested gecko before breeding, and i think that's a much lesser deal than knowing the basics before purchase.
-----
marla
currently: 0.0.9 catfish, 0.1 ferrets, 2.8.3 leopard geckoes, 0.0.13 oriental fire-bellied toads, and 0.2.0 sugar gliders

Site Tools