Hi again everybody,
Thanks again for all your help dealing with Zia. Your suggestions and advice have really helped me get through this without panicking.
I gave Zia one more warm bath this evening and took her out for some gentle handling. I tried to massage the lump area for about ten minutes to stimulate movement. I was able to see all the fecal matter still inside of her by shining a light up next to her body. She appeared to have two small dark areas as well as the large one that concerned me initially.
When I put her back into her enclosure, she seemed unusually active and cruised the length of the tank. I took this as a good sign, and it looks that my hunch paid off. She passed a very large, but strangely-colored stool shortly after. Instead of the normal dark brown color, it is a light tan. It's not runny, but not as firm as the last one. I'm very relieved, since she looks almost normal now (except for the pink belly and the slightest bit of discoloration).
I'm pretty sure now that she just couldn't digest properly because of the cold temperature in most of the substrate. It seems that now that I've shoved the thermostat probe into the substrate, things on the hot side are much better and she spends time over there now. Since her cage is on the second-level of a double-decker stand, I turned on the light system of the unoccupied cage directly below. This provided a nice gentle heat to the bottom glass of Zia's cage, without affecting ambient temps. There aren't any icy cold spots anymore and the heat gradient feels much smoother when I run my hand across.
I'm still taking her to the vet just in case, but I have a feeling that by then she will have eliminated the rest of her feces. If she's emptied out by Tuesday night, should I feed her on-schedule or skip a week?
By the way, here's a pic of the strange stool. The flash made it a little brighter but not by much. Sorry for the gross pic!
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::i believe in joy > http://www.winds.org/nekomi/hope.html
::my homepage > http://www.winds.org/nekomi
My Growing Zoo:
1.0 Husband (Byron) ^_^
0.1 black cat (Shade)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Zia)
1.2 Cockatoo cichlids (A. cacatuoides yellow-gold)
1.1 WC Cockatoo cichlids (A. cacatuoides blue Peru)
3.3 Pygmy corydoras (C. pygmaeus)
2.0 Endlers' Livebearers (P. sp. Endlers)
