Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I took him to the Vet on Weds(3/9/05). After a long speal about how hard it is to own an alligator we eventually got to the visit. He said that spot was dehydrated, probably had septicemia, and had flesh eating bacteria on his lower jaw. The discoloration I noticed on his lower jaw had changed drastically. I wasn't checking him because I was trying to reduce his stress level with less handling. Well they had developed into quite deep wounds. The prognosis wasn't good. The treatment involed getting fluids into him and giving him a anti-biotics. He was pretty inactive and he didn't try to run off the scale. He was 2.5 ounces. I held him a lot to keep him warm in my hands. (you could immediatly feel the difference after the fluids were injected)

The vet also said using a black light at night was bad and would disrupt his cirrcadian rythems. Any comments on that?

I took him home wrapped the sheet around his cage and offered some fish and crickets in his cage.

I took him back to the vet on Friday. The vet said that his body processed the anti-biotic slowly and only had to be administered every other, or every third day. This time he was more active. He wouldn't stay on the scale(his wieght increased slightly). Also when recieving his shots he resisted and produced his distress call. The doctor said the distress call was a good sign(first time I had heard it from him). The doctor was very pleased, but said the main issue was getting food into him.

I picked up a pinky mouse and a few small fish and went home.

Saturday(3/11/05) I went to feed the fish and threw in a couple of reptomin sticks(I feed a lot of things reptomin, great stuff) One stick floated right next to spots mouth. A gold fish went to go nibble on it and whack! Spot ate it! I was so suprised I went and got some more gold fish out of my turtle tank. I then left him alone.

Sunday(3/12/05) I went to feed the fish again. I threw in a couple of reptomin sticks again.(There were now two goldfish in the cage.)He didn't touch the pinky, so I took it out. He started eating the reptomin. I decided to throw 3 crickets in. This time I tossed them one by one into the water. He ate them all! Later that same day he managed to get one of the gold fish. The guppies are also fairing very well in the tank. There are quite a few fry in there. They have there own little community. The tank is starting to become its own little eco-system. The baby fish aren't dying, this means the water in the tank is in excellent condition. Everything is pretty much thriving in the tank! I can't wait to add snails, crayfish and tadpoles!

Today(3/13/05) I fed the fish before heading out to work. Spot ate a couple of the reptomin too(I took the sheet down last night and he ate right in front of me this morning. I also started handling him last night!). He has another checkup with the vet today. The wounds on his jaw are healing nicely. There were a few new areas on his jaw but the vet will check them today. I have also noticed that he scratches at it like a dog with his back leg. Anyone else ever see behavior like that? Hopefully he won't have to get a shot as we can medicate him orally now in his food. I will kill and fish and insert it in that.

So over all spot has had an amazing turn around and is thriving! I will keep you all up to date. Have a nice day!

Matt

Glad to see you took him to the vet and he is doing better. Just a few things that I thought that I would warn you about.

Crayfish, tadpoles, snails.......bad idea. Keep the tank as clean as possible and the lesser animals sharing the tank the better, less stress on the animal.

Reptomin....will do nothing in my opinion for your alligator, keep it for the turtles.

Goldfish (aka. junkfood)- holds absolutely NO nutritional value for your alligator. It is like feeding your kids primarily candy for it's meals. Pinkies are great. Try catfish nuggets coated in minerall. Crickets are fine for his size as well, but still would coat them in a vitamin supplement such as minerall. I am not saying you can't feed an occasional goldfish, but it is a bad idea as it's primary meal. Guppies are fine.

Overall good luck with your new gator, and I hope he does well.

Best wishes,
Stan

It is my personal preference to house my reptiles in a environment that mimics their real environment as much as possible. I like to get it to the point where it is pretty much working the same way that it is in nature. I think it reduces stress and provides a optimim and healthy environment. It doesn't really make it harder to clean either as the animals clean up after each other pretty efficiently(snails eat the algea, crayfish clean the bottom, etc).

"Reptomin....will do nothing in my opinion for your alligator, keep it for the turtles."

Here is why I personally think that reptomin is a very good choice for the alligator. I have 4 turtles. I think that turtles have the closest diet to an alligator. Some people see turtles as some animal floating around eating plants. In all of my observations I don't see that. I see a very fast, agile, and aggressive preadtor who like an alligator will eat just about anything that will get in its path. They have a completely different tactic for catching prey. The alligator will sit around and wait striking at just the right moment. The turtle however aggressively chases down its prey(around here in Ohio the turtle is the top predator in the food chain in ponds). Reptomin is a protein rich and scientifically formulated food. It also contains vitamins, is calcium enriched, and has other essential items it may not be getting from the guts of it's prey items as they are not from the wild. I am not talking about the vegetable based reptomin soft gel, but the protein sticks. The softgel, if that is what you are thinking of is a obviously bad choice.

Goldfish (aka. junkfood)- holds absolutely NO nutritional value for your alligator. It is like feeding your kids primarily candy for it's meals. Pinkies are great. Try catfish nuggets coated in minerall. Crickets are fine for his size as well, but still would coat them in a vitamin supplement such as minerall. I am not saying you can't feed an occasional goldfish, but it is a bad idea as it's primary meal. Guppies are fine.

Yes, goldfish are a bad choice, but he is accepting them. Something was a welcome difference from nothing. He won't take any pinkies so far, but I will try throwing them in the water. I plan on feeding him very few goldfish. I just had them in there to give him a variety(encouraging eating).

Thanks,
Matt