So I was just walking past the big viv with my trio of U henkeli, when I heard a weird hissing noise. I looked in to find my large, normally robust, female lying on the ground looking dead. Turns out she's not dead, but she may be heading in that direction - she is displaying these symptoms: Aggression when handled, left rear leg paralysis, toe twitching on the same leg, and her tail is curled in on itself along its length. Just last night I sprayed them down, and fed them, and she ate two roaches and drank heavily, so I am really perplexed by this sudden turn for the worse.
Anyone have this problem before, or have any ideas? I can only think of three distinct possibilities 1)egg binding 2)calcium deficiency or even overdoes 3)Gut impaction. I've got her separated and hopefully I can get a good stool sample to see if it could even be something microbial.
She is only one year old, but she is quite large, weighing in at about 56-60 grams. She has always eaten well and has laid no more than four clutches so far, two single, and either one or two doubles (I have two females in the enclosure, so it is often hard to tell who laid what). I dust with calcium at every feed, alternating between RepCal Ca D3 and pure pharmaceutical grade CaCO3, and RepCal Herptivite once a week. I feed gut loaded Lobster roaches which I breed as feeders. When they began laying, I also began giving each female a once monthly dose of .125 ml Calcium Glubionate syrup, administered by injection into a feeder roach.
I'll be getting into the vet as soon as possible for either an appointment or, god forbid, a necropsy. Wish me luck, and let me know if you have any ideas or advice.
Thanks,
Jared
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With great power, comes great responsibility.
-Ben Parker
