Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got a baby Gila that I'm pretty worried about. The day after he arrived, he ate two pink mice, so I was pretty happy about that. He hasn't eaten since then though. It's about ten days now. He's a pretty clumsy little guy compared to my other Gilas, and he has a bit of a problem with 'star gazing', where he looks straight up, (often even further than 90 degrees) and kind of twists his little neck around for a while until he gets his bearings. If he accidentally flips over, it takes him quite a while to turn back right side up. I've seen similar symptoms in Boas, and it usually means neurological problems, and often is the beginning of the end.
On the other hand, when he's not showing any signs of problems, he's great. He's quick to hiss and turn at my finger, ready to bite, looking like a normal, feisty little Gila.
I bought him from a dealer, rather than a breeder, so I don't think he'll be any help. Besides, he ate for me and looked fine for a couple of days, so I really don't have any reason to think he showed problems before I got him.
If anyone has had any experience like this with a Gila, please let me know what you did and how everything turned out.
By the way, He's in a four foot cage with aspen bedding. There are six hides in the cage with him, three humid, and three dry.
The temps range from 92 on the hot side to 70 on the cool side, and the temp change from one side to the other is gradual, not abrupt. I've tried dipping pinkies in egg, but it didn't convince him to try one. My other GIlas loved the leftover egg, though.

Thanks,
Vinny

I would ask the dealer to switch it out for another one. Your shipping cost, If they are solid they will do this. When I have animals exibit this behavior I usually give them away for it does usually mean nerological problems. How ever it dose not seem to extreme in your case but not a tip top animal.
Good Luck
h
Horridumangeli

HorridumAngeli's Heloderma Web site

Bro only been keeping heloderms a few years and haven't seen any stargazing with them fortunately, but I've kept snakes for 30 years or more and seen this a few times with them. Sometimes its neuro issue and nothing can really help it but some animals do live with a moderate amount of trouble like this...Sometimes though a RESPIRATORY infection will migrate to the jacobs organ area and cause an infection there....this drastically diminishes snakes ability to sense things with thier tongue and leaves them sorta "blind"...they star gaze trying to gain thier bearings...wondering whats going on I beleive...

If that were my gila and there was no chance for exchange I'd start feeding him a lil'pasteurized egg everyday and a pinky or two every third,warm him up some not a ton just make it so he stays 85-88 all the time for a while... I'd put a legit UV light on him 6-12 hours a day too..., raise the humidity, watch for RIs and check really good around his tongue in jacobs organ for swelling or cheesey looking bad stuff indicative of that migrating infection...if you notice this get a vet to give ya some bactril or something...dont be surprised having a time finding a vet to see a venomous animal...also a warm soak with a lil bit of iodized salt (just so its lil'salty) in there always works wonders for upper respirtory problems with my herps but then again I'M NOT A VET.............just a fanatic

good luck

good luck