Reptile & Amphibian Forums

but see if i can help him beat this on my own .

6 months ago he had this i took him to the best vet in Utah , she thought it was ear problem , opened his ear found blood , but did not no why , too a sample he had no infection , look x-rays found nothing , did blood work and all was OK . It cost me over 700.00 . Even took him to two other vets and that cost me another 200.00 if new a vet could find something and cure him i sure would do it again, BUT no one seems to know , they want to do ct scan and i would but then what My wife was pissed the first time i pay out the 700.00 . The last time i got him back i spent week sitting by him in the sun making sure he got real sun light and was warm , did what ever i could to keep him strong , force fed him a special formula called critical care once a week . Not sure were to go from here , if he's in a lot of pain i wish he would pass tonight , this is killing me . i love this guy a bunch and my wife just does not understand . I have had people come and look at ,y cage who also have Rhinos , I called David Blair , he said my cage was set up good and i was doing everything right with him .

do you keep him indoors or outdoors?

indoors in the winter , outdoors during the spring summer and fall , if he pulls through this i will be building him a BIG outdoor cage , right now i have a small one , but he enjoy basking in it .I am also making him a larger indoor cage he in in a 3'x6'' right now and i am building him a 4'x4'x8'' and he will be able to go back and forth from both the indoor cage and outside to the outdoor cage through the window . I have a 100 watt mega ray and a 50 watt halogen at the first basking area with 125 MW of UVB and it around 120 deg , the second basking area is around 90 and has a 48'' 10.0 and 5000k tube 12'' above it and is 60 MW of UVB . I have ultrasonic humidifier going into his cage and also a room heater that keeps the whole room at 75 at night . humidity in his cage is 55-60 during the day and as high as 75-80 at night . I also have a fan that circulates the air in the room and his cage His cage is tiled and grounded and 100 % waterproof inside . I clean his cage daily and sometime twice if he poops . I keep his cage spotless REALLY .

I'm sorry for what happen. Even when you asked for the vets' opinion they still don't know what is wrong with him?

Are the muscles on his body twitching? I've seen Cyclura with muscle spasms and twitching because his owner didn't give him calcium and multivitamin supplements and so they developed MBD... This is very common with herbivores. I've also seen a millions of Uromatyx that were killed due to lack of calcium in the diet and poor diet. A lot of the time the illness is diet related and insufficient exposure to UVB. You can't really varied that much with captive diet based on what is available. That's why I choose to supplement.

Im' just guessing from what I've seen and learned. I think to you need to find vet with experience in herbiorous reptiles and tortoises. I know U.C. Davis in California has great vets. That's the only place I know that are closed to me.

no just his head , he's getting a very good diet , good UVB light and calcuim and Vits .

Here is a good link to help you find a vet near you:
http://www.anapsid.org/vets/index.html

Ty

thank you so very very much for the phone call and you kindness and offer . you really made my day . your a very special and kind man .

RobK.

Thanks Rob....I am sure Roni will get through this fine. Good luck!

Thanks , for replying to my e-mails so promptly . THat really shows me how much you care about me , MY Rhino and your reptile . If i need to ever replace Roni ( i hope not ) it will be one from you if you have any . I hope it does not get to that , as Roni is a kinda and special animal to me just like my Lab , they are family and its very hard for me to put a value on them .I have had people offer to buy my lab( 4 times what i paid for him ) after they see him relieve my ducks and work in the field , He's priceless and i will,NEVER sell him .he's my bud . My Lab had a separation disorder and would pull he hair out when i was not with him , I tried bitter end spray , that funny looking collar and none of that worked . So i had a idea to just love him to death and slept with him on the floor for a month . Rubbing his belley , scratching his head as much as i could and It worked ,LOL he stopped pulling his hair out . Everyone who heard about that ( thanks to my wife ) thought i was nuts, even my wife ,

I think its his right ear again /I sprayed him down this morning with warm water and he was fine , UNTIL i did the right ear his and head ,he started shaking his head like crazy and took off and hid with his eyes closed .

Rob,

Just an idea, and I watched the video and its def. something neurologically twitching...

If it is enviromental, it may possibly have something to do with pesticides or plants. Jimson Weed can cause serious neurological problems with animals and

I have read studies with cows going bonkers off it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura_stramonium) I am not sure if somehow he could have gotten a hold of it, but its an area of exploration.

I really feel for you, this sucks..I hope he snaps out of it.

he's had a bad day , did not eat a thing . he sure looks in pain OR irritated . ??