- Joined
- Apr 11, 2013
- Messages
- 147
Hi, I'm hoping someone here can help me. I adopted this EBT from someone who had him in a dryer midwest climate and was having a hard time keeping the humidity up in his enclosure. The keeper was trying very hard to provide the care he needed and deserved and had adopted him out of an unknown, possible bad situation. He felt like his EBTs were not doing well and that he could not keep it humid enough...we met on through this forum as I was looking for EBTs which are native to my state and legal to own. He decided to let me adopt them for barely more than the overnight shipping cost as long as I would take them to the vet. They arrived and I did just that. The vet did not find anything or think there were any problems; he did not have ear infection; stool sample did not show any parasites.
I have done tons of research in preparation, but def. still have a ton to learn. We built a huge outdoor enclosure and I try really hard to provide good nutrition. The others I got in the group are doing well and have been gaining weight substantially, are active and one, in fact, just laid at least 4 eggs the night before last. The one male pictured here is the one I'm concerned about. He has always kind of crawled and has a harder time getting out of the water pan than the others and does not explore entire pen daily...he has a routine and a couple of areas where he spends most of his days sitting around. He never tried to breed or bother the others. He has ate well and gained weight; became a very good eater...probably even better than the others. His skin has always looked different...like a white dusting on his head area when he's not wet...I assumed this was from the lack of humidity and would improve over time. 4 days ago, he stopped wanting to eat and started soaking all day which is not like him. I would usually put him in to soak once or twice a week and he would def. love it and stay quite awhile, but was not one to just go to the water pan by himself. When I say he began soaking ALL day, i meant it. I checked him several times and changed water at least once a day...I would literally have to remove him near dark b/c I knew the water temp would drop, etc. By mid-morning, he would be right back in there. I just figured he probably knows best what he needs, so I didn't remove water pan to stop him. He wasn't swollen, no bubbles from the nose, or anything else alarming. I then started noticing skin hanging and he would try to scratch it off with his front legs. So, by the end of second day, I took my finger and rubbed gently around his head/neck area and front legs to help. He soaked again all day on the 3rd day and then stopped. His skin is now really bright and clear of the whitish film that he's always had, but I've been checking him for the past 2 days anyways. Today, I noticed when I pulled his neck skin back what you see in the picture. Can anyone enlighten me as to what this is? Is it something I can treat w/antibiotic ointment or something else? Is it a huge problem that he needs to see the vet for? Also, I was wondering if the skin shed thing was normal or if someone has experienced it before with an adoptee that was not kept in natural sunlight, etc. Thanks so much in advance for your time and experience.
I have done tons of research in preparation, but def. still have a ton to learn. We built a huge outdoor enclosure and I try really hard to provide good nutrition. The others I got in the group are doing well and have been gaining weight substantially, are active and one, in fact, just laid at least 4 eggs the night before last. The one male pictured here is the one I'm concerned about. He has always kind of crawled and has a harder time getting out of the water pan than the others and does not explore entire pen daily...he has a routine and a couple of areas where he spends most of his days sitting around. He never tried to breed or bother the others. He has ate well and gained weight; became a very good eater...probably even better than the others. His skin has always looked different...like a white dusting on his head area when he's not wet...I assumed this was from the lack of humidity and would improve over time. 4 days ago, he stopped wanting to eat and started soaking all day which is not like him. I would usually put him in to soak once or twice a week and he would def. love it and stay quite awhile, but was not one to just go to the water pan by himself. When I say he began soaking ALL day, i meant it. I checked him several times and changed water at least once a day...I would literally have to remove him near dark b/c I knew the water temp would drop, etc. By mid-morning, he would be right back in there. I just figured he probably knows best what he needs, so I didn't remove water pan to stop him. He wasn't swollen, no bubbles from the nose, or anything else alarming. I then started noticing skin hanging and he would try to scratch it off with his front legs. So, by the end of second day, I took my finger and rubbed gently around his head/neck area and front legs to help. He soaked again all day on the 3rd day and then stopped. His skin is now really bright and clear of the whitish film that he's always had, but I've been checking him for the past 2 days anyways. Today, I noticed when I pulled his neck skin back what you see in the picture. Can anyone enlighten me as to what this is? Is it something I can treat w/antibiotic ointment or something else? Is it a huge problem that he needs to see the vet for? Also, I was wondering if the skin shed thing was normal or if someone has experienced it before with an adoptee that was not kept in natural sunlight, etc. Thanks so much in advance for your time and experience.