Louise C
Member
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the long thread......
I posted here a couple of weeks back about a problem with sticky poo but now this is sorted, poor Henry has become very ill indeed. I bought him from an online breeder in March and was told he was 13 months old. I have since spoken to the breeder last week and found he was in fact only 9 months when I got him (so 13 months now).
Anyhow...last Sat he just suddenly stopped eating and became very lethargic. I started giving him daily soaks to make him feel better and try and get him to eat but he was still the same by the Tues so took him to the specialist reptile vet in our area. He suspected a lung infection so gave antibiotic injection - we have been back twice since for a top up. He is still not eating and is loosing weight fast despite the soaks and tempting foods - I've tried to hand feed but he's having none of it. He is 5cm long and only 40grams.
The second time I saw the vet, he told me Henry had a rather soft shell for his age and should be bigger. in fact he has barely grown since I have him. He went onto question my set up and feeding but since I've got pretty much text book conditions/diet/suppliments the vet said he was worried instead of there being something wrong with Henry for a while as should thrive under that environment. (10% UVB, 36c under heat lamp and 24c in hide - pellets plus home grown weeds eg dandelion and clover, water tray for basking, calcium dusting etc).
The vet suspects he is a "runt" which after reading other posts on this forum possibly means hatchling failure syndrome and thinks the only solution is to give Henry an operation to insert a permanent feeding tube to give him nutrition etc.
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on if the feeding tube is a good idea - if he really does have hatchling failure will this work or is he doomed to die? I'm running out of options here - the only options I seems to have are to do nothing and let him fade, go for the op and hope it works or have him put to sleep.
Previous to last Sat he was very active and eating good - just not growing.
Sorry for the long thread......
I posted here a couple of weeks back about a problem with sticky poo but now this is sorted, poor Henry has become very ill indeed. I bought him from an online breeder in March and was told he was 13 months old. I have since spoken to the breeder last week and found he was in fact only 9 months when I got him (so 13 months now).
Anyhow...last Sat he just suddenly stopped eating and became very lethargic. I started giving him daily soaks to make him feel better and try and get him to eat but he was still the same by the Tues so took him to the specialist reptile vet in our area. He suspected a lung infection so gave antibiotic injection - we have been back twice since for a top up. He is still not eating and is loosing weight fast despite the soaks and tempting foods - I've tried to hand feed but he's having none of it. He is 5cm long and only 40grams.
The second time I saw the vet, he told me Henry had a rather soft shell for his age and should be bigger. in fact he has barely grown since I have him. He went onto question my set up and feeding but since I've got pretty much text book conditions/diet/suppliments the vet said he was worried instead of there being something wrong with Henry for a while as should thrive under that environment. (10% UVB, 36c under heat lamp and 24c in hide - pellets plus home grown weeds eg dandelion and clover, water tray for basking, calcium dusting etc).
The vet suspects he is a "runt" which after reading other posts on this forum possibly means hatchling failure syndrome and thinks the only solution is to give Henry an operation to insert a permanent feeding tube to give him nutrition etc.
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on if the feeding tube is a good idea - if he really does have hatchling failure will this work or is he doomed to die? I'm running out of options here - the only options I seems to have are to do nothing and let him fade, go for the op and hope it works or have him put to sleep.
Previous to last Sat he was very active and eating good - just not growing.